RodeoHouston 2020

The RodeoHouston 2020 guide to parking and transportation

Thousands will descend on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo each day.

Photo courtesy of RodeoHouston

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is here, which means an annual journey of more than 2 million attendees who will flock to the various venues and events. For rodeo veterans and newbies, navigating the tens of thousands of daily visitors can be challenging. Here, then, are some parking and transportation options to help make enjoying RodeoHouston 2020 a boot-scootin’ success.

One tactic rodeo goers might consider is combining transportation options. Take the METRORail to Midtown or downtown to make a speedy exit from the Rodeo grounds, then use a ride sharing app to get home. This method will also help avoid any potential surge pricing in the immediate area (a common rodeo complaint).

METRORail
Attendees can catch a ride for $2.50 on the METRORail. Northbound Service runs Monday through Saturday until 1:40 am and Sunday until 11:20 pm. Southbound Service runs Monday through Saturday until 3:25 am and Sunday until 1:15 am.

Ride-sharing
Drop-offs and pick-ups are in the Miller Lite Yellow Lot 38. Entrance Gate 16B off Main Street from the north-bound lanes of Main Street is the only access to the lot. There is no left turn lane access allowed from the south bound lanes of Main Street.

Limousines
Arriving in style? High-rollers should plan for drop-offs and pick-ups at the southeast side of the Miller Lite Green Lot, Gate 13 off Lantern Point.

Public drop-off
Use Gate 9 off Kirby Drive. Kirby Drive is closed at 9 pm on weekdays and 6 pm on weekends. Take Main Street to Westridge, and head east to Gate 9.

On-site parking
Look for three parking lots near NRG Park: the Yellow Lot, the 610 Lot, and the OST 1 lot, located nearby. Parking is $20. The Yellow Lot opens daily at 6 am, the 610 Lot opens daily at 9 am, and the OST 1 opens weekdays from5 pm to 1 am and weekends 11 am to 2 am.

Park and Ride
The Rodeo Express Shuttles offer convenience; locations can be found on this map. Parking is free at all of the lots (except in the OST lot, which charges $20). Shuttle costs range from $4 to $7 per rider.

Midtown Park
Rodeo fans in the Midtown are can hit the parking garage at Midtown Park (2811 Travis St.), with a flat rate of just $5 on weekday evenings (beginning at 6 pm) and all day on weekends. The garage offers direct access to the METRORail McGowen stop at an additional rate of $1.25 each way.

South Main Innovation District parking, food, and fun
The Ion, the anchor of the future 16-acre South Main Innovation District, will be hosting free rodeo parking and fun weekend activations during the weekends of March 7-8, 14-15, and 21-22 — sponsored by Rice Management Company. The lot at 4203 Fannin St., at the future innovation district, will be open on a first-come, first-served basis from noon to midnight on those weekend dates. Look for food trucks and custom laser-engraved keychains from noon to 3 pm on each weekend.

After parking and grabbing grub and swag, take the adjacent METRORail Wheeler Station to head to the rodeo grounds.

Trams
Trams operated by rodeo committee members offer visitors free rides to and from parking lots and the grounds, as well as to and from NRG Center and NRG Arena. Click here for a tram map.

Woodland Express
This year, rodeo fans from The Woodlands can hop on the Woodlands Express, a new shuttle service. Woodlands riders should park at the Sawdust Park and Ride for drop-off at NRG Park. Return trips will depart from the METRO Rodeo Express pickup location at NRG. The service departs the Woodlands is 9 am; the last departure from the Rodeo is 11 pm. The Woodlands Express runs $13 for a round trip.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 doesn't match the first movie's enthusiasm

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films like M3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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