Absolutely! You do not have to wait until the time on the FP to actually enter the area. What we did was got ice cream from the plaza and then took it to the FP area to sit and enjoy the atmosphere of the parade (it is not an ideal area for parade viewing but we had already seen it so we had our snack, listened to the music and saw the tops of the floats). We then sat until just before CTM began when we stood toward the back railing, it was a great unobstructed spot for photos/video.