Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams

[Dopey's MIL]

I have yet taken the time to see this parade. I've always sat on Main Street or near City Hall to watch all the other parades.

My plan for the first afternoon in the park is to take the kids into Toon Town because last time we overlooked it. Probably around 5:00pm and then get ready to find a good spot to watch the parade.

From that end of the park, do any of you have a special seating area that you are most fond of?

 

[MommyWithDreams]

We sat on a bench right before the hub near the castle. Great spot to see it.
Another place that I like is on the side of Alice. A lot of character interaction there since the crowd is all on the fantasyland side. Have fun!

 

[pixiewings71]

We like sitting in front of IASW or over by Alice. Those are good places for great interaction with the parade cast.

 

[avalon451]

I'm not clear on this... I hear the parade stops in 3 locations for 2 minute "shows". Where do these stops occur? Obviously must be one in the hub...?
Thanks a bunch!

 

[jernysgirl]

We like sitting in front of IASW or over by Alice. Those are good places for great interaction with the parade cast.

Which side of the street do we sit on for the parade if we choose to sit over by Alice? I have heard these are the best seats because you can only sit on on e side of the street and all the characters interact on that one side. But which side is it? Thanks so much! (I know we will probably see CMs in the area which we could ask, but I was just hoping to find out know so that we can be prepared to grab the best seats!)

Does anyone have a map of the parade route in DL? Thanks!

 

[r3ngels]

I would love to know too!

 

[victorandbellasmom]

Which side of the street do we sit on for the parade if we choose to sit over by Alice? I have heard these are the best seats because you can only sit on on e side of the street and all the characters interact on that one side. But which side is it? Thanks so much! (I know we will probably see CMs in the area which we could ask, but I was just hoping to find out know so that we can be prepared to grab the best seats!)

Does anyone have a map of the parade route in DL? Thanks!

It's the side opposite the matterhorn by the bathroom. There's seating along that side.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's the side opposite the matterhorn by the bathroom. There's seating along that side.

Yep. Even if you stood on the other side, CMs would make it clear to you pretty quickly that you have to move.

Can't tell you how convenient it is to watch a parade right in front of the bathrooms!

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Yep. Even if you stood on the other side, CMs would make it clear to you pretty quickly that you have to move.

Can't tell you how convenient it is to watch a parade right in front of the bathrooms!

I second that....we cut across and used the "secret" bathroom...never anyone there.

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

We use that same parade stop by the bathroom and it is great!
I first heard about it from a post that was made by a CM on another board. It was real helpful to me so here it is. It lists all the float stops and where to see each one.


Parade Route from IASW to Main Street (first parade of the day--3:30 on days with two parades, 7:00 on days with one):

Peter Pan
1) Just below the Matterhorn before Triton Gardens
2) Not exactly sure, but somewhere along Main Street.
3) Just before the parade exit in front of the Mad Hatter shop

Beauty and the Beast
1) Near the bathrooms below Alice in Wonderland across from the Matterhorn
2) Again, not exactly sure, but just after the Peter one around Main Street.
3) In front of the Main Street Train Station

Pinocchio
1) Between the Mad Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland.
2) Not exactly sure, but probably around Coke Corner or the south side of the Hub
3) Around City Hall

Ariel
1) In front of the Mad Tea Party
2) Near the Hub
3) Around the Fire House

Ursula
1) In front of Storybook Land
2) Around the Hub
3) Across from the Emporium

Alice in Wonderland
1) Between Storybook Land and Small World
2) Between the Hub and Triton Gardens
3) Just past Ursula on Main Street, near the Magic Shop

Lion King
1) In front of the entrance to Small World
2) Near Triton Gardens
3) In front of the Market House on Main Street

Castle
1) In front of the queue for Small World (usually you can't watch from there, though)
2) Near the restrooms below Alice in Wonderland
3) At the end of Main Street near Coke Corner


Parade Route from Main Street to IASW (7:00 ONLY on days there are two parades):

Peter Pan
1) Not exactly sure, but probably near Coke Corner
2) In front of Alice in Wonderland
3) In front of the queue for Small World (again, you usually can't watch from here)

Beauty and the Beast
1)Not exactly sure, but probably near the Market House on Main Street
2) Near the restrooms below Alice in Wonderland and Triton Gardens
3) In front of the entrance to Small World

Pinocchio
1) Not sure, but probably near the Magic Shop
2) Again, not quite sure, but most likely just past the Hub
3) Between Small World and Storybook Land

Ariel
1) Probably near the Emporium
2) Probably right around the Hub
3) Just above Storybook Land

Ursula
1) Probably near the Fire House
2) Probably just below the Hub
3) In front of Storybook Land

Alice in Wonderland
1) In front of the Main Street Train Station
2) Probably right around Coke Corner
3) In front of the Mad Tea Party

Lion King
1) In front of the Opera House
2) Probably around the Market House
3) Near the restrooms below Alice in Wonderland

Castle
1) In front of the Mad Hatter on Main Street
2) Probably near the Magic Shop
3) In front of Triton Gardens


"My favorite place to watch is from the spot between Alice in Wonderland and the Tea Cups because you can show up 15 minutes before the parade starts and still get a front row seat because that's when they set up the rope turning it from a walkway into a viewing area. There's not a lot of viewing there, so you need to be there when the rope is set up, but there's a lot of character interaction because there's no viewing from the Matterhorn queue across the street so all the focus is on you. And the bungee guys stop right in front of you for the first parade, and Peter for the second! I've seen this parade dozens of times and I still tend to watch it when I come as a guest. I have to show everyone I bring to the park because it truly is a phenomenal parade, so even if you do end up watching it 4 times, it won't be time wasted."

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

Here is a description of the floats which was posted along with the float stop info. by the same CM.



1) Peter Pan driving the train with Mickey floral (also with Tinker Bell, Blue Fairy, Fairy Godmother, Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, and now Merlin). For the show stop, Peter gets out of the train and all the characters (except Tinker Bell) do a dance routine.

2) Beauty and the Beast (Belle, Beast, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Cogsworth, and an entourage of plates, forks, knives, and spoons). Show stop is primarily a dance routine.

3) Geppetto acting as puppeteer to two live marionettes with Russian "bungee flippers" (also with Jiminy Cricket, Cleo, Pinocchio, Foulfellow, Gideon, and an entourage of wind-up toys). Show stop involves dance routine, but also raising of the bungee tower for some awesome flipping stunts. This is my favorite show stop.

4) Ariel (live Ariel atop an underwater world with Flounder and Sebastian, led by dancing seaweed and pearls). Show stop involved dance routine by those on the ground. Ariel can't do too much but sing along from atop her perch.

5) Ursula (huge Sea Witch float led by black pearls and Flotsom and Jetsum). Again, the show stop is dancing by those on the ground, though I find it pretty funny watching this huge robotic Ursula singing along to "Welcome to our family time! Welcome to our brotherly time!" while normally she's taunting everyone.

6) Alice in Wonderland (Caterpillar and various Wonderland creatures adorn the float as Alice and the Mad Hatter play with each other. It's led by very tall bouncing flowers, playing cards, the Queen of Hearts, Tweedle Dee [or Dum] in a tea cup, and the White Rabbit on roller blades). During the show stop, Alice and the Mad Hatter come down from the float while the playing cards come up and do gymnastics on the trampoline in the float's center. This is my second favorite show stop.

7) Lion King (Rafiki, Simba, Nala, Pumbaa, Zazu and birds on the float led by Timon and a host of African animals). Show stop includes raising of the tree the birds are attached to so they can perform stunts on their rope. This is my third favorite show stop.

8) The castle (Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Donald, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella all on the float with Goofy and the Seven Dwarfs leading the way). Show stop is primarly a dance routine.

 

[daisy_77]

Thank you!!

 

[Dopey's MIL]

Thank you for all the information. Since I'm going to be in the park 5 days, I might watch it a couple of times from several of the suggestions here!

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

That's what we did too. I picked out 3 of the float stops that we wanted to see and it worked out great. Our favorite one is Castle float stop by the Alice bathrooms. The characaters come down off the float and dance and my DS was so excited when Goofy came over and shook his hand. Like the others have said, it is a great spot, because you can only view the parade on one side of the street so you get all the character interaction.

 

[Dopey's MIL]

8) The castle (Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Donald, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella all on the float with Goofy and the Seven Dwarfs leading the way). Show stop is primarly a dance routine.

If this the particular float that I want to see...I need to be by the bathrooms at AIWL correct?

 

[Disney Dider]

8) The castle (Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Donald, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella all on the float with Goofy and the Seven Dwarfs leading the way). Show stop is primarily a dance routine.

If this the particular float that I want to see...I need to be by the bathrooms at AIWL correct?

I would like to know this too! Thanks!

 

[jernysgirl]

We just watched the parade from this very location and it was great! On the north side of the bathrooms, there is an area that is roped off that no one can sit in and there is a CM standing gaurd. Unfortunately, the float kind of stops in front of this area. But if you sit down right next to the area, you get great views of the front of the floats for the stops. There are benches to sit on around the bathroom area if you prefer to sit a little bit to the south. We only showed up 15 minutes before the parade started and got great seats right on the benches! Soon afterwards, more people came right up until the parade started. There were some teenage girls that sat on the pavement in front of us and they definitely "hammed it up" with screams and hollers to get the attention of the characters. Almost everyone character walking in the parade came over to pay attention to them, since no one sat across the street from us (you can't cause the Matterhorn is right there.) It made for some great close-up pics for me!

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

I would like to know this too! Thanks!

You can see it at the other locations that on the list also, but the least crowded and the best opportunity for photos/character interaction is the spot by the "Alice" bathrooms. I'm glad to see that it worked out for you too, jernysgirl. You're right that the float stops a little further down from the bathrooms, but I wanted some pics of Mickey and Minnie and since they were on the front of the float, that worked out because I zoomed in on the front of the float and got some great ones. Isn't the character interaction awesome there?

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

I meant to say "that ARE on the list also."