How to Watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2018

There are a few traditions that just make Thanksgiving what it is: serving hearty food, spending quality time with loved ones, sharing expressions of gratitude, catching a good game or two of football, and, of course, waking up early enough to catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Watching all of those giant character balloons, energetic performers, and festive floats go by really helps to usher in the spirit of the holiday season. So here's what you need to know if you and yours are planning to catch the big parade this year.

How to watch:

NBCwill air the 92nd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade starting at 9 a.m. ET and running until noon. The parade will be hosted by Today Showstars Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker. In addition to the TV broadcast, the show will also be live-streamed in partnership with Verizon 360 on mobile devices and YouTube to provide fans with a 360-degree view of the parade, with commentary from co-hosts Keith Habersberger of BuzzFeed and Zuri Hall from E!

CBSwill also cover the parade live, starting at 9 a.m ET. Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier and correspondent Keltie Knight will co-anchor the show, with several of the network's show stars, including Erich Bergen (Madam Secretary), Joe Regalbuto (Murphy Brown), and Sela Ward (FBI) stopping by.

You can also watch on fuboTV -- start a free trial today!

Who's performing:

This year's float performance lineup features a ton of talented stars, including Ally Brooke, Anika Noni Rose and the cast and muppets of Sesame Street, Ashley Tisdale, Bad Bunny, Barenaked Ladies, Bazzi, Brynn Cartelli, Carly Pearce, Diana Ross and Family, Ella Mai, Jack and Jack, John Legend, Kane Brown, Leona Lewis, Mackenzie Ziegler and Johnny Orlando, Martina McBride, Pentatonix, Rita Ora, Sugarland and Tegan Marie. There will also be 12 different marching bands and several dance groups from across the nation marching throughout the parade.

The best balloons:

Audiences can expect to see a few new balloons joining the lineup this year, including Fleck, Bjorn, Jojo and Hug from Netflix's The Christmas Chronicles, Goku from the Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Little Cloud from FriendsWithYou and Macy's own Sunny the Snowpal. Audiences can also expect to see the return of other famous balloons, like Charlie Brown, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, SpongeBob Squarepants, Olaf the snowman from Frozen and Pikachu, to name a few. The bad news is that this is forecasted to be one of the coldest, windiest Thanksgivings on record. The balloons are going to be harder to control. So you're much better off watching from the comfort of your own home.

New floats:

Joining the year's parade are a handful of new floats, including the Fantasy Chocolate Factory from Kinder, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Nickelodeon, Santa's Saint Bernards Save Christmas, a spin-off of The Elf on the Shelf, Splashin' Safari Adventure from Kalahari Resorts and Conventions, and Macy's Tom Turkey.

(Full disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS.)