Rose Parade Float Viewing

Can’t make it to Pasadena on New Year’s Day to watch the Rose Parade? Yeah, we couldn’t make it here either. We stopped by the next day to view the floats. Go there early to beat the crowds. We arrived about an hour after they opened. For the first 2 hours, I enjoyed it. Over the next 2 hours, it was not so fun. The crowds kept growing. By 1pm, it was «wall to wall» people!
I think that it is worth the price of admission if there are no crowds. Before noon, we got some great views and pics of the floats. After that, we were just trying to navigate through the mass of people.
Do I recommend going to Pasadena to view the floats? Everyone should witness the beauty and workmanship of the Rose Parade floats at least once in their lifetime so Yes!
Note that you the Rose Parade Float viewing is only open the afternoon after the Parade, and the following two days after the Parade. If you miss it. then you have to wait til next year,

The Rose Parade is a quintessential SoCal event and viewing the floats on the days after the parade is a great way to experience the floats up close and personal. I’ve decorated a float before, viewed the floats being decorated at the Rose Bowl, watched the parade in person, and now seen the floats after the parade, and aside from being at the parade, the post-​parade viewing is the best way to go.
PARKING:
Parking is the one major downfall of the post-​parade viewing experience. You can either park in the neighborhoods near the viewing area and walk, or you can park offsite and take a shuttle. We did the park and ride from Pasadena City College. Parking itself is free and the shuttle costs $ 3/​person roundtrip. The problem is that you have to wait in line to buy a shuttle ticket and wait in another line to get on the bus. All told, the process took about an hour to get to our final destination (and the lines behind us were worse than the lines we faced). Next time I’ll try parking on the streets and hoofing it.
FLOATS:
Other than the fact that the floats are physically cordoned off so you can’t try to climb on them you can really get as close as you want to the floats so you can see all the beautiful roses and detail work used to make the floats so beautiful. There are tons of picture-​taking opportunities, and tons of people ready to crowd in front of you just as you are about to take that perfect picture.
Maps are handed out for free and there are plenty of volunteers in white suits in case you have questions. Many of the floats often have additional volunteers who are all ready to tell you all about the floats.
In 2016, kids could collect stamps at certain floats in order to earn a Junior Ranger badge from the National Park Service (just as you would at a National Park). Even without this, kids really get a kick out of seeing the floats up close especially if they’ve already seen them on TV.
CONCESSIONS:
There is a huge range of snacks and food you can buy onsite, but the prices are outrageous (as much or more than ballpark pricing) so be prepared. They allow you to bring food and drink in your purse/​backpack.

There was a lot to see for $ 10, which also means A LOT of walking. So wear comfortable shoes!
I went on the 2^nd to see the floats because I didn’t want to camp out for the parade. Went there around 1 and parking took us a good half-​hour (street/​resident parking). I was surprised the street parking actually did not required a permit. But if you want to save gas and time, park far. (Parked on avocado st.)
The long line for entrance moves faster than seems. But do expect at a 15−20mins wait. Maybe because it was pretty sunny this winter, a lot of the flowers are already dying the second day. And probably because the body heat from the sea of people… it felt like the first 626 night market iin Pasadena.
Bring paper for public toliets.
Wear sun protection items like glasses, caps, and sunblock.
Bring small snacks and water if you don’t want to spend too. Food was overpriced. Churros cost in there cost more than Disneyland.
They check bags at the entrance.

The Rose Parade Float Viewing which occurs immediately after the New Year’s Pasadena Rose Parade is the best seat in the house.
Rather than go early to squat a spot on the parade route for floats to pass by, you can come to the Float Viewing, take your time and come inches from the actual floats, up close.
You can take photos of or with the floats too.
It’s about 2 miles of walking from what I hear, and there’s balloons at each gate point, for which there were 3, and you can walk up and down the areas to check out the nearly 50 different floats on display.
There’s food vendors there as well too, and adequate port-​a-​potty outhouse restrooms. It’s very organized.
Admission is $ 10 per person, so can be considered high, but if the funds go back to the organization and also for the upkeep of this event, it’s worthwhile.
You’ll be able to spend at least 1 hour here if not up to 3 hours walking around.
Where the parade have people on the floats, live audio and music and all of the pageantry and energy of that event, this is a bit more sedate. So, I can see the benefit of both events separate or together.
Parking in the area is tough. There is a paid parking lot from what I hear. Also, the residents in the immediate area offer their driveways and lawns for public parking, but charge (how much I don’t know) and the adjacent residential streets also have not so ample street parking where a lot of luck, timing and karma come into play along with the willingness and ability to walk several blocks to the ticket gate.
It’s faster if you buy your tickets online or come and pay cash for your tickets at the event, but they also take credit cards.
I went to the 2016 New Year event, and it was crowded but respectfully organized, so wasn’t chaotic and a very pleasant experience. Lots of kids and strollers as well as a few walkers and wheelchairs, so this is a family oriented event for all ages.

Thank you, previous Unilocalers for your insights and tips which made our experience today much better.
We went to the float viewing on the extra 3^rd day, 1÷3÷16. We showed up during the 7 AM.-9 AM window reserved for seniors and the disabled, arriving about 7:25 a.m. We found free street parking a couple blocks from the Red Gate entrance, midway down the block, noticing that the street parking was quickly disappearing. It was a short walk to the Red Gate entrance.
My husband has just entered his 6^th decade, although no one made us show ID to prove our ages (I had searched far and wide for a definition of what «senior» was for this event, to no avail). We had bought our tickets on line. There was no line to get in at all. A white-​suited lady took our tickets with a smile. After a cursory peek at my purse by security, we were in. We had the place just about to ourselves, at first! The white suited folks were happy to answer any and all questions we had, and they were pretty knowledgeable. Mainly I wanted to know what materials were used on the floats.
We discovered there are a LOT of floats, about 45 in all, and there is a lot of walking! My husband is recovering from a sprained ligament in his foot, and he was hurting toward the end. There is almost nowhere to sit down, except nearly at the end where you could sit at picnic tables and listen to a jazz band.
Creature comforts are attended to: there were banks of port-​a-​potties and water stations. The potties were typical, getting nastier as the day went on, but not too bad early in the morning. There are plenty of food stands and numerous souvenir stands. Even though you can get free water in little paper cups, it’s smart to bring a water bottle along.
Since it was cold in the a.m. I dressed in layers. I had stripped off most of the layers by late morning. One thing I neglected was to bring a hat. The sun really beat down and I had to spend $ 20 on a Rose Parade baseball cap (half off!) Be sure to bring a hat or visor. I also wished I had brought a tote bag to haul my layers, collected brochures and purchases. I ended up hauling them in a trash bag fished from under the bag in a refuse bin.
By Day 3 some of the flowers had wilted. Also you could not smell any of the flowers any more. One of the white suiters told me on the 1^st and 2^nd day the flowers were very fragrant. My husband noted that the most dominant smell we experienced was from the churros stand.
By 10 a.m. the place was filling up rapidly. By 11 a.m. the crowd had grown thick. We left just about noon, hiking back to our parking space. Of course there was no street parking left and we saw signs put out by residents advertising Parking in their driveways for a fee. We made another car very happy by pulling out of our spot.
My advice: Get there early. Do not come on the day of the parade — everything I read said that was a disaster. If I had it to do again, I’d come the day after the parade. The floats are spectacular and amazing up close. You really cannot appreciate them from TV or even watching the parade from the street or grandstands. I am glad I have crossed this off my bucket list!

It is really cool to view the floats for those who are not able or willing to watch the Rose Parade live in person. You can see amazing creativity in float design, beautiful flowers and hard work of hundreds of volunteers. The float viewing is also well managed. Parking can be a problem at certain hours but if you go after noon (or very early), there are always vacancies coming up in nearby parking lots. You will need to walk around 2 miles but it is fun time to be there with friends or family.

The floats are so much better in person. It’s so great to see them up close. I especially like the Lakers float.

The shuttle line at PCC is horrible. Been here for 45 mins and I’m only half way there. It’s 2.18 pm and I’m
about to give up and turn around. I just think about coming back and the same wait and long line that will face me to get back on the shuttle. had I known this I would have never come here. this organization needs to have more shuttle buses loading at the same time, they are only loading one. this is horrible.

I worked at the float viewing area in 2016. The organization of this event was horrible. The thousands in line were confused, making them rude and pissed off at the delay in opening. Once it was open hundreds started cutting into lines making the courteous people upset. The people in white DO NOT know how to coordinate an entry gate. They were nowhere to be seen when the rush started… Advise: have a gate designated for those with tickets and for those who need to purchase tickets. You need more barricades!!! You need handicap access… You cannot make exceptions for some and not give the same exception for others, People see that, then complain when they are not given the same exception. LEAVE THE ORGANIZATION TO THE PROFESSIONALS, LISTEN TO ADVISE, AND DO NOT CHANGE THE PLAN MID-​GAME.
I hope I never work this venue again.

Horrible. Disorganized. Appalling.
I went to the post-​parade with my wife and her parents and we all turned back at the entrance gate and went home indignant.
The entrance gate and a security guard channelled people into two groups, those paying cash and a catch-​all line where all forms of payment were accepted. I got in line to pay cash and, a bit irked by the disorganization and ppl cutting in line, waited patiently to buy my tickets. There were no dividers/​barricades to channel ppl into lines, leading up to the ticket booth, so a mass of ppl just converged to buy tickets at each of the four windows.
I was two people away from buying my tickets when an unsavory ogre-​looking fellow, RICK NORDSTROM, a sorry excuse of a white-​suiter, announced that he was shutting down the cash-​paying line. The reasonable cut-​off point, I thought, was the END of the cash-​paying line. But with no regard for the time and toil of those of us who had waited in line about 20 minutes, Rick went to the front of the line and told the ticket sellers to stop selling tickets b/​c «people don’t listen.» Someone asked him «well is our place in line going to be honored at the other line since we’ve been waiting in line awhile.» Rick simply dismissed her and told her to go to the other line. His condescension was unnerving!
Since my father in law is recovering from knee surgery, we decided to leave. As we exited, we could hear Rick saying rudely «why didn’t people buy their tickets online?» Well, why sell tickets at the door if the arrogant ‘white-​suiter’ in charge of the area is going to become overwhelmed and unable to properly and respectfully control the crowd? A dismayed woman was trying to ask him if she could buy the ticket with her phone and gain entry with the purchase confirmation. Rick dismissed her and told her to «go home, buy her ticket online and come back tomorrow.»
My wife asked Bob Perez, a respectful and respectable white-​suiter, how we could file a complaint. When my wife described Rick’s brutish demeanor to Bob, he, who apparently is no stranger to Rick’s sleaze, explained the process. I feel sorry for the people who came from out of town for this event, but I feel more sorry for RICK NORDSTROM, who probably went home with a sense of misguided pride thinking very highly of himself for the way he handled the situation.

Horrible 1 hour delay… BUT we still had fun viewing all the beautiful floats. My first time and I loved it. Thank you to those who volunteer/​donated their time, money and effort to make 2016 rose parade happen.

Definitely worth seeing. Arrived a little later than I would have wanted to but parking was easy.
Recommend parking at PCC, buy your tickets and shuttle pass (covers your entrance and shuttle to and from). Everything seems pretty well organized and staff is helpful.
Great way to see the floats up close, TV does not do them justice. The amount of work, design and detail that goes into each float is amazing.
It does get crowded, so arrive early.

It’s been over 20 years since we’ve done the post-​parade viewing.
This can be an enjoyable experience if you make the effort to get there first thing in the morning.
Since we’re somewhat close to senior citizen age, we thought we could maybe get away with getting in early for the 7−9am viewing (for Senior & Disabled guests). Turned out that we didn’t have to worry about being turned away because they were letting everyone in.
Getting there at 7am gives you plenty of room to enjoy the floats up close.
We were taking our sweet time and couldn’t help but notice the crowd getting bigger by the minute. By 8:30, it was already looking like this–

which was still a half hour before the 9am general public opening.
Getting there early also gives you plenty of easy parking options.
We found free street parking two blocks away from the Red Gate entrance.
There are shuttle services if you come later. Look at the link below to find out how to access those.
There’s also some nearby paid lots (run by community groups). We saw those going for $ 10 – 20. Some enterprising residents also were offering spots in their driveways for a price.
Porta-​potties. They’re all over the place. Another perk of going early is that they’re tidy and not as gross as they would be later in the day.
My favorite float of the day was the excellent replica of Downton Abbey.
There were character stand-​ups and folks were having fun taking pics with them.
Of course I had to pose with Dame Maggie!
They were giving out souvenir cups & English teas too. (I’m sipping on a lovely herbal blend at the moment.)
Friendly volunteers (white suits) are all over the place, happy to answer any questions about the floats.
Plenty of snack options.
We really had a good time! (mostly because we went early)
This was a 2-​hour adventure that logged a bit over 9,000 steps on my pedometer.

I would highly recommend going to view the Rose Parade floats if you can. The showcase of all the floats began on January 1^st in the afternoon and goes through January 3^rd. 4 p.m. is the last entry on January 3, 2016.
INFORMATION:
— Floats available for viewing the afternoon of the parade at 1 p.m. and a couple days after.
— Hours for residents who live nearby and, seniors and disable guests are 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
— Regular hours for all others from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (last entry)
— Admission is $ 10.00. Children 5 and under are free.
— $ 3.00 for shuttle from Park & Ride lots at The Rose Bowl Lot B, Pasadena City College and the Community Education Center.
— Street parking is extremely limited. No parking signs posted in all the residential areas.
— There are lots of porta potties, water stations, food and souvenir vendors.
— Go as early as possible because it can get crowded.

The wait time for the float viewing this year was horrible. The event supposed to start at 1pm. The entrance gate did not open until 2pm. There were thousands of people waiting in 3 different lines for people with tickets, no tickets, and VIP with wrist band?. When the gate did open. To see only 2 windows selling tickets ($ 10/​pp) and 2 people doing the mandatory security check on bags for thousands of people… So un-​organized!!!
Suggestions: Have more staff selling tickets OUTSIDE the entrance gate BEFORE the event instead of inside the entrance gate. More staff to do the security check.
Finding free parking in the area is challenging unless you get there early. Viewing hours are: 1−5pm on New Year Day; 9−4pm the next two days. Shuttle is $ 3 round trip. Shuttle pick up at various parking lots in Pasadena area. Best to buy admission and parking tickets online.

Supposed to open at 1:00, but at about 1:20 word started circulating through the growing line that the fire Marshall hadn’t given the OK to open the gates. Two lines, one for «have tickets» and one for «need to buy tickets», but there was no access to the ticket booth until they opened.
There was no security control of the growing lines, and bus after bus kept arriving and dumping loads of people into the mix, and with no direction for these people, they went to the front of the lines, to be told by the people who were waiting that they had to go to the back of the line.
It was surprising that with all the news of an «increased police presence» at the parade that they couldn’t even post a security guard in line to keep it under control.
By 1:45 the gates still hadn’t opened. Everyone was becoming increasingly aggravated and any control of the lines was about lost. My wife and I gave up and left the free-​for-​all when a fight nearly broke out. As we walked back, both lines were several blocks long.
Also, in previous years, you could at least look through the chain link fences at the floats. This year, they screened off the fences to keep people from seeing the floats unless they paid to get in. Greedy move, Tournament of Roses…
Not worth risking my family’s safety if they can’t even provide police or security for the people trying to get in.

If you don’t want to wake up early and watch the parade on a cold New Year’s morning, this is your way to go. The floats are lined up on the street by Pasadena High School.
Parking is nuts. You can choose to pay for prime parking in the church and school parking lots, neighborhood people are charging for you to park on their lawns or driveways, or park far on the street. We chose to park on the street.
It costs $ 10 per person to enter to see the floats which is a bit pricey in my opinion. There are snacks and drinks for sale inside. You can expect to pay prices as high as going to the LA/​OC fair.
I brought my baby and I would say it is stroller friendly except for one street where you had to roll over grass to get view those floats. I skipped that part.
I loved that you can see the detail on the floats. There are workers at each float who can describe to you what flowers or ingredient was used to make the float.
It was crowded but we had fun and was able to take some pretty awesome pictures.

Always wanted to see the Rose Parade live but never wanted to camp out overnight? Well then the Rose Parade Float Viewing is just the thing for you!
So glad I found out about this! Parked at one of the shuttle locations and paid $ 3 for shuttle and $ 10 for admission.
There were several porta-​potties at the shuttle location and throughout the float viewing areas. The great thing about the float viewing is that you can actually get us close and personal and take pictures in front of the floats. The downside is that you don’t get the full effect of live band music and float animation that you would see at the parade.
We were lucky and they did animate the Hawaiian float which was cool because the volcanoes had flames blasting out of them.
Food carts are all over the place but they are pretty pricey! Water was $ 3 a bottle, Soda $ 4 bottle, hot dogs $ 6! They did have 2 free water stations so we were lucky we decided to hold off buying water. Couldn’t resist buying the kettle corn however. $ 4 for a small bag.
I would recommend this to anyone in the future.

The ~40 floats that are driven in Pasadena’s New Year’s Day Rose Parade are parked in on Washington Blvd (between Woodlyn & Sierra Madre) and Sierra Madre Blvd (between Washington & SM Villa Ave) until the end of Jan. 3^rd. You pay $ 10 and you get to wander around and see them up close.
There’s food vendors, a few trinket stands, live and piped music. The work that goes into the float design and construction is impressive and there are volunteers to explain about each one. It’s a fun couple of hours.
I went on the morning of Jan. 3^rd and didn’t find the crowds too bad. The website wasn’t selling tickets anymore but the line at the gate was short and well-​organized, at least on the 3^rd.
There are park and rides at three locations ($ 3pp over 5 yrs, see photo) and I saw a parking lot in Victory Park, off Paloma St., that was charging $ 10 per car and was still half empty at noon. Many of the roads on the east side of Altadena Dr were blocked off but there was free street parking to the west of Altadena if you’re a cheapskate like me. It was easy to find at 9am on the 3^rd, and OK at noon, but I can’t guess how bad the afternoons become. Cooley Pl doesn’t lead to an entrance gate (see photo) so parking near Paloma or E. Woodlyn is probably best.

It’s kind of a cluster fuck. But well organized I’ll admit.
The lines to purchase tickets and to get on the shuttle are worthy of Disneyland crowd handling. A Very organized and well oiled machine.
However once you get to the viewing area… LET LOOSE THE HOUNDS OF HELL!!!
I think all of LA and the trolls visiting the fine city of Pasadena come to see what was on the teevee just moments ago. Well that’s off my list for next year. Too many people at one place for me. Happy new year Unilocal family!
Cheers!!!