When to line up for parades?

[ICan'tWait]

We usually go to DW. It's been a while since we've been to DL. Some friends of ours with annual passes said if you want to see a parade you need to line up hours ahead of time. At DW we've usually just kind of filled in somewhere along the route about a half hour before the parade. How far in advance do we have to pick a spot if we want to see the parades (Christmas and night time)?

 

[Bud Ice]

20mins is fine. Ive done last minute and been great too.

 

[3Gsandme]

How early really depends on the crowds, of course. Just like Disney World. We were at Disneyland in June. We got our parade spot at about 7:00 for an 8:50 parade. We were not in the front (but were in back of people sitting on the curb, so it was fine). Touring Plans ranked it as an 8 out of 10 day, if that helps.

 

[valiamo]

There are some parade hint threads on the this forum.

There are a couple of spots that you can get a good view if you are going for a tight arrival at the parade route. Near It's a Small World and on the side of Matterhorn

Do not expect that you will be able to get a spot on Main street less than an hour before the parade, it is always packed there. It also depends on the day of the week you are there. Weekends or close to Xmas expect unusually large crowds. We are there in 2 weeks, and I am expecting that it will be packed.

Have fun, go with the flow!

 

[madmaxx]

We love watching the parades on the busier days for some reason; there's not much you can do when it's busy anyway, so the shows are a great alternative to rides. We hang out on Main Street starting a few hours before the parade and grab a spot on the curb as spots start to disappear. If it's early enough, one of us will run to the Plaza Inn and grab some food to eat on the curb (fried chicken, salad, pasta). The Plaza does take out, and it's a lot of food for the price. You make friendly with the people around you too, which is part of the charm of watching a parade anywhere.

If it's not busy, we watch from around Alice, there is some nice seating on one side of the parade route (which Alice and the Hatter like to frequent).

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

Yesterday, we got a spot on the curb in Town Square at 4:30 for the 6:00 PTN. It was so worth it for a two year old!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

The more flexible you can be about your viewing spots, the less time you will have to wait. If you must be curbside, then you will have to invest over an hour, at least, to hold those spots. Otherwise, waits of under an hour are not unreasonable if you can be farther back. And it is easier to find good viewing spots for the later parades.

 

[SMD]

For PTN right now it's going to be really hard for 2 or more people to find a spot to stand together less than 30-40 minutes before the parade.

 

[Whistlebee]

We were there the first week of November which I thought had pretty low crowds. I was shocked that most spots (curbside) on Main Street were taken 2 hours prior to parade. The spots farthest back (closest to the gates) still had some openings. Could've been because the fireworks had been cancelled the 2 previous nights. We ended up with a nice spot in the hub at 2 hours prior to PTN and I felt like we got possibly the last open spot (curbside) in the hub area!

 

[Whistlebee]

And it was a Wednesday!

 

[nicolita3]

On Tuesday we saw ptn and people were starting to save spots at 445 for the 800 show.

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

Just got back to the hotel. All Main St curb spots gone by 6:30 for 8:45 PTN.

Got a curb spot in Town Square for the 4:30 Christmas Fantasy parade at 3:45pm

 

[grannyminnie]

We were there in Sept for Dapper Day. The crowds on Main St. are crazy, and if you arrive late enough that you are not able to be curbside, don't expect that the people on the curb are going to be seated! The ones in front of us were standing up with their cellphones videoing the parade. The position of their arms holding up those phones made it very difficult for us to have an unobstructed view..even tho we were right behind them!

 

[Ljbadfan]

We are here now. People are lining up in some spots for paint the night right after the Christmas parade and the Christmas parade starts at 430 pm. So I guess it depends on how long you want to sit

 

[Sagginit]

This is a supply and demand type thing. Since people think the only way to get a good view of PTN is to sit at the curb on Main St, they are willing to wait for hours. I dunno why they haven't thought of a way to avoid some of this, it makes it hard to navigate around with much of the sidewalk taken up. I was there in early Nov. and we got a great spot 15 min before by filling in behind a few strollers that were at the end of a section. The walkway was next to us and we were the last few in with a good view. I think if you are willing to fill in and take the view you get then you don't need to wait, just avoid Main St. If you can split up fireworks and parade to two nights. Do the parade one night and go elsewhere than Main St. For the fireworks we actually entered from DCA right as the parade was ending. We saw the last float go behind the wall as we were on the sidewalk and then once the street opens we hustled it to the center. We again ended up with a great view less than 10 minutes before. Now if you have a child there is really no way for them to get a better view, but with a parade you get a better view if you wait.

Same thing happened with World of Color. We entered 10 min before and were in the back but behind the walkway and a few strollers so we had a great view. We planned the next night to be up by the water and got there 30 min before and some lady showed up to take flash photography.