Most New Yorkers know that the best way to see the balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade up close and personal, without braving the parade route, is to go to the annual Balloon Inflation the day before Thanksgiving. On our second attempt to attend this in person – we figured out the formula for a winning experience.
My office closes early each year on the day before Thanksgiving, and I brought my eldest with me so we could go straight uptown to watch the balloons from work. We had a great Thai lunch, I tried to entice him to nap when we got back (without luck) and at 3, we took the B Train to the Museum of Natural History, where the line begins. Note – the Time Warner Center at the Columbus Circle stop is a great mid-point bathroom pit stop.
We tried to attend the Balloon Inflation a couple of years back as a post-dinner event with both my nephew and son in strollers. Biggest disaster ever! The crowds were ridiculous by 7:30pm and the strollers made it really difficult to navigate, even at our snail’s pace. This time, we went in the afternoon and the situation was much better. Some of the balloons were still not fully inflated, but we saw most of them and each has a sign with a photo of the balloon all blown up and in the sky with a note on the history of the balloon.
My big boy is 4½ and even though the day involved a good amount of walking, I debated about whether or not to bring the stroller, and opted for the convenience of not having to lug it up and down subway station stairs (and on this trip – the Time Warner Center) and possibly have difficulty getting around the potential crowd at the balloons. Leaving the stroller at home was definitely the right decision for us. There were times I had to lift Zach up to see the balloons over the line, and this would have been especially difficult with a stroller in tow. I brought a bag to help store my camera, snacks, water, our gear and other things I’d normally stash in the stroller.
We made it uptown by 3:45 and there were already a good amount of people, though nowhere near the crowds I remembered from our nighttime attempt. The city was well prepared for the event with barricades and police directing the flow of people. The line to tour the balloons actually begins a few blocks north of the balloon lineup, just below the Museum of Natural History. We immediately saw characters we recognized (Spiderman, Kermit the Frog) and we were able to go right up to the barricades that are inches away from the inflating balloons and take pictures. We wound around the blocks, and I realized for the first time how the parade is one big commercial! The majority of the balloon characters are mascots (like the giant Kook Aid pitcher and Energizer Bunny) or represent TV series or movies in the market. The fact that Santa officially closes the parade to kick off the holiday shopping season is just great subliminal marketing hilarity. Or maybe it’s not so subliminal and I’ve just been a little slow to pick this up.
We watched the parade the next day from home and Zach was really excited to see the characters flying down the parade route. He asked me to take a picture of the Sonic the Hedgehog balloon on the TV.
We had a great day, made a memory, and have a new tradition for the years Thanksgiving is NY-based.
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