Finding the perfect parade or fireworks viewing spot in Disney World is a fine art.
Magic Kingdom
You might be looking for a great view for the projections during Happily Ever After or the spot on Main Street, U.S.A. that gets you as close to the characters as possible during the Festival of Fantasy parade. But if you’re hoping to get as much parade time as possible in Magic Kingdom…we have a HACK for you!
We’re in Magic Kingdom pretty much every single day, so it’s safe to say that we’ve seen the parade a LOT. The current parade option is Disney’s Festival of Fantasy, and it runs a route from Frontierland (next to Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe) to the end of Main Street, U.S.A. (ending by the Fire Station).
Disney World’s Festival of Fantasy parade
It’s a pretty fun parade, especially if you love Fantasyland characters, and most of the time, it runs twice a day. But did you know you might be able to watch it FOUR times in a day?
Ariel in the Festival of Fantasy Parade
With our hack, you can likely watch the parade twice each showing — so long as you pick the right viewing spot to begin with and you can walk swiftly. To start, you’ll want to stake out a viewing location in either Frontierland or Liberty Square, preferably on the Country Bear Jamboree/Liberty Tree Tavern/Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe side of the parade route.
Our viewing spot in Liberty Square
Since the parade starts in Frontierland, you’ll be among the first to watch it. The performance moves pretty slowly down the route, so our tip relies on you being able to “out-walk” the parade to the front of the park. Once you’ve watched it in Frontierland or Liberty Square, use the map below as a guide to get to Main Street, U.S.A. to watch it again!
Starting in Frontierland or Liberty Square and ending on Main Street, U.S.A.!
Our two favorite shortcuts to take are the pathway behind Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe that cuts over to Crystal Palace or the walkway from Frontierland to Adventureland that’s home to the restrooms. Once you make it to Casey’s Corner, you can head inside to cut through The Emporium — even Magic Kingdom’s most popular gift shop is a little emptier during the parade! Walking all the way through the shop will deposit you at the end of the parade route, where you’ll get a great view of the floats heading backstage by the Fire Station.
This is where you’ll end up!
Since you’re not staking out that second spot ahead of time, you’re not guaranteed a great view (you may have to stand behind other families), but it might be worth it to see those beloved characters again! We’ve been able to try this multiple times and beat the parade to the Main Street, U.S.A. train station.
So try out this tip the next time you’re in the park and let us know how it goes! You’ll have to know the path ahead of time, and you don’t want to stop along the way or you’ll miss your chance. And who doesn’t want to see Mickey and Minnie in their hot air balloon TWICE?!
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When the Tapestry Of Nations parade ran in Epcot we would station ourselves outside one of the three entrance points which were also the exit points. We got to see it twice without moving. One segment
going out and another coming in. Great memories. In the beginning they even let you intermingle
with the parade. Have some great videos of that.