Christmas Day Parade

[Terk-1]

Just a heads up that the Christmas Day Parade was taped last weekend. Some of the acts were Wayne Brady, Jump 5, some of the cast from the Disney Channel and Clay Aiken. Wayne, Disney Channel kids & Jump 5 were very nice and waved and spoke with some of the people along Main Street and truly looked like they were having a good time and was happy to be there. Wish I could say the same for Clay. He did not wave or speak to anyone, nor did he look like he wanted to be there. He did his part and looked like he could not wait to get out of there. This disappointed alot of people who were there to see him and although I did not watch Idol, I guess I just expected the same response from him, as the other stars were giving. Also, Regis & Kelly were there as hosts again, as well as some of the stars from some ABC shows. They did this parade differently than last year, as they shuffeled you into a room, had you sit down, then immediately shuffle you out to a designated spot. After that, I never saw our "contact" again for the rest of the day. They had people arrive at 7:30am on Saturday and it did not finish until close to 2pm. By then, the park was packed, especially since it was open until 11pm. They did more filming on Sunday, but since I had lost 1/2 a day the day before, decided to skip this part (especially since it was my last day at the parks). They said the parade will air at 11am (EST) on Christmas morning.

 

[BethBreakey]

Just a heads up on Clay (from the Clay fans on the Dis) Clay had bronchitis and was going to cancel his appearance in the parade but stuck it out -- from what I heard he was in his hotel for 3 days straight - when he was suppose to be out having fun... so if our dear Clay appeared rude - he was mearly sick...

 

[Samirella]

They were also taping portions of the parade on Friday.

 

[stormi65]

I think that is also why he was wearing his glasses, because of the bronchitis and being so sick to even be able to put in his contact lenses.

 

[suerob]

We were there on Main Street when they taped the finale of the parade. Clay walked right by us smiling and waving. We even got him on our camcorder. So I don't know why you think he was so miserable. Also, the parade is a big production and is always taped in segments. We enjoyed being a part of the taping and would do it again.

 

[scarlett873]

if our man Clay seemed a tad rude, it's very much out of his character. but as several posters had mentioned, the poor guy was dealing with bronchitis...he's had back to back performances lately and just can't seem to shake it.

and i've heard that the reason for the glasses lately is due to a corneal abrasion...

 

[purplebelle]

You can sing while having bronchitis? Clay had to sing over and over again and he sounded really good, like nothing was wrong. I didn't think that was possible....but I've never had bronchitis myself.

I was there when they filmed that Saturday and I really wish we had known ahead of time b/c we would have definitely avoided it. We just like going to the parks on "regular" days. I don't need celebrities taking up main street.

 

[anewvance]

My sister and I had a great time at the taping on Saturday. We were not "extras" per say but when we got there around 8am, we sat down on main street and a man came up to us and asked if we wanted to be a certain spot and they needed 40 people. So we hiked up main street to that round area in front of the castle for what they called a longshot. A "warm up guy" named Donny who is usually the host at WWTBAM started talking to us. In the end, he ended up being my sis and my buddy. He'd search us out to tell us what was going on and stuff. Finally he told us that we should move over to the last block of main street and sit on the curb which we did. Found out it was because that was the about 20 feet of curb they were actually TAPING the parade at. Like cameras going up and down the curb the whole time for audience shots and all. That didn't start until about 1:30ish, yikes!!! But it was fun to see them do the segments and all. Then 3 kids started singing on a round stagey thing right in front of us which I noticed to be Christy Carlson Romano and Annaliese something from Disney shows that my daughters watch. Christy was so nice, they were all chatting with the audience and when she saw I wanted a pic she did her classic "Ren" smile for me. We also saw the kids who star in Haunted Masion and the boy who did the voice for Kota in Brother Bear. And we saw Sara Rue? from Less then Perfect....she is the cutest thing!
We ended up "shooting" for 8 hours but it was just my sis and I and we truely had fun. Can't wait to see ourselves on tv on Christmas day. We know we'll see ourselves cause we were RIGHT behind the stage when the disney kids were singing. And they did many many audience pans along the curb. And we didn't even have to sign up to be extras!!!

 

[chamonix]

We had fun with this last year, and ended up in a few shots on Christmas morning, though not as many as we expected from how much we were filmed. We sat in that block on Main Street where most of the filming is done. We also filled in the spots by the castle when they needed that. Noone wants to be there, for some reason it's always empty when they film that part.
This year, we were there all week including on both Friday and Saturday, and we avoided the whole thing. It takes forever, and many of the stars are the same as last year, so we felt like BTDT. Besides, I'm not that interested in any of those particular stars. (sorry to the Clay fans, I have never even seen Idol, don't watch anything with Wayne Brady though he IS cute, have never watched Regis and Kelly, and don't know who any of those Disney kids are) I don't watch much TV really. If it was just me and a girlfriend or something, maybe we would hang out all day and watch, but my extended family including grandparents and 6yo dd are pretty bored watching the same float come down the street THREE TIMES in a row singing the same song. Being an extra is boring! I had a much better time riding rides that were virtually empty since everyone was watching the parade. It gunks up Mainstreet though, and makes it hard to shop or cross the Hub area while they are filming.