Notice to AP holders that ride the Mardi Gras Floats

[MIB999999]

If you are going to ride the float then learn how to throw the beads. I was at the parade last night and i have never seen such a limp wristed group of people in my whole life. The people lining the parade route are from 2 to 15 people deep depending on where you are along the parade route. Throwing beads so they travel no further than the front row is just wrong. If you can not throw them then do not ride the float. While it may be fun for you, it is no fun for a majority of the people lining the parade route. The people in the two story floats did a great job of getting the beads throughout the crowd.
As a final note, if you want to video tape the parade then do it from the ground and not from the float you are suppose to be throwing beads from. :cool2:

[robvia]

LOL. Absolutely classic. I'm sure the cast will tell the members to throw the beads farther. They all must of had the same idea, that the people in the front row "deserved" the beads just because they were there. Wow.

[atigeg]

I was there last night (in front of Mummy), and noticed just the opposite. I was in the front row, and they were tossing the beads to the back rows almost every time. I did get some, but the majority went to the people in the back. It was weird, tho'...on some floats, they had beads but didn't throw 'em at all, just stood there and stared. What's that all about?

[MIB999999]

I was there last night (in front of Mummy), and noticed just the opposite. I was in the front row, and they were tossing the beads to the back rows almost every time. I did get some, but the majority went to the people in the back. It was weird, tho'...on some floats, they had beads but didn't throw 'em at all, just stood there and stared. What's that all about?

maybe the mummy ride really is haunted and they saw something that froze them with fear. :cool2:

[NotAmused]

Yeah, I was across from Jaws for the parade last night and I noticed the opposite. We were front row and all the beads were getting tossed further back, though it could've been because the space was so tight and the float was literally a few inches from us (several float attendants had to jump up on the curb fast to save themselves.)


My little complaint is that everyone on the float had the same idea to throw all the beads to the little kids next to me. I know little kids are cute and everything but does *every single person* have to throw the beads to them?:mad: Everyone watching the parade is cheering and wanting to catch a few beads, not just the little kids who were cursing at their parents a few moments before the parade started :thumbsup2

[CivilTwilight]

I feared for my life the one and only time I did the Mardi Gras parade! They were hurling those beads so hard that I had welts on my face from where they hit. Also the crowds that surrounded the parade route were a little rowdy. People were jumping up and screaming and stepping right on you...you'd think that those beads were made of real gold!!! I quickly fell back to the sidelines and finished watching the parade from inside one of the stores. I felt bad for people that small children there that night, you could have easily lost track of them.

[atricks]

I was on the big Gator float last year and when I tossed the beads I made it a point to try to go for the back, or for kids, and more often than not the adults who were trying to play "cool" and not get invloved or those who look like they gave up because of the crazy people stepping over each other, only to watch them get excited when some beads actually did go to them.

A few got stuck in the tree, and a few spots along the route were good, I figured a lot of people right at the front got the beads so I would go for the back. It's difficult when you really can't throw them all that hard without the fear of nailing someone.

It was fun! Our entire group was planning bead strategy before we even got on the float itself. I guess it depends on who you are with. The employees gave a good run down of what to do and not to do too.

[MammaNicholas]

Let me share some insite from a seasoned rider. I'm a member of the Krewe of Cleopatra, in Houma, Louisiana (Worlds second largest Mardi Gras). On Feb. 19, I'll have been riding for 15 years (wow that's a long time). I ride on double decker floats. In the beginning, I rode on the bottom, and if it's a low float, it's not so easy to throw to far out when you're on the bottom, if it's nice high one, much less of a problem. If they were throwing one bead at a time, it's harder to make them fly far (I tend to throw by the pack myself). Now I ride on the top, so my beads fly good and far. Now the children, they are so hard to pass up. There's nothing worst than seeing them try so hard, competing with adults to catch something, and not get anything. And its such a good feeling to see them with the big smile on their face when they catch something on their own.