Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
Enter the showtime, say which ticket and which lot, and see when to leave and when to start getting ready.
Show night at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin. Not sure which time on the ticket matters? The concert night plan covers doors, opener and headliner at any venue; this page is about this one.
Every row is editable. Tap the showtime or any duration and the plan recomputes backward. The first travel row is your leave-by time.
The 50-minute drive is a typical run from Milwaukee without show traffic (the optimistic number). In the app, set Alpine Valley as the destination and Apple Maps fills in the time from where you’re leaving.
Then add for show night: every car aiming at the same entrance (real drive to Alpine Valley). Change the row and every step before it moves.
The time on the ticket is when the first act is due on, and at most shows here the doors opened ninety minutes earlier. With a general-admission ticket that gap is not spare: the spot on the lawn you get is decided by where you are in the line when the doors open, and everyone with the same idea is on the same walk in. So the plan puts you in that line before doors, and the stretch from doors to showtime is a row of its own.
With a reserved seat the deadline really is the show. Aim to be in your seat ten minutes before the first act, and budget the walk to your row: it is the part people misjudge, not the drive.
Here is the evening drawn to scale. A maps app can number the drive. The rest is the walk in from the lot, the bag check, and the walk to your row.
Front door to your spot on the lawn: 3hr 30min
The usual show times here
There is no fixed schedule at a concert venue; the promoter sets each show's time, and these are the ones this one runs most often. Pick the one on your ticket and every step before it moves. Anything else, tap the showtime and type it in.
Doors are ninety minutes before showtime at most shows. Some nights open two hours out instead, and the event page carries the exact gate time along with when the lots open. The event page on Alpine Valley’s know-before-you-go page lists doors and showtime; the ticket often lists only one. If your gap is different, edit the settle-in row.
From Milwaukee it is about forty-five miles down I-43 to the East Troy exit, then County Road D. From Chicago it is closer to ninety miles and about two hours. There is no bus or train service to East Troy. Rideshare and drop-offs go to the back of the Yellow Lot, and a driver picking you up has to be in the lot 45 minutes before the show ends or they will not be let in. Tune to 92.7 FM near the venue for traffic and gate updates.
The lots are fields, and general parking comes with the ticket. Where you end up is decided by when you turn in off County Road D: the lots fill from the front, and a late arrival on a sold-out night is a long walk across grass. Premier and reserved parking are sold as the spots closest to the main gate, and Early Entry parking lets you in before the general lots open for a longer tailgate. Overnight parking and camping at the venue are not offered.
One road serves everything, so the queue in on County Road D is the row to edit for a big name. The way out is the same road and the same queue, so budget the better part of an hour in the lot after the last song.
Gates usually open ninety minutes before the show, sometimes two hours. Screening is metal detectors, maybe a pat-down, and a bag check: a clear tote up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches or a small clutch up to 6 by 9, nothing else. Food goes in a clear gallon bag. One factory-sealed bottle of water up to a gallon, or an empty refillable bottle or hydration pack to fill inside. No chairs of any kind and no umbrellas; a blanket is fine, a tarp is not. Then the hill: the lawn falls away from the gates toward the pavilion, and a lawn spot near the front means a walk back up at the end with everyone else.
Tailgating is allowed in the lots and plenty of people make an afternoon of it. Add one and the plan puts in setting up, eating and packing the car before the walk in, which means leaving the house that much earlier.
Once the gates open, staff ask everyone to head inside, so the tailgate here ends at gates rather than whenever you feel like it. Grilling is allowed; alcohol stays in the lot, because none can come through the gate.
Doors, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
For a general-admission ticket, be in the line before doors, which are ninety minutes before showtime at most shows here; the plan above puts you there fifteen minutes early. For a reserved seat, aim to be at the gate thirty-five minutes before the show. Either way the walk in from the lot is the part to budget for, and it depends on which lot you got.
About 3:45 PM from Milwaukee for a general-admission ticket with a 50-minute drive and a spot in the general lots. Later for a reserved seat or the premier and reserved lots, earlier for a tailgate. Every row above is editable; the first travel row is your leave-by time.
General parking is included and the lots are grass fields that fill in the order cars arrive. Premier and reserved parking are sold as the closest spots to the main gate; Early Entry parking opens before the general lots for tailgating. Lot opening times are posted per show on the event page. Alpine Valley’s know-before-you-go page has the current lots.
About twenty minutes from the back of the general lots and ten from the premier and reserved lots, across grass. Wear shoes you can walk a field in, and remember the lawn itself slopes down to the pavilion. The plan's default for the general lots is 20 minutes, and it is editable.
No. There is no bus or train to East Troy. Driving is the way in; a rideshare or a friend can drop you at the back of the Yellow Lot, and whoever picks you up needs to be in the lot 45 minutes before the show ends.
A clear plastic tote up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or a small clutch up to 6 by 9 that need not be clear. Food in a clear gallon bag, one sealed bottle of water up to a gallon or an empty refillable one. No coolers, cans, glass, chairs or umbrellas.
Going to a game instead? The stadium pages. Flying in? The airport pages.
Ready Time keeps the plan and subtracts again when the show time changes. Put in the next ticket and the same steps land on new times, with an alert on each one.
Get a nudge at the right moment, while there's still time to act.
Each step gets its own alert, so you know what's next and how long you have.
“A key part of my planning process. Well worth the investment.”App Store review
Ready Time
You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.
