The Paint the Night Parade is hands-down our most favorite Disney parade ever. It blew us away when we saw it for the first time a few years back, and we were so excited to hear that it was coming back with Pixar Fest. We have been lucky enough to watch it a few times since it has been back, and definitely feel like the quality of the pictures we have taken has depended on where we chose to watch the parade. We will post the same floats in two different locations so you can see what we are talking about. We are using an iPhone 7 Plus, so those with a DSLR may have a completely different experience, but if you are using an iPhone or something similar, you may find our experiences helpful.
If we aren’t planning on taking a ton of pictures, one of our favorite places to watch the parade is directly across from Pixar Pier, facing the pier. We love to be able to see Mickey all lit up on the Pixar Pal-A-Round as we watch the parade, and the Pal-A-Round even lights up in time with the music at some points. We have found though, that the lights from Pixar Pier can sometimes interfere with our pictures, making it difficult to get that clean, crisp shot. In that location, we get most of our best shots when the parade floats themselves are blocking the lights of Pixar Pier.
Hollywood Boulevard on the other hand, doesn’t have any of the same background light issues. Once the lights in Hollywood Land are dimmed, the only noticeable lights on the street are the parade floats and performers themselves. We are able to get plenty of clean, crisp shots with very little effort.
The best place to watch has a lot to do with whether you are wanting to take pictures or just take in all of the details of the parade as it rolls by. You really can’t go wrong with either option, but we can guarantee you’ll be asking “When can we do this again?” as soon as the parade is over. 😉