Monster Jam Glendale Review!

 

Monster Jam recently came through again on one of their yearly trips to sunny Arizona! The event took place at the State Farm Stadium. Even if you aren't the biggest fan of monster trucks, this is such a fun event to attend just due to the amazing skills the drivers have & how interactive they try to make the event for everyone in attendance. If you are a big fan or have kids that love the show, they also sell tickets for an event that goes on prior to the start of the event called The Pit Party. It takes place several hours before the actual show starts so that they can get everything from the pit party moved out off of the track before the event starts. 

The pit party gives you a chance to go down onto the track and see all of the trucks up close. Not only can you see the trucks, but all the drivers have their own booths set up where you can get an autograph & photo with them. They also have a few free zones such as coloring pages for the little kids, a sand box where they can play with monster truck toys, they have food for sale and more. The pit party runs from 2:30pm-5:30pm with the actual show starting at 7pm. We are lucky & the Glendale stadium they host the event at is right next to a shopping center that has restaurants and more. We like to get to the pit party shortly after it starts & usually spend about an hour to an hour and a half, then we leave our car parked in the parking lot and walk over to the shopping center to play some arcade games and grab dinner before the show. 

The show itself is always fun to watch because you never know what is going to happen! Sometimes there are wrecks, and sometimes when you think one of the drivers is done for they are able to save themselves at the last month. This time around we saw tires go flying off the trucks, trucks that caught on fire, pieces of trucks going flying and more. It is crazy to see everything the trucks go through and sometimes they will even show the crews working on the trucks up on the big screen so you can see the amount of work that goes into the trucks between each run.

To make the event even more interactive for the fans, they have a website & three-digit code you can plug into your phone which will allow everyone to rate each truck after it's run with a score from 0-10. After a short period of time goes by after each driver is finished it will show the score the driver received based off of the average score everyone in the stadium who voted gave. Some of the over-all scores were on point and others were surprising. We had a great time at the show & always look forward to when they come to town again. 

A few tips for parents! This event can get quite loud, you can hear the trucks from out in the parking lot so for smaller children it would be a good idea to bring a pair of ear protection covers for your children. Most stadiums such as the stadium we went to only allow clear bags in, so make sure to check ahead of time so you won't need to walk back to your car to leave your purse behind. They will stadium approved bags online and also at stores such as Walmart. Venue food and drinks can get pretty expensive especially if you have more than one child so it is a good idea to have dinner before heading to see the show. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" (Click or locate it on the right-hand side of my page) section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Disclaimer- Monster Jam provided tickets for us for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Monster Jam - A review of the October AZ show!

 

Monster Jam has come back to Arizona & has several more shows around the US to finish off this years tour. This is a fantastic event for families to attend even if you aren't the biggest fan of monster trucks, the energetic shows & crazy stunts the drivers are able to pull off with these massive trucks will keep you engaged with the show. 

Watching these giant trucks is exciting, but the fun begins even before the drivers get in their trucks & bring the engines to life. Most of the show allows you the chance to purchase a "Pit Pass" in addition to your normal ticket which will grant you access to the pre-show pit party. Pit Party passes are $20 each. You'll be able to see the trucks up close, take photos in front of them, meet the drivers to get photos with them or have them sign something, participate in activities like the drawing area for kids and have a chance to buy some cool merch to take home. It is a neat experience to do at least once with your kids & you'll have some awesome photos to keep to look back on the memories for years to come. We were able to participate in the pit party & my kids wanted to get a photo in front of Grave Digger which is the truck I wanted to & did take a photo in front of when I was about the same age as my daughter. 

Ticket prices vary depending on where you sit, but it doesn't matter where you sit if it is in the front row section or at the top of the stadium in the upper half you'll have a great view of the trucks and the course they perform on. What is cool about the course is that they bring out some construction equipment in-between the different rounds & they change the course by moving the dirt around to get rid of smaller jumps and make other sections wider. The trucks & drivers will change from event to event, however they have a online section where you can view the current drivers and trucks that will be appearing at the moment. My daughter was a little bummed the two trucks & one driver she really wanted to see were not at this event, but there were a few new trucks we were able to check out.

The show starts off with some head to head races, the winners of each head to head will then go against each other until it is down to the final winner. The race includes them making two laps & completing two jumps, the one who does it the fastest is the winner. After this it is time for an intermission which allows them to work on the trucks & repair anything that might have broken or needs to be re-charged from the races. During this time they have some entertainment happening down in the race area, they had some adorable small children come out on mini monster truck electric cars and race down the track.

The second half of the show is a free style competition where the drivers will attempt to complete two tricks within a set amount of time. They show you a list of tricks they can attempt on the board before the competition starts & will go over which tricks they attempted/completed once the drivers are finished to help you understand which tricks you saw if you aren't familiar with each one. Monster Jam has a website that fans can visit during the event called The Judges Zone, this is for the free style competition. When the driver has completed their round fans will have sixty seconds to lock in a score on the website which is then calculated & will give the driver their score for the round. Wrecks happen, but that doesn't mean you'll get a low score, you can really tell the fan favorites.

We saw an absolutely insane stunt while we were there pulled off by the driver of The Black Pearl. When attempting to do a back flip in his truck, the Black Pearl started rolling onto it's back. It happens, especially when drivers are attempting to do a flip, usually it means they are out since their truck crashed. That wasn't the case this time around, he actually managed to get himself out of the situation & correct the truck back to being on its tires and continued on with his round. I could not believe what I saw with my eyes nor could the crowd, everyone was going nuts & many people even jumped to their feet cheering & screaming. In case you are wondering, yes, I did manage to capture it on camera & will have a reel of it up on my instagram page so you can see it too. 

My family had a fantastic time at this event, it is a great family friendly event. My kids can't wait to see them again. A quick note before I finish off this post, this event is very loud!!! It can be a little overwhelming for children and some children may not like how loud it gets, I highly suggest bringing a pair of headphones to protect their ears or buy one when you are at the event. Also don't forget to check the website of which ever venue they visit while in your home city to check for any rules you may need to be aware of, for example our venue does not allow backpacks, purses, etc your belongings need to be in a clear stadium approved sized bag. 

Disclaimer- Monster Jam provided tickets for us for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Monster Jam Live Event Review!

Even if you aren't the biggest fan of monster trucks, it is still an event you should attend at least once as you'd be surprised just how exciting it can be. Monster Jam came through Arizona over the weekend at an event they hosted in Glendale, AZ at the State Farm Stadium. The event itself is a lot of fun, however I recommend arriving early by at least an hour, traffic into the parking lot can get a little crazy especially since there was another event going on at the same time, so it took us about 45 minutes waiting in line before we were able to park and that was prior to going through the security check and getting to our seats. Before you even step foot into the stadium you start to get excited because you can hear the rumble of the trucks massive engines and the cheers from the crowd going nuts over the tricks and jumps the trucks are able to pull off. 

Once we got inside our seats were easy to find. The crowd was full of energy and excitement everyone was ready to see some fun tricks, vote on their favorite trucks and potentially see some trucks wreck. I haven't personally been to a show since I was a kid, so I was looking forward to seeing if anything had changed. My kids and husband have never been, so it was an all-new experience for them. Monster Jam has a live app you can use during the show to vote on your favorite trucks and their performances to help them rank up on the score board to see who the ultimate winner would be. 

With so many crowd favorites it was a close competition with some of the trucks such as Grave Digger, Son-uva Digger, Solider of Fortune, Zombie and more. Each driver has a unique set of skills and a preferred method of tricks. 

It is absolutely crazy some of the tricks they are able to pull with the massive trucks they drive. Seeing the drivers being able to get the trucks onto two wheels balancing the trucks ever so perfectly so they won't topple and end up upside down. We were also able to see a two wheeled donut, some successful and unsuccessful tries at flipping their trucks and yes, I got videos of it! I will be sharing highlights of the event over on my Instagram page. I can only imagine how much fun it is to drive one of these massive trucks and do the amount of insane tricks that they do, it takes a lot of dedication, practice and a level of calmness to be able to get the massive amount of weight these trucks weigh to cooperate with what you are wanting them to do. 

There is a delicate balance with these trucks and the many turn overs you'll see goes to prove how you can go from doing an absolutely crazy stunt one second to being on your back the next because the ramp happened to tip your truck a little too much to one side and gravity took over.  

The first half of the event features the drivers seeing who could keep the trucks on two wheels for the longest amount of time, the longest running champion was Son-uva digger who managed to get almost 10 seconds. It is insane to see the time afterwards because it feels like it lasts several minutes then they announce it was only seconds they were up on two wheels. Each truck had two chances to test out their skills using which ever ramp around the venue they wanted to assist their trucks getting vertical. It is probably the truck most people know the name of and is my favorite truck as well, which truck is that? Grave digger of course but seeing son-uva digger was great as well because the driver Ryan had some of the best tricks of the night. I also really enjoyed watching Solider Fortune out on her runs, even when she ended up flipping her truck on it's backside she was still high spirited and did some cart wheels out on the track once she got out of her truck. All of the drivers had a lot of energy and were pumping up the crowd with their fun mini interviews during the event.

Following this there was a short intermission where they fixed anything on the trucks that needed to be fixed, fans could go get snacks, use the bathrooms, etc. then they came back for a free for all. Each of the drivers has a pretty amazing team behind them, they only have a set amount of time in between each half of the show to repair any damages that may have been done to the trucks. This includes rebuilding any part of the truck that may have fallen off during their stunts, replacing parts that burst or broke from how hard these trucks are driven during their short time out, and more. 

During the free for all each truck was given two minutes to drive the course and perform any number of tricks they wanted which were then judged using an app fans had access too. During the event as a whole, we saw some very high jumps, a few awesome flips and several accidents as well where trucks either ended up upside down or on their sides, and one even started to catch fire however the crew was really fast and put it out almost as soon as it had started. The show was pretty exciting because you never know what might happen during an event. My kids both enjoyed the show.

Good things to keep in mind before attending an event: If you don't want to spend a lot on food at the venue I suggest eating a head of time, arrive at least an hour before so that you have time to get into the parking lot, get through security, get to your seats and get settled in before everything starts. If you have small children, it can also get very loud during the event so it might be a good idea to bring a pair of protective head phones for them. 

Disclaimer- Monster Jam provided tickets for us for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.