Block Party and Were YOU at MGM?

[mkepcotmgmak]

Were any of y'all at MGM on Saturday, June 10? If so, did you come by and see Chewbacca?

Also- I heard from a friend of a friend that Block Party would definitely be at MGM by the end of the summer, but when I was working at MGM on Saturday, I asked a few entertainment CMs, that said it was a rumor, but they heard it wasn't really happening... Just wondering if anything new had come about since I was on vacation/working at WDW?

 

[mousermerf]

Well, DCA's replacement for BPB got shelved. DCA will have BPB through 2007.

What does this mean for MGM? Who knows, but most assume it means BPB wont come to MGM since it was supposed to literally get the physical BPB from DCA.

 

[mkepcotmgmak]

I like to imagine a grand movie parade for MGM - one that fits the bill of the 1940's glamour era, with MGM's streetmo cast included! The idea of the characters going to a movie premier on the red carpet (for disney stars and motor cars) is okay - but i would love to see MK style floats, and hear "Hooray for Hollywood" or something like it for the audio! So many MOVIE possibilities for a great parade!

 

[Mecha Figment]

here is the deal. I've heard this from the people in charge, durring a DSMC rehersal. Block party is comming, when is not a definite. The reasons for this is because we are getting block party its just not going to be the same block party. It's going to have to be majorly redone to fit into mgm studios. the traditinal parade there is only around 15 minutes. Block party is huge. We dont' have the cast or the means to support it. Unlike Disneyland who's parades are a whole different department from regular characters, we have to pull from the regular character pot, and we are short staffed as it is, so like i said major changes have to be made before it's ready to be paraded through the streets of MGM.

 

[bgraham34]

How are you short staffed in the character department. Is it because that can't find people to fill in or because Disney keeps it small.

 

[drew81]

I talked to the designer of Block Party Bash from Disneyland and he told me that it was coming to Florida. He was here in Indy for a Special Event out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I've heard the same as Mecha. The dates are still up in the air. I heard sometime in early to mid 2007.

 

[drew81]

Were any of y'all at MGM on Saturday, June 10? If so, did you come by and see Chewbacca?
I would have come and saw him if I was there!!!! I wish I could have been there!!!!!

 

[WDWKat26]

here is the deal. I've heard this from the people in charge, durring a DSMC rehersal. Block party is comming, when is not a definite. The reasons for this is because we are getting block party its just not going to be the same block party. It's going to have to be majorly redone to fit into mgm studios. the traditinal parade there is only around 15 minutes. Block party is huge. We dont' have the cast or the means to support it. Unlike Disneyland who's parades are a whole different department from regular characters, we have to pull from the regular character pot, and we are short staffed as it is, so like i said major changes have to be made before it's ready to be paraded through the streets of MGM.

Yeah, also a lot of the roles require a color code that a lot of Entertainment CM's don't have. There's a lot of questions about how it's going to work, since a lot of the roles in the Disneyland parade would be considered Equity here. I am excited to see what happens though

 

[Hoop Raeb]

We visited with Chewie the first weekend. Were you playing Chewie? My wife loves Chewie.

 

[TP2000]

The other Disneyland websites have been full of news that Block Party Bash is now going to stay at DCA for the forseeable future, and the plan to move it to MGM has been shelved because of logistical/staffing issues on the Florida side.

Block Party Bash is an extremely high energy, expertly choreographed parade presentation. It uses a huge cast of dancers and stunt performers, plus the usual Pixar Characters and support staff. Some of those performers are clearly very skilled at the tasks at hand, and the stunts and dance routines they perform are quite involved.

Let's just say that from what I saw of WDW parades on my last two visits there, I think the Florida management realized they were trying to bite off more than they can chew by trying to import Block Party Bash from DCA. Quite frankly, I don't know how they were going to get those parade kids to even begin to attempt the high energy Block Party choreography and stunts in the Orlando humidity.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Were any of y'all at MGM on Saturday, June 10? If so, did you come by and see Chewbacca?

Also- I heard from a friend of a friend that Block Party would definitely be at MGM by the end of the summer, but when I was working at MGM on Saturday, I asked a few entertainment CMs, that said it was a rumor, but they heard it wasn't really happening... Just wondering if anything new had come about since I was on vacation/working at WDW?

Myself, Master Yoda, Shopping Nut, and JPVonDrake all came by on May 20th. We definitely went by Chewie but we couldnt wait on line to stop by and say hi in person!!! Belle

 

[Figments Friend]

I agree, and i was wondering the same thing myself ( the humidity issue..).

I would love to see BP come to MGM as i think it would be a great plus, but perhaps they will need to create a different version to be able to fit in and cover the staffing gaps without it looking to thin. MGM needs something new in the parade department, as do all the parks really IMO.....but the DCA version is SO fantastic and full of such energy it would be worse i think to import it and know it was going to be a "lesser" spectacle. Does that make sense without sounding insulting?

This brings up another issue i have heard mentioned many many times on various Boards and even in some threads here over the years...the old DL vs' WDW CM comparisons. Now from what i have gathered, there is this fierce "bashing" between the two parks when i comes to the quality of the entertainment casting positions. At first i took this as nothing more then playful competition ( "our" CM's are better then "their" CM's mentality..etc.) but recently i read some things that i had a hard time dissagreeing in. Some of what i read is that DL has a better pool of potential hires simply because they are located in CA where all the showbiz-types live. I've heard DL upper's make snide and sometimes rude comments about WDW Ent Cm's....stuff like how they though FL did a lousy job casting face characters, particually pricesses and how they need to hire better quality people. Now please don't think i agree with THAT, as i don't really! That's not fair to our FL friends, and i know there are PLENTY of top-act CM's who know how to make serious Magic and do a great job. I am interested though in hearing about this Block Party "issue" regarding staffing and it reminded me of the recent bickering. So what's the REAL story here between DL and WDW?? Is the pool of quality Cm's who can perform in high colors really too low to support a BPBash?

I suppose it's more like someone said earlier, about how the Ent staffing departements are different between the two parks and CA simply has more resources to make availibe to the parades for staffing them. I'm sure someone here can straighten this out.....

Either way, i'm happy to hear Block Party is on the slate to be introduced at MGM. When i first saw it, i immediately thought it would be a good fit. Bring it on!

 

[WDWKat26]

The other Disneyland websites have been full of news that Block Party Bash is now going to stay at DCA for the forseeable future, and the plan to move it to MGM has been shelved because of logistical/staffing issues on the Florida side.

Block Party Bash is an extremely high energy, expertly choreographed parade presentation. It uses a huge cast of dancers and stunt performers, plus the usual Pixar Characters and support staff. Some of those performers are clearly very skilled at the tasks at hand, and the stunts and dance routines they perform are quite involved.

Let's just say that from what I saw of WDW parades on my last two visits there, I think the Florida management realized they were trying to bite off more than they can chew by trying to import Block Party Bash from DCA. Quite frankly, I don't know how they were going to get those parade kids to even begin to attempt the high energy Block Party choreography and stunts in the Orlando humidity.

Amen!

 

[Atta83]

Awww I saw chewie on Sat Got a pic with him though. I cant wait for block party, its def something we need here!

 

[Mecha Figment]

I agree, and i was wondering the same thing myself ( the humidity issue..).

I would love to see BP come to MGM as i think it would be a great plus, but perhaps they will need to create a different version to be able to fit in and cover the staffing gaps without it looking to thin. MGM needs something new in the parade department, as do all the parks really IMO.....but the DCA version is SO fantastic and full of such energy it would be worse i think to import it and know it was going to be a "lesser" spectacle. Does that make sense without sounding insulting?

This brings up another issue i have heard mentioned many many times on various Boards and even in some threads here over the years...the old DL vs' WDW CM comparisons. Now from what i have gathered, there is this fierce "bashing" between the two parks when i comes to the quality of the entertainment casting positions. At first i took this as nothing more then playful competition ( "our" CM's are better then "their" CM's mentality..etc.) but recently i read some things that i had a hard time dissagreeing in. Some of what i read is that DL has a better pool of potential hires simply because they are located in CA where all the showbiz-types live. I've heard DL upper's make snide and sometimes rude comments about WDW Ent Cm's....stuff like how they though FL did a lousy job casting face characters, particually pricesses and how they need to hire better quality people. Now please don't think i agree with THAT, as i don't really! That's not fair to our FL friends, and i know there are PLENTY of top-act CM's who know how to make serious Magic and do a great job. I am interested though in hearing about this Block Party "issue" regarding staffing and it reminded me of the recent bickering. So what's the REAL story here between DL and WDW?? Is the pool of quality Cm's who can perform in high colors really too low to support a BPBash?

I suppose it's more like someone said earlier, about how the Ent staffing departements are different between the two parks and CA simply has more resources to make availibe to the parades for staffing them. I'm sure someone here can straighten this out.....

Either way, i'm happy to hear Block Party is on the slate to be introduced at MGM. When i first saw it, i immediately thought it would be a good fit. Bring it on!

i actualy has a great deal to do with the way things are organized. Not to long ago after animal kingdom opened, character entertainment became gobla at the world. Which means you can work at all 4 parks and water parks. This use to not always be the case. Walt disney world does have a bigger pool of character performers, however we are all lumped together into one group. attendants, puppeters, characters, face, and float and car drivers. and then there is equity. Disney land has two parks to work with, so they are more micromanaged and more detailed in what they do. In addtion to the fact that attendants are one department, puppets are another, characters are another, Parades are another , and float drivers are another. it's this difference in the way the two resorts are managed that makes a big difference when it comes to the shows.

 

[JROK]

I've heard DL upper's make snide and sometimes rude comments about WDW Ent Cm's....stuff like how they though FL did a lousy job casting face characters, particually pricesses and how they need to hire better quality people. Now please don't think i agree with THAT, as i don't really! That's not fair to our FL friends, and i know there are PLENTY of top-act CM's who know how to make serious Magic and do a great job.

Not to get on anyone's bad side, but the FL Face characters are some of the worse... lately it seems like they're casting people who can fit multiple roles... for instance a girl I work with at Universal Entertainment does both Jasmin and Pocahontas... how is that possible? My brother's family, including his wife and two kids (6 boy & 3 girl) came to MK and waited 25min in line to see the Princesses. My niece is crazy about Snow White and has her room decorated in Disney Princesses. We met them, took pictures and then my sister-in-law says to me, "These must be the backups..." referring to the girls... She was so appalled that they looked nothing like the princesses, she didn't even put them in her scrapbook... I'm not attacking the princesses, but the casting... something needs to be done because there are a few bad apples ruining the magic...

 

[BoyXE]

Equity vs. AGVA vs. non-union

There is definitely validity to the California talent pool being greater than the Florida pool. There is also validity in saying that staffing 2 parks of dancers is easier than 4 parks. I'm currently in Tokyo Disney, and the pool of talent available here is HUGE because we're in a major metropolis in a place where there is virtually no work for dancers and the like. Add to that the fact that Japan is non-union, and that means you can make your dancers do whatever you like on the concrete streets and stages (yes, they build stages using CONCRETE here) and wearing whatever type of shoes they see fit. There is no union to protect the dancers from this type of poor condition. However, from a regular guest standpoint, they see Tokyo's parade dancers high kicking and backflipping all over the place while WDW's parades can barely lift their legs off the ground. To the average visitor it looks like WDW's parade performers can't hack it. However, Equity has the strictest guidelines as to what can and cannot be done on cement, and also as to what dance moves make a person a "dancer" as opposed to a "street performer." AGVA is far more lenient on this issue, and hence Disneyland's parades also tend to be peppier (though not as balls-to-the-wall as Tokyo's non-protected shows). So it's sort of a no-win situation. Those WDW are the most protected against abuse, but it does tend to limit the shows. Tokyo's parades are much more energetic, but can be so because they cost far less since the talent is so cheap, and they can get just about anyone to fill the position.

 

[BoyXE]

And as for face characters, you haven't been truly shocked until you've seen Tokyo's. You know how very sheltered people think all Asians tend to look alike? Well it would seem that it works both ways, because many Jasmine's double as Belle and Aurora. And sometimes don't look good in any of them. LOL. Once I saw a Prince Charming with dark blonde hair. Classic.

 

[mhead]

Well my wife and I both agree that BPB really stinks anyway and hope they do not bring it to Florida. We found the whole thing really annoying to be honest - it was one of those things (one of many) that we were really excited about seeing when we went to DL and once it was done we were like - "that's it?"

 

[BRER STITCH]

Well my wife and I both agree that BPB really stinks anyway and hope they do not bring it to Florida. We found the whole thing really annoying to be honest - it was one of those things (one of many) that we were really excited about seeing when we went to DL and once it was done we were like - "that's it?"

I agree!

You'd all have lots more fun coming to MY block party this Saturday from Noon to Midnight! :lookaroun

For a company who's claim to fame is it's great imagination, they sure do leap at a chance to clone a lot of stuff!

Now it's up to folks around the net to stop getting so exciting about recycled and cheap-ified junk just for the sake of something new. We shouldn't be encouraging or accepting this behavior from Disney.

You know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig? It's still a pig!

Imagination indeed! :lol: