What time dinner to see Paint the Night?

[peaches0313]

We want to see the new parade if still there in August at 8:50 PM. Assuming that time stays the same, what time would you suggest a dinner in downtown Disney at Tortilla Joes? 6 or 6:30? Thanks!

 

[luulu1999]

I am no expert HOWEVER...most people line up for parades way ahead of time IDK how many you would have in your group and how many small kids but I think I would def do the early one because you figure you will probably be in their at least an hour

 

[SMD]

Many spots will be staked out by 6pm. There's no way you can eat that late at DTD, make it back in the park and find a spot for the first parade with the way the crowds are right now.

 

[figment_jii]

I think it depends on what you mean by "see"...as noted by the PPs, the prime viewing spots are filling up well before the parade's start time (at this point). My sense says that if you have a reservation around 6:00 pm, you can probably get back into the park by 7:30 pm (75 minutes to dine and then 15 minutes to get back into the park). It's hard to say whether parade crowds will be similar in August to how they have been now (when the parade is less than a month old), but my guess is that if you're going while it's still considered "summer", the crowds will be high, so the prime spots will be long gone by then. I think you stand a chance of finding a spot somewhere along the route, but it'll probably be further back in the crowd. Otherwise, if all possible, I would consider aiming for the second parade.

 

[peaches0313]

oh no! I was thinking get there an hour early for a parade spot. So maybe eat at 6 pm. But I didn't realize the heavy crowds due to it being new... May have to rethink our plans... We can't do the late parade as our girls are young.

 

[tlovesdis]

I was there Sunday and yesterday. Sunday we watched the parade. We found a spot near the train station at 7 but it was standing, second row. People were lining up on Main Street at about 4-5pm it was nuts! We got super lucky...the two young kids sitting on the curb in front of us gave up at 730 and we ended up being able to sit. But people really line up early for this. If you do dinner in DTD at 6 or 630 you are going to have a hard time finding a decent spot at all for the parade.