At 12:50 she went to the backstage door. Here she left us to go to hair, makeup, and voice coaching. Each contestant does get time with an actual voice coach, then move on to makeup and hair. Makeup is mostly to remove any shine (must be showbiz thing..), and I guess they need to have all long hair up or out of the way, as they put a tracking device on your shoulder so the lights can follow you on stage. (Pretty cool!)
Next they went to rehearsal, where they are told what will happen, where to go on-stage, etc. They also get to run through their song on stage. At this point the technicians are adjusting sound settings, which are then stored in computer for each contestant.
As VIP guests of contestants, we needed to get there at 1:30 so they could seat us. We were seated about 5 rows back on the far left.
They started general seating around 1:50. Prior to being seated, there are pre-show hosts that start getting the crowd charged up. They continue this once people are seated. They do an excellent job of pumping up the energy level in the audience.
The show starts pretty much like the TV show complete with theme music, Ryan Seacrest (recorded video, obviously, but still cool), and the whole light show.
There are three contestants in the afternoon shows. The contestants each get interviewed briefly, then perform, then get critiqued by the the judges. The judges are patterned after Randy, Paula, and Simon, though the Simon character is definitely toned down to Disney friendly. (I did learn later that the judges were selected for their real-life experience in the entertainment industry. I think some came from Pleasure Island venues, but I'm not sure on that.)
After all the contestants have finished, it's time for the voting. Each seat has a number keypad on it. You get a quick video recap of each performance, then you have 10 seconds to select a number and lock in your vote. Once voting closes they bring everyone out on stage.
They really play the tension out on announcing the winner. (Did I mention Sandy won? HEE!)
After the show she met us just outside in front of the attraction, and several people came up and congratulated her, and said that they voted for her. Very fun.
She got another paper detailing when and where she needed to be for the finale show at 7.
(Continued)
