Thousands attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Fresh off the jam-packed Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route, the Hewitt family from Hempstead, by way of Nashville, Tenn., was still buzzing about the procession of bands, floats and famous faces as they waited in Penn Station for the train ride home.

"We were pretty pumped up," said Lyndi Hewitt, 33, a sociology professor at Hofstra University, who braved the chilly weather and somewhat controlled chaos, along with her husband, Matt Corzine, and their daughter Ellie, 5.

Seeing the parade in person was always a dream, Lyndi Hewitt said. After the family moved from Nashville to Long Island last January, she made it a goal for them.

"I was a little choked up at the beginning when it first started," Hewitt said. "For me, there wasn't one part better than another. . . . It was just being there with the kids and all the excitement and the tall buildings."

The Hewitts were among the tens of thousands who lined the streets along the route for the 84th version of the famous parade.

Some people saw the procession out their apartment windows, while others hopped on the Long Island Rail Road or told sleepy tales of early morning and overnight bus rides from Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

The crowd at West 66th Street and Central Park West roared when a Spiderman balloon passed. "It's Spiderman!" kids shouted.

Though overcast all morning, the rains held off until the end of the parade.

Balloon newcomers Kung Fu Panda and Diary of a Wimpy Kid were crowd favorites, as was Buzz Lightyear.

The parade kicked off with Snoopy at 9 a.m. at 77th Street and Central Park West by the Museum of Natural History, where the giant helium balloons where inflated Wednesday.

Before the festivities, Penn Station was abuzz with families coming in from New Jersey and Long Island.

For the second straight year, Paula and Eric Steinberg of Setauket made the trek into Manhattan with their two grandchildren.

The boys, Aaron Marasia, 7, and Zach Marasia, 4, looked forward to seeing the large balloons, they said, and the Kool-Aid Man "balloonicle" - a balloon and vehicle combined.

"Their parents are at home making Thanksgiving dinner for everyone while we're out. What better place to be than at the parade," said Eric Steinberg, 62, a retired schoolteacher.

Lorraine and Mike Vultaggio of Manorville, and the couple's three children - Michael, 15, Joey, 12, and Caitlan, 10 - said they were regulars as they headed out from the station to a find a chunk of pavement they could claim for the parade duration.

"We go every year; I've been going since I was a kid," said Lorraine Vultaggio, 40. "It's just a lot of entertainment. It's a nice time." - With Chau Lam