Winter Wonderland

Day Two of filming The Walt Disney Christmas Parade was filled with conflicting reports of "various performers performing throughout the day." Rumors ran rampant -- ranging from Selena Gomez to Miley Cyrus to Jonas Brothers to a Beatles reunion!

For certain something was going to take place in front of the castle. When the stand-by VIP line was pointed out to us, we secured a spot. That was around 8AM. Whatever was happening had an estimated time of 1:30PM. It was quite a few hours to wait and see if we would be needed to fill the VIP area, but we were gamed for anything or anyone!

Ace of Base may have seen the sign, but me and way too many other guests did not see the one right in front of the castle with Stevie Wonder's name on it. Once it was confirmed that someone under 16 years old would not be singing, the stand-by VIP line became much shorter. Fortunately, the three gals next to us did not say bye-bye to the stand-by line. Mimi & Co. definitely made the near to 8 hours of waiting in the blazing(!?) November sun a lot more fun!

Around the 30th hour 3 o'clock, Marissa took off for the drinking fountain. Of course that is when the stand-by line was told to, um, stand-by. We were about to be herded into the VIP area. And Marissa wasn't back yet.

In my sheer panic, I forgot we were living in 2009. Instead of calling Marissa, I took off looking for her. When she wasn't at the nearest fountains, I had this sudden fear that she had gone back to the line and would then come looking for me, and that we would keep going around in circles. I ran back to my place in line (thanks to Mimi!) and called Marissa. As her phone was ringing, I noticed the crowd around us start to, well, part like the Red Sea of Christmas Hats. Marissa was on her way back from a quick trip to the loo! A few moments later, Marissa and I were the last two guests to go first into the VIP area.

We were still tripping out at how close we were to the stage (and how close we came to missing it!) when suddenly Stevie Wonder and his beautiful daughter, back-up singer Aisha Morris, came walking out to the left of us.


Let me tell ya, Little Stevie Wonder has a big ol' heart! Although I'm not a die-hard fan of his music, I was most impressed by his genuine sincerity and total lack of diva-ness he displayed at Disneyland (however, I'm not sure what the circumstances were that lead to the 2 hour delay). He sang flawlessly and joked easily ("We need to hurry up. I want to see the parade!").

Aisha appeared to be as sweet as her dad. Her fellow back-up singer gently retouched Aisha's hair during a break in filming. It was done so lovingly, that we were all sort of spellbound by the act.

The audience was so supportive of Stevie! After making a slight mistake that required a do-over, Stevie was so apologetic that the crowd cheered and shouted "We love you Stevie! Keep making mistakes so we can hear you more!" The show of appreciation from the audience reached fever-pitch each time Stevie picked up the harmonica! It was amazing to see this living legend play his lifelong trademark.

When Stevie exited the stage, we took it as our cue to go home and rest up for Day Three of filming The Walt Disney Christmas Parade -- the parade part! (But first we had to go shopping for Christmas hats!)

Be sure to tune in Christmas morning to watch and listen to Stevie sing “That’s What Christmas Means to Me" on ABC (and look for us!).

Penn & Tell Her

While waiting (for a long, long time) in a VIP stand-by line for Stevie Wonder's performance last Sunday, I made a joke to the awesome woman (and fellow Annual Passholder) next to me:

"We're more likely to see a celebrity wandering past us than to see one perform today."

We laughed, and I probably considered tweeting what I said.

Then about twenty hours minutes later, I happened to look up and said nonchalantly to our new pal:

"Isn't that the guy from Penn & Teller? The one who talks."

As the words came out of my mouth, my arms instinctively went into paparazzi-mode! In one hand, I took a picture with the cell phone; in my other hand, I took a picture with my digital camera. It was kind of like Wii Boxing, but without having to take Vicodin after.

Marissa and I have an extremely high regard for celebrity privacy. We do not bring attention to celebs-as-guests sightings, especially if they have children with 'em. Penn Jillette had his two small children with him and at that time without the assistance of a Plaid (Guest Relations Escort). He was at Disneyland as a Dad and as a son.

Hollywood & Main

By seven o'clock Saturday morning we were out of bed and at the Park with visions of Ryan Seacrest dancing in my head. We were there on a hunch and a hint that the Walt Disney Christmas Day Parade would begin filming this weekend.


The cameras gave us a clear picture that they were in fact ready to roll! It is always exciting to see film crews at Disneyland; it's like being on a movie set!


And in true Hollywood fashion we, the parade audience, acted as though we were super excited by the phantom Christmas Spectacular before our eyes! These Disneyland Guests all deserve an Emmy for their believable close-up reactions!

Turns out Saturday was not the day for filming the full parade portion of the, um, parade. It was, however, the one day of the year when the dolls from it's a small world come alive as real children and prance down Main Street!

According to media reports, a.k.a. tweets on Twitter, Selena Gomez of Wizards of Waverly Place either performed a song or gave an interview at the Castle the same day.

Day One of filming was pretty laid back. Attendance was not "like Spring Break" as overheard. In fact, restrooms were empty every time we, um, had to go in one. Guests around us were laid back as well, minus a stage mother or two. Everyone appeared to have a lot of festive fun for a few hours!