Don't Forget To Set the DVR!

[profdsny]

Are people actually saying the girl who sang "Let it Go" at the end of the program was good? At best, she was 'good' but no better than the next 1000 girls who have had voice lessons in middle school. Not that not a 'good' performance at all, particularly since it was likely recorded a half-dozen times.
Overall, this was a very bad show.

 

[Queuing4Disney]

I've got to take offense at that comment as the couple singing that song (Love Is an Open Door) were Alex & Sierra who were last years winners of the Xfactor & Alex's mom is a personal friend who was actually there for the two day taping (weather was horrible here the first taping day). They sang it the way Disney wanted it done. Just like the entire celebration was done the way Disney wanted it done. I actually watched for the singers & not the parade as I just saw it two weeks ago. Yes each years parade/celebration has been different but some of us like it that way!

And I have to take offense for YOUR taking offense - after all it is MY opinion of the performance I saw on the broadcast. You can like or dislike something based on your own perceptions and preferences but is it really fair to criticize someone else whose opinions simply do not jibe with yours?

You may have a personal connection with one of the singers and like the singers when your saw them in previous performances, but I never saw them before on this Xfactor program you referenced nor on anywhere else so their performance on this Disney show was my only experience seeing them ever.

You claim they "sang it the way Disney wanted it done" implying the performance they gave was strongly influenced or controlled by some Disney director or adviser. If so, then maybe that was not the performance that the singers may have otherwise given had they been left to their own devices and creativity. I have no idea, but the resulting performance I saw was cold and bland with little of the quirky joy and spirit that the song itself - with its subject matter and whimsical banter lines - should otherwise have been performed (yes, my opinion only).

You and another commenter insisted that these singers were favorites of yours from that xfactor program you saw before. Since I never saw that program nor their performance on there, your enthusiasm for their talent must mean they must have been very charismatic and entertaining there. Well, unfortunately, I did not see any evidence of that engaging talent come through in the lone performance I saw on the Disney show. Maybe if they had not been made by Disney to sing "it the way Disney wanted it done" some of that talent would have been allowed to come through and my opinion of the performance may be different. As it is, I saw what I saw, heard what I heard, and I stand by my criticism of the performance.

 

[CountyMounty]

It has been our family tradition for years to sit down Christmas morning and watch the Disney parade. I would have to agree that each year it is getting slowly worse, well that is if like us you are hoping to watch the parade. It is at the point now where you cant even really say that your going to watch the parade but rather the Christmas show or celebration or whatever. Yes each year the overall "celebration" is different and obviously planned out and well done for what it is and the way Disney wants it to be focused on whatever they want for that year. I know that our family would really like to see them put a little more time and focus back onto the parade.

 

[maxiesmom]

I've got to take offense at that comment as the couple singing that song (Love Is an Open Door) were Alex & Sierra who were last years winners of the Xfactor & Alex's mom is a personal friend who was actually there for the two day taping (weather was horrible here the first taping day). They sang it the way Disney wanted it done. Just like the entire celebration was done the way Disney wanted it done. I actually watched for the singers & not the parade as I just saw it two weeks ago. Yes each years parade/celebration has been different but some of us like it that way!

I have no idea who they were. And I have a hard time believing Disney told them to such the joy out of that song.

I have to believe too you are too close to it to be objective. They may be lovely people, but that performance was lacking. As was the whole show.

 

[anniemae]

It was bad on so many levels. I thought the performers were awful and I didn't know who most of them were. It seemed they kept showing Hawaii. I kept waiting for the parade. My kids were bored silly after looking forward to it for days.

 

[vdoucet78]

I always look forward to the parade, and I'm a huge Disney nut, but I didn't care for it this year. I felt like they barely showed any floats, it was just Frozen songs (which I love but it's getting to be too much) on repeat and Aulani. Just my opinion.

 

[dwheaton]

It was bad on so many levels. I thought the performers were awful and I didn't know who most of them were. It seemed they kept showing Hawaii. I kept waiting for the parade. My kids were bored silly after looking forward to it for days.

I think the real issue was the presentation. The performers were lip syncing to a track and set up in the way Disney intended. So I'll give them a pass even if they aren't artists that I particularly like.

What bugs me is how they hardly showed any of the parks. I understand that isn't the focus, but you'd think they'd want to showcase what's there.

 

[chartle]

I think its better to say the performances were not great and not that they had sub par performers.

Its a function of how the show is put together and has to be shot.

As for the Love Is an Open Door bit. I think the issue is that its from a movie its expected to be like the movie at least for a song that's telling a story. You get the same amount of push back if a breathy indie female rocker sang "Let it Go".

In the movie its the two of them going from hi my name is x to the excitement of lets get married. For the "parade" it was way too casual.

But in the end its those tow people that are out there on the stage and ist all people have to go on.

Note I only saw Frozen once in the theater and have never seen the x factor. For those that have seen the movie literally a 100 times it left much to be desired.

 

[chartle]

Ok steering this in another direction. Why was the taping day moved to Monday. I thought it was to accommodate Idina Menzel's Broadway schedule but I don't think she was there.

Note i didn't see the telecast yet and my not watch it at all.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Ok steering this in another direction. Why was the taping day moved to Monday. I thought it was to accommodate Idina Menzel's Broadway schedule but I don't think she was there.

Note i didn't see the telecast yet and my not watch it at all.

Idina was not one of the performers (which,honestly, surprised me).

You really didn't miss much by not watching it.

 

[JimmyV]

Absolutely unwatchable. I'll let my daughter's comments sum it up. While trying to watch Alex and Sierra, I said that they sounded like Holiday Inn lounge singers. She said that you could pull people out of the audience at a Holiday Inn lounge and find better singers. Then, as the end credits were rolling, she said: " Each and every one of these people should be fired!" Couldn't agree more.

 

[mom2rtk]

Ok steering this in another direction. Why was the taping day moved to Monday. I thought it was to accommodate Idina Menzel's Broadway schedule but I don't think she was there.

I wondered the same thing when it was over. If it wasn't moved to Monday to accommodate the schedule of a Broadway star, then why the last minute schedule change?

 

[Polydweller]

Absolutely unwatchable. I'll let my daughter's comments sum it up. While trying to watch Alex and Sierra, I said that they sounded like Holiday Inn lounge singers. She said that you could pull people out of the audience at a Holiday Inn lounge and find better singers. Then, as the end credits were rolling, she said: " Each and every one of these people should be fired!" Couldn't agree more.

Your daughter has summed up well, especially the part of firing people. Disney had created a Christmas tradition that people looked forward to. This awful production could hurt that and that is definitely a bad thing. I've heard and read many comments of people being that disappointed. If you undo a company's tradition and tie to it's audience you should be fired.

For me it was so awful that this is the first time I've turned it off well before the end. Poor hosts, poor acts, almost no coverage of the parade, way too many Aulani pieces, and poor production values added up to the worst entertainment piece from this company I think I've seen.

 

[lugnut33]

But I'm sure the shareholders were pleased wit it, and that's what really matters.

 

[OKW Lover]

But I'm sure the shareholders were pleased wit it, and that's what really matters.

Why would you assume that?

 

[Polydweller]

But I'm sure the shareholders were pleased wit it, and that's what really matters.

Huh?!? Where does that come from? Maybe you could explain how shareholders would be pleased with something that awful that didn't sell the parks, didn't really help Aulani, has potentially undercut the Frozen franchise and doesn't demonstrably increase the company's value.

 

[disneygrandma]

We consider ourselves to be a "Disney" family, and look forward to watching the parade every year. We would watch it and say "Some day we'll be there & see it in person". There would be stories of areas around the parks...new attractions that we couldn't wait to try, or maybe a favorite from our previous trip that we couldn't wait to experience again.

However, absolutely nothing from this year's show would make someone, anyone, want to go to either Disney Park. All you saw was a stage, whether it be in WDW or DLR. That stage could have been anywhere at all. Why not show the parks? Well, maybe Disney realized they didn't have anything new to show. The only new attractions opening, or just opened, pertain to Frozen. Frozen this, and Frozen that.

Then there were the hosts chatting about football games to be televised on Disney's ESPN Channel, instead of letting us see the parade that we had all tuned in to see.

They didn't even have Samantha Brown trying to entice people to stay in one or another of the Disney Resorts.

And those stories of families re-united? Please!! A brother & sister didn't see each other for 2 WHOLE YEARS!!! Come on! Way too much time was spent on these stories. Not at all interesting to young children, or their Grandma either.

In past years, the WDW Parade show would stay on our DVR, or it's ancient predecessor, for the entire year. We would play parts of it over and over all year long. This year's show? Already long ago deleted.

 

[over50visits]

The public expectation of this show is a Christmas parade. Period. In the past, the time has been padded with self-serving "informercial" snippets of the parks and resorts that were thinly veiled commercials, but at least they had the parade.

They have made a mistake this year. Expectations are everything, and I fully believe everyone tuned in expecting to see the wonderful parade they always have. I hope they do a (honest) survey of the show's reception (not one of those was it a-magical b-wonderful c-exciting surveys).