Millionaire TV Taping

Due to the generosity of another MFLer, I was able to attend a taping of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" at Disney-MGM studios this past Wednesday with my husband and his mother. The shows were hosted by Meredith Viera and the contestants were college students. The shows will air the last week of February for "Millionaire College Week".

Overall we had a fine time! We had tickets for the 6PM taping (they gave out tickets for multiple tapings, in 2 hour slots- 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm). You are requested to be in line 45 minutes before and are not guarenteed a seat at they give out more tickets than seats.

Being concerned that we might miss out, we got there in plenty of time! They have a special check-in window at the park entrance. If you are only there for the taping you are held there until time to get in line, then escorted to the studio. As we are AP holders, we were allowed to go into the park with the understanding that we would have to be at the studio on time.

Once at "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" we found out quickly that the production was running late and we wouldn't get in until 6:30. We just waited inside the lobby and chatted with others. It is a lot of fun to find out about the folks around you:) They Disney staff did a great job of updating the crowd as we waited. They also allowed people to leave and come back by 6:30.

We finally were seated!! This was a bit of a fiasco...not due to Disney CM's, but by the production crew from NYC. They made the audience, at least the rows that would be on TV the most, young and attractive. The sad part is that it was obvious as they would seat and reseat people until they got the "look" they wanted. This included skin color and ethnic heritage as well as age.

That said and done, the "warm up" began. It is HARD WORK to be in the audience of a TV show taping! You have to "practice" hootin' and hollarin' to the point of exhaustion!

Once the show began, it was a lot of fun. The show is taped much the same as what you see on TV, without the commercials obviously. As with most "behind the scenes" experiences, you learn lots:)

Here are a few tips so if you want to participate in a TV taping at WDW:

**The studio is COLD COLD COLD. Bring a cover-up of some kind.
**There were LOTS of spaces that needed to be filled by the audience. If you don't have a ticket, don't worry! Just ask about getting a seat in a later show. They were begging folks to stay for the late taping. (The early tapings WERE filled and people were turned away.)
**Don't be offended when you are moved because you are in a seat that will be televised. It's TV, and TV is about target audiences and sales.
**Be patient. TV production is always slow and behind!

I'm glad we went and would love to go to another taping at WDW. It would be a fun experience and a "different" activity than a day at a park....call WDW to see if they will be doing any tapings while you are on your vacation:)

Jane in FL
MFL Event Reporter