PTN/Halloween Screams Timing

[Abbey1]

I'm wondering how early we should plan on staking out a spot for PTN... We will only have once chance to see the parade (the Halloween party on Oct. 27th) and we'd really like a good spot. How late could we realistically wait to find a good spot? I don't want to sacrifice a ton of party time, but we definitely want a good viewing location.

I know that the hub/main street area is the best spot to watch the fireworks, but I am assuming that those spots will fill up well over an hour before the parade. What about IASW? Could we realistically find a nice spot about an 45 minutes - an hour before PTN starts (at 8:50)? Do the fireworks still look pretty great from IASW, even though we won't see the projections onto the globe?

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

It is really hard to tell, no one really knows how many people are actually let in for the parties. When we went mid August, people were staking out spots 3 hours before PTN started. We found a really good spot for the second show at 11 pm around 10:15 near the Matterhorn. If PTN is your main priority, and you have mini me's with you, you might want to spend some extra time to get a spot on the edge so no one is in front of you. I would dedicate an hour for waiting for this parade if it is your only shot at it. Start looking around to see what people are doing around 7-7:30 and you can gage what you need to do for your priorities.

 

[figment_jii]

As Elk Grove Chris said, we don't really know what the crowds will be like at this year's parties yet. Last year, they presented the Halloween Calvacade twice per night on party nights. The first showing was usually more crowded than the second showing. I got the IaSW Mall area about 45 minutes before the parade started and got one of the last front row spots in the area. This year, they're only presenting PtN once during the party, so I don't know if that means the first (only) showing will be more crowded than the first showings of the Calvalcade in the past, if crowds will be about the same, or if crowds will be lighter (because some folks may opt to skip PtN because it's not a party exclusive offering). Until the first few parties happen, we really won't know what the crowds will be like for PtN at MHP.