After dining we walked into the hotel to see the ducks. Cute performance and dialogue. Very busy, if you want to see the ducks, get there early and/or go upstairs for a better view of the duck walk.
the Peabody ducks make their appearance and eleven am and their exit at five pm each day. There is a Master of the Ducks to introduce you to the Ducks and to tell the story of how they came to be there. Good fun for the little ones as the ducks seem to know that they are important and act accordingly, sometimes with comical results.
The ducks were so so as far as marching skills. Novel but maybe for children. Try it on YouTube perhaps.
Sure, the actual duck walk lasts only about 30 seconds, but the build-up is incredible and seeing the little kids reaction to is priceless.Afterward, we roamed the hotel discovering remarkable things of a by-gone era. The trip up to the Skyway on the roof gave us a nice view of the city and a visit to the Duck Palace. The Peabody Hotel and the Duck Walk are a must-see while in Memphis!
If you are downtown, take the kids, but get there early so they can sit close to the red carpet. This is an old Memphis landmark. While the kids marvel at the ducks, and after you have photo or two, you can marvel at the "where the Mississippi Delta begins.."
Husband and I spent a day in Memphis and couldn't resist stopping in to the Peabody for a look at the famous ducks and watch the duck master escort them to the fountain for the day. We recommend that you arrive at about 10:45am for the 11am duck march as the duck master gives a short speech explaining the history behind the tradition. The duck master then takes the elevator up to the sky deck to herd the ducks into the elevator and they arrive at the ground floor at exactly 11am. It was silly and hilarious but we wouldn't have missed it for the world. The ducks really leave the elevator, walk down the red carpet and enter the fountain. There's really no trick to keeping them in the fountain as they place a block to the stairs out and the ducks can't gain momentum to fly out! We stopped in later in the day to check them out again and they seemed contented to swim around and play in the fountain.
The ducks start at 5:00, we got there at 4:00 and was still too late to get a seat, I suggest if u want a good seat to get there at 3:30. Everyone has to b seated during the march, no one can stand up in front of u, yet that makes it very hard to get pics, if u are seated toward the back. My husband and I jumped in the elevator and went to the mezzanine level and wTched the ducks from there. Don't know if I would say it is impressive, but it was cute!!
11am and 5pm the ducks march from their mansion on the roof to the lobby fountain to take an hour long dip in the water. It's a big production, lobby is FULL to the max with people wanting a glimpse of the little cuties.
I love the story and the history regarding these ducks. They live on the roof, but take the elevator to the lobby at 11:00 a.m. and spend the day in the fountain until their return to their rooftop home at 5:00 p.m. And they roll out a special red carpet! Add in the "Duckmaster" and you've got a quirky little activity ;-)
The pomp and ceremony was a bit over the top, on the day we visited we got a prime position on the mezzanine level only to have our view blocked by some fill in duck masters waking in front of the ducks.