Review of Christmas Parade Taping

[cindy_k]

Hi Everyone,

I went to the Afternoon session of the taping today.
When we got there, around 11:00am, they were filming Michael Bolton singing on stage in front of the castle. We were met at the gate, given wristbands to hold on to, (we were told not to wear them) and were escorted to the area in front of the stage to be audience members.
Michael had a choir backing him up. I'm not a huge fan of his, but it was fun and a nice number. We did it twice and then did some audience shots.
Audience shots consist of "Everyone look at the stage (not the camera) and cheer", even though nothing is going on.
Sheila and Billy (from WWTBAM Play It) MC'd the production for the audience. They were not in any shots that I saw.

They dismissed us for about an hour after Michael was done, and told us to be back at 1:45p for the Princess number with Bianca Ryan (America's got talent winner) and Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboy/Dancing with the Stars winner).
We went down Mainstreet to grab a bite to eat at the Bakery, and came back early so we could be closer to the front. For this production, they put a bunch of little girls in Princess costumes in the front with a parent each. They also started pulling people in from the park, because they needed a bigger audience.
They did a few practice runs with Bianca singing and then 4 takes in total and then some Audience shots. We finished around 3:45 or so.
It was tiring on the feet standing there that long in the humid weather, but it was a fun thing to do.
Now I will have watch on Christmas day to see if I made the final cut. :wave:

I posted some pictures I took in the WDWMagic Album.
Have Fun!

http://photoalbums.wdwmagic.com/showgallery.php?cat=3469&ppuser=4678

 

[mkepcotmgmak]

thanks, for sharing!

i talked to a friend yesterday (or wednesday) who was watching Beyonce perform... she said it was CROWDED! haha... poor michael and biannca.

 

[cawilson003]

did you by any chance get any pictures of the Doodlebops?

 

[joel_maxwell]

MICHAEL BOLTON........ ahhhh, well, at least there is a mute feature on my TV. i think my mom is the only one i know that likes him. at least she will be entertained during that part

 

[metscool]

I saw Michael Bolton over at Everest that day. He didn't ride the ride but the American Idol people did. They rode it twice. Front and back.

 

[Meandude]

We saw Kelly Ripa walking through the crowd on Friday at MK. She is really a small person.

 

[joel_maxwell]

I saw Michael Bolton over at Everest that day. He didn't ride the ride but the American Idol people did. They rode it twice. Front and back.

see, total wuss just like his music!

 

[sillyspook13]

Emmit Smith was at FoLK yesterday......

 

[AEfx]

A Sort-of Late Report on the Beyonce Taping

thanks, for sharing!

i talked to a friend yesterday (or wednesday) who was watching Beyonce perform... she said it was CROWDED!

The park itself, or the audience to see Beyonce?

I was there. I guess she sang it through 6 or 7 times, and I was in the audience for 2 and a half of them. They were begging people to stand in front of the castle to watch her, because people kept leaving.

I was in Liberty Square, and heard the singing. I didn't recognize the voice right away. I remember a guy near me commenting that she missed a couple of notes (I didn't notice myself).

So I walk towards the castle, and she was backstage. I had to ask those around me who they had been watching. At that point I believe she had sung it twice through.

Anyway, I was able to walk right up to the front of the audience in front of the castle for the next couple of performances. They were really having a hard time keeping people up there, as it was misting and raining on and off. The reason I say I watched it 2 and a half times was because they had to stop half-way through one performance because the rain started to come down too hard. I will say, Beyonce was a trooper - even standing there in that white dress you wouldn't have known that she was getting rained on. She kept going until the director stopped her - everyone laughed and she was relieved they stopped. All I could think of was Diana Ross in her famous free NYC concert where she got drenched - it wasn't that bad, of course, but she really was a trooper when she could have been a diva and stopped it herself.

As I left they were still trying to get people to come in for the remaining performances. I stood on the bridge to Liberty Square for one more run-through after I left the main crowd, and I bet that is the one that will largely be featured in the broadcast. The sun came out for the first time that day, and the wrangler commented in the bullhorn "See everyone, Beyonce made the sun come out!" with sincerity, LOL. In earlier takes they had to yell at people to tell them to drop their umbrellas and "NO PONCHOS!", so I assume most of the audience shots will come from the later takes.

I'm not sure how many more they did - probably only a couple, which is why I estimated they did 6 or 7 total. I left the area, and when I left the park forty-five minutes or so later they were long done. There were many CM's around trying to encourage people to stay, and just to generally manage the area, in addition to the film crew and hired help. I heard one of the more naive ones comment that, "Maybe if she sang a different song they'd get people to stay," which obviously would defeat the whole purpose, LOL.

It was neat to see. However, I didn't want to spend too much time there - the weather had been crappy all morning so the park was pretty empty and since the sun was coming out I wanted to get a few more things done before the masses decended.

AEfx