Hey all.
My wife and I were lucky enough to be strolling past the theater at around 2PM on Jan 14th and got to preview the show. So here is my review
Theater set was setup to look like last season's design from the show. The monitors, the backdrop, and even the chairs appear to be authentic replications from the TV show.
I was able to take pictures before and during the show. The announcement said No video or Flash photography. AKA... take pictures without the flash. So I did and after I get back from work today, I will try to post a few here.
The show format was very much similar to the TV show. First a warm-up CM comes out to explain how the show will proceed, test the voting process with everyone, cracks a few jokes, and gets everyone in the mood to cheer or booo and gives the audience some general directions.
The Cold open is performed by a Seacrest video.
The judges were casted to perform their parts similar to how Paula, Randy, and Simon act on the actual shows.
Each singer is given some sort of intro video, then they sing, and then are judged. Now I noticed that each singer is given lyric guidance, via a large LCD prompter behing the audience, on the back wall. Essentially just follow the bouncing ball. I guess the producers wanted to eliminate the forgetting of lyrics as much as possible for their show... so there wouldn't be un-Disney experiences for the contestants. It makes sense and I have no problem with it.
One thing I didn't really like was the Jordin Sparks music video/Disney promo that is played before the results. A.) I don't like Jordin. B.) It seems to take away from the 3 performances we just watched.
Voting system felt like millionaire game show. Also the voting touchpads require you to twist in your seat to use a number in your armrest that you have to share with your neighbor. Very awkward feeling, especially if you are packed in tight in your row.
Results format - They are setup the same as the TV show.... Contestants are in a line.... host goes down the line, reviews the judges comments, acts like he will tell the results... but then pulls the famous Seacrest feint.... after the winner is announced, the audience exits and are reminded to come back for the evening finale. Since two of the three contestants at the 2PM show were CM stand-ins, there was no finale for that day.
Also noted was each contestant had a lighting effects package for each of their songs. The lighting for the rest of the show was a very close resemblance to the TV show. I think they did a great job of mimicing the AI show's format, and atmosphere. Big Kudos for that.
I believe that the attraction will be a hit when officially opens. But I remain skeptical as to whether this will be a viable attraction 3 years down the road. None of us knows how long the American Idol competition will continue, and if it goes, so does this attraction's draw.
