Are You Missing American Idol?

It’s the first week since the American Idol finale and it’s been a bit strange this past Tuesday and Wednesday night. American Idol has become a tradition in our house and we’ve really missed it this week. Normally we’d sit outside overlooking the pool and have our evening meal as a family and then we’d come back inside and watch the show. We’ve even become experts at exactly what time we need to be inside so we can “Tivo” through the adverts and finish watching the show at the same time as everyone else!

So this week, we just stayed outside and chatted… it was nice but not quite the same! It did set me wondering what other families have done this week though so how have you used the time to bond with your family or did you simply watch whatever else was on?

For those of us that are missing our fix of “Idol“, there is a solution and fortunately for those of us living in Orlando we now have The American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The “Experience” has the same look and feel as the Hollywood, California television show but there is a difference; this version plays live several times a day and visitors to the theme park can either perform or watch and then vote for daily winners in the new attraction.

It’s already proved a popular new addition and not least because the person who ends up winning the daily finale show ends up with a “Dream Ticket” which allows them to skip the long lines at the regional audition for the American Idol television show.

So now it’s possible for around 400 budding stars to audition year round for Idol and the experience is very much like the real thing. Visitors aged 14 years and up who wish to audition can head to the “artists‘” entrance, located behind the theater, where they will either be admitted immediately or they will be assigned a return time for their audition. Once inside, potential performers enter private audition rooms where a casting director listens to them sing without any musical accompaniment. The director is looking for the singer to demonstrate the four P’s; pitch, posture, presence and performance. If the director likes what he sees then the singer moves on to a second audition with a producer.

Those selected for a second audition then proceed to the ‘red‘ room, much like the TV show, and then they get to use an MP3 player to listen to selections from a list of around 100 songs, choosing three to five songs for their second audition and possible performance. Categories include: country, disco, rock/pop, Latin, R&B and of course, a few Disney tunes.

Once the contestants have done this they then have a second audition in front of a producer and in addition to judging singing ability, producers use a spotlight to test star power and poise. At the end of the process just a handful of hopefuls will be selected to perform each day and just three will advance to sing in one of the several shows held throughout the day.

Everything about the American Idol Experience looks and sounds like the popular television show; from blue neon lighting, swirling logos and a huge screen recreate the familiar scene. The differences are minor; the stage is slightly smaller than the one in Hollwood and the judges table is on stage instead of off stage. One major difference that performers now get to enjoy is the fact that one of the largest teleprompters is available scrolling song lyrics from the back of the theater so there’s no forgetting the lyrics here!

So, how do you fancy being the next American Idol? Here at Florida Leisure we’re excited about it because we’d love to be able to say “The next American Idol stayed in a Florida Leisure Vacation Home while auditioning at the American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!” Now that would be cool… so why not give us a call, make your reservation to stay in one of our wonderful vacation homes and get along to audition. We’d love to hear about your experience and to see how talented you are.

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