Christmas Parade Taping

[2Princes2Princesses]

Link was up yesterday on the member site to register for the Christmas parade taping on Nov. 30. Any brave souls going for it?? We will have DD4 and DS2 (almost 3) with us and there is no way I would volunteer to stay in 1 place for 4 hours with them.

We would be more likely to show up on the evening news than the Christmas parade.

 

[goofy4tink]

I thought all the spots were filled already. At least that's what others are saying who tried a week or so ago. I know the AP site had a link up so they may have grabbed the spots. But, perhaps they saved some spots for the DVC folks.

 

[Disneynut71]

I was so disappointed that the AP spots were filled up so fast. We signed up to go. My kids are so excited!

 

[Donna]

We did the DVC filming AND the AP filming last year. It was a madhouse. We all said, never again. This isn't really something kids will enjoy unless you get there REALLY early and get a front row spot (even then you're not guaranteed to be able to STAY there cause the talent agencies will put their people in front of you with Disney's blessing), and at that point, you wait for HOURS on end. There were fights among parents, fights among guests with CMs, it was nuts. Things are filmed over and over again, people (aka moms) are pushy in getting their children to the front. The DVC day was handled better than the AP day but unless you put the kids on your shoulder, most of them only see the person's legs in front of them. All i'm saying is, it is SO not as much fun as it sounds. Once you're "in your spot", it's impossible to get out and you will not be allowed back in to that spot again. We had alot more fun sitting in the rocker on main street by the camera center and watching from a distance. On a good note, the rest of the park is easily navigated and lines are not too long. People are either on main street or avoid the park altogether because of the horror stories, lol.
Good Luck if you're going to do it! I did it with another adult and it was nuts. I wouldn't dream of dragging little ones into the chaos! This year, i'll be there the day AFTER it's all done!

 

[DISNEY FIX]

How would you characterize the rest of the park by the crowds going by you? We have a CRT 9:15 breakfast, on the Friday taping.
Thanks

 

[Donna]

How would you characterize the rest of the park by the crowds going by you? We have a CRT 9:15 breakfast, on the Friday taping.
Thanks

I am pretty sure there is a turnstile just for people with CRT ADRs. I remember waiting in the lines at the turnstiles and CMs were going through making sure no one in THAT line was a person holding an ADR at CRT. Now remember, we were there at 6-7 in the morning so since you are later on, you will probably have no trouble getting in (the turnstiles to the left seemed so much shorter for lines). I would cut through the stores to navigate your way up Main Street, go up through Casey's, past Crystal Palace and over the Ad-Lib bridge and come up through the back of the castle to avoid the front, they may not be allowing front access anyways with all the equipment and people. Just be sure to allow enough time considering buses will be more crowded and getting through the throngs of people that aren't normally there that day. Another tip, hold on to your kid's hands tightly! Don't worry about being a little late, safety is more important!

 

[Donna]

Just wanted to add that last year, the DVC filming was strictly for the castle shows, not the parade. Not sure if thats how they're doing it this year. The AP filming was for the parade only on a separate day and the DVC day was more organized and was castle fore-court filming only. They had CMs leading us up in an orderly (somewhat) fashion to the front of the castle and they filmed segments, then had us move back...filmed more segments and so on. It was time-consuming and the crowd warmer people were fun and we DID get to be on TV Christmas morning. If you have your kids dressed up in cute disney costumes and can manage to get a front row spot, your kids will get on TV, more than likely. But most kids, like i said, don't make it up there and it can feel somewhat claustrophobic to be in those tight crowds, especially for the little ones. It looks so seamless on TV, but it goes on for hours and you may only see one celebrity that whole time. I think if you know what to expect and don't mind the chaotic atmosphere, it CAN be a fun experience. We stayed for the American Idol segment and left and gave someone else our spot, we made some friends in the crowd that day, lol. We did have alot of people saying "excuse me", weaving their way up to the front. The CMs would make them turn around and go back since they knew who had been there the whole time and who wasn't. There simply wasn't any room for extras in there. This seemed to work ok on the DVC day but the AP day was another story. Let's just say, security had to be called many times to break up arguments.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Does all of this make the rest of the park (rides) a zoo as well?
Thanks for all the info.
Chris

 

[Donna]

Does all of this make the rest of the park (rides) a zoo as well?
Thanks for all the info.
Chris

We thought the rest of the park was not crowded at all. People are either there for the tapings or just avoid the MK altogether. From Main Street forward, it's gridlock but everything else seemed fine in the "lands". Keep in mind some filming does take place in various sections of the parks, but there's no way to know about this ahead of time. One year that we did this, they were filming a military segment in front of Hall of Presidents. We literally walked out of the attraction, into the store and outside and we had a spot right there on the rope, no one was really around so we stood there for awhile but the way they delay things and redo things, it seemed like a waste of time to hang around so we cut around it and went elsewhere.
I'd say give it a try and see how bad it is. You can always hop a bus to another park or resort hop on the monorail and see the resort decorations!
It's always fun to watch the parade on Christmas morning and say "hey, i was there......SOMEwhere!"

 

[Donna]

Here are a few pics from the tapings.

This is the crowd of DVCers on Main Street, waiting to be allowed to move closer to the castle:

This is the already filled Main Street (with talent agency families) when we, AP holders with wristbands to be a part of filming, were allowed on Main Street. There was no place to stand.

This is from our vantage point after we found a spot to stand for the parade taping.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Thank you Donna!

 

[goofy4tink]

We did the DVC filming AND the AP filming last year. It was a madhouse. We all said, never again. This isn't really something kids will enjoy unless you get there REALLY early and get a front row spot (even then you're not guaranteed to be able to STAY there cause the talent agencies will put their people in front of you with Disney's blessing), and at that point, you wait for HOURS on end. There were fights among parents, fights among guests with CMs, it was nuts. Things are filmed over and over again, people (aka moms) are pushy in getting their children to the front. The DVC day was handled better than the AP day but unless you put the kids on your shoulder, most of them only see the person's legs in front of them. All i'm saying is, it is SO not as much fun as it sounds. Once you're "in your spot", it's impossible to get out and you will not be allowed back in to that spot again. We had alot more fun sitting in the rocker on main street by the camera center and watching from a distance. On a good note, the rest of the park is easily navigated and lines are not too long. People are either on main street or avoid the park altogether because of the horror stories, lol.
Good Luck if you're going to do it! I did it with another adult and it was nuts. I wouldn't dream of dragging little ones into the chaos! This year, i'll be there the day AFTER it's all done!

Wow...that was exactly my experience the year before..'05. I just couldn't beleive the parents behaviour....there was one mom with her 'beauty pageant dd's'...she actually was able to move them up to the edge of the front..kept telling people the cute kids should be up front!!! There was more pushing and shoving than can be imagined. I had one man, in his 60's I think, who kept holding up a huge Mickey Mouse stuffed thing every time the camera came overhead..he would put it right over his dd's (in her 30's!!) head so they would be able to spot themselves on TV. Only problem was that the poor people behind them couldn't see or be seen!!
Nope, never again for me either.

Does all of this make the rest of the park (rides) a zoo as well?
Thanks for all the info.
Chris

I actually found the rest of the park to be pretty good. A lot of people probably thought that the park would be a zoo because of the tapings, so stayed away. Once you got past the Castle area, you were golden.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

We have an 8:10 am breakfast at CP on Friday. We were going to hightail it out of MK afterwards, but we may watch the chaos from a distance and hightail it back to Fantasyland instead and get some rides in!!!

I am glad we decided NOT to subject the kids to that. I think they would like to see some of the celebrities on the castle show list, but they are small, so for them, just knowing Billy Ray or the Jonas Brothers are "right over there on stage" is MORE than enough for them. Besides, we would probably get a spot right up front, really close, great...they start to tape....DD4 would immediately announce "I have to go potty!"

They would rather ride Small World 15 times in a row than stand in a mob. I did LOL at the 'Cute kids should be up front'. Some people are unreal.

Well, good luck to everyone doing the show taping!! We will be somewhere in MK or the World rooting for ya.