Be an American Idol or See One at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Fans of the hit reality show American Idol will have a new reason to make a special trip over to Walt Disney World this week. Not only is the American Idol Experience opening to Disney guests on February 14 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but more than twenty American Idol stars will be attending a special premiere of the new attraction, which holds its own search for the best singers in the country right inside the park’s ABC Theater.

The invitation-only premiere on Thursday, February 12, will feature American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, current winner David Cook, and former winners Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks, and Carrie Underwood. Past contestants David Archuleta, Bo Bice, and Justin Guarini, and other American Idol favorites will also be on hand for the festivities. The lineup may change and expand to include more guests as the premiere draws closer.

Earlier that day, before the park even opens, Cook will be doing a live segment for ABC’s Good Morning America in front of the Experience theater near Mickey’s Sorcerer Hat. It’s a closed set, so fans will unfortunately have to catch it on the small screen. However, theme park guests should still make plans to visit the park that day, as they’ll get to see the Idol family during a special motorcade at 4:30 pm. It will be the largest-ever gathering of prior Idol winners and finalists before they all head off to a press event that evening.

And while you’re waiting to see your favorite American Idol crooners and contestants, be sure to check a sneak peek of the American Idol Experience, which is in a soft opening phase until its debut on Saturday. The attraction features Disney guests competing on stage for the coveted Dream Ticket, which takes them straight to the front of the line at an actual American Idol regional audition.

Guests can either audition for the American Idol Experience or be in the audience during one of seven preliminary shows throughout the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Each show features three contestants displaying their singing chops, along with three judges and a host. There’s also plenty of fun American Idol footage featuring David Cook, Jordin Sparks, and others. The winner of each preliminary show goes on to compete in a talent-filled final show every day at 7 pm.

If you plan to try your hand at the American Idol Experience, head to Studio 2B, as it’s called, at the American Idol Experience theater early in the morning. There, you’ll sing a 30-90 second snippet a capella for a Disney casting director, who’ll decide whether you have the star potential to get a second audition. If you do, you’ll be sent to the “red room,” where guests can practice for their second audition with a Disney iPod featuring 100 different songs and lyrics.

After some prep time, guests go through a second audition, this time with music, in front of the American Idol Experience producer. This room has a TV screen with lyrics, so performers never have to worry about memorizing the words. If the producer likes your tune, you’ll then receive star treatment with a hair and makeup session and a training session with a voice coach before heading off to the Experience stage for a preliminary show.

So whether you want to walk in the footsteps of an American Idol or catch a glimpse of one, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the place to be this week. Don’t wait to get your Walt Disney World tickets from DWTickets.com so you can cash in on all the American Idol excitement.

"American Idol" is Coming to Disney World

Do you love watching American Idol every season? Do you avidly root for your favorite performers from start to finish? Or do you, perhaps, have a dream of one day appearing on the show yourself? With the new American Idol Experience coming to Walt Disney World in 2009, you can enjoy all these aspects of your favorite show and more!

At the American Idol Experience, a new attraction opening in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, guests will be able to get a taste of America’s most beloved reality competition. Following the model of the high-energy show, Disney guests will get to experience the change of auditioning and the rush of performing on stage in competition. For those who don’t fancy themselves to be stage-savvy enough, you can walk in the shoes of Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul and judge performances in a live interactive entertainment setting. Or, you can just sit back, watch, and enjoy the show.

The Experience will include an audition process, open to all, where guests perform “live” in front of a Hollywood Studios producer. If the producers choose you as their next star, you’ll be taken backstage to prepare for a live show later in front of an audience and panel of judges. You’ll even get to work with a vocal coach and get pampered by a make-up artist in preparation for your big stage finale.

The performers with the highest votes will compete in an end-of-day Grand Finale, where the winner will receive a special Dream ticket – a guaranteed reservation to sing in front of an American Idol representative at a future regional stadium audition. Best yet, winners of the Dream Ticket will get to bypass all those dreadfully long lines at the regional audition.

The Experience truly replicates every aspect of the TV show, from the nerve-wracking audition experience to the set. When guests perform on stage in front of a live audience, they’ll be doing so in the Experience’s main theater, which is designed to look just like the American Idol stage. Audience members also get to vote like they would at home, with electronic keypads at their seats. You’ll feel like Ryan Seacrest is about to pop out at any moment – and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, who knows? They might even have an animatronic version of him! (Wouldn’t that be creepy?) Even America’s most recent Idol, David Cook, will be making a special appearance in the new attraction, via video.

The American Idol Experience will offer several shows for guests daily and is expected to open in January/February. Only guests age 14 and older will be able to audition, although anyone will be able to watch and judge. The Experience will definitely provide a fun addition to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it might even be better than watching the show at home – no commercials! Be sure to keep an eye out for this cool new attraction at the beginning of 2009, and don’t wait until the last minute to get your tickets. Score discount Hollywood Studios tickets now at DWTickets.com, and soon, you just might find yourself performing on the American Idol stage.

What’s New at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly known as Disney-MGM Studios) has more than just a new name in 2008. This park, which transports guests right into the movies with an array of attractions and shows, has a new daily afternoon parade and a few new attractions that are either already entertaining guests or will be in the coming months! To experience all of them for yourself, however, you have to have tickets to get into the theme park, and we have just the way for you to do it! DWTickets.com is your one-stop shop for discounted tickets to the Walt Disney World Resort and all of the other top attractions in Central Florida, from local dinner shows to Universal Orlando and all of the Sea World parks, including Sea World’s brand new water park, Aquatica! For tickets to everything above, simply click here to get started by perusing our discounted theme park tickets to Walt Disney World!

As we mentioned earlier, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a brand new afternoon parade that has already debuted at the park, and this performance is more of a mobile stage show than a traditional parade that guests may be used to. The Block Party Bash originated in 2005 in Disney’s California Adventure Park, but moved over to Walt Disney World in mid-March, replacing the former Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade. This new daily spectacle combines almost 30 Disney Pixar characters, incredible floats, trampoline units, aerial acrobatics and upbeat music for a parade experience like no other! Disney’s Block Party Bash also doubles as an interactive street party, with choreographed performance stops along the route where dancers, acrobats, jumping stilts, electric scooters and your favorite Disney Pixar characters from films like “Toy Story,” “The Incredibles” and “Monsters, Inc.” mesmerize the crowd. If your vacation plans include a stop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, don’t miss this mid-afternoon parade that is sure to knock your socks off!

In addition to the Block Party Bash, Disney’s Hollywood Studios also has a few attractions that have recently been added and a couple more that are on the way! The High School Musical Pep Rally, a stage show that takes place in front of Mickey’s sorcerer hat, transports guests into the halls and onto the basketball court of East Side High School. In addition to performances from all of your favorite songs from the popular Disney Channel movies, you can learn new dance moves and cheer along with your favorite characters at this one-of-a-kind pep rally! Another new show at the Studios is Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! This live musical has recently changed casts and now features a 20-minute performance with characters from the Disney Channel shows “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” “Handy Manny” and “Little Einsteins.”

Even more fun is on the way to Disney’s Hollwood Studios in 2008! Projected to open in May 2008, Toy Story Mania will be similar to the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at the Magic Kingdom Park, except more high-tech. Billed as a “4-D” ride, guests will put on 3-D glasses that will instantly shrink you to toy size, and then you will wind your way through a midway to play games and see characters from the “Toy Story” films! Each guest will be armed with a toy cannon to play all of these games, and each target that you hit will be worth a certain amount of points, while some special targets will bring you even more fun surprises!

Finally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has partnered with Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment and FreMantleMedia for the opening of an “American Idol” attraction that is slated to open in late 2008. Guests who enter the park and register will be able to audition in front of a producer. From there, the best performers will then perform in front of a panel of judges and a live audience of park guests, with the winners (whoever receives the most amount of votes) from each show advancing on to that evening’s Grand Finale performance. The winner of this daily event is then given a pass to use at a future American Idol audition to bypass the lines and sing immediately in front of producers of the show at one of these regional competitions. While this does not ensure that the winners will then advance to sing in front of the show’s actual judges, it does eliminate the waiting process! Since “American Idol” is only open to participants from 16-28 years old, daily winners who are not in that age group can transfer their pass to a friend of family member, or in the case of someone under the age of 16, they can save their pass for a future competition.

To experience all of these shows, parades and attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, be sure to go ahead and purchase your advance, discounted theme park tickets right here at DWTickets.com!

American Idol is Joining the Show at Disneys Hollywood Studios

Forget about Hollywood California American Idol is going to Hollywood via Orlando where YOU can be the star of the show all you need is a Disney Ticket and a dream.

Eligible participants start out by performing live in front of a show producer from Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney “American Idol” hopefuls audition throughout the day, and those found to have that special star power are sent backstage for vocal coaching. Then to help them look the part, contestants spend some time in hair and makeup.

The lucky few Disney Idols who make it through the first screening will then hit the stage for a live performance. And these Idols better leave any stage fright at home, because this show is in front of a real audience and those daunting “American Idol” judges (we’re pretty sure it won’t be Simon, though, so relax).

Singers that get the most votes in these live Disney Idol shows throughout the day will come together each night for a Grand Finale show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Whoever wins the Grand Finale each night at Disney will get a chance to audition for the real “American Idol” at a future regional competition.

If performing live on stage isn’t your thing, enjoy the show by being part of the studio audience. Better yet, be a judge! Either way, you need a ticket to get in. Luckily enough you can get cheap Disney tickets right here at DWTickets.com!

Disney officials said joining up with “American Idol” is a natural for the newly renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios. “Idol” status as a pop icon fits right in with the “new Hollywood” theme the recently changed name represents.

Combining two of the most famous names in the world – Disney and “American Idol” – seems like a natural too. “Millions of people have imagined themselves standing on the “American Idol” stage,” said Jay Rasulo, Chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts, “We’re excited that we will be bringing this dream to life every day at Walt Disney World.”

You know you want to be the next American Idol.
Now you just need a Disney ticket and a dream.So get your cheap Disney tickets right now at DWTickets.com and get on with the show!