Photographing a visiting band help!

[Tigerlulu]

My daughters band will be marching at MK in April. The only thing I know at this time is they are marching at night. I am a photographer and I photograph all their performances for the band which means I need a good place to set up that has adequate lighting. I'll be shooting with my d700 and 70-200 2.8 so high ISO is totally doable. But this is my first time with the band at Disney so I am trying to plan as much as possible.

Has anyone done this before? For parades I normally pick a spot and just shoot as many of the kids as I can as they pass.

I'm concerned about finding a good spot that won't be too dark. Any suggestions??? I love Disney but last two times we were there we skipped the night parades in favor of rides. So I'm not nearly as familiar with the routes and crowds as I'd like to be.

Suggestions?? Please??

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

If possible, you may want to scout out an evening parade on an earlier night. I can tell you that what looks like a perfect spot an hour before a parade isn't necessarily so when the parade starts. I set up not too far from Sleepy Hollow one Halloween during the Not-So-Scary party in what I thought was a perfect spot to take pictures. After it was too late to find another front-row spot along the parade route, a huge light tower rose up out of the roof of the building directly across from me, and I found myself shooting right into a big bank of flood lights. My perfect spot became an awful spot, and I was stuck with it. I couldn't shoot any part of the parade that was right in front of me, and could only shoot up the street.

If the parade is starting in Frontierland and finishing in Main Street USA, my favorite spot is in front of the barber shop. You can get some good head-on shots as the band comes around the corner. The background will be the train station. If you've got someone to hold a spot for you, it's also possible to stand on Main Street and get some pictures of them with the castle in the background, and then step around to the barber shop to catch them again from a different angle.

 

[Tigerlulu]

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely make a point to scout the night before. I don't want to mess up my baby playing at Disney!!!