Eagles Super Bowl parade: Date, time, route and other details

Eagles fans who have dreamed their entire lives about a Super Bowl victory parade will finally get their chance to celebrate.

After the Eagles defeated the Patriots, 41-33, on Sunday, Mayor Kenney announced that the Birds' victory parade would be held Thursday, starting at 11 a.m.

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The parade route is to begin at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue at 11 a.m. and continue north to City Hall, then go up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, eventually making its way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art between 12 and 12:30 p.m.

A 1 p.m., the city will hold a ceremony on the Art Museum steps. So far, the details are being kept under wraps, but the Creative Group's Fred Stein, who helped planned the event, promised, "It will dramatic. It will be wonderful. It will be fantastic."

Philadelphia public schools will be closed Thursday due to the parade. Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools will also be closed.

The city is encouraging fans planning to attend the parade to take public transportation, due to limited parking and large crowds expected to attend. SEPTA is planning expanded service to handle the increased demand, according to Transit Workers Union Local 234 president Willie Brown.

"They want to make sure they have enough service to service the people going to the parade," Brown said.

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A City Council meeting that had been scheduled  Thursday is now canceled.

"I have never in my life been so excited to cancel a work meeting," Council President Darrell Clarke said in a statement. "The Philadelphia Eagles' historic victory last night was richly earned and deserved by players, team employees, and fans."

Clarke added: "On Thursday, the City of Philadelphia is going to throw the greatest Super Bowl parade ever. Thanks again, Eagles. Can't wait to meet you on Broad Street!"

Along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, preparations for Thursday's festivities were already getting underway on Monday afternoon. The beginnings of a stage, barricades and hundreds of portable toilets were all starting to line the Parkway.

Officials had been tight-lipped about plans for any potential parade before the game, with Kenney writing on Twitter that he didn't "want to jinx it." In 2005, the last time the Patriots and Eagles faced off in the Super Bowl, New England head coach Bill Belichick used Philadelphia's preliminary planning as fodder to motivate his team heading into the game.

It's unclear how many people will turn out for the victory parade. but attendance is expected to be massive. In 2008, media reports pegged attendance at the Phillies' World Series victory parade at two million, though no official estimate was released by the city.

"We did not establish … any official number, " a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter told the Inquirer in 2009. "The two million was floated around, and we've never refuted nor confirmed."

Among those who have said they would attend if the Eagles won is Al Michaels, the longtime play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Football, who called the Eagles' Super Bowl win for NBC.

"I'm flying in for that one," Michaels said back in November.

Staff writers Jason Laughlin and Claudia Vargas contributed to this article.