We bought tickets for the parade so we could sit in the stands. As I recall we had to get there very early, so lots of waiting around on a cold morning. I think we spent a lot of money at Starbucks, partly to get warmed up inside a building, partly to get breakfast, and partly to justify using their bathroom.
I'm glad we did it once, but I wouldn't bother a second time. Maybe just me, but I thought the floats look more impressive on TV than in person.
You would probably want to spend the night before the parade reasonably close to Pasadena. One fun thing to do in that area is to visit the Huntington Library/Art Museum/Botanical Gardens in nearby San Marino. It's definitely worth a visit.
If you want to avoid the LA area entirely during the first part of your trip, the beach community of Santa Barbara is only about 2 hours up the coast, and if you fly into LAX, there is even a convenient bus that lots of people who live in SB take to get to/from the airport to avoid the sometimes frazzling drive. (You could also fly directly into the very cute Santa Barbara airport, but service there can be a little spotty these days because of limited schedules and covid issues with the airlines.)
Farther up north, about another two hours from Santa Barbara, is the mission & college town of San Luis Obispo. (If you head in that direction, you might want to stop at Solvang on the way, a Danish inspired touristy town, but worth at least a quick look.) Just west of San Luis Obispo is beautiful Morro Bay - think sea lions, sea otters, and nice, very uncrowded beaches. (Fun kayaking there - I'm assuming you can rent the equipment, but I don't know that for sure since I go out with family.) In the same general area a few miles farther north, and along the beach, is the cute town of Cambria. This is also the general area where San Simeon is located - the huge property owned by Hearst, and the inspiration behind Citizen Kane.
Anyway, there is a lot to do outside the LA area, and if you're not used to the LA freeways, and don't like the general congestion there, it can be much more relaxing to spend time just a little farther north. And just FYI - you can't avoid renting a car entirely to get around in CA. But depending on how you want to plan your trip, Amtrak does run trains, with some beautiful views of the coast, all the way from Santa Barbara to/from San Luis Obispo. And if you want to go to
Disneyland anyway, you could fly into the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, then catch an Amtrak train from Anaheim to Santa Barbara or all the way up to San Luis Obispo. I'm not trying to scare you off from LAX. Everything is doable from there, but it's not a relaxing airport to fly into or out of, so I thought you might like to hear of other options that might not be as obvious to people who aren't familiar with the area.
Hope this helps!