Affect of Regis & Kelly parade taping in MK 2006?? UG best days...

[ChristyJ]

I already know I need therapy for my obsessive planning ...I'm in the process of making a tentative schedule of parks/restaurants for our 12/06 trip based on info. from the Unoffical Guide's "best days"... the Magic Kingdom is listed as a best day for Sat., 12/2/06, but is that when Regis & Kelly will likely be taping for the Christmas Parade? And if so, how will that likely affect the crowds, etc.?

Thanks!!

 

[tink2]

In years past, the taping of the Christmas parade is usually the first Sat. in Dec.- meaning Dec. 2, 2006. It isn't 'officially' announced until just before time, but I'm pretty sure it has been the first Sat. for many years now. I'm pretty sure they tape some the day before too- that Friday- and use Sunday to finish up. In 2004, we even saw some small tapings- saw Cinderella outside the castle being taped, a group of people at Epcot, and a few cameras here and there- but nothing to affect crowds. Never been on the actual day- we arrived the day after in 2004 and plan to arrive Dec. 3, 2006. From what I've read, if you want to avoid crowds, definitely don't go to MK the day of the taping of the parade. Others who have been may be more help on that...

 

[wasabi girl]

I had a lunch ADR at CRT this past year (2005) during the taping of the parade. The Magic Kingdom was packed. We arrived at the MK about 11:30-ish (flight arrived later than original plan) for a 12:20 ADR and main street was so packed that cast members hustled many of us through the backstage area to bypass main street. After lunch we walked around a little and there were longer waits for rides than we saw the rest of the week while we were there, if possible I'd reschedule your Magic Kingdom day for another day. I'm not sure if the crowds thinned when the taping was done as we went back to our room about 4:30 Pm or so. Hope this helps you.
I too used the UG best days to plan our trip, other than the parade taping glitch the UG was right on the money, the best days parks were crowd free and easy to tour, if we strayed and went to a worst day park it tended to be much more crowded.

 

[ChristyJ]

Thanks-we went in 2004 during the same time period and avoided the MK then, but like I said, UG has it as a best day (taping must not be figured it yet ), but it didn't seem to make sense to me.

We also used UG for our 12/04 trip and it was great!

 

[TheresaNY]

We were there this year for the taping as well. We got there bright and early, before they started. Had a WONDERFUL time !! We stayed in the back of the park, away from Main Street and you would never even know that the parade was going on !! Once we encountered it by Frontierland and watched for a few minutes while we waited to get out of the park (we were too tired to walk the long way around). It was around 3:30 ish and Regis & Kelly were still there taping but we did not have a problem getting to the train station by walking down Main Street. It definitely cleared out from the morning. All in all, it was better than I thought it would be....and all of you that were there that day....wasn't it a magnificint day? I have never seen such a 1000watt blue sky !! Simply beautiful. Moral of the story...get there nice and early, miss the hustle and bustle on Main Street and enjoy walk on rides !!

 

[ChristyJ]

TheresaNY, I'm glad you told me your story too...thanks! I'd love to hear from more people about this...
I am curious whether or not the UG factored this in to it's 2006 "best days" calendar...

 

[ChristyJ]

bumping to see if there are others with additional experiences...
Thanks!!

 

[bjakmom]

We had the exact same experience as Theresa did on Sat the 3rd - got to the park a bit before opening and took the train right to the back of the park. We did all of the major rides - Buzz, Space, Splash, BTMRR, HM, POTC, Philharmagic (no little ones this trip so we skipped most of Fantasyland) - we were the only ones in line for pics with Mickey and Minnie (in their Christmas outfits!) when Toontown first opened (we went in by the back path behind Space Mt and literally thought it wasn't open yet because there was NO one there!!) - had our silhouettes done in Liberty Square while we watched part of the parade go by (Santa was stopped right in front of us for 10 minutes!). - and had a lovely lunch at Plaza all by noon !!! On our way out of the park (it was starting to get a little crowded by then and we hopped over to MGM or Epcot, I forget which) we watched some of the parade taping and took some pics of Regis and Kelly from the train station. It WAS the most perfect day weather-wise that I can ever remember enjoying in FL - we kept saying "is this the most PERFECT day or what ?!" We had passes to be extras for the afternoon taping session, but the lines for extras waiting at that point was HUGE (though everyone was very enthusiastic and having fun!) and we had already gotten to see lots of the characters from the parade and the taping fun, so we decided not to do it. We even returned to the park late that night and went right up onto the train station to watch and tape the later showing of Spectro and (non-christmas) Wishes since DDs BF had never seen either. Down on Main St was pretty mobbed at that point, but we got a great spot and never left the front of the park. All in all, one of my favorite days at MK - loved the excitement and fun of all those who were there all decked out for the parade - the Christmas spirit was everywhere !!

 

[ChristyJ]

bjakmom-Thanks for the reply! It does sound like you had a great day! Well maybe we'll do the MK, then head somewhere else after lunch??

 

[brandip22]

We will be arriving on Sat., Dec 2nd. I think it'd be neat to see the taping, but DS will only by 4, so I think we can skip out due to crowd issues. I'm hoping we can to a MVMCP, though!