Disney World Pictures of The American Idol Experience

[WDWmemories]

Hi Everyone,

I had a chance to attend The American Idol Experience at the Disney Hollywood Studios on Saturday, February 7, 2009. Overall it was fun - although not, in my opinion, an 'super' attraction. I do recommend that you check it out.

Here are some pictures from the show:

Fans enjoy the pre-show at The American Idol Experience

Neon logo for The American Idol Experience

Main stage for The American Idol Experience

Warm up comedian in The American Idol Experience

Main stage full of color and light in The American Idol Experience

Host with gold light in The American Idol Experience

Judges in The American Idol Experience

Finalist guest performers with host in front of camera man in The American Idol Experience

Daily winner enjoys confetti in The American Idol Experience

You can see more pictures on the WDWmemories.com web site, starting here:

http://www.wdwmemories.com/american-idol-experience-pictur-001.html

Enjoy!

 

[Tim]

although the production values look very high, i don't know if i am going to be rushing to take this one in. i am honestly not a fan of the show, and think it would be much better if the riff-raff and goofballs never made it to TV. it seems like for a few seasons there people would do just about anything just to get on tv, and that killed the show's credibility to me.

 

[Roger]

Well, I'll second that along with the fact that so far there have been CM plants....

 

[Tim]

ohhhhhhhhh.... conspiracy theory, i likey!

 

[goofy101]

I really dislike these sort of shows on the TV but the rest of my family love them, so I can imagine they will see idol while I wander the studios solo for a while, shame uh!

 

[Kiki]

I like the show, but agree with T, the riff raff takes up too much time on camera. Those folks have to make it past several pre-auditions to appear before the judges, so the calculus is that people will enjoy watching terribly deluded singers. I'd rather see the honest contenders.

This attraction has no appeal to me at all, but I know that there are a lot of people who will really enjoy it, and that's a good thing.

 

[PolynesianMedic]

More people on this attraction means less on the others that I do like.

 

[Grumpwurst]

As Tim's wife, Karen, yelled in the background as we discussed this on the phone the other day......"We are not the target audience". At least in regards to the TV show American Idol we aren't the target audience.

From talking to those friends of mine that had the priviledge of going through the AP tours back in December and asked questions for their various blogs and podcasts, it seems like Disney is using the American Idol brand and imaging, but really had set the thing up that if the show tanks, they can strip the American Idol branding and keep it going.

From what I was told there is no intent to showcase the "crazies" like the TV show does, and they'll be doing a lot of work with mixing boards so that contestants who have less-than-stellar voices don't get embarrassed.

 

[Roger]

From talking to those friends of mine that had the priviledge of going through the AP tours back in December and asked questions for their various blogs and podcasts, it seems like Disney is using the American Idol brand and imaging, but really had set the thing up that if the show tanks, they can strip the American Idol branding and keep it going.

That explains the marketing department going full-throttle with Consumer Products on this attraction. The show isn't officially open yet but they have more merchandise than many classic attractions (I'm looking at you Fantasmic!)

 

[Scottwdw]

More American Idol Experience photos...

We had the same warm up guy. Kind of funny hearing him tell us we can boo the judges if what want. And we did!

The performers...

The judges...

The stage...

The winner...

During the performances, use spot metering or you'll blow out their features. All in all, I enjoyed it. It followed the TV show and it goes at a good pace. I'm sure the performers had a blast getting to strut their stuff in such an environment. The judges are there purely for entertainment value only. My daughter recognized two of them from the Adventurer's Club (the two on the right). This was the 5th show of the day so no confetti.