2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

After being in New York for over nine years, this was the first time I went to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person. It was an incredible experience and apparently my reaction to all the floats/balloons/walkers expressed that! My friend Irene said I was like a kid in a candy store! Hee hee! I bet it was also because Irene and I had American Natural History Museum VIP Guest passes that gave us prime location seating for the parade, free hot chocolate/apple cider and bagels/doughnuts (and a clean bathroom!)! I think anyone would be as excited as I was! Btw, we didn't have to wake up at 6:00 am to secure a spot... we met each other at 8 am and the parade started at 9 am. Not too shabby... Not too shabby!

For those of you who missed the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade here is a link to my photos. It was a perfect day to be outside -- not too cold, not too windy and definitely no rain! A perfect day for football too!

Below are some of the balloons we saw glide by us -- with Snoopy being my favorite!. Sailor Mickey and the Pillsbury Dough Boy were two new balloons this year, along with Ronald McDonald and Spider Man (reintroduction) which is not shown here.

Pretty amazing! I would only recommend braving the crowds if you have VIP treatment like we did. Otherwise, your couch is just as nice and probably cozier. However, if you do get the special treatment, there is NO other experience like it. You can go up and close to see the floats!

BTW, DID YOU KNOW that there is a public viewing of all the balloons the day before? Yup. its called Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Inflation and is held near the American Natural History Museum (The 2 side streets between the Museum of Natural History, 77th and 81st). The festivities does not start until 3 pm and ends at 10 pm (public viewing is around 4 pm - 8 pm; check the times). So, if you don't want to brave the day time crowds, you can brave the night owls who like to watch balloons get blown up to size!

Happy thanksgiving!