Parades and PS

[NLZLS]

Does anyone know how long the Pixar Play Parade lasts? We're going to try to schedule PS for dinner at Wine Country Trattoria after the parade, but not quite sure how to time it out.
We're aslo thinking of getting dinner PS at Carnation Cafe right before/while the Parade of Dreams is going by, any tips there?

 

[biolabetty]

I've eaten dinner at Carnation while the parade was going on. We really couldn't see very well since so many people were standing on the sidewalk in front of us. We had a PS for about 30 minutes before the parade time, took our time eating and ordered dessert so we would still be there during the parade. You can see the tops of the floats pretty well unless someone puts their child on top of their shoulders.

I haven't seen the new DCA parade yet, but I did read on another website that the parade is down for a while because one of the floats had a portion break off this week. If you are going soon, you might be missing the parade.

 

[NLZLS]

yikes! The pixar Play Parade is down? Any idea how long?

 

[DangerMouse]

According to MousePlanet, Pixar Play re-started today, Wednesday.

 

[ScooterL]

The parade takes ~25 minutes to pass by any given spot, maybe a little less. On its first day I watched it from Sunshine Plaza and then ducked around Soarin' and Grizzly Peak and caught up with the beginning of it at Jumpin' Jellyfish, and the end of it arrived there about 6:00 (it started a little after 5:15). So it takes ~50-55 minutes to traverse the entire parade route. There were plenty of open spots for viewing it around that whole Golden Dreams/Paradise Pier area - it was much more crowded near Sunshine Plaza.

If you make your PS for the Trattoria for 6:00 or later you should be fine.

 

[willful]

Thanks for the info! We're going in May 1st to see it...and I wanted to make sure to grab a good viewing spot. Is DCA crowded on Fridays? Or during May in general? How early do we need to line up for the parade?

 

[ScooterL]

If you watch the parade from anyplace other than Sunshine Plaza, then I don't think you need to worry about getting there early to stake out a spot at all...and especially if you go to watch it around the Paradise Pier area.

I don't know about the first weekend of May, but DCA was surprisingly busy two weekends ago - long standby lines for Grizzly Rapids, Soarin', and Screamin'.
That was the weekend of the record-breaking heat.

 

[willful]

Thanks ScooterL! Much appreciated.

We're hoping for good crowd levels, but it'll be fun no matter what.

 

[Rapunsel]

Both Parks will be busy as the Annnual California Dental Convention is happening the 1-4th of May right across the street. So at Night and afternoons it will get crazy.

I know I am a crazy one that will be there..

 

[willful]

ScooterL - we went to the area you specified and it was dead! So we decided, as you stated, that we didn't need to stake out a spot too early so we went back to hang with some friends at the Wharf. We then ended up the path from The Bakery Tour, across from Seasons of the Vine. It was pretty dead too...and we were able to get an unobstructed view on the parade turn. It was SO MUCH FUN!! Surprising we didn't get wet....except for a stray water drop hitting my camera lens.

Both Parks will be busy as the Annnual California Dental Convention is happening the 1-4th of May right across the street. So at Night and afternoons it will get crazy.

I know I am a crazy one that will be there..

LOL...yup, we saw that you crazies were in town...as we walked through the Grand California every day. I actually didn't think the crowd levels were too bad. Our group did win Dream Fast Passes Saturday morning so that helped. The rides were walk on for sure, but with FPs (Dream and regular) we had a great weekend!!