Wishes, Parade, and Celebrate the Magic

[Mac30188]

How do Wishes, the nightly parade, and celebrate the magic time up with one another and does someone have a good comprehensive strategy? I often see threads or advice regarding seeing Wishes or viewing the parade, but I don't have a good feel on the timeing between the parade, celebrate the magic, and wishes. Without understanding the timing, it is very dificult to evaluate the ability to integrate 2 independent strategies for a parade or see Wishes.

 

[Robo]

CtM starts (on the Castle front facade) 15 min. before Wishes.
MSEP starts (at the head of Main St.) 60 min. before Wishes.

 

[Tbiafore]

Camp anywhere you can get a good view of the Castle front and you will be able to see all three. Be prepared it will be very crowded though.

 

[Mac30188]

I guess the main question I am confused about is how long does the parade take to run its route and therefore how much time is there from the END of the parade until the start of CtM? Is it closer to half hour or pretty much once the end of the parade finishes, CtM begins? Is there time for any sort of bathroom, move around for a couple minutes between events? Will you be able to relocate to a second location or is it so crowded that you have to stake a spot in the madness if you want to view both? Just curious on any tips on how to deal with the entire event?

 

[gap2368]

I would get a FP for wishes most of CTM is up high enough to that you can see it from the FP area I do this all the time there is some time but not long I have never timed it may be 15 minutes between the two if there are 2 CTM the second one you will have no problem getting a spot but like I said most of CTM is high so you can see if you can not or do not want a FP for wishes then get in Main Street early close to the castle

 

[Mac30188]

I would get a FP for wishes most of CTM is up high enough to that you can see it from the FP area I do this all the time there is some time but not long I have never timed it may be 15 minutes between the two if there are 2 CTM the second one you will have no problem getting a spot but like I said most of CTM is high so you can see if you can not or do not want a FP for wishes then get in Main Street early close to the castle

Thjank you. What about between the parade and start of CTM?

 

[gap2368]

There is not much time between all of them as I recall

 

[Robo]

The reason that there is no one simple answer to this is that it depends on WHERE you are standing to see the parade.

The parade running time is about 13 minutes.
But, it takes X minutes for the head of the parade to reach any given spot along the parade route.

 

[luvallprincesses]

In the summer, they were running CtM again after Wishes, maybe 15 minutes after Wishes was done. Is that regular? Since we weren't willing to dedicate the time to get a place to watch the parade (only if it were Spectro I'd wait an hour!) or Wishes from Main St or hub area, we moved in after the crowds filed out because you REALLY need to be head on to see CtM completely.

 

[Robo]

In the summer, they were running CtM again after Wishes, maybe 15 minutes after Wishes was done. Is that regular? Since we weren't willing to dedicate the time to get a place to watch the parade (only if it were Spectro I'd wait an hour!) or Wishes from Main St or hub area, we moved in after the crowds filed out because you REALLY need to be head on to see CtM completely.

They can do that.
Just check the schedule of the night you're there.

 

[UrsulaTime]

I was glad to see this thread because I am trying to work this out as well.

Two questions:

MSEP begins in Town Square and finishes in Frontierland near Splash, correct?

If there are two parades, and I have a fp for Wishes, may I stay in the fp area after Wishes to view the second parade? And is it a decent view?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Robo]

I was glad to see this thread because I am trying to work this out as well.

Two questions:

1.MSEP begins in Town Square and finishes in Frontierland near Splash, correct?

If there are two parades, and I have a fp for Wishes,
2. may I stay in the fp area after Wishes to view the second parade? And is it a decent view?

1. Yes.
2. You don't want to do that. Terrible viewing of the parade from there.
You won't need to do that anyway. Lot's of great places to see the second parade without using a FP.

 

[gap2368]

Yes you do not want to stay in the FP area to see the second parade yes it is fine for the first 1 but the second is just 1 deep and maybe 2 deep I have my faverate spot where I have left to use the bathroom and come right back and had my same spot

 

[UrsulaTime]

1. Yes.
2. You don't want to do that. Terrible viewing of the parade from there.
You won't need to do that anyway. Lot's of great places to see the second parade without using a FP.

Yes you do not want to stay in the FP area to see the second parade yes it is fine for the first 1 but the second is just 1 deep and maybe 2 deep I have my faverate spot where I have left to use the bathroom and come right back and had my same spot

Got it. I'll definitely be moving from the Wishes fp area. Thanks!!

 

[Mac30188]

Thank you all very much for your input.

What I am gathering is the parade takes about 15 minutes from beginning to end, but it will take approximatley 40 minutes for the parade to make it to the end of its route. Therefore you have very limited time to make it to a new spot before CtM. If you try to watch the parade in fontier/liberty square, you will find it very difficult to make it to in front of the castle and find a spot for CtM/wishes. On the flip side, if you start on mainstreet/hub for the parade, you can stay there completely for parade and Wishes but you will be dealing with large waits and aggressive crowds.

Utilizing the FastPass for viewing Wishes largely solvesthe problem in you have a pretty good viewing spot reserved to see Wishes/CtM after the parade. If you don't get a FastPass, a good solution is to view the second show on nights where it is available. If you are going on a night with one viewing and don't have a fast pass, there is no ideal solution to view both other than to endure a long wait and aggressive crowd in front of the castle.

Does that summarize it about right?

 

[gap2368]

Thank you all very much for your input.

What I am gathering is the parade takes about 15 minutes from beginning to end, but it will take approximatley 40 minutes for the parade to make it to the end of its route. Therefore you have very limited time to make it to a new spot before CtM. If you try to watch the parade in fontier/liberty square, you will find it very difficult to make it to in front of the castle and find a spot for CtM/wishes. On the flip side, if you start on mainstreet/hub for the parade, you can stay there completely for parade and Wishes but you will be dealing with large waits and aggressive crowds.

Utilizing the FastPass for viewing Wishes largely solvesthe problem in you have a pretty good viewing spot reserved to see Wishes/CtM after the parade. If you don't get a FastPass, a good solution is to view the second show on nights where it is available. If you are going on a night with one viewing and don't have a fast pass, there is no ideal solution to view both other than to endure a long wait and aggressive crowd in front of the castle.

Does that summarize it about right?

I do not think it is 40 minutes I have never timed it and I have done FP just about every time it seems like it is only maybe 20 minutes.

if you do not have FP for wishes I would do main street for the parade and if it get too crowd or pushing shoving then maybe head over to tomorrow land on the bridge you can still see the fireworks form there.

 

[Robo]

I do not think it is 40 minutes I have never timed it and I have done FP just about every time it seems like it is only maybe 20 minutes.

if you do not have FP for wishes I would do main street for the parade and if it get too crowd or pushing shoving then maybe head over to tomorrow land on the bridge you can still see the fireworks form there.

The 40 min is how long it takes for the end of the parade to finally exit Frontierland after it began way back at the head of Main St.

 

[gap2368]

ok I know after it passes the FP it is like 20 minutes before the next thing happens

 

[dekraut]

Thinking about this for a January visit....thanks for asking about it.

If we FP Wishes, could we just go to the main street curb right near/between the two Wishes FP areas, camp out early there to see MSEP, and then take the very short walk to get into the Wishes FP area for CTM and Wishes?

Would this be a good strategy, rather than trying to FP both?

If we did try this strategy for a 7PM MSEP on Jan 19th (Touring Plans 5, Easy WDW 3), what time should we plan to camp out for our MSEP spot?

Thanks.

 

[gap2368]

Thinking about this for a January visit....thanks for asking about it.

If we FP Wishes, could we just go to the main street curb right near/between the two Wishes FP areas, camp out early there to see MSEP, and then take the very short walk to get into the Wishes FP area for CTM and Wishes?

Would this be a good strategy, rather than trying to FP both?

If we did try this strategy for a 7PM MSEP on Jan 19th (Touring Plans 5, Easy WDW 3), what time should we plan to camp out for our MSEP spot?

Thanks.

I have seen people start to camp out 2 hours before if there are 2 parades then I would do the second one much less crowded also you can see MSEP form the fast pass not every thing but most is up high and they do keep a walk way between you and the people on main street so that helps a lot with seeing it.