Re: BCS 2013-14: This space for rent
Do you have experience with the Rose Bowl? Please say yes because I have some questions.
How reliable is the public transportation? I don't have a hotel yet (ok I don't actually a flight yet either) but I've been looking at taxi prices and those are pretty high. It's 80 bucks just to get from the airport to Pasadena, which is a hefty cost for a student. Now buses I have some experience with in EL, but nothing on par with LA, is their system easy to get around on?
And then gameday. How easy is it to get to the stadium? Will it be a hassle?
Last year I was doing New Year's in DC, so my wife and I caught a 6am flight to get to LAX by 9am. Our hotel was right near the airport, so we dropped off our stuff there and then immediately took a taxi over to the stadium. The taxi dropped us off at the top of the canyon, and it was a 30 minute walk down the shoulder of the road to the parking area (i.e. the golf course). On the way back, we waited (roughly two hours) for the shuttle back to downtown Pasadena, and then took a taxi back to the hotel near the airport. As you mentioned, it was about $100 each way. Given that we arrived the morning of, we needed a hotel near the airport, so we lived with that, but yeah the taxis cost alot.
This year we are actually giving the public transportation a try (and we're arriving from the Bay Area on the 31st, making the whole trip a little easier timewise). We have a hotel right next to Union Station in downtown LA. The metro system appears to have a Gold Line from Union Station and the rest of downtown LA to downtown Pasadena, so we will be using that on the day of. It will run extra cars and trains that day, so it sounds like it will be convenient for getting into and out of Pasadena. Both airports (LAX and Burbank) also have ways to get between them and Union station; LAX in particular has FlyAway, which runs often and takes about half an hour, so that seems like it will make getting to and from the airport easy enough.
As for once in Pasadena, it sounds like you can walk down to the stadium from downtown Pasadena (last year our cab dropped us off on the north end, whereas Pasadena is on the south end of the canyon). Getting back to Pasadena may be walkable, but the shuttle will also eventually get you there. It will take a couple of hours to actually get on the shuttle given that it's 90K people, but the lines actually does move at a decent speed because there are a lot of them. (Actually last year we thought we were close to the front of the line, but we then realized the line was a hairpin that extended for roughly a mile, so we kept wondering when the hell we would get to the turn in the line. Maybe it was the excitement from winning, maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the fact that Wisconsin fans are cool people and pleasant to be around, but I actually didn't mind the line that much.) Once back in Pasadena, the Gold Line will still be running so we're gonna take that back to our hotel.
Keep in mind I haven't done any of the Gold Line or FlyAway stuff, so I have no idea how well it will work. But I have read about people mentioning them for getting from an airport to the stadium, so it sounds doable. The main part was deciding where the hotel should be, and we figured Union Station is a good central point.
Also we're going to do the parade this year, which we didn't last year for obvious reasons. Area 2 seems like the best spot, since it's not as expensive as Area 1, but closer than 3 or 4, which don't save that much more. Plus it has a $7 all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast.
Edit: Also getting around inside/outside of the stadium isn't superquick, given that it 90K people but an old stadium. That said, it seems like it should be worse than it is given those factors. As mentioned before, the stadium is at the bottom of a canyon, so no cars or buses or trains get you quickly right up to the stadium, but it's not a bad walk going down; I haven't walk it going up. All things considered, get yourself to Pasadena with enough time to spare (or go to the parade) and you'll be excited enough that you won't notice any of the hassles. I certainly don't remember any, but again, we won.
