The parade was taped on Saturday-December 4-that was our first day of our vacation. We reached Magic Kingdom at 8:10 a.m. and the parade crowds were lined down the street, cameras, lights everywhere!
All the years I've been watching the WDW parade I really thought it was live! What a disappointment to see in person how truly "set up" it really is! "Normal" visitors to the Magic Kingdom got shooed down Mainstreet as they pre-select those who are going to be the crowd---everyone looked to dressed up for regular Disney guests, Christmas attire, santa hats,scarves, etc.--it took all day for them to film it as they tape one small part over and over until it is perfect--all the way down Mainstreet you could hear a guy on the microphone saying "Remember you're clapping, cheering, laughing-having a fantastic time--look warm we're in Florida"
The other thing I noticed when we watched the parade on TV was the beautiful blue, clear sky--the day was nice (there were clouds)until about 11:00 a.m. then it got quite chilly when the clouds really rolled in and with the wind. I look at the pictures I took and there were none throughout the entire day that had blue sky liked they showed on TV!
It was just really sad to have that Disney image of the parade "burst" by reality.