As today was am EMH at Hollywood Studios we got up at 6.30, aiming to leave at 7.30. We decided to take the car and ended up parking by 7.50. On arrival we went straight to the end of the street for rope drop but we seemed to be waiting some time in the end rope drop finally happened at 8.10 but we never found out what the delay was! We walked with the crowds to Rock n Roller Coaster, and virtually walked on the ride. This time it was my favourite Aerosmith son Dude Looks Like a Lady.
At 8.40 we met up with mum and dad, who had come on the bus. Carl and dad went to get Fast Passes for TSM, while mum and I went to the entrance to see if the scouts were out for the American Idol Experience. We found that they were there, so I walked up to audition. I had to stand in front of the big background screen and sing. I chose Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. The CM said he loved my belt, talked to me a little bit and said he was putting me straight through to the next round. I had to hang around a little bit then, until a couple of us who had been put through all walked together with some CMs to the audition facility. When we got there, other people were lining up to do their first audition, so I was glad I had got mine over with out on the street as it was much quicker. We were taken to the Coca Cola lounge where we were given Ipods with the song arrangements on. Before the trip I had looked at the list of songs and had some idea what I wanted to do, but a couple of the arrangements were unfamiliar, so it was a bit stressful choosing songs!
After about 10 minutes I got called through to audition for Producer Kendall. My two songs were Breakaway and Colours of the Wind. I had to stand on the X and sing into the camera, while the producer watched me live, and on the TV screen. I sang all the way through Breakaway, then less than half of Colours of the Wind. At that point Ryan Seacrest came on the video screen and said, I cant tell you youre going to Hollywood, but I can tell you youre going to be performing live at Hollywood Studios American Idol Experience! By this point I was very excited, and I am sorry to say I screamed little bit (no British decorum for me!) and Carl got a bit embarrassed (they let him come in to my audition with me). The producer then gave me all the details, like when I had to come back, and what would happen. He said he was going to ask me to sing Colours of he Wind for the live show as I have more of a musical theatre voice (which I knew) and that I would be in the 12pm show. As a bonus I was given 4 Fast Passes good for any ride well, we already knew we would use them on TSM! Finally I was asked who my favourite American Idol was, and I said Kelly Clarkson the original.
When we came out of the audition facility we didnt know where mum and dad were, so we wandered a little aimlessly trying to find them. Finally I got a text message which said they were at Muppetvision so we went over to meet them. From there we used our special FPs to ride TSM I still wasnt very good at it, lol. By this time it was 10.30, and I needed to be back at AIE for 11am. I went in the bathrooms and got changed. It might sound like Im really vain, but I took a dress and nice pair of shoes just in case I got on the shoe it made me feel more confident than if Id kept my shorts and T-shirt!
I arrived first out of the contestants on my show, but when all 3 of us were there we were taken in. I was competing against a 17 year old girl, and a mum in her late 30s. First stop was the green room, where the procedures were explained to us. We each got ten minutes with hair and make-up, ten minutes with the vocal coach, and ten minutes to chill and listen to the track on an Ipod again the difference this time is that the Ipods were not chained down
The vocal coach was really helpful, and also gave me tips on movement and working the camera. After all this, we had 30 minutes of rehearsal which consisted of walking through positions for the show, and singing our song once on the stage. We also got some more movement tips. It was really interesting to see how things work on TV, because it really is a proper TV show environment. Finally, we all had to have a tracker attached to us, which was for the follow spots, so they would always know where we were and would track our movements.
By the end of this rehearsal time they had let our families in for priority seating, and Carl, mum and dad waved to me.
For the actual performance I got to sing first, which I was glad about as it meant less time to worry! As I was first, I got a special message from Kelly Clarkson to wish me luck. In the end I was really pleased with how I sang.
One judge told me I was hot and probably made the audience think again about teachers! She also liked my theme park heels. I got told that my voice was more musical theatre than pop (which it is!), and although I had reduced my level of vibrato there was still a bit too much. The mean judge told me I reminded him of when he saw Pocahontas at the cinema, because he fell asleep then as well! To be honest, I got the least harsh comment of the three of us, so I didnt mind. There were a whole lot of British people down near the front who were really rooting for me, but I didnt win. The older lady and I had predicted that the 17 year old would win, and she did, but I didnt mind as I had a great experience. I was just pleased that anyone thought I was good enough to go up and do it in the first place.
After the show I went outside to meet my family, and some kids who had seen the show asked for my autograph, which was quite exciting! Some other people said they had voted for me, so I thanked them, and smiled, but I think I also went bright red. I got more comments like this throughout the rest of the day, and the English family from the front row saw me later (Carl told me I had to stay in my dress so I was recognisable!) and shouted out You were robbed!
After the show, Carl and I went to our ADR at 50s Prime Time Cafe. We had told guest services earlier that we would be a little late due to the AIE show I had been scheduled in, and they had said that wasnt a problem they had been really excited for me, lol. When we got there we were seated in 5 minutes, which ended up being 25 minutes after our scheduled time.
Our server was Laurie, and she was great fun. Within seconds of introducing herself she announced to the whole place that we were newlyweds, which got a round of applause. She also had to tell Carl to keep his elbows of the table! For an appetiser we shared onion rings, which were huge and very tasty.
As entrees I had chicken pot pie, which Id been looking forward to and it didnt disappoint.
Carl had Southern fried chicken with mash and greens.
To drink I had a smoothie and Carl had a PB&J milkshake, on Lauries recommendation this promptly became our favourite drink ever, and I dont normally like peanut butter!
After the meal we went over to meet mum and dad again, who were coming out of Lights, Motors, Action, which they had really enjoyed. We didnt watch this as weve seen it at DLRP and we know all the tricks and secrets! We had been looking at the pet ID tags for a while, and it was at this point that we got engraved Mickeys for our cats, Terk and J.D.
Next up we used our original FPs for TSM finally I broke the 100,000 barrier! By this point mum and Carl had got super competitive and Carl actually ended up with a blister on his hand from working the string so hard. This was followed by all of us riding the backlot tour as mum had her electric wheelchair we had to sit in the front compartment, which meant we got to chat to one of the CMs for quite a bit of the tour. At the end of the tour we stopped for a drink at the Studio Catering Co. Wed heard a lot of bad things about the food here, so we did limit ourselves to only a drink! We also looked around the store that is there, where Carl tried on this fetching Stitch hat!
After this we said goodbye to mum and dad, who got the bus back to POFQ. Carl and I walked across to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and then finished our day with the 5.45 performance of Beauty and the Beast. As my favourite Disney film, this is a must-do for me every trip. Towards the end of the performance it started to rain, and we found ourselves very glad that we had brought the car and didnt have to wait for the bus. We were back in our room by about 6.40 and had an early night, drinking a couple of beers and watching TV
At least that is where they were on Monday!
