ABC Christmas Day Parade - 'Disney Parks Unforgettable Christmas Celebration' taping schedule

halltd

halltd

Well-Known Member
Bolt said:
It's not as crazy as everyone really cracks it up to be...
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It's definitely not as crazy as when the parade was shot live, but its still busy and difficult to get around because of crowds, blocked off areas, and filming equipment. The live parades were always crazy. Maybe that's why they did away with them.
 
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DisneyFan684

Member
Not sure what to do about this. Never been there during parade filming before. I have the choice of going to MK Friday the 13th or Saturday the 14th. Picked Friday because of lower crowd levels, but how does this impact crowds other than congestion on main street?? Will rope drop still work the same if they are already filming when the park opens? Any help appreciated:)
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
Tom said:
Watching the taping of the parade, performers and hosts is a cool experience for us techies/geeks/nerds. We just happened across the taping the morning we were flying home, and since the flight wasn't until evening, we just wandered into the MK and got ushered into the roped area.

We decided to hang around, but got hot and bored of the parade part, so we snuck out and did some rides. Then we went back to the hub when they were filming all of Samantha Brown's speaking parts, and Maria Menounos' too. We then were part of the crowd during the taping of Colby Calait's(?) performance.

I was just gawking at all the cameras and production gear. It was interesting to see how the production crew would coach the audience, explain the next camera angle, and hype everyone up. They'd film an entire run of the song with just the music, and other times with her singing, but not dancing, because the camera angles were either from behind her or on stage for those takes.

On Christmas morning we watched the show, and it was mindblowing to see how it was all spliced together. Nick and Maria talking to each other, when in actuality, they didn't even film on the same day. And all the intermingled shots of the live performance that made it seem like one seamless take. And lively parade floats behind Nick Cannon, when in actuality they just drove silently down the street with performers miming their parts, and music dubbed later.

If you have lots of time to kill and want to be part of a major television production (we actually saw ourselves on the show), I recommend stopping by.

If you were hoping to enjoy any time on Main Street, no such luck until after 5pm or so. They start at the crack of dawn and go until the shadows become obvious.
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All of that sounds interesting for a tech geek (and I do have an affection for that, too), but it all also lends itself to why the current show comes off as an infomercial.

What a dramatic difference from the live parade they used to do on Christmas morning. Such kinetic energy in that. For comparison today, think of the LIVE Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC each year (not the CBS unofficial one). It is amazingly choreographed and lots of fun -- exactly the kinetic feel of the Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade, as it was known when it was broadcast live on Christmas morning (until around 1997 or so). It was live and felt like it, even if they threw in an planned look at something from Disneyland or Hilton Head or something. Those were understood to have been pre-taped or commercial cut-ins, but the parade itself was much more fun and felt more like you were actually there, celebrating with them. That is what is missing now.
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
Mr.Nutz said:
I'm visiting from the UK and will be in MK on 11/11. I have no interest in seeing the taping and my wife has never been to WDW. How much will this screw up our day?
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Unless you plan to spend the entire day on Main Steet, USA, and in the hub, you should be fine, if only a little inconvenienced going down Main Street to get anywhere else -- but even that can be avoided with the "fancy" new backstage pass, uh, er, bypass; or even by going through the stores.

The rest of the park should be hardly affected.

I hope, by the way, that they keep the flag pole up that day and still do the flag retreat ceremony at 5:00. It is Veterans Day here. That is a nice ceremony, especially on Veterans Day, when it will likely involve the Voices of Liberty.
 
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dvitali

Active Member
From the title of the show I guessing that they gonna inject segments between the parade in WDW and Disneyland and Hawaii about invited family telling us their most unforgettable Christmas memories from the past like a solider coming home on Christmas Day or someone who have not seen a relative for sometime.
 
Mr.Nutz

Mr.Nutz

Member
prberk said:
Unless you plan to spend the entire day on Main Steet, USA, and in the hub, you should be fine, if only a little inconvenienced going down Main Street to get anywhere else -- but even that can be avoided with the "fancy" new backstage pass, uh, er, bypass; or even by going through the stores.

The rest of the park should be hardly affected.

I hope, by the way, that they keep the flag pole up that day and still do the flag retreat ceremony at 5:00. It is Veterans Day here. That is a nice ceremony, especially on Veterans Day, when it will likely involve the Voices of Liberty.
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Thank you!
 
Zummi Gummi

Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
Launchpad McQuack said:
I just hope the televised version is better than the mess they put out last year. That was awful and hardly showed any of the actual parade.
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I agree, but to be fair, they explicitly didn't call it a "parade" last year. Nevertheless, it was a mess, and made me really miss the year Neil Patrick Harris hosted, when they had that amazing opening number.
 
Launchpad McQuack

Launchpad McQuack

Well-Known Member
Nick_A said:
I agree, but to be fair, they explicitly didn't call it a "parade" last year. Nevertheless, it was a mess, and made me really miss the year Neil Patrick Harris hosted, when they had that amazing opening number.
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True. That was great. My brother and sister in law had to keep that on their DVR for months because my niece (2 years old at the time) would want to watch the opening number and sing and dance/march along. THAT was a great show. Last year was just terrible.
 
French Quarter

French Quarter

Well-Known Member
zaniac said:
We will be going to MVMCP on the 10th and had reservations at Tony's at 5:20. We had planned on spending all day Thursday at the Park. My questions are: are there specific times when the tapings be going on? Will we be able to access main street to get to Tony's if main street is roped off?
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I have no doubt that you will be able to get to Tony's if you tell them you have an ADR.
 

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