Parade Routes Switch?

[mpaul32001]

Is there ever a time where the Daytime and Nighttime Parade routes switch? The Daytime parade starts in frontierland and ends on main street and it's the opposite for the Nighttime Parade. I know the Main Street Electrical Parade used to start at in Frontierland, and so did the Remember the Magic Parade (Magical Moments). Why does the direction not change if it doesn't? I would love to see it switch sometime...just to mix things up.

 

[Monty]

I think it's a question of storage. The parades start and end for the day at the overnight storage area.

 

[Chape19714]

Routes change depending on crowd control situations at the time of day, and also the time from the parade warehouse to the park. Spectro begins on M.S. so it is over sooner, and the crowd can prepare for Wishes. Where as DDCTP starts in frontierland, providing smooth crowd control near the big rides, and slightly slower down M.S., not to meniton the castle as the backdrop of the M.S. Stretch. It all is calculated based on factors such as backstage prep, crowd control, time of day, and audio sync. It can easily be reversed, but would take some tech. work to reverse the sound ques, as well as lighting (in spectro's case)

If you asking if the route can be completely changed, the answer is no, due to length of sidewalks, crowd control post and rope placements (those holes don't exist in the entire park). There is also the point of on-stage access, as well as storage facilities, which are located outside the railroad, between Pirates and Splash Mt. It is connected via path to the M.S. parade exit/entrance gate.

 

[mpaul32001]

Meant to post this in General Discussion....and I wasn't talking about Completely changing the route:lol: ....just reversing it.

 

[ToTBellHop]

If you go on nights when Spectro is presented twice, it heads up Main Street to Frontierland during the showing before Wishes, and then back from Frontierland to Main Street for the late showing.

 

[brkgnews]

If you go on nights when Spectro is presented twice, it heads up Main Street to Frontierland during the showing before Wishes, and then back from Frontierland to Main Street for the late showing.

Really? That's new. I've only seen it go in the same direction for the first and second shows.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Really? That's new. I've only seen it go in the same direction for the first and second shows.

well, maybe I've gone on "special" nights. Not that I've sat and watched SpectroMagic both times on a given night too many times, but I've definitely seen it enter from Main Street and enter later from Frontierland. ~shrugs~

 

[wdwCC]

Aren't they limited to one route because of the "pucks" embedded in the road?

 

[Chape19714]

Spectro runs the same way, even if it's presented twice in one night.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I've definitely seen Spectro run from Frontierland to Main Street. I am 100% certain because I have seen the lights on the floats turn on as the parade starts--right next to Splash Mountain.

 

[PlutoInOrlando]

Actually, it is the norm...

They run it reverse (1st one from Frntrlnd to MS and the second from MS to Frntrlnd) most summer nights. I used to work on MS for 3 summers, so got to see it nightly. Just to add, when I was there in March of '06 the second show ran from MS to Frtnrlnd.

Now, not saying I haven't see it go one way for both showings at night...it does happen...

But as it's been said before - it's usually for crowd control.

The 3pm parade has always goes from Frntrlnd to MS.

 

[marni1971]

The 3pm parade has always goes from Frntrlnd to MS.

Not all the time since `71 :wave:

 

[shoppingnut]

I'm sure it did happen - it's just not the norm.

I can recall seeing it run from Frontierland to MS for the second showing many many times. However, it seems that lately they are running both parades from MS.

 

[joanna71985]

I am almost positive that Spectro always runs from MS to Frontierland. I can not remember it going reverse.

 

[ThumperDude]

I've seen it run in both directions in the same night. FL to MS, Then MS to FL on the 2nd show so the MS crowd can exit the park after the last float goes by for better crowd control. Which is what we did. But to be perfectly honest, I can't remember if this was at WDW or DL.
But I thought this was the norm. So the floats would come out of their storage building, then return back to them for the night.

 

[Chape19714]

DL does reverse routes for later showings.

Magic Kingdom, however can change routes, but normally does not. Keep in mind refirbishments to sidewalks, buildings, and walkways can effect the parade route.

 

[BMinNY]

Having been fortunate enough to be a part of the merchandising internship program, I can tell you that I am sure that marketing/merchandising also factors into the direction of the parade.

The important part in the marketing is the fact that for some reason insane amounts of people will follow the parade once the it passes them. It is like the parade creates a vacuum, and bystanders are sucked into the vacuum.

By running the parade from Frontierland to Main St in the afternoon, lots of guests are "sucked" to the front of the park...right in front of the stores. Then at night, instead of using the parade to "suck" guests to the front of the park, Spectro is usually run from Main St to Frontierland pulling guests to the back of the park. Then guests will have to walk back by all of the stores on Main St again on the way out. This might not happen if the parade ended on Main St. A lot of guests would follow the parade to the end of Main St, and exit the park. This way guests follow the parade back into the park, then have to walk by all of the stores on Main St. to exit the park.

I can tell you, hands down, the busiest two times of day for the stores on Main St. are after Spectro, and after the 3:00 parade, and I don't believe that is an accident. I am sure it is not the only reason for the parade routes, but I am sure it is definitely one of the factors.

Those are just my thoughts on the reasoning behind the parade routes.

 

[Gagesmom314]

I am trying to think hard back to the times I have seen Spectro and it seems I have always seen it run from Frontierland to Main Street.

 

[WDWGuide]

The reversed second showing was certainly the norm while I was doing guidebook research years ago. But that certainly could have changed since then. Disney works in mysterious ways.

 

[Rob562]

DL does reverse routes for later showings.

Magic Kingdom, however can change routes, but normally does not. Keep in mind refirbishments to sidewalks, buildings, and walkways can effect the parade route.

I know that at Disneyland they HAVE to run the parade in alternating directions when they run it twice. Unlike Magic Kingdom, they do not have a way to get the floats from the storage barn to the front of the park without going onstage. So when they run the parade twice, the parade runs from Small World to Main Street, the parade hangs out backstage for a bit, and then runs from Main Street to Small World. (I assume that when a parade is only run once per night, they relocate the floats after park closing)

This caused a problem during the ill-fated Light Magic. One of the ways they tried to speed up the show was to start the floats from Main Street. But because the charge cycle for the floats was longer than the overnight hours, they had to re-locate the floats mid-day using CMs to clear Guests out of the way along the parade route. (I heard that they had to come up with a recorded announcement to explain the floats and to advertise the parade/street show later on that night.) I'm sure those floats that were designed only to be seen at night weren't all that great-looking in daylight, either.

-Rob