Recent trip for 2/21/2025 weekend and tips

I know I've seen similar posts and we're toward the end of the Unrivaled games, but just in case this is helpful to anyone, I just wanted to also give tips and recommendations. For some background, I flew in from a six hour flight, landed late Friday afternoon and left early Sunday morning so I was really just here to watch Unrivaled games and have one day in Miami. The first night I sat in the regular section and the second day I sat court side so had access to the lounge and it was a solo trip.

- For those debating car rental vs. Uber/Lyft, if I did the same trip next year, I'd just do Uber/Lyft as I rented a car this year. However, if you're planning on doing a longer trip or visit the beach, the car rental is probably worth it. The Miami car rental center is a bit of a trek from the terminals and they do have moving walkways though some were broken. I saw a few families struggling with all of their luggage to get there.

- I stayed at the Hyatt Place Miami Airport West - Doral and I'd highly recommend it for this type of trip. Free and easy parking (it's in an office plaza), there's a Raising Cane's a very short walk away, clean and safe, spacious rooms that had a somewhat separate living room area with an L shaped couch with microwave and large fridge, free daily hot breakfast, and if you have Chase points you can transfer to Hyatt, it's Category 2 so not a lot of points to book a room. The only complaint I'd have is the air conditioner seemed broken but it wasn't too cold for me and having the white noise in a hotel room is probably for the best. It's also ten minutes away from Costco if you wanted something cheap to eat (I needed a salad by the second day and no Marina Mabrey sighting unfortunately lol).

- A lot of people have said this, but the food at the arena isn't great. I did try bringing in an empty bottle to fill at a water fountain but they only had one available if you had access to the courtside lounge so ended up just buying water the first night. The food in the courtside lounge was fine, beef, chicken, veggie kebobs and a pastry type dessert with dulce de leches inside, along with non alcoholic beverages. However, if you have time for dinner before or after the game and have a car, there's a fantastic Venezuelan grill food truck called Carne en Vara Express that's a six minute drive away and open late. I was there by myself and felt very safe getting food there after 10pm and they have plenty of outdoor picnic tables on the dirt lot. You may have to ask for an English menu but the cashier was very nice and I am definitely coming back here next year.

- In terms of parking, I followed people's advice and just bought the regular parking pass right before heading out to the venue as they ask for your license plate number and I didn't know it until I had the car rental but they don't seem to run out of parking passes. There wasn't an issue leaving after the game either but if you're really worried, just reverse park into a spot near one of the gated exits when you park because they remove the gates after the game.

- I'd also recommend showing up early mainly to watch shootaround beforehand, which I felt was 45-60 minutes before the game officially starts. I would avoid asking players to sign/take pics during shootaround if they're in the game but if they're injured and sitting there, I'd say go for it. Players/coaches do walk around the arena sometimes and get kind of mobbed. Bring your own silver sharpie and they do sell black sharpies there if you need it then. Sandy Brondello did sit behind me the second night and kindly took all photos and autographs, no matter what jersey you were wearing and was primarily approached between quarters and games. There was also a funny moment where she was waiting in line with the rest of us at the indoor bathroom for the courtside folks and after she went into a stall, everyone just talked about her like she couldn't hear us LOL.

- I sat in row A in the regular section the first night but I may sit further back in the future. While great for taking pictures and getting autographs of players walking by, it was hard to see behind all the courtside folks as we were on the same level.

- That dog we saw a staff member carrying is not DiJonai or any player's dog, it is her own dog lol. Someone asked her.

- If you're a kid with a sign saying it's your birthday and are sitting courtside, you will have the best time. On my second day, there was a birthday kid and her mom near me. The Unrivaled staff gave her a ball with as many autographs as they could get. Allisha Gray came to gift her sneakers (and she did it during the next game player intros so it was very dark and loud and not for publicity as the social media team couldn't take pics of it). Natasha Cloud came to give her a huge hug and wish her happy birthday. It was all very lovely and sweet and she seemed so surprised by each new gift :)

- During the one day I was there, I'm more of a food person and not a beach person so I elected to visit Little Havana. Tinta Y Cafe had amazing sandwiches and coffee but can get crowded. El Rey De Las Fritas was a good bakery to take pastries back home though there's a $20 credit card limit. Azucar ice cream was good too, especially their #1 flavor of guava and cheese pastelito. I arrived at Calle Ocho at 9:30am on a Saturday and if you park behind the McDonalds, there's signs that'll tell you if you're in the right area but it's free until 6pm and perfect if you can't parallel park like me. There was a lot of parking available in the lot then but when I left a few hours later, it was full. There's a lot of beautiful murals on almost every building on this street so you can spend a lot of time here if you're into that. There's other famous, restaurants, cafes and sandwich shops here but only got to try what I mentioned.

Sorry for the long post but I hope everyone else has just as amazing of a trip as I just had! Despite being there for less than two days, each night at Unrivaled was so fun (though Lunar Owls vs. Laces got less fun and the arena was pretty quiet when it became a blow out).