We were there last night at the early seating (had originally scheduled the later one but was worried that the kids wouldn't make it). It was awesome!!!!! Just a couple of quick things because we are heading out the door to AK, but I will post more later:
Parade viewing was amazing. We all had tons of room to spread out. I think everyone who wanted to had a spot by the rope...there was that much room. My daughter had at least 15 characters come right over to her and interact with her during the parade. She was loving it!
They were giving away free bottled waters and suckers throughout. There were about 3 PhotoPass photographers in the area, but they disappeared for a while when it started drizzling. We did eventually get our shot though. My daughter was asked to pretend like she was holding something from between her fingers. Maybe a spider? I will update this once I get a chance to view it.
After the parade a few people left the area so there was even more room. We moved back a bit and found a spot along the rear of the rope right in front of Walt's statue. We had a stroller with us. We spread out and sat in the ground. There was NO ONE in front of us. We had maybe three groups of people off to the sides of us (some others were along the sides of the rope towards the front). It.Was.Awesome.!!! We watched the projection show (which gets me every time, and it was the most amazing view).
Then we stayed put for the fireworks. I'm so glad we did. Again, we were literally spread out like we were having a picnic. My husband laid down at one point. The people outside of the ropes were crammed in like sardines all around. Having that much room to ourselves was priceless IMO. And the view...I know that people have said that it is obstructed (and maybe it is a little bit), but we thought it was great!!!!! Some fireworks were behind the castle, but even those it was just the middle that was blocked...they burst around the sides if the castle, and it looked beautiful. There were lots of fireworks that were all the way above the castle too. And the 360 degree ones of course were so cool. We loved watching the projections on the castle and the color changes as the fireworks went off. Honesty...it was an amazing spot. I think the naysayers might be being a tad overly picky on this issue. The view (which was very good albeit not 100% perfect) coupled with the ability to spread WAY out was priceless to us.
Afterwards the CMs escorted us to the castle. It was a little chaotic (we had to wait for the crowd to disperse before they moved us, but they didn't really do a good job of explaining what was going on so a lot of people were confused). We made it though. They walked around and checked everyone in outside at the same time (I'm not sure if this is because we were running a little late because the parade was delayed a bit because of the drizzle?) and then let us all in to mingle downstairs. The stepsisters came around and joked with everyone for awhile. They did a good job of moving around the crowd, and they were hilarious. Then they ushered everyone upstairs.
And then...to be continued...I really need to head out the door now.
