123

Get on the train before 10 and it shouldn't be too bad.

fightingfarmer09 said:

---

Got my parking pass for NRG on Saturday.

My son wanted some Netherlands gear. Do they have a shop at the game with a shirt, jersey, or scarf? I know it will be over priced, but it would make a nice souvenir for him.

---

Yes. They sell jerseys, hats, and scarfs for each time playing, as well as game-specific scarfs. Jerseys were $130 for the Germany-Curacao game, I assume they will be the same. A bit more than in stores, but not crazy.

They have some game and location specific items (shirts/scarf) that you will need to be through the door as soon as the stadium opens and in line... anything else (team specific or general world cup) is better off purchased on line or at one of the off property FIFA stores (I know Sugarland has one and im sure there are similar set ups in other cities).

We stupidly waited in line for 1 1/2 hours to buy stuff for my daughter, and all the game-specific stuff was already sold out by the time we made it. We saw them keep taking down options as we waited and waited. She got a Dallas specific shirt and a Netherlands scarf and was very happy... I was happy that we were in our seats in plenty of time... but there are MUCH better ways to spend your time than waiting in a long line for merch.

Seriously check out the Fan Fest store. It's like 8k sq ft and has a bunch of popular teams, not just what is in playing locally. Just go early in the day to avoid larger crowds.

I want a game-specific scarf for Saturday (Netherlands v Sweden). Is that only going to be avaialble inside the stadium or would the fan fest have these too?

So the metro rail at NRG when you are leaving they divert the lines through NRG arena now. Guess so people stay cool. But as soon as you get out they don't control any lines till you get to the big tent. So you can go in the short southbound line then when you go back outside, just go to the northbound line.

I talked to some Portugal fans after they got off the train downtown, they said it was not bad at all. I believe that is what we will do Saturday. The parking garage for my office is one block from where we can get on the train. Free parking and cheap train ride.

For those of y'all going to the Netherlands game on Saturday in Houston, and planning on walking in their parade, where are you parking and what time are you planning on getting there?

We wanted the Netherlands/Japan one, and from what I can tell, it was a stadium only purchase, and they were sold out within about 1 hour of stadium sales opening. We did get the Netherlands only version, but we expect they had way more stock of that version, considering it can be sold at multiple games, BUT the Japan only version sold out early as well.