Towel to help reserve spot for parade?

[Motherofsix]

Would it be okay to bring a small beach towel and lay it out on the curb for my children to sit on at the FoF parade? Or would this be frowned upon?

Along the same lines, could we use this towel to help secure our spot for the parade? We would not leave the towel unattended, but I may sit with a couple of my kids on the towel, while my husband takes a couple kids to the bathroom or to get ice cream. I was just thinking this would help us reserve enough room for our group of six, without people pushing into our space if a few of us need to go to the restroom/get a snack while we wait. It would also be nice to have my children sit on a towel instead of directly on the ground (since they may be wearing pretty princess dresses).

What are your thoughts? Have you seen anyone do this? Is it allowed? Thanks!

 

[glamdring269]

It really depends on how crowded it is that night. Seems like some folks go completely out of their minds and rush in at the last second completely oblivious to what others may be doing around them.

 

[LSUfan4444]

was just thinking this would help us reserve enough room for our group of six, without people pushing into our space if a few of us need to go to the restroom/get a snack while we wait.

What if me, my wife and daughter were in the same exact spot two minutes before you got there, but my wife had to take my daughter to the bathroom and I went to get a snack; would you understand if I said that was "our space"?

My point is saving a spot for someone who isn't there is touchy and depending on the person, I wouldn't count on considering a space yours unless the people are actually there.

Not that I wouldn't respect your boundaries, I just wouldn't expect everyone to respect them.

 

[Yubbie]

The only problem is that you are all thinking about this using logic. However, when a parade starts at Disney, logic goes out the window and people go bat crap crazy to find a spot at the last minute/second. It doesn't matter if you're saving a spot with a towel or a brick wall...If there's a spot, bat crap crazy will take it.

Unfortunately, the only way to combat bat crap crazy is to go bat crap crazy when people try to take your spot.

 

[MacDalt]

The only problem is that you are all thinking about this using logic. However, when a parade starts at Disney, logic goes out the window and people go bat crap crazy to find a spot at the last minute/second. It doesn't matter if you're saving a spot with a towel or a brick wall...If there's a spot, bat crap crazy will take it.

Unfortunately, the only way to combat bat crap crazy is to go bat crap crazy when people try to take your spot.

Lol!!!

 

[TireGirl]

The only problem is that you are all thinking about this using logic. However, when a parade starts at Disney, logic goes out the window and people go bat crap crazy to find a spot at the last minute/second. It doesn't matter if you're saving a spot with a towel or a brick wall...If there's a spot, bat crap crazy will take it.

Unfortunately, the only way to combat bat crap crazy is to go bat crap crazy when people try to take your spot.

And OP you may think that post was "bat crap crazy" but it wasn't!!! It was dead on! Lol

Love it

 

[cakebaker]

I don't care if you build a fortress around your space and really it doesn't matter if you're holding a spot or if you all stay put. Having been at WDW for the last 3 days, I can safely say there is some rude slob that's going to try and push you out of your spot. My daughter is nursing a pretty nasty foot injury tonight from some idiot in a wheelchair who thought nothing of running over her entire foot to try and ram themselves into a space 2 minutes before the parade at MNSSHP tonight.
I was yelled at and called rude by a woman at HS last night wanting to push into a space for the frozen fireworks after she got out of Fantasmic when I said no to her coming in.

Seriously, the service this trip has been excellent, bus service perfect, resort is great. Its the clientelle that sucks- biggest bunch of rude and pushy people I've ever encountered in one place.

So good luck- watching anything at Disney should be considered a contact sport.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I think you would be fine using a towel or whatever to help save a spot. As long as they are there well before the parade starts, because things do get crazy a few minutes before the parade starts. I've had people sit down on my feet, literally sit down on my feet. I had to wiggle my feet out from under them and push them with my foot to even get their attention.

We are normally a party of three, usually DS and I will save DH a spot while he gets drinks. We usually do it with backpacks because people have to shove them out of the way to sit. DH is always back well before the parade starts too. I would not leave one person to try to save more than one spot.

 

[alvernon90]

The only problem is that you are all thinking about this using logic. However, when a parade starts at Disney, logic goes out the window and people go bat crap crazy to find a spot at the last minute/second. It doesn't matter if you're saving a spot with a towel or a brick wall...If there's a spot, bat crap crazy will take it.

Unfortunately, the only way to combat bat crap crazy is to go bat crap crazy when people try to take your spot.

Yeah, this is why I would never bother with the parades. So much conflict and resentment! For what? I say let the bat crap crazy shove and seethe over on Main Street, just makes the rest of the park less crowded.

But if the OP does try the towel trick, please report back the result! We will know that magic is real if that story has a happy ending.

 

[minniemom37]

The only problem is that you are all thinking about this using logic. However, when a parade starts at Disney, logic goes out the window and people go bat crap crazy to find a spot at the last minute/second. It doesn't matter if you're saving a spot with a towel or a brick wall...If there's a spot, bat crap crazy will take it.

Unfortunately, the only way to combat bat crap crazy is to go bat crap crazy when people try to take your spot.

HAHAHA!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

That's why I burned Fastpasses for the parades. So I don't have to worry about it.
Last time we went I was saving a space for my daughter and the baby (diaper change). I had our backpacks down in the spot where we had been waiting 2 hours, and I got up to move the stroller to allow someone to move closer. Someone moved the backpacks while I was moving the stroller and sat in dil's and my spot. Oh heck no! I squeezed in with my son and husband and proceeded to scoot over until I had enough space for my dil. They finally moved. It was a fiasco anyway. We had been sitting on the wall outside Pecos Bill's for almost an hour when a CM told us (and another family that had been there almost as long) we couldn't sit there for the parade. For the next 20 or so minutes we watched him fend off people who decided that was just the spot for them to sit. He finally decided we could sit there, and he walked over and told us we could have our seats back. We moved to the spot we had been at, but the other family got shut out by stampeeders except 1 spot for the elderly grandmother. The grandfather was kneeling in front of her talking to her, but the CM made him move (which he was going to do anyway). I felt bad for them. They were in the process of sitting down when people literally slid in under them.

 

[HelenSB]

I think the scenario you describe would be perfectly acceptable.

However, laying out a towel & having one person sit at each end, whilst the others disappear for an extended period to ride another attraction/take in another show etc, only to reappear at the last minute, would not!!!

If you are staking out a spot for the parade then, for the most part, you all need to be present....bathroom breaks excepted, of course

Otherwise, those that do the disappearing act are no different to those people who turn up at the last minute & still expect a front row seat!!!

In that scenario a space is a space, and you can't expect it not to be filled just because there is a towel on the ground!!

Take the kids to the bathroom, & go to buy snacks BEFORE you set up camp.....that's what we used to do when our kids were younger. That way you minimise the chances of having to leave an empty spot for someone to wriggle into lol!!

Either way.....as the PP has said.....parades can be a bit of a zoo, and people will, at some point, encroach on what you consider to be 'your' space!!

 

[crostorfer]

I think people will just trample your towels and shove against your children.If you sit one on either end of the towel, people will just cram in between them. Seriously. There is no level of rude like humanoids about to watch a WDW parade.

If you have a spot in mind that you really, really, really want, camp there for 1-2 hours before hand, and be prepared to defend it using soft force.

 

[dpswift]

The only problem is that you are all thinking about this using logic. However, when a parade starts at Disney, logic goes out the window and people go bat crap crazy to find a spot at the last minute/second. It doesn't matter if you're saving a spot with a towel or a brick wall...If there's a spot, bat crap crazy will take it.

Unfortunately, the only way to combat bat crap crazy is to go bat crap crazy when people try to take your spot.

So very true. people have jumped in front of us pushed us together, It is so bad we usually do not watch the parades because it can be unenjoyable. If you do take a towel it will help but I would take one I did not care about because I am sure it will get stepped on.

 

[McKelly]

I have done the towel thing. People did respect it. They stepped on it and tried to squish my children, but they must have felt it on the bottom of their feet because they would look down and move away. I never used it to "save a seat" though, more so my kids didn't sit on the ground and not get pushed to the back when the parade started. Parades are by far the most stressful time of our Disney vacations.

 

[maxiesmom]

I would use the towel more to sit on than to save space. My feelings are that if you want to save space for the parade, you need to be in that space the majority of the time.

Bathroom breaks and quick runs to get popcorn should be the only time anyone leaves the space. Family members shouldn't be off riding rides or getting autographs. Not saying that is what you intend OP. But families shouldn't think one or two people can hold a space for a family of 6 for a long stretch of time.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Generally not recommended.

 

[pamkat1820]

Up until the FP for the parades I hated even considering. We were sitting on the curb (with a towel) and I turned my head for a minute to talk to my mother. Some guy tapped my daughter asked her to stand up, her being a kid she did & his daughter sat in her spot!!??? I was furious, one he touched my daughter #2 rude knows no boundaries. I told the guy his daughter has to get out of the sit my child was sitting and he should never do that to someone's child it dangerous. He was shocked I said anything and left. (This all happened in a spilt second)

Now if he asked Nicely I would have let my daughter sit on my lap and his daughter could have sat in her seat. I will waste a FP for the parade & fireworks. It's actually entertaining to watch ppl try to sneak over the ropes when the CM turns their head then they get kicked out. He person will ask a question while the other adult sneaks kids threw the rope, I seen it all!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

As long as you are prepared for other guests to ignore the towel. And yes, at the last minute someone will either try to squish you in and/or stand in front of you, or they might even blatantly tell you to move so that they can have your spot because they somehow feel they are more deserving. They just don't care.

 

[Moms]

We gave up on the MK parades years ago but still fantasize about watching Illuminations from a decent vantage point someday.

One Christmas week a couple of years ago we thought we had reached "nirvana" when wefound ourselves a "standing spot" right behind a nice young couple with a small (very cute) child.

We waited for more than an hour and just as they were giving the warnings that the show was about to start along comes a group of nearly twenty adults and children to move into the area where the (now not so nice) young couple had been "saving" them spots! We ended up behind this group of rowdy people who not only "squeezed us out but then decided to give their children an opportunity to experience the show from their shoulders!

Being a little nicer than most we did not make a big deal our of it but rather took the higher road ... back to the bar at the Boardwalk! It was a rather nice evening after all!