We went around 1pm on the first day it started. The ticket lines died down the security guard said. Thankfully for us we won free tickets from Yelp! Thanks again Misti Y. and Yelp :) you guys rock!!!! We got our tickets and headed straight out to the festival. We're pretty used to the size of San Gennaro so we were a little under whelmed. There were no lines anywhere thankfully. I tried some Filipino food and fluff ice which were delish! The food trucks were awesome lots to choose from. My daughter and I both got a cupcake from Sin City cupcakes(hers was a mini without alcohol) then we headed for the carnival.
You could tell RIGHT AWAY they jacked up their ticket prices for this festival. They had a paper towel over the cheaper prices and the sun was out so if you can count to 2....my 3yo had a good time, our pockets didn't!
All in all we had a good time. Our biggest complaint were the prices at the carnival but if it had been just hubby and me there would be little to complain about! I do think we got there during the down time which was nice!