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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Gridlock - Taping the Disneyland Christmas Parade


Without any knowledge or forethought, Mrs DisneylandTraveler and I along with our traveling parties twice booked November trips to Disneyland the same weekend film crews were taping the Disneyland segment of Disney's annual Christmas Parade television special shown on ABC. I guess there are plenty of people interested in these type of Disney events and show up early to the park with hopes to get a good spot on Main Street to check out the action and maybe have an encounter with some kind of celebrity that is performing or making an appearance in the annual event. Who knows - maybe you might just get a chance to see yourself on network TV. Anyway, today is the day they are doing the taping at Disneyland

But then there is the other side of what seems like something that may be fun and exciting. Today is November 5th and we are a long way from Christmas but for the last week, Disneyland overnight crews have been frantically decorating Main St. for Christmas so the taping can gather in the full Christmas atmosphere. Once the taping of the Disneyland and WDW segments complete, several weeks are needed to get the editing and post production work completed in time for the Christmas Day showing. Along with Christmas decorations, various lighting towers, fixtures centered around cameras, and large stages are also set up around Main St. and the castle hub. For you classic Disneyland picture takers out there, these fixtures large and obtrusive, and another reason to get this filming completed before the official start of the Disneyland Christmas season. They are an eyesore.

Once the filming begins today, Main St. is blocked off to foot traffic for long periods of time. It is virtually impossible to get from the front of the park to the Lands because everything is gridlocked. There are some pathways opened up behind the Main St stores for foot traffic but these are rather narrow and get congested. On the other hand, it may be your only chance to see some of the Jungle Cruise maintenance areas. 

Mrs. DLT and I really had no interest in any of this. On one trip, we got to the park early and headed for the back then stayed out of the way of the television fray. I think on another trip, we just stayed in DCA until everything was done and the Hollywood people packed up and headed for home.

One person in our traveling party on one these trips did get to cross paths with Ryan Seacrest though. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

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