Tag: Thanksgiving

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2019

Who doesn’t love a parade? In New York City there are some big ones. This includes the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This parade takes place in New York every year. It is run by Macy’s. A local employee told me they are asked if they want to volunteer for the parade. It sounds like some hold the ropes for the floats. This year the floats had to be close to the ground due to the high wind gusts.

If you want a close up view, get there early in the morning. I was there by 8:30 and was in the sixth row with some tall people in front of me. Some people could not take the cold and left giving me a front row standing location for the last half hour or so. It gets packed in though. I do not recommend trying to get a location around Columbus Circle or north. I also would not recommend getting a location close to Macy’s.

Paw Patrol
Snoopy
Power Ranger
It appeared Ronald McDonald may have had a mishap. He appeared to have a rip on his leg and it was deflating.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Green Eggs and Ham
Grinch
A Catalina Foothills band from Tucson, Arizona
Human singing ornaments
The parade ends with the arrival of Santa.

If you are in New York for Thanksgiving go down and watch the parade. Kids will love it and also kids at heart.

Viewing the Macy’s Floats

Do you plan to visit New York around Thanksgiving? Do you want to see the floats up close before the Macy’s parade? There is an opportunity to do that.

In the afternoon and evening on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving you can go to between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue between 74th and 82nd street and see the floats blown up and waiting to be used. The actual streets the balloons are on are around the Museum of Natural History. This year the winds are supposed to be bad the day of the parade, so they may not use the floats.

Ronald McDonald
Pikachu
CBS NYC at the site
Crowds walking by the view the floats
You get more of an idea of the scale from this distance. You can see the people in relation to the floats.

It would be hard to get a cab to this location. They close down Central Park West near it and several streets running into it. You can access it via subway/underground. A lot of walking is involved, so if you have issues walking, I do not recommend this. You walk a couple of blocks slowly at night with a large crowd until you arrive at the bag check. After that you walk another block or so to see the floats. I have been able to do this previously in the early afternoon. I highly recommend going then instead of at night. There are less crowds in the afternoon.

If you think you may not pick the best spot to view the parade, this is an option to add to your itinerary. It is a New York City pre-Thanksgiving tradition.

For more information: https://www.visitmacysusa.com/article/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-balloon-inflation