as it turned out, when we got to the diamond parking line, we found a line of cars over a mile long to get in. we found another place to park, and simply rode a city bus downtown. buses were probably 50% capacity and primarily locals on their monday morning commute. it only cost $1.50 to ride and was very quick and dropped us off right behind the capital. worked out perfect. my guess is we'd still be 1/2 mile from diamond (where VCDL had arranged shuttles for people) if we'd waited instead of taking a bus. definitely no way to park downtown though.