PASADENA - The rose petals seemed to be more brilliant, the seeds more plentiful, the banana leaves perfectly aligned and Esther and Phyllis Warren felt lucky to see Rose Parade floats up close.
The Warrens of Lubbock, Texas, were among the thousands of parade fans who spent a portion of Wednesday examining the floral stars.
"It's just completely different than the parade," said Esther Warren, who is 78 and uses a wheelchair as she perused the "Showcase of Floats" along Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards in Northeast Pasadena. "It's just wonderful, all the details."
Wednesday offered the final chance to see the parade's 39 floats before they are taken apart and some of their components recycled.
The mother-daughter duo made the trip west to see the parade for the first time, Warren said, "before we can't make it.... This may be the last year for the stamina."
Bob Cheney, Tournament of Roses member who served as the organization's president in 1992, and his wife Ruthie, who live in Arcadia, were also up early Wednesday to see the floats.
Cheney recalls when he was chairman of the post-parade showcase in the late '70s, when it was held at Victory Park, and lights were brought in to allow for nighttime viewing.
"I've been involved in the parade for 50 years and as I said, it gets in your blood," he said. "You go back and see what's going on."
Cheney said he thought this year's floats were "spectacular" and offered a new level of entertainment - such as the wedding ceremony on the Farmers Insurance Group float - that appealed to a younger crowd.
In addition, "some of city floats - La Ca ada, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre - have in the past several years done a marvelous job," Cheney said. "They used to be just a homegrown kind of thing. Now, they're winning prizes and stepped up big time."
Eight members of the Vanslooten family made the trip from Lancaster on Wednesday to see the floats after watching the Rose Parade online.
"When I was a child, I came a lot, but I never brought the family," Gail Vanslooten, 65, said. "I said they needed to see the flowers... It's really unbelievable that they can do this with just flowers."
Her children and grandchildren were especially excited to see Disneyland Resort's Destination Cars Land float since the family has a yearlong pass to the amusement park, she said.
Vanslooten was also grateful that the Tournament of Roses blocked off time for persons with disabilities before general admission since two of her sons, who have Down syndrome, and one of her granddaughters, who has cerebral palsy, are in wheelchairs.
"We're really glad they let the handicapped come in early because it's so hard with the wheelchairs when it gets so crowded," Vanslooten said.
Janet Diel, a 15-year member of the Tournament of Roses, was stationed there to offer services to persons with disabilities, including a 2013 Rose Parade program in large print and in Braille and audio tours of each of the floats.
Student ambassadors from Pasadena City College and from the Tournament of Roses, as well as Diel's daughter, Jossie, who is fluent in sign language, were also available to assist, take visitors around and let them smell or touch the floats - or hear, read or see descriptions of them.
It's to "make the whole thing an experience you and I would remember forever because we've seen it or watched it and they've been able to touch it or experience it in another way," said Diel, who has a spinal disability herself, said.
Rose Queen Vanessa Manjarrez, 17, of Mayfield Senior School and her royal court took time Wednesday to pose on their Macy's float one last time as spectators and Tournament of Roses officials snapped a slew of photos.
Manjarrez, who was preparing to go to breakfast with the court and the Tournament's Queen and Court Committee members, was all smiles despite still recuperating from the whirlwind of New Year's Day festivities.
"I'm very tired but we had a really good time, so it was all totally worth it," she said. "We're excited to be back on our float, pick a couple of flowers and go back to relaxing at home."
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