1) It stops running at the parade start.
2) Once the parade passes, it starts again.
3) It is halted for about 15-17 minutes.
1) Not necessarily at the "start time."
(If it did stop at the start time for parades entering at the front of the park, the train would not be running for at least 30+ minutes.)
They stop the trains as soon as the parade nears the exit point (near Splash Mountain) as just after the parade leaves the street, it crosses the RR track.
2) Yes. Once they stop the trains, they must wait for the entire parade to cross the tracks, which takes...
3) yes, about 15-17 minutes.
The timing of this reverses if the parade begins back near Splash Mountain.
In that case, they do stop the trains at the beginning of the parade and restart the RR after the last parade until crosses safely over the RR Tracks near Splash Mtn.
The "Party" Parades (
MNSSHP and
MVMCP) begin back near Splash Mountain, and on certain days, the 3 O'Clock Parade MIGHT begin there (although on most days it runs from front-to-back, like the evening lighted parade.)