I could use some Rose Bowl/Rose Parade advice.

[Longhorn]

We're headed out there for the game.

Is it possible to watch the parade without tickets or does that require camping out? And since we're flying out, we wouldn't have chairs. Tickets on ebay are going for $130 to $500 a pair! I'm high bidder at $200 on a pair right now but I suspect the bid won't last. One guy is selling seats in front of his store, the Highland Cafe, for $30 to $50 each but I'm a little wary, not knowing what the parade is like at his spot.

I'd love to be able to park somewhere, watch the parade, then walk on over to the stadium but don't know Pasadena at all, though I've looked at a couple of maps. We're flying into Burbank and staying in Glendale.

Also, I could use suggestions for New Year's Eve in the LA area. We both love jazz, especially Dixieland. We tried to get tickets to Pink Martini at the Walt Disney Concert Hall but both concerts are sold out and the tickets on ebay and other sites are outrageous -- at least to me -- like $150 each and up!

Thanks, fellow DUers!

[rwenos]

1. No Problem with Tickets

You can just walk up to the stadium and buy em on game day. The Parade? No problem. Just walk up to the main grandstand and tell em you're a Longhorn. They'll take right care of you.

And I hope your team gets its ass kicked by the Wolverines.

UC Berkeley 1975, MA 1977

[bobweaver]

2. No tickets are required for just standing along the sidewalk.

The parade tickets are for grandstand seats. Seating along the curb for the parade is free and first-come, first-served. Nobody is going to save a seat for you. Thousands of people camp all night long to get curbside seats. When I went to it, my sister and her husband had grandstand seats and I didn't, so I walked... and walked.. and walked, maybe half a mile further. Even then I was in the sixth row back. The further to the east you go on Colorado Blvd., the thinner the crowds will be. But the further east you go, the closer you are to the end of the parade route. Almost all floats, bands and equestrian units make the whole route, but some of the floats break down mechanically and have to be towed the rest of the way. Usually they still operate, there is just a truck towing them along. Sometimes some moving parts of floats will quit working, or whatever. This is why all the TV cameras are at the very beginning of the route, at the intersection of Colorado Blvd. and Orange Grove Blvd.

[Longhorn]

4. Thanks for your comments!

Did you think it was worth it to go to the parade? It just seems like we should go, since it's such a tradition.

[bobweaver]

7. Yes

The music is much more exciting in person than on TV. The horses are much more impressive, especially those with a lot of silver on the saddles. The floats are sometimes less impressive in person, because you see the flaws in them. If you don't mind being around large crowds, yes it is certainly worth seeing in person once in your life.

[RagingInMiami]

3. Don't buy tickets until you get there!

I went to the national championship game in the Rose Bowl a few years ago when the Miami Hurricanes were playing the Nebraska Cornhuskers. I arrived with no tickets, but I ended up buying two tickets from a scalper for my then-girlfriend and I for $100 ($50 bucks each).
We ended up sitting in corner of the endzone, about three rows up from the ESPN booth, where the canes ended up scoring bigtime.
Because it has a 91,000 seating capacity, the buyer has the power, not the scalper. A friend of mine said he did the same a few years earlier when Arizona State University played Ohio State in the rose bowl.

[Longhorn]

5. Well, I'm afraid it's too late about the game tickets.

I already have those and for a lot more than you paid! I had no idea we might be able to get some at the game for less. Oh, well. Maybe they'll be selling last-minute tickets to the parade as well for less than they're going on ebay? And Pink Martini? Great idea! Thanks!

[dazeconf]

6. go blue! ... as to the parade

I thought it was a bit boring and now worth waking up early for. But that's just me :)