Been there, done that! First, the parade taping will 'most likely' be on Sat, Dec 6. There will 'most likely' be tapings on Friday, in front of the Castle of various acts. Now....for the parade taping, the production company casts a large number of the 'viewers' that stand/sit along Main St as the parade is taped. They are told to be at the park, with the paperwork they were sent, by about 6:45 am. They are then sent to their 'stations'. There have been cases where some with APs or
DVC have been able to get in on it, but not many. I have been 'lucky' (and I use that term advisedly) enough to get cast for the audience of the Castle tapings. We had to show our paperwork at the turnstiles, be there by 6:45ish and then put in place. We stood there, in the same place, until about 11:00 am. We were told we had committed to that 3 hr stint. I have to say that my knees and back were killing me by 10:00.
When the parade tapes, it is not a continuous thing. They will run a float down the street, back it up, do it again...they do that until they get it the way they want it. It can take over 3 hrs to run that 20 min parade. The chances of being able to walk up and get a curside spot are slim to none that morning. There have been reports of people being able to grab a spot if the taping goes much past 10:30-11..it's very tiring, beleive it or not.
When the regular day guests are allowed into the park, when it officially opens, they are generally routed through the Main St. shops, and sometimes have actually been taken into the 'backstage' areas if it's too crowded!
