Hello,
We will be visiting my parents in Palm Desert with our daughter who is currently a student at University of Wisconsin. Because we are within driving distance to Pasadena, we surprised her with Rose Bowl tickets as a Christmas present. We will have a rental car and plan to drive to Pasadena from Palm Desert that morning and back after the game. I know traffic and parking will be a nightmare - we are researching other options instead of buying the parking pass and parking near the stadium. Does anyone have any suggestions/tips for parking offsite somewhere then taking either a car service or the Metro to the stadium? Any other suggestions we should consider?

Thank you very much!
Attnymom

I probably wouldn't drive all the way to Pasadena but park at the Arcadia (or Monrovia) station on the Gold Line (light rail) and ride a couple of stops to the Memorial Park station. From there, walk a few blocks to the free shuttle bus that leaves from the Parson Complex and drops you at the Rose Bowl entrance gates. Just follow the crowd.

https://media.metro.net/documents/9a...70294abd7e.pdf
[Be sure to scroll to the Holiday Schedule.]

You can take the shuttle back to Parson after the game, but we usually walk back (1.5 miles) because the line for the bus is enormous. Lots of people walk, and you can basically follow the crowd or use your phone.

FYI: Like all college and NFL stadiums, the Rose Bowl's policy allows you to take only a 12"x12"x6" clear plastic bag/tote into the stadium. No backpacks, large purses, etc.

Enjoy the game!

Thank you Jean! I appreciate your response and it is very helpful. That will be our plan and thanks also for the heads up about the bag limitations.

Attnymom

What Jean said is perfect. An alternative would be to take the Gold line from Union Station and park at Union Station or one of the many parking lots nearby.

Another alternative would be to try and park at Parsons Building by the shuttle stop, but because of the Rose Parade it would be more than miserable trying to get into the lot, and they will have jacked up the prices to the same it costs at the Rose Bowl.

Check the Rose Bowl website for the shuttle. I know it's free for the UCLA games, but found it cost when we went to see the Stones there earlier this year, and we had to wait in two lines, one to get a bus ticket, and the second to get on the bus. 2 hours in line, it was NOT fun. People who pre-purchased tickets online could proceed straight to the bus (still a line, but not 2 hours!). If it does cost for this event, pre-pay on line and print out the tickets before-hand.

The shuttle to the Rose Bowl game is free. (The Stones concert was a "leased" event at the RB, so the city wouldn't have financed the bus.)

The problem with heading to Parson Center by car is battling the traffic to reach it and then (fingers crossed) hoping they are admitting anyone. The lot is also used by parade goers.

Union Station would be a detour, and the lot there does fill up. It's used by parade and game goers as well as train and metro users.

Thank you Jean and Surfergirl - your advice was perfect and we had no problems getting to and from The Rose Bowl! For future Rose Bowl travelers, I highly recommend following their advice and parking at a metro stop and taking the Gold Line in and then the free shuttles to the stadium.

Thanks again - we really appreciate your help!

Best,
Attnymom

Glad it worked so well... Sorry about the score...

For future Rose Bowlers - we parked at the Arcadia station and had no problem finding parking there. We went very early just in case there were crowds, but we had no problems. When we arrived at Memorial, there were huge crowds, but they were mostly people going home from the Parade, so it didn't really affect us. We walked to Parsons, where we easily got a shuttle that took us straight to the stadium. The only "goof" we made was not going into the stadium to get food before the game. Instead, we waited in line for over an hour outside of the stadium in the fan zone for food. We should have gone inside where there were lots of options.

We left the game with about a minute and a half left which proved to be a genius move - we were among the first in line for the shuttle back to Parsons and from there it was easy to catch the metro back to Arcadia to our car. I imagine if we had waited to leave the stadium when the game was over we would have had an extremely long wait for the shuttle bus back to Parsons.

All in all a very easy in and out and a very enjoyable day (despite the final score...)

Were you there when the questionable holding call was made that the Wisconsin coach was livid about? It likely cost Wisconsin the chance for a last second FG that would have won the game.
Oregon got a couple of drops that they scored TD's on. All in all it was an interesting game to watch on TV.