Best Trip Tips: Parades
Parades normally occur in your local community to focus on a certain celebration or holiday. They’re full of cheer and high spirits. Everyone cheering and clapping. This is the same atmosphere you will find during a parade at the Magic Kingdom. There are two parades that you can find at the Magic Kingdom on a daily basis and there is a parade for each of the seasonal parties. Festival of Fantasy Parade takes place everyday at 3:00pm and the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party happens at a couple of times throughout the afternoon and evening. At Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party the “Boo-To-You” parade travels along the parade route and at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party you can enjoy the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade.
One of the benefits of planning to take in these parades over the course of your day at the Magic Kingdom is it adds variety. Standing in line after line, whether it’s for a character meeting or a ride, can be draining. The parades can be the boost you need during an exhausting day. With the bright coloured costumes, music and dancing. You can’t help but be uplifted. Also, planning to see the parade and then changing your mind half way thru is much easier then seeing the parade going by and wishing you had planned to watch it. People line up about a half hour before, so if you see the parade going by and try to stop and watch you won’t be able to enjoy it. Look at your day, see what restaurants you have reserved around parade time, or what fastpassses you have booked around then. Cross reference this information with the parade route to see where you should be around the time of the parade you want to spectate. That’s where you should try and watch the parade.
This is an opportunity to see some characters that are not found elsewhere in the parks. Characters like Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, the Seven Dwarves, and Wendy are the in the Festival of Fantasy Parade. Jessie, Nick Wilde, Phineas and Ferb are featured in the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party. There are always great villains at the Boo To You! Parade. Last years featured the Hyenas from the Lion King and Pain and Panic from Hercules. At the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade you’ll see the Snow Prince, Santa Clause and the breathtaking soldiers from Babes in Toyland. Our daughter has a thing for Bashful. I don’t know when it started but he’s always been her favourite dwarf. So seeing Bashful in the Festival of Fantasy Parade was a big take away for her. It’s the only chance she got to interact with one of her favourite characters at the time.
If seeing the Festival of Fantasy Parade is a priority for you and your family there are three options. You can choose a Disney Festival of Fantasy Dining Package which will gain you access to a VIP viewing area on Main Street U.S.A. You can participate in Tiana’s Riverboat Party, enjoying Ice Cream, riverboat cruise and private view of the parade. Or you can simply claim a spot on the sidewalk half an hour before the parade starts.
Even if you don’t have children with you, if you’re on an adult only Disney trip, watch the parade. The costumes are spectacular, the choreography is boisterous and the music is memorable. Take the time to sit, relax and enjoy the magic of Disney.
