Christmas Day Parade Taping

[gcoxua]

Does anyone know when this is going to take place this year? Also if you have been during the taping how does it affect crowd levels. Is the park open all day for guests during the taping. I'm sorry for all the questions. My family and I are going the first week of december and if the taping is going to create a huge mess we might just skip the MK for that day or days.

thanks in advance.!!

EDIT: sorry ignore this. I didn't see the other poster.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I don't know when they are doing it this year but we were there Dec. 2003 and it was really crowded at MK that weekend. They actually filmed the parade that year for 2 days because Kelly Ripa was unable to arrive at WDW due to a storm. So they filmed on Saturday and Sunday. Clay Aiken was also there. We hung around for a while to watch. The crowd level was really bad on Main Street but once you left that area it was fine. It did mess up the parade schedule for that weekend too.

Yes the park was open to all guests. You could stand and watch the parade and the entertainment if you wanted. I watched for awhile but they kept redoing the one number where people danced down the street to Clay Aiken singing. It got boring after the third time. If I was there again when they did the filming, I would skip MK that (those) days.

We were there Dec. 2-10. I think they filmed on the 6th and 7th. Hope this helps!

 

[Terk-1]

It's usually taped the first weekend in December and is a 2-day, all day event. Main Street USA is packed, as are other areas of the park, depending on where they are taping. They start taping at about 7:30am and it goes until about 4pm. It's alot of standing around to shoot a minute or two of parade footage (over and over and over again) that they may or may not use. Did this twice and won't bother again. The second time I watched the parade, saw a couple of things over a 4+ hour time period, then wandered around the rest of the park, rather than wasting any more time standing around. Some of the "talent" will talk to the crowds during breaks to reset the shots (Wayne Brady & Jump 5 did), while others barely acknowledged the audience (Clay Aiken). If it's a weekend you can skip the Magic Kingdom, I'd do that. If not, try cutting through the stores on either side of Main Street USA to get to the exit.