Macy’s Holiday Parade comes direct from New York Ciry after Thanksgiving. To be honest, this is the very first time we have seen it in action, and we now realise what we have been missing. Everyone’s seen “Miracle on 34th Street” with the Christmas parade as the little girl sits in the window as it goes by. Well this is it, except you are in Orlando, in the warm sunshine and the atmosphere is amazing.
We decided to go on the first day of the parade which was the 9th Dec 2005, Friday as I recall. I love the parades all the parks put on, and I was expecting this to be no different apart from the fact that we had never seen it before.
The parade was set for 4pm, always good to make sure you know where the parade route is and the best place to stand. We always find someone who works there and ask them where they think is best. Never fails to work especially if you have small children with you too. And we had tried to find out what all the fuss was about. The whole parade is made up of oversized balloons of Characters such as Wiggly Worm, Pumpkin and Americana plus dozens more. The odd one you could see in the massive hangers at the rear of the Studio’s.
We had seen that on the program for that day, they were asking for volunteer Balloon Handlers! WOW, I thought this is for me, we then got tied up with the events of the day and I forgot all about taking part as a Balloon Handler.
As we are Annual Pass Holders, there is a designated area for you to stand, taped off just for these type of guests. So waiting in the area, hoping that the weather would hold out, we waited for the main event. This was around 2 hours before the parade.
I then decided to take a walk over and see if they were still wanting volunteers and they were!
I was assigned to the Pumpkin Balloon and was sent off to be suited for the main event. After being shown how to handle the balloon, we got ready for the parade.
The Parade starts off near the Twister Ride, heads towards the main entrance and then takes a left turn passed the Terminator Ride. The streets were packed with tourists cheering as all the balloons passed. The feeling is electric. The Parade is then turned left at the side of the lagoon and heads towards the Earthquake Ride before turning again passed the Revenge of the Mummy which is one of Universal’s newest attractions.
The parade is very popular with all guests, but more so the American’s as it shows mainly characters known by Americans. The parade is also joined by Clowns, Dinky Cars and Jokers, Marching Bands and street actors who add to the feel of the parade. Although this parade is not on the same theme as Disney’s Parades, it is well worth seeing and is a must for the youngsters. Unfortunately, this parade can only be seen in December and only runs for a week or so.
So if you are in Orlando at the beginning of December this year, watch out for the Macy’s Day Parade and mark it in your diary as a “MUST DO”, you won’t be disappointed.