Christmas Day Parade

[SheriB]

Does anyone know what day the Christmas Day Parade will be in the Magic Kingdom? Much to mine and my sister's surprise, we found out the parade is not live on Christmas morning. Call me a rookie. My sister and her family (DH, DD7 and DS4) will be spending Dec. 23 to Dec. 29th at Disney this year, and if the parade is shot anytime while they're there, they would like to see it. TIA for any info.

Sheri

 

[wdwguide]

You'll get the see the parade while you are there, but the taping is usually done in early December. I haven't been there while they actually taped it, but from what I understand it's a very staged affair that is not nearly as much fun to witness as the parade in its regularly performed form is.

 

[DebbieB]

We've been there the past 2 years when it was taped. Last year it was Dec 7, the year before Dec 6. It takes several hours, they tape it more than once and alot of stops, starts.

 

[Terk-1]

I was at WDW last year and the Christmas Day parade was taped during the first weekend of December. Just a few thoughts. I received a phone call on that Friday night and was told to come to the MK the next morning to watch the taping of the parade. I got there early (like a ton of other people did) and grabbed a spot on the corner just outside the main store on Main Street. This was a great location to see the parade AND to see yourself on tv (I saw myself there several times during that segment when it aired Christmas morning). PLEASE be advised that they do not show the whole parade at once, but rather pieces of it (over and over and over again) throughout Saturday and Sunday. Also, people you see advertised as performing during the parade, may not be in the parks, but rather taped at another time in another location (found this out the hard way last year with The Wiggles. We were told they were going to be there, when in fact they had already taped their part somewhere else). Also, this is a very time consuming event. After spending 1/2 the day watching the filming of 3 parts of the parade, I was done. I went back to the MK on Sunday and watched the filming of John Reznik's Treasure Planet piece. Another word of advice. You are not allowed to bring any signs to show during the parade. They made people get rid of them or if they were shown, that part was deleted. Also, don't get your hopes up about expecting to see yourself on tv. They are taping in various areas and can't possibly show everything.

I'm not trying to deter anyone from viewing this, but at least wanted to give people the heads up. If you have the time to spare and want to watch how they do it, please go ahead. If your time is limited in the parks, I would skip it.

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by Terk-1
I was at WDW last year and the Christmas Day parade was taped during the first weekend of December. Just a few thoughts. I received a phone call on that Friday night and was told to come to the MK the next morning to watch the taping of the parade. I got there early (like a ton of other people did) and grabbed a spot on the corner just outside the main store on Main Street. This was a great location to see the parade AND to see yourself on tv (I saw myself there several times during that segment when it aired Christmas morning). PLEASE be advised that they do not show the whole parade at once, but rather pieces of it (over and over and over again) throughout Saturday and Sunday. Also, people you see advertised as performing during the parade, may not be in the parks, but rather taped at another time in another location (found this out the hard way last year with The Wiggles. We were told they were going to be there, when in fact they had already taped their part somewhere else). Also, this is a very time consuming event. After spending 1/2 the day watching the filming of 3 parts of the parade, I was done. I went back to the MK on Sunday and watched the filming of John Reznik's Treasure Planet piece. Another word of advice. You are not allowed to bring any signs to show during the parade. They made people get rid of them or if they were shown, that part was deleted. Also, don't get your hopes up about expecting to see yourself on tv. They are taping in various areas and can't possibly show everything.

I'm not trying to deter anyone from viewing this, but at least wanted to give people the heads up. If you have the time to spare and want to watch how they do it, please go ahead. If your time is limited in the parks, I would skip it.

That's very interesting! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Terk-1]

Glad I could help. Like I said, I'm trying to discourage anyone from going, but rather be prepared. I actually thought we would see the whole parade come down Main Street, like the daily parades, but that was quickly not the case.

 

[zurgswife]

Zurg and I sat on the curb of the HUB for 7 hrs last year during the entire taping...it was long but we had a blast.....It was the first weekend of December...I 'd do it again if ever given the chance...

 

[Samirella]

If you just want to watch the regular Christmas Parade, it runs Christmas week and the week after. It also runs during MVMCP.

 

[Snurk71]

We had a different experience in 2001. On our last day (I think it was a Tuesday) we were in MK, just finished breakfast at CP around 10:00 when we walked out and noticed CMs setting up the parade ropes. We asked a CM what was going on and she said they were running the xmas parade for a taping at 10:30 that morning. I don't think this was announced in any way and was not during the normal parade time.

We watched the parade from the castle hub with hardly no one else around. The parade was the regular xmas parade for us, just passing by one time. There was a larger crowd around the entrance for the parade, since this is where Regis and Kelly were set up (right in front of the xmas tree). They also did some extra filming of the crowd after the parade - doing "cheer shots".