Paint the Night Parade and Disneyland Forever Fireworks Strategy

[AZMermaid]

What time do you recommend we sit for a curb spot in Town Square (or that end of Main St) for the 8:45 parade? On Friday Nov 13 if that matters.... so a busy day.

 

[GeneralTso]

Here's what we did, at the recommendation of the cast member working Main Street. He said about 15-20 minutes before the parade, they ask everyone to stand up. At that point, duck under the ropes and stand there. It'll only be 2 or 3 people deep. It totally worked. In fact like a charm. Completely unobstructed view. Now--if you need or want to sit you need to get there super early. We did not care and were fine standing. We are not the type of people who sit and wait for a parade for an hour, let alone any longer than that.

We were with a fantastic group of people, they had a couple of strollers and they moved them to a "parking area" so we could come to the curb. We didn't need to be that close so we let the folks behind us get up front. It was a fantastic time.

Just a tip for those who don't like to wait that long. Wait til the stand up time, and they go in.

 

[Mousequake]

Anyone has any info on when to look for a good spot during the Halloween party? Has it been as difficult (and time consuming) as regular days or an hour before the fireworks is enough time to get a good spot?

I was at the 9/30 party, and I wanted a spot near City Hall so I could make a quick exit out of the parade. I had no idea how much time to allow, so I got there about an hour early, and almost every single bench in that area was empty. I grabbed a bench directly in front of the line for the villains, and kept an eye on how quickly everything filled up. I think you could easily get a spot in that area with less than a 30 minute wait. Granted, that's probably not the most popular area, but that's the only info I can give you.

 

[DnA2010]

Here's what we did, at the recommendation of the cast member working Main Street. He said about 15-20 minutes before the parade, they ask everyone to stand up. At that point, duck under the ropes and stand there. It'll only be 2 or 3 people deep. It totally worked. In fact like a charm. Completely unobstructed view. Now--if you need or want to sit you need to get there super early. We did not care and were fine standing. We are not the type of people who sit and wait for a parade for an hour, let alone any longer than that.

We were with a fantastic group of people, they had a couple of strollers and they moved them to a "parking area" so we could come to the curb. We didn't need to be that close so we let the folks behind us get up front. It was a fantastic time.

Just a tip for those who don't like to wait that long. Wait til the stand up time, and they go in.

Whereabouts do you mean?

 

[jenhelgren]

Can you see Jack or Zero fron down by City Hall during Halloween Screams?

 

[Metalliman98]

I don't know if this is a viable strategy or if we just lucked into it, but here is what happened for us:

We got into DL too late to get a good spot, so we did a few rides, then went over to IASW about 45 minutes before the start. While in line, I noticed the queue would be a good spot to watch it, but my family didn't think they would just let us camp out in the queue and let people pass us. So we got on the ride, got off about 5 minutes to show time. They were no longer running the ride and the queue was empty. We were looking for a spot, and the CM by the queue said we could get in the queue and watch it from there! We literally had the closest spot to parade start, got to see them right when they came out, and no hours of camping out! As a bonus, after the last float, they made us exit the queue and follow right behind the parade! We then got diverted into Fantasyland, so we didn't get a good view of the fireworks, but the parade view was unbeatable!

Not sure if we got lucky or if this is a strategy that can be consistently used, but it may be worth it.

 

[belle'ssister]

I use a scooter because of severe arthritis and had watched the Christmas parade from a handicapped section at the hub last December. Does anyone know if there is a handicapped section for PTN. We will be there Oct 19-23rd.

 

[GeneralTso]

It's either get there really early and wait a long time, or scoot in right before it starts and get an awesome view. Both work.

 

[Whistlebee]

So, I've read most of this thread but have a couple of questions...We will be 2 adults with 4 kids (4,5,5,8) and 2 strollers. We want to watch both PTN and DF. We will be there the first week of November, weekdays. My plan was to try to get a spot curbside on Main Street for PTN and then stay for the fireworks. I figured one of us could take the kids on 1 or 2 rides (like the carousel) while the other one held our spot. We could also eat dinner while we waited. But now I'm not so sure of this plan. Ideally I'd like to wait only 1 hour but figure curbside would probably be at least 2 hours. I'm wondering how much of the fireworks and projections our kids will actually be able to see from Main Street. Seeing as they are little and everyone will be standing up maybe it's not worth waiting to watch from here? Have you watched the fireworks from MS with little ones? Could they see?

 

[Whistlebee]

Bumping for advice...

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Saving

 

[halfmonkey]

We went in early summer and it was our first time going during the 60th Anniversary Celebrations. We weren't necessarily planning on watching the 60th stuff but during the early afternoon, we ended up taking a break on one of the benches in front of the castle with another group to the right. As we were sitting there, my wife ended up taking the 3 kids on a ride and I said I would just hang at the bench until they came back. It turns out that I thought about it and decided to just hold the spot because where we were sitting, we would get a straight ahead view of the new 60th parade, the new Paint the Night Parade, and be right in front for the fireworks. So even though I normally, wouldn't camp at a spot for that long, I ended up doing it because the way I figured it, my family would have had an awesome spot for all three major shows and it was the perfect spot. All the kids were able to view the parades and fireworks with no problems. I was even able to record all three shows on my camcorder with no problems. I used a second camera and recorded their reactions to the shows and later did a picture in picture splice with the second camera and the camcorder footage and it turned out great. I've since loaded the footage onto our digital photo frame and now it loops those videos along with the rest of our family videos. Well worth the time for me to have camped out.

We'll be going again in November and since we've seen the shows already, I won't be camping out but I do look forward to the Season of the Force specials. Might have to camp out for that.

On a side note, I also camped out for World of Colors but only about 2 hours or so and I also got a perfect spot that everybody passed up. This is even with the new set up they have. Again, since we've already seen it, we won't be camping out in November. Good luck to those that will be trying to camp.

 

[svfive]

Can you see the fireworks & PTN from a spot by Small world? Or am I better off being somewhere near # 2 on this map

http://dlrprepschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Soundational-parade.png

 

[figment_jii]

Can you see the fireworks & PTN from a spot by Small world? Or am I better off being somewhere near # 2 on this map

You can see fireworks and PtN from It a Small World Mall, but you won't be able to see the fireworks that are launched from the castle or Tinkerbell/Nemo unless you turn around. They do projections on the face of the IaSW building, so you can see those.

That being said, for me, seeing the castle is an important part of the fireworks show, so I would vote to be somewhere in the hub or on Main Street.

 

[EagleRockTony]

On Tue Nov. 24th there is a 5:45 PTN and 6:30 Fireworks scheduled on what will be a crazy crowded day I'm sure. After reading through this thread I think I would like to get a spot for three of us on the HUB looking toward the Castle and Matterhorn. Assuming it is a no blackout day for all APs and A Christmas Fantasy Parade is scheduled at 3:15, would I be able to swoop in for a good spot right after the ACFP? or is this optimistic and naïve?

 

[figment_jii]

I usually watch fireworks from Main Street/the Hub and have only tried watching fireworks from It's a Small World Mall once. We always talk about It's A Small World Mall, but I was wondering where do folks usually watch from in that area?

When I watched, I kind of roamed in the green area in the map below. The view seemed pretty nice, but either the IaSW Toy Shop got kind of in the way or the trees got in the way. Is the view better further up the mall (i.e., closer to the Matterhorn) or maybe closer to the IaSW building (i.e., closer to where the parade enters/exits the park)? I was kind of thinking that the trees block the view in the red boxed area (based on where I think they launch fireworks from). What about further up the mall (the white box) or closer to Storybook Canal (orange box).

 

[Angrose]

So, I've read most of this thread but have a couple of questions...We will be 2 adults with 4 kids (4,5,5,8) and 2 strollers. We want to watch both PTN and DF. We will be there the first week of November, weekdays. My plan was to try to get a spot curbside on Main Street for PTN and then stay for the fireworks. I figured one of us could take the kids on 1 or 2 rides (like the carousel) while the other one held our spot. We could also eat dinner while we waited. But now I'm not so sure of this plan. Ideally I'd like to wait only 1 hour but figure curbside would probably be at least 2 hours. I'm wondering how much of the fireworks and projections our kids will actually be able to see from Main Street. Seeing as they are little and everyone will be standing up maybe it's not worth waiting to watch from here? Have you watched the fireworks from MS with little ones? Could they see?

Unfortunately, the little ones will not be able to see the fireworks from Main St. unless someone lifts them up. I had to hold my DS7 up when we saw them in June, and I'm 5'2", so not that tall myself. I'm not sure where you could see them where no one would be standing in front of you. Maybe somewhere in the hub, right in front of the castle? But that would require getting there super early. At least you are going mid-week during a shoulder period so maybe the crowds won't be so bad. Halloween will be over and Christmas won't officially begin until the 13th, so it may be pretty light, crowd-wise. Good luck!!

 

[sgrap]

I would love to hear any updated experiences. We will be in DLR next week, 11/17-11/22. I will be in an ECV with my bum knee, and my daughter who is recovering from foot surgery will be in a wheelchair. We'll also have dh who will be pushing the wheelchair who has achilles tendonitis, our other daughter, and then our college age son coming for the weekend. Are there any suggestions for how to see PTN and DL Forever with the ECV and wheelchair? Thanks!

 

[emzben25]

Heading to Disneyland next week and need some advice about PTN. We are planning to go Wed (12/2) and Sat (12/5). From the research I've done, people say watch fireworks first and that the second parade is less crowded. There will be 2 parades on Saturday and one on Wednesday. Do you suggest watching PTN on Wed or Sat? Will Wed be crowded because of locals watching the parade since weekends are blocked out in Dec?

 

[mydisneyfix]

On Tue Nov. 24th there is a 5:45 PTN and 6:30 Fireworks scheduled on what will be a crazy crowded day I'm sure. After reading through this thread I think I would like to get a spot for three of us on the HUB looking toward the Castle and Matterhorn. Assuming it is a no blackout day for all APs and A Christmas Fantasy Parade is scheduled at 3:15, would I be able to swoop in for a good spot right after the ACFP? or is this optimistic and naïve?

We were in the park today. We happened to get off of IASW right as the 1:00pm Christmas parade was finishing in that area. We followed the last float to the Hub. As soon as people got up from the 1pm parade we sat in that perfect Hub/Curb spot facing the Matterhorn. I was glad we did. By 2pm that area of the hub was getting pretty full for the 3:15 Christmas parade. Not very many people left after that. They all stayed where they were for PTN and fireworks. I have to say that for us it was well worth the wait! We had just driven 6 hours to get to the park and we had left our house at 5am. We enjoyed relaxing in our spot, ate dinner in our spot, and I got FP for HMH for others in my group to ride while I stayed in our spot. Then I got more FP for BTR for later tonight. I absolutely can not say enough just how awesome that spot is! It feels like the floats are going to run you over the come so close and straight on! One note, I don't know if the second PTN goes in reverse direction like the other parades, but this was also a great spot to stay in for the fireworks. We stood right on the curb.