MyWDW: American Idol Experience

On February 7, 2008, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks announced to an excited world that at Disney's Hollywood Studios a brand new attraction would be opening - one that allowed people visiting the parks the opportunity to taste the excitement of being an American Idol contestant. The attraction would be called the American Idol Experience, and opened one year later, on February 14, 2009, with a grand opening ceremony which included guest appearances by Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, and David Cook, as well as host Ryan Seacrest and judge Paula Abdul.

The Experience, located in the Echo Lake area of Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Superstar Television Theater (former home of Doug Live! and the Superstar Television show). At each show during the day, three guests become contestants, singing from a selection of songs and then judged first by three stand-ins for the "classic" Idol judges, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. From these three contestants, the audience votes for the one they think performed the best.

At the end of the day, the winners of all the previous shows appear for one final show, and are once again judged by the audience. The winner of the final contest of the day receives what is referred to as the American Idol Dream Ticket - a pass to the front of the line at an actual American Idol audition. (Of course, the contestants must be able to get to the audition themselves, the pass only allows them to cut the incredibly long lines in order to be heard by the judges.)

If this sounds like something you may be interested in doing during your stay at Walt Disney World, the next section describes the rules of the selection process for people who would like to participate in the show.

If you think you're up for getting up on stage to try for the grand prize, or might want to do it just for fun, there are just a few things to remember. First, the contest is available for guests 14 years of age or older. Second, this will tie up a good portion of your day at Hollywood Studios - and even more if you win and continue on to the final round, so you may want to make sure you have another day at the Studios, unless this is what you want to spend a majority of your day on. Third, you will be up on stage in front of an audience of a few hundred, so if you get stage fright, this is certainly not for you, unless you're looking to overcome your fear on your vacation.

If all of those things are not a problem for you at all, go ahead and head over to the American Idol Experience and ask a cast member when auditions will be, and they will tell you when and where to go for auditions. You will want to get there fairly early in order to be fully prepared. You will have a brief audition with a producer - if they consider you good enough to move on to the actual show, they will send you off to be prepped by make-up, hair, and a session with a vocal coach before you make your way out to sing your heart out for the judges and audience.

If you decide to try this out, we here at MyWDW.net wish you the best of luck! The list of songs available to sing as of the publishing of this (10/24/2011) is available below.

- There is no height requirement for this attraction.

- Guests may remain in motorized scooters and wheelchairs to enjoy this attraction.

- Nothing particularly scary to worry about with this experience, definitely completely kid-friendly!

- On the stone-colored arch on the main stage, a careful observer may spot a classic Mickey in the marbling of the stone between the second and third archway light (this one is super-hard to spot, but always worth it!)