Rose Bowl Travel

[TNutefan41]

Trying to finalize my travel plans for the rose bowl. A little late I know. Original plan was to drive to Saint George on Friday, stay there Friday night, then leave from there early Saturday morning (around 5am Saint George time) to make the rest of the drive to Pasadena. I want to be in my seats no later than 1pm Pacific Time. For those who may be more familiar with this drive, will I risk being late to the game if I do this? Google maps says St George to Pasadena is about 5.5 hrs but I expect it will be much more than that with traffic, I just don’t know how much additional time to account for due to traffic. Any thoughts?

[Tony (admin)]

I decided to go down to Vegas Thurs night, then drive the rest of the way Friday.  That way I still have time to make it Saturday if something crazy happens like an accident similar to the one in the Virgin River Gorge on Pac-12 Championship day. 

[AZUteFan]

That is cutting it close.  A couple of things to keep in mind is traffic and parking in Pasadena on New Years Day is crazy.  You may make it to Pasadena by 11am, but the extra traffic and finding a place to park will not be easy.  Another thing to take into account is the covid checks at the gate – proof of vaccination or a negative covid test.  This is going to make entry into the stadium a nightmare, especially for those that show up to the gate 30-45 mins before kickoff. 

I would consider driving to Vegas or Primm on Friday and aim to arrive to Pasadena around 10am on Saturday morning.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but from what I have heard about the traffic/congestion in Pasadena on New Years, you will want a buffer of 1-2 hours just to park your car and another hour just to get through the stadium entry gates.  I admit that I am anal about being to the stadium early, but this isn’t a mid October game agasint Wazzu – this is the Rose Bowl!  Good luck!  

[MDUte]

^^Great advice^^ I was going to message pretty much the same thing. All I would add is that I’d strongly consider not driving into Pasadena to park. Everything I’ve read says it’s crazy, just as AZUteFan said, and I’m not one for sitting in long traffic lines that feel like they’re not moving or going anywhere. And trying to find parking in that type of a mess would drive me insane.

The much less stressful option from what I’ve read is to park at one of the big garages in downtown LA as close to the Union Station Metro as you can be. From there you hop on the gold line for a nice comfortable 22 min metro ride to Pasadena and get off at Memorial Park Station. Walk a couple of blocks to the Parsons Corporation Building (100 W Walnut St, Pasadena CA 91124) where there is a shuttle service to and from the stadium. Much easier and less stressful IMO. And if you go this route and happen to arrive ahead of schedule this puts you just a couple of blocks from the Rose Parade route along Colorado Blvd. In case you want to catch any of the parade before heading over to the stadium.

[Tony (admin)]

Primm is where I’m staying Thursday night.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Primm, eh? Pro tip: Don’t check your hotel mattress for stains of any kind. It’s better if you don’t know.

[Tony (admin)]

There will certainly be stains after I’m done with it… LOL

[TNutefan41]

I appreciate the responses! Leaning towards going a little further Friday night, maybe Primm. I don’t want to take any chances

[Spjegutes]

Today what should have took us 3 1/2 hours from vegas to Ontario took us over 6 hours due to traffic.  No accidents just tons of traffic. Primm was backed up from the ag inspection /  random stops in the middle of the desert .  I 15  2-15 split took over an hour  . 

[krindor]

Absolutely you want to be to at least Primm.  I’m way out in Atlanta so not going, but used to live in Los Angeles. Coming home from visiting family in Utah we’d always hit massive slowdowns in Primm. 

I’m talking sitting in traffic for hours there, just on a normal weekend.  Given the Rose Bowl, and New Years Day travel, I’d plan on a major bottleneck in traffic there.  If you’re not at least to or past Primm there’s a good chance you’ll be late

[UrbanLiar]

Holiday Inn in Victorville is looking good….

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