Last September '02 we took our annual trip down to Disney. Of course, no trip is complete without a visit to Universal.
So the first thing I did was go to Guest Services to find out what time the taping for the show would be, and if I had children who wanted to try to get picked as a contestant I would have to go earlier.
We showed up behind the Green geyser sometime in the early afternoon. The stars of the show came out and asked all the kids who wanted a shot at being a contestant to line up against this 10 foot fence. Then they were told to pick a number or something like that. It was one of the stars idea's. I guess every day they do something else to determine who will be a contestant.
Anyway, one of my daughters was picked. One parent is allowed to go into the studio with them, where they fill out paperwork saying that they give their child permission to be on the show.
Then I called everyone me and my kids knew to tell them to watch that afternoon. I had also programmed the VCR at the timeshare to tape the show, even if my kids didn't get picked, because I figured at least we would be in the audience. I've done it twice before, it's so funny to see the kids. One year the kids were standing right next to Little Bow Wow while he was singing Bounce. It was really funny watching them wave their hands/arms in the air for 3 minutes. All the kids looked like their arms weighed 1000 pounds!
Anyway, after I filled out the paperwork, Tori and the other kids were sent into a changing room and given a T-shirt and nylon pants (she was purple) and I was allowed to accompany my husband and my other daughter into the studio audience section. A few minutes later, Tori and the other kids came out with the stars of the show, which now I remember to be the stars of All That. I didn't care for one girl too much because she took a chocolate pudding and threw it in my face and ruined a $50 white tank top I was wearing. I've been to that show 4 times and if it weren't for that red headed brat, I would have come out unscathed 4 times.
So We're watching, and clapping, and waiting, and watching and clapping and waiting (in between shows, we came on during the commercials)
and Tori kept winning the little games that they make the contestants play.
Well, me and my husband had dinner reservations for the California Grill and we were to drop the kids off at the Never Land Club and it's getting later and later and later and Tori keeps winning the contests and Eddie keeps telling me, She better lose because I don't want to miss our dinner reservations! and I'm trying to explain, how often will our daughter be playing a game show on live television???
So she wound up losing, of course, because her father was jinxing her!
So after she lost that round of games, it was around 5:00, they said if anyone wants to leave, they could. They took Tori in the back to wash the purple slime off and they had told her if she wanted to purchase the sweat outfit she was wearing it would be $15. She said no because she thought I would say no, but I told her she should have said yes, and if I didn't want her to have it I would have said no to the lady. But I thought it would have been a cool souvenier for her! It was definitely worth the $15.
So then we left. On the way out they gave the girls a super cool goodie bag which included a pocket radio and a lot of candy and other stuff I can't remember. And then I went to the little souvenier shop outside of the Nickelodeon studios and purchased the same purple shirt for her.
What was awesome is that after I called some people back home on my cell phone, they formed a telephone chain and almost all of her classmates, friends and cousins saw her on the show. They also saw me and my husband and my other daughter Kyra in the stands.
I would say that the experience was Totally Awesome! I think I enjoyed it just as much as she did. We plan on doing it again, but this year we're not going into the studios except for Halloween Horror Night, and that's without the kids.
