Oprah at Disneyland

[Walt Sent Me]

Heads up,

Today on Oprah she brings 85 children to Disneyland for the first time. Should be a great show!

I live in Florida where it is on at 4pm. Sry if in your area the show already aired.

 

[rainfully]

Thanks for reminding me!! I wanted to see this...

It doesn't start till 4:00 here ither. Still have an hour and a half... don't let me forget! :lol:

 

[dandaman]

Thanks for the update!

Conversation at 3:55:

"Megan! Do you wanna watch Oprah?!"

"Uh...what?" :lookaroun

I'll still watch it, though :wave:

 

[SewIn2Disney]

Great! Thanks for letting us know. I had no clue this was going to be on....and it's going to be on in 4 minutes....I've got to find a tape!

 

[SewIn2Disney]

Is anyone else watching it? The Oprah I'm watching gave a woman who takes care of her family of 12 a new home, and now they are decorating it.

Is it going to be a segment later on in the show?

 

[disneywy]

Yeah, it is part of the same show. They are both follow-ups to a show from last season. All part of her "Wildest Dreams Come True" segements.

I was actually at the park when they taped it this summer. It was a mad house. Guests were excited, CM's were excited and they would block off sections of the park at time for taping. At Jungle Cruise, the guns were not shot so that it wouldn't mess up audio when they were near the park entrance and in Town Square (was also a rumor, that her security didn't want the guns shot as well).

 

[CoffeeJedi]

Yeah, it is part of the same show. They are both follow-ups to a show from last season. All part of her "Wildest Dreams Come True" segements.

I was actually at the park when they taped it this summer. It was a mad house. Guests were excited, CM's were excited and they would block off sections of the park at time for taping. At Jungle Cruise, the guns were not shot so that it wouldn't mess up audio when they were near the park entrance and in Town Square (was also a rumor, that her security didn't want the guns shot as well).

Good lord, i can imagine that day must have been a real pain in the @#%$ for anyone visiting or working in the park that day. Where did that report go that said that Oprah just dropped in for one day for a few photo-ops with the kids before high-tailing out of there, using clever editing to make it look like she was there the whole time.

 

[TP2000]

Good lord, i can imagine that day must have been a real pain in the @#%$ for anyone visiting or working in the park that day. Where did that report go that said that Oprah just dropped in for one day for a few photo-ops with the kids before high-tailing out of there, using clever editing to make it look like she was there the whole time.

That report was from Miceage back in August, and it's still available on the Miceage front page archives from the Al Lutz update of August 16th. Reportedly the kids were at Disneyland for 3 full days, with nights spent at the Disneyland Hotel. But Oprah was only there for less than 3 hours on one afternoon of the visit.

Al Lutz said this about the Oprah visit to Disneyland in that update;

"And speaking of customer complaints, Oprah Winfrey and her Harpo Productions film crew blew into the Magic Kingdom last week leaving a trail of destruction and upset visitors in her wake. Oprah was doing her good deed for the season by taking a group of underprivileged school kids from a poor neighborhood in Houston to Disneyland for a few days. It was a very nice thing to do of course, but the impact on Disneyland bordered on cruel and unusual punishment for the regular paying customers.

In order to get the "perfect shot" of Oprah spending a few moments with the kids, Disneyland management bent over backwards to make sure she and her producers were happy. And that meant shutting down all of Fantasyland for almost two hours so that they could recreate the iconic 1955 moment when the first children ran over the Castle drawbridge and rushed to the rides. Oprah's people also wanted shots of the group of almost 200 school kids, parents and chaperones on the Autopia and Buzz Lightyear. They even moved the parade to a 1pm start time so that filming a few seconds of Oprah watching the parade with the kids could fit into Ms. Winfrey's limited schedule better.

Unfortunately, no one told the 55,000+ tourists at Disneyland that day that big sections of the Park, and plenty of rides, would be shut down for Ms. Winfrey and her brood without any warning. The closure of Fantasyland in late morning went over like a ton of bricks, and City Hall was deluged with complaints almost immediately. After about two hours, the Fantasyland rides began reopening, but the problems then moved over to Tomorrowland. The boarding area of Autopia became a madhouse as the film crews blocked lanes and held up traffic for twenty minutes while the children were staged in their cars. There were dozens and dozens of other cars full of paying customers backed up on the Autopia freeways, and after fifteen minutes of sitting in the hot sun the harsh words began to fly and the Autopia Cast Members (CMs) had plenty of unhappy drivers on their hands. The same thing then played out at the Buzz Lightyear ride, as the line was suddenly stopped near the boarding area while Oprah breezed on in via a back door. The ride was closed for quite a while, with people waiting in line being told repeatedly "The camera crew says it will be just five or ten more minutes." The CM's were just as frustrated as the customers, and no one seemed to know what was happening.

Mercifully, Oprah and her giant entourage were finally done at Disneyland and went to leave via the Disneyland Railroad at the Toontown station. But not until she and her group caused such a stir, and created such havoc around the train station and Fantasyland Theater lobby, that the next performance of the Snow White show was delayed by fifteen minutes with over 1,400 visitors sitting in the theater wondering what was going on. A few hundred people waiting for the show left, as the ushers couldn't give any time estimate for how long the media circus at the Toontown train depot would last.

The school kids continued with their VIP visit to Disneyland, as they were actually on Disney property for three days. The kids and their parents were treated to beach parties and dinners at the Disneyland Hotel, roped-off viewing areas in front of the Castle for the parade and fireworks, they got front-of-the-line access at all the rides, milk and cookies delivered to their rooms by Disney Characters, and even a shopping spree at the World of Disney store. Oprah was only there with them for a little less than three hours, but through the magic of television they will most likely edit the footage to make it appear as though Ms. Winfrey shared every magical moment with them for the entire visit.

Hmmm... I wonder if maybe, (just maybe, mind you), Ms. Winfrey is just a tad out of touch with the real world - not to take anything away from her kind gesture of course. But you know such unbounded fame and wealth can keep one far away from the ordeals of the regular people out there."

 

[disneywy]

Good lord, i can imagine that day must have been a real pain in the @#%$ for anyone visiting or working in the park that day. Where did that report go that said that Oprah just dropped in for one day for a few photo-ops with the kids before high-tailing out of there, using clever editing to make it look like she was there the whole time.

I remember reading that stuff also. She might not have been there for everything, but I can tell you she was supposedly somewhere at the resort (whether it was on or off stage) from morning until fireworks, at least. There were special sections roped off for viewing the fireworks and taping that night. I get annoyed by people assuming she would stay the entire time with them. Yes, it is something nice she is doing and wants to spend time with them, but she isn't obligated to spend every minute with them. The gift was a trip to Disneyland, not a couple days with her.

 

[Connor002]

Thanks for the update!

Conversation at 3:55:

"Megan! Do you wanna watch Oprah?!"

"Uh...what?" :lookaroun

I'll still watch it, though :wave:

Watching Oprah makes you less of a man...:lookaroun

 

[Horizons1]

AH! Well, I've had enough torture for one day. It wasnt anything spectacular, just the kids going through the park. Pretty much as what Al Lutz said. And boy do I feel sorry for the CMs in DL that day. Those brave souls...

 

[TP2000]

I remember reading that stuff also. She might not have been there for everything, but I can tell you she was supposedly somewhere at the resort (whether it was on or off stage) from morning until fireworks, at least. There were special sections roped off for viewing the fireworks and taping that night.

She wasn't at the fireworks. She was long gone before the sun went down, and was probably having dinner in Santa Monica by the time the Disneyland fireworks went off. The roped off section was for the children and chaperones and Disneyland tour guides. Oprah was no where to be seen at the fireworks. I should know, I was about 15 yards to the west of the roped area, and there was no Oprah. Kiddies and chaperones only.

It's a nice thing when Oprah gives people cars or trips to Disneyland, don't get me wrong. But I can't wait to watch the show here on the West Coast in a few hours to see how she portrays herself as the hostess with the mostess for this entire 3 day vacation. She was only there for a few hours one afternoon.

 

[dandaman]

Watching Oprah makes you less of a man...:lookaroun

You're already a lesser man than me! :lookaroun

 

[disneywy]

She wasn't at the fireworks. She was long gone before the sun went down, and was probably having dinner in Santa Monica by the time the Disneyland fireworks went off. The roped off section was for the children and chaperones and Disneyland tour guides. Oprah was no where to be seen at the fireworks. I should know, I was about 15 yards to the west of the roped area, and there was no Oprah. Kiddies and chaperones only.

It's a nice thing when Oprah gives people cars or trips to Disneyland, don't get me wrong. But I can't wait to watch the show here on the West Coast in a few hours to see how she portrays herself as the hostess with the mostess for this entire 3 day vacation. She was only there for a few hours one afternoon.

Oh well, I was just going by what managers had been telling us CMs. I never made it out of my section of the park while she was there, only really saw the production on Main Street as she entered, because that was when I was headed in for the day.

 

[Connor002]

You're already a lesser man than me! :lookaroun

I don't think so... :lookaroun
And if you just watched Oprah, I'm sure of that.

 

[Dragonrider1227]

AWW, I must've missed it. I don't watch Oprah alot, but I would've liked to have seen this one.

 

[Tim G]

Heads up,

Today on Oprah she brings 85 children to Disneyland for the first time. Should be a great show!

I live in Florida where it is on at 4pm. Sry if in your area the show already aired.

Alas... I wasn't invited... :lookaroun

 

[imagineer boy]

I think it was kinda nice for Oprah to do that for all of those kids, however, they easily could've done a better job on crowd control instead of blocking off all of Fantaseyland just for Oprah and the kids.

 

[Connor002]

I think it was kinda nice for Oprah to do that for all of those kids, however, they easily could've done a better job on crowd control instead of blocking off all of Fantaseyland just for Oprah and the kids.

Or better yet: build them this "Fantaseyland" you speak of!

 

[rainfully]

BTW... did anyone catch Oprah getting rear-ended at the Autopia?

If I'm not mistaken, that was our own Magic Maker as per her trip report.