Tag Archives: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney World, Here We Come!

5 weeks until Walt Disney World!!! Let the countdown begin (as if we hadn’t already been counting)! Mark and I have been in planning overload mode. Meticulously planning every day of our trip and even going so far as to plan “relax” time! Yes, we have an excel sheet of our plans; where we will go at different times of each day, dining reservations, which parks have extra magic hours when, projected crowd levels for each park each day. Yep, we’re those people. Not ashamed, just prepared! Here’s a quick rundown of the experience highlights we will have during our trip!

Dinner at Kona Café in the Polynesian Resort on the first night before heading over to Magic Kingdom for the Main street Electric Parade (a fantastic nighttime parade featuring all the favorite Disney characters) and Wishes firework show over Cinderella’s Castle!

First morning we will monorail to the Grand Floridian Resort to have a gourmet breakfast of possibly Lobster Eggs Benedict or Maple Vanilla French Toast at the Grand Floridian Café!

The International Food and Wine Festival in Epcot will be our host many times during this trip as there are 30 countries for which our goal is to sample something from each; impossible to do in one trip!

Who doesn’t love them some dueling pianos?! I do! Mark’s never been to a dueling piano bar but lucky for him there’s one on Disney property! We will have a fun-filled night at Jellyrolls at the Boardwalk! Can’t wait to request “Mmmbop” and “Man or a Muppet!”

Drive-ins are becoming a thing of the past, right? Nope! There’s one right in the middle of Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant and we’re going there for lunch! We’ll be treated to some 1950’s finest movie trailers while dining in retro “cars!”

We’ll have a “free day” when we’ll be stopping by the Festival of the Masters, which is an annual outdoor art festival in Downtown Disney! We’ll possibly squeeze in a game of mini golf or boat ride too that morning!

Our BIG highlight will be our last night in the parks at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! This is a special event for which Magic Kingdom is closed but to those with event tickets! We are SO excited to see “snow” fall in Main Street while nibbling on cookies and sipping hot cocoa and having our first taste of the Christmas season!

Just a sampling, I’m sure we’ll have more surprises than even we know. Once that Disney magic starts, it never stops!

American Idol Experience

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Have you ever wanted to be pampered with supurb hair and makeup and receive professional coaching and direction in preparation for performing under blazing bright lights on an official American Idol stage for a packed house of eager listeners? Yeah, most people would say no, but I said yes!

Nestled in Disney’s Hollywood Studios lies an opportunity of a lifetime; The American Idol Experience. This is a fast pass version of the real thing, bringing all the best parts without the long lines and endless hours spent sitting next to the crazy girl with the pink mohawk screaming the words to her favorite Pat Benatar song.

My experience was as such:

First round of auditions in front of a generic judge, singing song of choice acapella where I apparently nailed it, moving to the next round!

Second round of auditions with the “Producer” after rehearsing with an iPod loaded with Idol-approved songs and filling out some paperwork. This audition provided accompaniment, sort of karaoke style where I performed a few seconds of two selected songs.

In my experience, the “Producer” chose a song he thought would work well with my voice which happened to be “Black Velvet,” a song I’ve sang a million times. He had me sing a few bars and told me I’m in and will perform “Black Velvet” in the first show of the day! He asked a few questions and hopped on Mark’s and my story of how we met through talking Disney topics and decided to have a video package put together about our story to play before my performance!

I performed in the first of five shows that day with two other people and ended up winning that show receiving a special congratulations video package from the one and only; Ryan Seacrest! This gave me a spot in the finale at the end of the day where I would perform with the other four finalists of the day after more coaching, and more hair and makeup!

All day, both Mark and I were getting noticed in the park thanks to our video and the host pointing Mark out to everyone in the audience! The craziest part was getting noticed the NEXT day in Magic Kingdom! We heard things like “Good luck tonight!” and “I voted for you!” It was truly our 15 minutes of fame, which is an amazing experience to have in Disney World!

The finale was even bigger and better and so much fun! I came in third in the finale, but the whole experience was worth it. The winner received an official ticket that allowed her a guaranteed spot in the actual American Idol auditions. I haven’t seen her yet in the auditions from this season so I’m not sure if she used it.

Pleasantly surprisingly The American Idol Experience is open to all age and talent levels! So, if you have the chance to audition for this experience, don’t pass it up. This experience is a fantastic way to spend a day in the park!