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WDWPrincess
11-30-2013, 11:17 PM
Can anyone confirm what day (or days) will be the taping of the Christmas Parade.

I believe it will be Saturday, Dec 7th?

Can anyone explain how this day works at the MK? Currently the par is open on that day until 1am.

I have heard before that it is CRAZY crowded for the tapings and that the people on Main Street have to stay in their spot for hours and hours until the taping is day- meanwhile, people not wanting to see the parade are lead through back areas to get to the back of the park? True?

I have no interest in being at the taping - but I want to visit the MK that day. What is my best plan to be there when the taping is over? When does the taping end? late afternoon? Is this why the park is open until 1am?

MickeysBestPal
12-01-2013, 05:34 AM
1- Can anyone confirm what day (or days) will be the taping of the Christmas Parade.

I believe it will be Saturday, Dec 7th?

2- Can anyone explain how this day works at the MK? Currently the par is open on that day until 1am.

3- I have heard before that it is CRAZY crowded for the tapings and that the people on Main Street have to stay in their spot for hours and hours until the taping is day-

4- meanwhile, people not wanting to see the parade are lead through back areas to get to the back of the park? True?

5- I have no interest in being at the taping - but I want to visit the MK that day.

6- What is my best plan to be there when the taping is over?

7- When does the taping end? late afternoon?

8- Is this why the park is open until 1am?

1- Fri, Sat, Sun Dec. 6, 7, 8, 2013
(Sun is only used if needed.)

2- Taping will (generally) be from about 6:30AM until about 2PM-3PM daily.

3- Main St. and/or the castle Hub will be packed.
The core audience guests are not "walk-ups" but are recruited to be on the front-lines for the cameras. Parade viewing guests can leave if they need to.
Yes, the taping is tedious and repetitive.

4- True. (Although not always "led.")

5- You can do that.

6- That would be the least desirable time to arrive. The thousands of guests who had been in the parade crowd would be free to go into the rest of MK and ride attractions.
I'd arrive early in the day and ride when there will be far fewer guests doing attractions.

7- Mid-afternoon.

8- That's just a part of the reason. MK is a popular park and stays open late many evenings.
Many nights are taken up with MVMCP, so staying open late offers a later evening to non-party guests.

Katzateer
12-01-2013, 07:31 AM
One reason it is crazy crowded is WDW gives locals FREE passes to the MK if they come early and line up for the taping. My daughter was in the parade, her group was in front for the opening number (next to the characters and Ryan Seecrest). It was really annoying to me that we paid so much money for our kids to be at WDW and the several days of practice, then we're told to be at the MK really early so we could get a good spot( and we had to pay for park admission. When we got there, there were hundreds of locals already packed at the turnstiles waiting to get in.

They do that to make sure when taping the crowds will look huge. And judging by the hours being posted this year, sounds like they will be crowded.

And the Pop Warner groups will be there also. Brings lots of kid groups into the parks.

The taping is a lot of fun to watch. And they don't just tape on Main Street. Special performances at the castle and we have seen interviews all over the park. We got to see Mariah Carey up close and she had a great performance at the castle. Since they are taping, they do stop, restart and usually do more than one take.

Main Street Jim
12-01-2013, 11:40 AM
WDW gives locals FREE passes to the MK if they come early and line up for the taping.

They do that to make sure when taping the crowds will look huge. And judging by the hours being posted this year, sounds like they will be crowded.I have never heard of any "free park passes" just for the parade taping; my understanding is that you must still have park admission media to get in the park. The "passes" are/were so they could get on the parade route to watch (at least that was the way I understood it).

Katzateer
12-02-2013, 06:32 AM
I have never heard of any "free park passes" just for the parade taping; my understanding is that you must still have park admission media to get in the park. The "passes" are/were so they could get on the parade route to watch (at least that was the way I understood it).

When my daughter was in the parade 3 years ago, there were a LOT of people all ready at the turnstiles 90 minutes before scheduled park opening. I was talking to some of them and they said they got free passes to the MK for the day of taping. They were expected to watch the taping and then could stay in the park the rest of the day. Hundreds of the free passes were given out that year and the locals I talked to said they did that every year. There was a ferry running bringing them from the parking lot. I was surprised to see the ferry running and full that early in the day.

MickeysBestPal
12-02-2013, 08:47 AM
When my daughter was in the parade 3 years ago, there were a LOT of people all ready at the turnstiles 90 minutes before scheduled park opening. I was talking to some of them and they said they got free passes to the MK for the day of taping. They were expected to watch the taping and then could stay in the park the rest of the day. Hundreds of the free passes were given out that year and the locals I talked to said they did that every year. There was a ferry running bringing them from the parking lot. I was surprised to see the ferry running and full that early in the day.

Yup.
They did that for years.
Not so this year, however.
(Except, they will still likely have a core group of paid participants
on front lines.)

joanna71985
12-02-2013, 11:03 AM
CMs are given tickets that get them into MK early, for the parade taping (locals used to get them too, but that hasn't happened in a couple of years now).

Disney-Nut
12-11-2013, 01:22 PM
Do they normally tape it around december 7th? I thought they always taped it in november

Melanie
12-11-2013, 01:36 PM
Do they normally tape it around december 7th? I thought they always taped it in november


They tape the Disneyland portion in November, and the WDW portion the first weekend of December.

MickeysBestPal
12-11-2013, 04:22 PM
Do they normally tape it around december 7th? I thought they always taped it in november

Traditionally, it is taped the next weekend after Thanksgiving weekend, which is nearly always fully or partially in December.

What made this year unique is that Thanksgiving (which is decreed as always on the 4th Thursday in Nov.) was nearly a full week later than usual.

CaptSmee
12-12-2013, 09:50 AM
I've been there twice during taping & its only crowded around the castle & parade routes. The attractions were virtually empty :thumbsup: