By 5 a.m., the first round of fans had already begun to trickle in.

More than 200,000 fans are expected to flock to the Florida Panther’ championship parade on Sunday. The parade will start at 11 a.m., though people began arriving hours before to snag parking spots, find a good place to camp out or even see a player in the flesh.

“I got here at 7:40 a.m., and the road was already closed.” said Elena Cohan, who left her home in Redland with her husband at 5 a.m.

Their goal was to secure a prime spot in front of the Elbo Room, a fan-favorite bar where a sea of red, blue and white gathered, generating buzz before the parade. Cohan said her husband uses a wheelchair, so they wanted to get a good parking spot.

Ahead of the parade, Fort Lauderdale officials had urged people to arrive well before the parade’s scheduled start in anticipation of road closures and congestion. Water taxis began leaving from the Broward County Convention Center, the Downtown Las Olas Business District and the Enhanced Water Taxi Services by 7 a.m., and shuttles from the Heron Parking Garage also began offering rides to the parade site by 7 a.m.

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By 8 a.m., traffic heading to the Las Olas parking garage was bumper to bumper, and by 9 a.m., that garage was already full.

Geo Lubbers, 18, sat on striped towels with his friends, Farrah Sorhage, 17, and Syler Galmiche, 16, facing the ocean. They’d even marked their territory by staking a large Panthers flag in the sand.

The trio hails from Fort Lauderdale, and they’d arrived at the beach about 7:30 a.m.

“I want to see the Cup,” Lubbers said, adorning a blue Aleksander Barkov jersey. “I started going to the games four years ago. It really pushed me to want to play hockey.”

Rainy Stetler, who is also from Fort Lauderdale, brought her daughter and granddaughter to the parade.

“I’ve been watching (the Panthers) for years, and to see what they’ve gone through is just, it’s heartbreaking,” she said through tears. “But now that they’ve won the Cup, it definitely calls for a celebration.”

Christina and Bill Curran, along with their son Cameron, are from Plantation, but they spent Saturday night at the Four Seasons Hotel along the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Plantation would normally be about a 30-minute drive to Fort Lauderdale, but the family’s overnight stay helped them to beat traffic and crowds without having to wake up before sunrise, instead allowing a comfortable walk to the beach about 8:45 a.m.

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“I love the fact we’re all coming together to support and give love and support to the team who fought for the Cup for us,” Christina Curran said.

“We owe it to them,” Bill Curran said about attending the parade.