VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The final preparations are complete, and the floats are ready for the Rogers Santa Claus Parade in downtown Vancouver today,
    
But what it takes to pilot one of those things, besides an elf hat?
    
News1130′s Mike Lloyd decided to test drive one of the floats ahead of the parade. “As you slide into the little paint and foam spattered cockpit of big Frosty it’s tough to see where you’re going.”
    
He asked Dave Rowland, the head designer at Creatix Studios, what happens when you put your foot to the floor? Rowland says that is not a good idea.

“We actually have quite an engine underneath them, they were originally vehicles like vans, which we strip down the bodies and then stretch them out. They don’t go more than 20 or 30 miles an hour, at the most, but they’re capable of twice that, easily. But then you’d have reindeer flying off down the road, and I don’t think the police would appreciate that.”

All the floats in the parade are ready to go, but not after a very big effort from Rowland and his crew of merry elves, who says a lot work goes into getting them parade ready.
    
“It’s easily a thousand hours per float to get it together, and we refurbish them every year. We paint the whole thing and pretty much build them from scratch. “

And new this year, on the big finale float, Rowland says Santa has a brand new sleigh. “We’ve kind of souped it up a but, and (built) a more old fashioned, traditional kind sleigh. It’s a little bigger, carries more toys.

And the big man in red loves it.

News1130′s Kim Seale and Tammy Moyer  started things off at the Coast Capital stage with some pre-parade fun.