> Journal - Friday, September 10, 2004

Disney had set up many activities for the guests and stars to see and experience: “The ABC Star Q&A Showcase” at the Golden State Amphitheater, the “ABC Preview Screening Room,” “TGIF Sneak Peek,” many celebrity photo locations, live radio broadcasts and the Parade of Stars.

ABC decided to use the energy of the event to film a TV spot (to air on Friday nights starting September 24) using park guests in the TGIF commercial advertising the new Friday night lineup. Carol and Brandee Cavanaugh of Yakima, Washington were encouraged by the director to dance. After a few moments of instruction, you heard “Action!”, and the shoot was on. “It was a great way to get people involved as well as developing a buy-in to watching Friday night TGIF programs. The experience of how much fun we had participating in the dance will be a memory my daughter and I will relive every time we see an ad for TGIF,” said Carol.

All day long, park guests patiently waited in the heat for the chance to have their picture taken with their favorite TV personality. Some were lucky enough to even get an autograph or two. Kristin from Riverside waited in line for over two and a half hours (starting at the entrance before the park opened) to have her picture taken with the cast of 8 Simple Rules. “It was worth every moment,” she said.

The ABC Star Q&A Showcase was very popular, filling the amphitheater to capacity with every cast that appeared. Chris Harrison, the host of  The Bachelor/Bachelorette, hosted this event all weekend with great connection with the audience and TV cast members. George Lopez had the crowd laughing with his down-to-earth, quick-wit humor. And being from Southern California, there were many “local” jokes some of the guests could appreciate even more. People cheered for the cast of NYPD Blue when they arrived, but there was an audible sigh when they announced it was the last season of this show during Q&A.

According to Jim

George Lopez

George Lopez

George Lopez

George Lopez

The biggest capacity crowd drawn was for the cast of Hope & Faith. Kelly Ripa (“Faith”) and Faith Ford (“Hope”) were just a delight on stage. Kelly was on the air in New York Friday morning with the Regis & Kelly show, then later that day she and Faith Ford taped Hope & Faith, then they both hopped an airplane and made it to DCA for this event mid-day Saturday. On the way to the stage, Kelly had noticed the churro cart, and during the Q&A she asked, “What is a churro? What do I know? I'm from New Jersey!”

In true Disney fashion, within moments, churros were delivered to the stage. The gals took a bite and Faith Ford settled back with a smile on her face and said, “This is heaven on a stick!” Kelly asked about the origin of the churro and it was told by an audience member that it came from Mexico. “My husband is Mexican and he never told me about this!” Faith just leaned over and whispered to Kelly, “That's because he wants to be your heaven on a stick.” This had the crowd roaring and it was the running joke/comment throughout the rest of the session. [Disney trivia: the introduction of the churro to Disneyland was in 1988 at a food concession called Yumz in Videopolis].

Another question to Kelly Ripa came from a younger audience member, who asked, “I see you have a tattoo on your ankle. What does that represent?” Kelly replied, “I got it when I was 19 from a tattoo artist named Snapper, and it's a symbol of my stupidity!”

Of all the Q&A sessions, these two appeared to be most at ease with the guest audience, and made each and every one of them feel as if they were new friends.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

the Benefactor

George Lopez

the Bachelor

Life as we Know It

Less than Perfect

Less than Perfect

Less than Perfect

At 4 p.m., the Parade of Stars made its way through the park. All the celebrities were riding in dozens of Chrysler Sebring convertible cars. The afternoon was still over 100 degrees, but the stars kept the smiles going and seeming to be in good spirits. The parade lasted about 15 minutes with a steady stream of cars, celebrities, smiles and waves, and park visitors were thrilled at the chances to see all their favorite ABC stars on one place. The cast of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was especially having fun with the guests. They were the only ones in the parade that were not “actors,” and they were thrilled to be included in this celebrity circle.

There were also a few stars who had rode with Disney character stars. Kelly Osbourne (Life as we Know It) rode with Goofy, George Lopez (George Lopez Show) rode with Donald Duck, Chris Harrison (The Bachelor) rode with Minnie, and Mark Cuban (The Benefactor) rode with Pluto.

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Jimmy Kimmel

Jim Belushi & the Sacred Hearts

JIm Belushi & the Sacred Hearts

Jim Belushi & the Sacred Hearts

Jim Belushi & the Sacred Hearts

The highlight of Saturday evening was a concert at the Golden State Amphitheater with Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts. Made up of semi-professional musicians with “day jobs” who are just “friends getting together to jam,” the band played solid R&B material with real live vocals and instruments (nothing prerecorded or synthesized).

The opening song, “Sweet Home Chicago,” got everyone clapping and toe-tapping, but the song that brought down the house was an awesome rendition of “Soul Man.” Jim and the boys in the band really had the audience feeling as if they were on stage with them just having a great big party time. There were times when Jim would bring an audience member to the stage to join in on the dancing… and there were times he would go out into the audience to sing and dance among them. Belushi demonstrated his versatile abilities and was a true showman, a man of many talents.

Overall, Disney made great efforts to showcase the stars and their shows with the added benefit of the boosting the attendance draw to the theme park without the obvious “in your face” promotion of the product. Call it want you want: Co-op advertising, cross merchandising or company synergy for the Walt Disney Company and its subsidiary, ABC, it worked!