Many people will come out early and camp out all day (hindering your view and catching all your beads) if you plan to stand on the ground.
However, generally I find catching parades in the city to be a chore. I recommend it to my friends coming from out of town, because its quick to pick them up and drop them off there, surprisingly little traffic. It's also somewhat on the outskirts and the right side of the city and the parade route, that if you wanted to catch a cab to another part of the city (Cafe Degas in Bayou St. Also, short walk to the Polo Lounge at the Windsor Court which is fun for cocktails. It is a few blocks from the quarter, but pretty much EVERY parade that goes downtown runs right in front of the Hilton. I would probably suggest the Hilton on St. Endymion is one of the 'super krewes' so, it's pretty spectacular, if you can actually see it (which brings me to where to see the parade). It has 3 parades that will roll into the city (Iris, Tucks (in the morning/afternoon), and Endymion(at night)). However, many people really enjoy Saturday.
There is a break and then Bacchus rolls around 5:00.
The parades start at 11:00 am and three of them run back to back. In my opinion, Sunday (super sunday) will give you the biggest bang for your buck if you can only catch one day of Mardi Gras (and is also my favorite).
