SUPER BOWL 2017 DISCOVERY GREEN FREE

Speaking of eating, it’s always a hot ticket in Houston, and it’ll certainly be a competitive sport this particular weekend. So, there’ll be plenty to do and eat, even if not everybody in your party has tickets to the big bowl. This ride, Future Flight, and the rest of Super Bowl LIVE will be available Jan. Expect long lines, but, dang, it’ll be fun. The star-attraction ride will put you in a virtual reality headset during a space-themed ride that will include a 90-foot drop.

SUPER BOWL 2017 DISCOVERY GREEN FREE

Next door at Discovery Green, always a fun place to go with the family for its playground and dog park (along with ice skating during winter), you’ll find Super Bowl LIVE, a free family-friendly event with music, food, games and attractions including a NASA-themed amusement park. Tickets aren’t available for this event yet, but last year, it cost $35 for adults and $25 for children. The GRB will be home to the NFL Experience, filled with interactive games that kids love - find out how far you can pass a ball or take a whack at making a field goal, for example - along with exhibits and autographs signings. Stay at either of these hotels and you’ll be a quick walk to both Discovery Green and the GRB, where all the Super Bowl sideshows will be based. At the ground level, you’ll find a tree-lined patio space overlooking 12-acre Discovery Green park, where you’ll be able to dine al fresco at one of five currently under-construction restaurants, including Grotto (Landry’s Italian), Bud’s BBQ and Pappadeaux. The 1,000-room Marquis will feature a Texas-shaped lazy river and infinity pool, as well as a spa, fitness center, rooftop restaurant and, of course, a sports bar. Brown Convention Center, fondly known as the GRB. Or try the luxurious new Marriott Marquis at the north end of the George R. There’s also a rooftop pool and, off the lobby, a friendly bar and a pool table. The 168 well-designed, sleek rooms include desks, plenty of electrical outlets, a fridge, coffee pot, safe and, in the roomy bathroom, Bliss products in dispensers. New hotels include a really sharp, tech-focused Aloft, where a stock ticker rolls above the check-in desk, your car is valet-checked and retrieved via phone text, and two public computers sit in the lobby, which also has an exceedingly well-stocked snack alcove. Book a good hotel downtown and use light rail and the whole thing should be effortless. In for a penny, though: If you’re springing for Super Bowl tickets, you want a great experience. Expect to pay three times a room’s going rate, which should put you at $400 a night or more, even for something very plain. Expect those rooms to show up as available later in December or early January, and when they do, they’ll be expensive. If you look online, everything appears to be booked up. Regardless, the first thing you’ll want to do is secure a hotel room, once the city’s hotels decide to release their rooms for the first weekend in February. Thousands of people flood Super Bowl cities just to be part of the energy and to enjoy the fan festivities. You might not be attending the game, of course. Not only can you take the red line from downtown to NRG Stadium, where the game’s being played you can also ride the rails to other destinations. So, Houston’s light rail system immediately becomes your best friend. 5 or the week preceding it, your biggest challenge - aside from buying tickets - will be getting around. However, those of us who’ve been to Super Bowls know one thing’s a certainty: If you’re in Houston on Feb. At this point, nobody knows who’ll be in Super Bowl LI, although those of us who live in Texas are certainly hoping to have a dog in the hunt.

Super bowl 2017 discovery green