In the super thread they mention making a reservation at carnation cafe to eat dinner and view the parade from the patio seats and from there pour into the street to view the fireworks once the parade passes. The catch is that you won't get a great view of the street performers. But your fireworks view will be good I believe. And if you want an unobstructed view with less of a wait, definitely try to see the second parade.
I don't know if things have changed, but this is not a guarantee and I wouldn't recommend it if you want to catch the parade or fireworks.
We had a reservation at Carnation Cafe during the Diamond Anniversary kickoff weekend in May, and hostess CM was explicitly clear that they were not taking seating requests -- it was first available table only. We were seated inside, towards the front of the restaurant, at a booth with a high back blocking the view to Main Street. All my wife, who was seated facing Main Street, could see was the very tops of the PtN floats. That wasn't a big deal, as we had planned on catching the second parade, but our server was slow settling our check and we missed the very beginning of
Disneyland Forever, which runs only once a night. The fireworks begin very shortly after the first PtN ends. Again, our view of the projections on the Main Street buildings were obstructed by the back of our bench. We eventually spilled out onto the middle of Main Street and made our way into the crowd to watch DF. We didn't get to see the projections on the castle, but did see the projections on the Main Street buildings and the fireworks.
Aside from our particular seat, I don't see how there is a good view from inside the restaurant or even the back of the patio; you'd really have to be seated at an outdoor table right at the sidewalk, which seemed to us like it would be a very unpleasant experience. The sidewalk is jammed with crowds of people trying to push through or lurk before and after the shows. Even seated outside, you'd be watching the parade through that walkway of people and then a standing crowd of about four people thick also watching the parade. Again, there's no guarantee you can get out of Carnation Cafe in time for DF, and while you can probably see the projections better from the patio, as they are higher, you will not be able to see much of the fireworks or the castle.
I'd agree with the suggestion to catch the second PtN parade if there is one. We did, and the wait to stake out a front row spot was much shorter compared to the crowds that had camped out hours before for the first parade.
