Have I mentioned that I hate tours? I hate being herded on and off buses. I especially hate having to get up in the middle of the night in order to squeeze in all the day's activities. Our schedule included crawling through L.A. traffic, standing in long lines with throngs of people, having about 15 minutes to appreciate whatever awaited at a particular stop - all while freezing because L.A. was colder and windier that New Jersey. I tolerated the first day and decided on the second day to wrap up in my wet blanket and skip the parade (4:00 a.m. wake up required). Mike went to the parade with my sister, who accompanied us on this trip, and he had a splendid time. I watched the event broadcast on HGTV, commercial free and hosted by Jonathan and Drew Scott, from the comfort of my room at the Marriott LAX. Everybody was happy.
Mike, my sister, and I reached the same conclusions about the Al Brooks experience. Here are our praises and criticisms along with a suggestion.
The accommodations at the Marriott LAX were very nice. Everyone at check-in was pleasant and efficient. The rooms were clean, and the beds were comfortable. The breakfasts buffets that were part of our package were delicious with a wide array of choices. We bought a couple of dinners at the hotel restaurants, and we thought the wait staff had fun, upbeat personalities.
Mike says the parade seating couldn't have been better. Al Brooks' seats are at the beginning of the route, under the TV cameras, so every marching band stops to perform there. Everyone is fresh and energetic at the start, and the floats look their best. Mike also reported that the lunch after the parade (included in the tour package) was tasty.
The buses were clean, and our driver was personable. He stood by to offer assistance getting down the steps each time we left the bus. We were assured that the bus would be locked if the driver left during our stops, so we felt confident that our belongings were safe.
Nobody at the tour company can do anything about the weather. The standard advice when visiting southern California in the winter is to dress in layers since the mornings and evenings are cold, and midday can be fairly warm. Whenever someone in southern California says "dress in layers," I hear "put a sweater under your light or medium weight coat or jacket." I wish I had taken my best winter coat, and I wish I had worn thick socks and boots. My toes were frozen after a few hours outside walking on concrete in the float construction areas. Mike says his feet were cold during the parade. You are immobile, sitting out in the open for a long time when you watch a parade from bleachers. That story about body heat keeping you warm from being tightly packed on the stands doesn't apply to feet. I also think a windy day takes that precious body heat up and away. Here is better advice. Dress in northern style layers - thermal underwear, warm socks, gloves, scarf, hat, and a heavy winter coat. If parade day temperatures start out in the lower 40's, as they did on 1/1/16, go with the full bundling up. You can stuff the hat and gloves in your pockets if the temps rise. You can also unwind the scarf and unzip or remove the coat. You could take a lighter jacket as an after parade option since there is plenty of space on the bus.
Mike and I have been to L.A. before, so we could have done without the December 31st activities. The trip to see the floats under construction involved too much waiting in line. They were nearly fully constructed and much of the judging had been done, so there wasn't a lot of building going on. Seeing the varieties of float materials was interesting, but volunteers are happy to talk to you about that after the parade when you get an opportunity to walk through the parked floats. You see the floats before the parade, you seeing floats during the parade, you see the floats after the parade. We would have been happy eliminating the pre-parade float exhibition.
After the float viewing on December 31st , we drove from one point of interest to another. We craned our necks trying to catch glimpses of various landmarks in downtown L.A. We were supposed to get off the bus to stroll down the Walk of Fame and past Grauman's Theatre, but we were behind schedule. All but one member of our group said it wasn't worth the trouble to get off and on the bus for a meager 15 minutes on the Walk of Fame, so the driver cruised around the block while the the one dissenting person power walked over the sidewalk stars. The Farmer's Market at 3rd and Fairfax was the same as farmer's markets everywhere. There was also a drive to the Santa Monica Pier (again, not enough time).
The tour operator can't do anything about the crowds. About one million people attend the Rose Parade. Anything you try to do is going to look and feel like being in a Walking Dead zombie march. How much of that are you willing to do? Our pitch to Al Brooks Tours is that they offer a parade day only package. That would have been just enough sleep deprivation and hurry-up-and-wait for us. We ran into a guy who had bought just such a package from a different tour outfit, but his seats were a couple of miles down the parade route - not nearly as nice as Al Brooks seats.
So, if you are thinking about attending the Rose Parade or going with Al Brooks, you have our two cents.
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| Float Construction, December 31, 2015 Evidently Santa has a gig building floats after delivering Christmas presents. |
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