Once we started to look into it we got more and more excited about the event. It turned out that the Tampa Bay Rays were playing the Detroit Tigers on the second Saturday of our stay. There were tickets available and they seemed a bargain at $11 each. We booked online and arranged to collect the tickets at the gate – all of this was very easily done.

The Tampa Bay stadium was a very easy drive from our villa in Kissimmee and we easily found free parking a short walk away. The atmosphere even before we entered the stadium was really exciting and as we did enter the vast dome, we were stunned by the size, the noise and the colours of the venue. We arrived there at about 6pm and the game was due to begin at 7pm. If there was one downside to the whole evening, the food wasn’t great so we were glad we had spent the day in St Pete first and gone to one of our favourite restaurants there.

Long before the game was due to begin we were entertained by music, colourful characters doing all sorts of crazy things in the seating area, and watching the players warming up. When the game finally got underway we were hooked from the first minute. The game lasted a long time, compared to the sports we are used to in the UK, but there were plenty of breaks with small elements of entertainment thrown in. The whole atmosphere was fun, lively and very, very family friendly. The game was over by about 10pm and we strolled back to our car and were home at our villa, tired and exhilarated, by 11.30.

All in all we felt the evening was excellent value for money, fun for all the family and definitely something we will do again when we are in Florida this year.