Originally Posted By joe80x86 Ok, we are going to be at WDW this weekend and sadly missed our chance to be in the passholder viewing area, but this info on the passholder site about the entire event is very limited. Can someone in the know expound on this I am pasting the only blurb from the WDW passholder site about this event: "The special Passholder viewing area has reached capacity, but you are still invited to attend a taping of Disney's Christmas Day parade! Be a part of the magic when you watch the show from the general viewing area at the Magic Kingdom® until 3:00 p.m. on both Friday, December 1st and Saturday, December 2nd, 2006. Get into the holiday spirit as you watch your favorite Disney Characters and awesome celebrity guest stars perform on Main Street." I read something in the Mickey Monitor about it starting at 9:30 or something and passholders who signed up for the viewing area had to be there by 8am, but why would they tape the parade twice and again anyone with more info. Thanks, Joe
Originally Posted By JCMouse I saw that 4 stars of High School Musical are supposed to be performing there--Ashley, Monique, Lucas and Corbin. (No Vanessa Anne--sigh.) Also Bianca the little girl singer who won on America's Got Talent is performing in a segment with the princesses.
Originally Posted By kennect I guess it would be called the need to "edit" like crazy to make sure the whole thing looks good once televised...We got in on some of it years ago and you wouldn't beleive what it took to get what ended up being about a thirty second spot on television...Had a second chance after that to get involved and passed on it...Fun to get some insight to the whole thing but nothing that special...Best part was getting to talk with some of the tech's thing bring in now to help them do it...They had some choice things to say about different star's that show up for the event...There weren't many kind words said about any of them....
Originally Posted By wahooskipper How is that day for guests who want to visit the park but aren't interested in getting involved with the parade? Can you get around the lands easily enough?
Originally Posted By dixielandings "I guess it would be called the need to "edit" like crazy to make sure the whole thing looks good once televised..." that pretty much sums it up Ken got to have plenty of stuff to choose from and there will be lots to leave on the editing rooms floor ( or these days drag and dropped into the recycling bin)
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Do they ever recycle footage from past years? With the discussion of how the parade never seems to change, it seems like it would be easy to use the footage that wasn't used last year and call it this year, and very very few people would know the difference (probably only those in the audience, if they found themselves). I guess now that they are doing it with the tree in the hub, they will need a few years to stockpile the footage, but it doesn't seem that unlikely, given the way that they advertise for their parks.
Originally Posted By BlazesOfFire I reserved my spot for the that special viewing area i thought we had to be there by 7.
Originally Posted By joe80x86 BlazesOfFire you may be correct, the website no longer shows that time so my memory may be incorrect.
Originally Posted By kennect OH Dixie, You have no clue as to how many takes they took of what I am referring to...But they were done quickly and it was so funny to watch it all happen...There apparently was a preselected or paid portion of people there....They were up front..They got to wear the all of the hats...That were asked to be returned when finished....We were simply background people that didn't matter at all...When I actually saw what was shown on TV I was really quite shocked as to how short the segment was....The whole thing was a joke in my mind but I knew that before getting involved...Later though, as I said above, we ran into another situation to get involved with...It was fun to do it once but it didn't seem fun on a possible second go round...The parade we see on television is so planned out that the only way one could enjoy it is to simply watch it on TV...Trying to be there for the taping is a nightmare....
Originally Posted By FenwayGirl How about when they broadcast it at all..We did not get to see it last year, our local affiliates decided not to carry. Any idea of when it is going to be on this year?
Originally Posted By Blackie Pueblo I do feel something doesn't seem right now that it is taped. It just comes across as fake to me. Like there is no magic to it anymore.
Originally Posted By Blackie Pueblo My wife and I have had one for several years but next year I don't know if we are going to renew, and it'll break my heart when mine expires this year. It's worth it and the black out dates don't bother me so much because it's during the summer and I don't like going in the Summer months anyway because they are so hot and the parks are way too crowded.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Sigh.Anyone else remember when this was broadcast live?>> You mean when it was an event and not a pieced together PR/marketing commercial? Yeah ... that's when I used to watch it ... on the years I wasn't actually there.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Heck, I remember when WDW had a wonderful Easter Parade and broadcast that LIVE too!
Originally Posted By CMDad When WDW first opened, my family used to love being there on 12/24 and 12/25 as it was usually very empty. On 12/24 it would close at abot 6 PM and then all of the CM's would line up in the area between the train station and the turnstiles and shake your hand and wish you a happy holiday. The next day, I assume people stayed home for the holiday. (It gave this Jewish family something to do on Christmas <G>). Then they started televising the parade on Christmas Day (live). The first year they did it there was no change in the MK, but once people knew they would televise it ... the next year it was so crowded on Christmas Day that when you entered the MK you were directed directly to Tomorrowland through a backstage area. This was the first time I had seen that happen. Needless to say ... I usually go to another park on that day now.
Originally Posted By BlazesOfFire The taping was just awful!!! If you didnt have a reservation, you should have went anyways. They let ANYBODY in!! They did not check for anything, not your reservation, notyour pass. They let in so many non-passholders with the passholders, it made it a mess. The parade they show on TV does not go as flawless as it seems.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 CMDad, I can tell you from experience that in the mid-70s (they didn't start broadcasting the parade until 1984) that the MK used to be packed on Christmas Day. My very first visit was on Christmas 19 ... I bet you can figure the year yourself ;-) But I do recall Disney closing 'promptly at 6 p.m.' on Christmas Eve for decades so that CMs could go home and spend time with families. Not anymore. Midnight now (and even though I am both Jewish and a firm believer in extended park hours, I feel this is wrong ... as are stores being open at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving if they weren't open on the day etc...). Up on the soapbox: we have become a society of instant gratification and if that means your supermarket has to be open Christmas because you were too busy/lazy/stupid to buy your yams, well ... tough pooh for all those workers that are forced to be away from their families. OK ... gotta go a WDW holiday commercial with scenes from the new Haunted Mansion Holiday and new Indiana Jones ride just came on ...
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I was there late in the day Saturday. Main Street was bad but we were able to take in a lot of attractions as people. Other than the obvious bottle neck points I was rather surprised with how well we got around. I probably won't go the same weekend next year...but it wasn't so bad.
