Planning Step 4: What time is the 3:00 parade??

Now that we've got all the major decisions out of the way, it's time for the fun part. This is my favorite part of the planning process, but for some (especially first-timers) it can seem a little daunting. You've got all these days and nights to live in the magic of Disney, so how are you going to spend them?
The first step I take to answering this question is to take a look at the calendars for each park. (You can view them on the Disney World website several months in advance.) You can view the times for major entertainment events (i.e. fireworks and parades) in the parks by clicking on any date on the calender. Opening and closing times are also listed, as well as Extra Magic Hours.

Here are the direct links to the calendars for the four major theme parks:
Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom

I always jot down the days and times for each firework show and parade in each park so that I can make a quick reference to it later. Not every event happens every day. For example, Wishes and the Main St. Electrical Parade at Magic Kingdom only happen on select nights.
The first event I schedule is Wishes. It is my favorite event at the parks, and I always love to save it for that very last night. It makes for a sort of grand finale to a great vacation. If possible, I also like to schedule Wishes for a night when the Electrical Parade happens right before the fireworks. That way, you get both events back-to-back. This most typically happens on weekend nights. This will be the case for us on our next trip, as our last night will be a Saturday night.

From there, I decide which days I want to do catch the other events. If you have the Park Hopper option on your ticket, you can visit one park during the day and then catch the nighttime fireworks at a different one. We are going to do that on our first day on our February trip. After arriving, we'll head to the Magic Kingdom first. After lunch we'll go over to Epcot and enjoy the attractions before ending the night with Illuminiations. The Fantasmic show at the Hollywood Studios does not show in February, so we will have the other two nights to enjoy extremely short attraction lines while everyone else is grabbing their spots for the fireworks.
During the day, three of the parks have parades at 3 or 4 p.m. These parades are daily, so you have plenty of flexibility in choosing which days you want to see each parade. As for us, we will be seeing Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade at Animal Kingdom on our second day and the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade at Magic Kingdom on our last day. We're skipping the parade at the Hollywood Studios and instead, taking advantage of the shorter attraction lines during that time.
By planning firework and parade viewings first, it's much easier to decide other aspects of your vacation schedule, such as dining reservations, since you already know which parks you're going to be in on which days. Next I'll share with you how it's possible to see a whole theme park in less than a day ;).

Miranda