For many years we actively avoided the parades. I did make sure to know the parade route so we had less of a chance of being stuck in the park during the parade.
Lately my bench of choice appears to be aptly placed for parade viewing tho I mostly choose it for shade and seat height.
Frontierland is a second viewing location choice at MK.
It’s not that I have anything against parades. It’s just that it is usually ghastly hot at that time, and our MK schedule is usually jam-packed, and we prefer to use the time in other ways.
Conversely, I actually prefer the Festival of Fantasy parade over most of the rides at MK. So to me it’s time well-spent. That may change with the addition of the Cars Land and Villains Land attractions. I am especially looking forward to Cars!
We watched the parade the first couple of times we took the kidlets years ago. Since then we haven’t bothered simply because it is usually really crowded and hard to see. However on our trip last fall we spent the day at MK on a Halloween party day. Definitely a crowd level 1. We happened to wander towards the castle mid afternoon and discovered they were roping off sections because the parade was about to start. We hadn’t thought about it at all, but ended up with a curbside spot in front of the castle. It was a wonderful parade and a great surprise in our day, not least because multiple characters told my dd they loved her hair. It was blue at the time so a bit of an eye catcher. We may try to catch the parade again on this next trip as we are also planning MK for a party day.
I enjoy the parade, although perhaps not as much as when my kiddo was smaller. It’s usually a good time to grab a Mickey bar or other snack and enjoy the performers.
That said, if my day included a mid-day break, I probably wouldn’t adjust my plans to accommodate this particular parade.
I mean I’ll always try and catch a new parade but on repeat visits I avoid it. And I don’t care where I watch it from as long as I can see it and it’s a little less packed. In Disneyland I do the packages where you get reserved viewing or a tour and then we get curbside, sometime in chairs with hot cocoa at Christmas way back in the day, and then I’d do it everytime. But generally I prefer to avoid the masses. And I have PTSD from trying to catch this very parade once in Liberty Square where I reserved a spot an hour+ and then 20 min before Disney workers kicked me out (which they really should do this earlier) and then I had to try and find a last minute spot and a woman cursed me out for trying to squeeze in next to her in Frontierland. It ruined my mood and my feelings toward parades. But again if I can reserve a spot (love the way they do this in Tokyo) I’m so in. People are just mean and Disney has procedures that don’t reward investing time necessarily if you don’t have knowledge so that all kind of turned me off.
For a nighttime parade this is different of course, assuming that’ll be a separate poll LOL
We will wait to watch the parade if it works with the rest of our schedule. Last time we were in MK we had a break in our LL reservations that coincided nicely with when we wanted to eat and the start of the parade. We ordered from the Main Street Starbucks and grabbed seats on the curb outside while I waited for the food to be ready. We ate sitting there and were in a great position to watch as the parade started. Probably wouldn’t have waited otherwise.
ETA: Not sure how long we waited, but the food took forever! So it was probably close to an hour.
The parade is a quintessential part of Disney trips for me.
The characters and floats ARE Disney.
It was the best back in 2011 when AK had a parade (something about a Jungle Jam maybe?) and HS had “Stars and Motor Cars” parade. EP had Tapestry of Nations, but we missed that one.
I once witnessed a fistfight in the street of my home town (normally a quiet / polite place! ) over a parade viewing spot. People would camp out for days in advance for prime viewing locations, so it was a big deal.
I don’t generally seek out the parade because I live here but if I happen to catch it I might stop and watch. But if we have family in town I like to grab a spot on the curb in front of Tony’s because you get a great head on and side views. Liberty Square is another spot to get these views as well.
I’ve always figured liners are not the general public. Because way more than 3% of guests are watching those parades!
I have a thin sheet made out of like parachute material that folds into a little packet. I unfold that and we sit ~ an hour for the parades. I sometimes have a hard time getting a curb spot even at that timing. We use that hour to eat usually. And some will sit while others use that time to shop.
FoF is one of my favorite things to enjoy on my WDW vacation. That said, I will not work overly hard to make a square peg fit a round hole. If I’m there during parade time I definitely want to see it. I will wait up to a half hour for the parade, but definitely not more. I prefer to slide in last minute, though, when I can. For me, a shady spot is the best spot and that tends to be either on the Country Bears side of the street in Frontierland or else on the Emporium side of the street on Main Street. What I like about the Main Street spot is that I can often get to see the Dapper Dans either just before or just after the parade, and I really enjoy them too.
Also, I think Olive Garden gets a bad rap and can serve its purpose. Unrelated, I know, but
I love the parade but it depends on the trip on if we watch it our not.
When we needed breaks out of the park we rarely saw it, too hard to fit into plans or maybe chance saw it on the way back into the park.
Some trips I have planned the parade as our afternoon break. Finding a shady spot and sitting and resting and probably eating while waiting for the parade, sometimes up to an hour. Have the kids take a break without them feeling like they had to take a break. CMs would come and talk to us, blow bubble wands, it was fun!
I have also been trapped by the parade on a day that we weren’t planning on watching it and been very annoyed by the parade.
Last trip to MK, it just didn’t fit into our plans, kids are older and no one wanted to wait, so saw part of it in passing as we went the other way.
It really just depends on the trip and other priorities. Sometime parade is the priority, sometimes it is not.
It’s just that it is usually ghastly hot at that time, and our MK schedule is usually jam-packed, and we prefer to use the time in other ways.
