Leaving DCA after ELP to see fireworks?

[CJDrew's Mom]

How far into DL do you need to be to have a decent view of the fireworks? We are only going to be at DL 2 nights. The first night ( a Sunday) is the only night that Fantasmic or the Electrical Parade are showing. We were going to do DCA that day since we won't get in until around 3 and the kids were scared by Fantasmic at WDW last year. But we would like to leave DCA after the ELP (at 8:45) and see the fireworks at DL (at 9:25). I am guessing we are not the only people who will be doing this , and I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on where to be in DCA to be able to see the parade and leave right after and where to go in DL. If we're just going to get stuck in a big exodus from DCA and not be able to get into DL, I'd rather skip it and try the next night.

CJDrew's Mom

 

[iceskatejen]

Just make sure you are in the sunshine plaza area for the ELP (the front portion of DCA). You'll probably need to get your spots around an hour before parade time in this area as it fills up first (by people wanting to do the exact same thing). As soon as you see the flag float, get up and go to DL and just get as far down main street as you can. So long as you can see both the casle and the Matterhorn you're fine, but get into the hub between the castle and the hub if at all possible.

 

[cjsmom5]

This past weekend, the biggest issue was getting into Disneyland. The lines into the entrance were long and I heard people commenting it took about 20 minutes just to get through the ticket line.

Once insider, the fireworks has lots of stuff that happens in front of the castle. If you aren't right in the middle, it is is hard to see it all. If you are primarily interested in seeing the fireworks, as a whole, then you need to camp out infront of the castle area about 1 hour prior to the show. Might even be longer as crowds grow.

The ELP is the same one basically that they have had for years. If you have seen it in the last five or six years, you have seen it. We always enjoy it and opted for it instead of the fireworks after trying to see the fireworks the first night. It was scary there were so many people packed into that one area.
But, the fireworks are beautiful.