OT: Macy’s Day Parade

[GemParty]

Have you ever attended in person? Thinking about a day trip from CT. Any tips?

 

[8893]

Have you ever attended in person? Thinking about a day trip from CT. Any tips?

Friends did it years ago and it sounded like pure agony to me. Apparently you have to get there the night beforehand to have a chance to get inside the barricades, which is the only place where you can actually see and enjoy the parade. Once inside, you can't leave, not even to pee.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Never been but my wife works at their HQ so we have the option to be balloon-holders every year. Just can't bring myself to sign up to get there at 3-4 AM and freeze my acorns off.

 

[Apollo]

Have you ever attended in person? Thinking about a day trip from CT. Any tips?

Don’t. Do. It.

 

[scotty0330]

Have you ever attended in person? Thinking about a day trip from CT. Any tips?

Yes. Def stay over night before. Need to be in streets by 6:00 AM latest. Don’t go to where parade starts crowd forms there first. Dehydrate yourself finding bathrooms and getting out of your space is a bad idea. Hope for good weather....being out on a semi cold day beats whatever folks had to sit out in last year when it was bone chilling.

 

[uchusky32]

Parades suck.

 

[CL82]

If they are good enough for obsessed astronauts, they ought to be good enough for you.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

1) Make friends with someone who works for a company with an office that lines Broadway. It's the sky box version, with good view, good food, central heating, and indoor plumbing.

2) Alternative if travel, timing & temperatures are supportive: go to the grounds of Museum of Natural History the night before and watch the balloons being inflated...unless I'm no longer up to date, and that one-tone solid joy is now - like what you've just read about the parade - straight out of Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

PS - Unlike with my punctuation corrections, I love that it is so commonly called the "Macy's Day Parade."

 

[Marat]

Its much easier to watch on TV . And advice also goes for New Years Eve @ Times Square.

 

[CL82]

2) Alternative if travel, timing & temperatures are supportive: go to the grounds of Museum of Natural History the night before and watch the balloons being inflated...unless I'm no longer up to date, and that one-tone solid joy is now - like what you've just read about the parade - straight out of Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

I was going to ask about this. I hear that that access has been dramatically restricted these days.

 

[Deepster]

I went a long time ago, drove in and parked a few miles away. We brought a small (5 ft) wooden ladder and went back up against a building so no one was behind us and stood a few rungs up each to see over the crowd. It was fun. Sure, there's crowds and you need to be patient, but I enjoyed myself.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I was going to ask about this. I hear that that access has been dramatically restricted these days.

Not surprising.

Back in the day, I probably could have sliced holes in balloons, but maybe there's some corporatized "Touch-a-Snoopy" version, with paid photo ops, merch, and sponsor logos like Nascar drivers.

Online search has the answer no doubt.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Its much easier to watch on TV . And advice also goes for New Years Eve @ Times Square.

This brings me to my favorite bad parenting story:

It was 1999, and I hooked up with a team that was going to use a combo of wind, solar, and fuel cell to power the Times Square ball drop. Great idea, but it all fell apart a couple days before New Year's Eve when Con Edison string-armed to claim 100% credit (that's, another story). But up until then, I was slated for hanging out in a comfy tent in Bryant Park until it was true showtime, whereafter I'd have great, roped-off access a couple blocks west.

I invited my 14 year old daughter to join me, and her initial excitement became tempered by concern about possible detonation of a nuclear device at the site. If she didn't go to Times Square, she'd be just over the Queens border, about 15 miles from the feared ground zero. I laughed and said something to the effect that if such a device were set off she'd *want* to be in Times Square where she'd be vaporized rather than in nearby Long Island where typical wind patterns would carry radioactivity that would result in a prolonged & more torturous death. Somehow, I thought this would be a more comforting perspective. I was wrong.

 

[8893]

This brings me to my favorite bad parenting story:

It was 1999, and I hooked up with a team that was going to use a combo of wind, solar, and fuel cell to power the Times Square ball drop. Great idea, but it all fell apart a couple days before New Year's Eve when Con Edison string-armed to claim 100% credit (that's, another story). But up until then, I was slated for hanging out in a comfy tent in Bryant Park until it was true showtime, whereafter I'd have great, roped-off access a couple blocks west.

I invited my 14 year old daughter to join me, and her initial excitement became tempered by concern about possible detonation of a nuclear device at the site. If she didn't go to Times Square, she'd be just over the Queens border, about 15 miles from the feared ground zero. I laughed and said something to the effect that if such a device were set off she'd *want* to be in Times Square where she'd be vaporized rather than in nearby Long Island where typical wind patterns would carry radioactivity that would result in a prolonged & more torturous death. Somehow, I thought this would be a more comforting perspective. I was wrong.

Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: Deep Thoughts / Disneyland - NBC.com

Watch Saturday Night Live highlight: Deep Thoughts / Disneyland - NBC.com

www.nbc.com

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: Deep Thoughts / Disneyland - NBC.com

Watch Saturday Night Live highlight: Deep Thoughts / Disneyland - NBC.com

www.nbc.com

Thanks.

I'll save my Universal Studios Orlando bad parenting story for another day. A solid second place.

 

[FartMan69]

1) Make friends with someone who works for a company with an office that lines Broadway. It's the sky box version, with good view, good food, central heating, and indoor plumbing.

2) Alternative if travel, timing & temperatures are supportive: go to the grounds of Museum of Natural History the night before and watch the balloons being inflated...unless I'm no longer up to date, and that one-tone solid joy is now - like what you've just read about the parade - straight out of Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

PS - Unlike with my punctuation corrections, I love that it is so commonly called the "Macy's Day Parade."

Thanks Hans, very cool.

 

[beerfan]

I did it about 10 years ago when my daughter was young and it was a great experience.. If you are going to do it, do it right. Go down the night before, get tickets to see the show at Radio City, and go see them blowing up the balloons the night before. You need to scope out a spot but if you get a hotel close enough you can always take turns with the family for bathroom breaks. You need to set up before 6 am. The ladder idea is a good one, we got those plastic 5 gallon buckets and stood on those and it worked fine (we just left them there after the parade). My daughter met a girl from California and shared her bucket with her, they still text each other.

There are a ton of places to get a thanksgiving dinner after the parade, just plan ahead and make reservations.

 

[GemParty]

So, we’re somewhere In between walk in front of a bus with diapers on and you will have a great time.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

 

[RichZ]

I find it somehow very sad that The Macy's Day Parade so easily rolls off the tongue like it was really the name of the event.
Lets just leave Thanksgiving out of it all together.
Sounds Amurikin.

 

[Waquoit]

A couple of years ago, a new guy in the office (and new to the East Coast) mentioned he was taking his family to the parade and asked me if I ever went. I said no and said that it sounded like nightmare. He said his wife and kids were really looking forward to it. The following week he told me they all had a blast. The only suggestion I have is to drive in and use a parking app in advance to find a space. I forgot what app he used but it was so cheap we wondered if it was legit ($16). It was and it turned out to be a spot in an apt building's private garage.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Have you ever attended in person? Thinking about a day trip from CT. Any tips?

43 years old and have maybe watched on tv less than a handful of times.

 

[J187Money]

We went for 6-7 years in a row. When the parade went down 7th, I used to get a hookup to hang out in the TKTS area on the steps. Was amazing. But before I sorted that out - it was an abject disaster. You absolutely had to be there the night before and on the street at 6AM to get a good spot.

However, if you do go the night before, you can go watch the balloons being blown up near the Museum of Natural History (i think) up near UWS and its free.

We still go in every year to have dinner - but we go in Thursday afternoon and stay over and then shop on Friday - the parade is too much of a s show and the kids are older.

Agree with the notes above if you know anyone you can use their offices. I can see from my office now but I don't really care.

 

[CL82]

Agree with the notes above if you know anyone you can use their offices. I can see from my office now but I don't really care.

This kind of sounds like a Boneyard invite to me. Thanks!

 

[J187Money]

This kind of sounds like a Boneyard invite to me. Thanks!

LOL - I won't be there. So there there is that...