Sunday, July 12, 2009

Back from Florida

Well, I have returned from Florida, Disney World (of course) and the American Idol auditions!

Here's what happened at the auditions, for your entertainment.

It's actually not quite what you see on tv. (Surprise surprise.) The process takes place over 3 days. The first two days are devoted to registration. I went on day 1. I got there at about 6 am, to find a lot of people had been there for a couple of hours. And the doors weren't supposed to open until 8 am. No biggie. I had snacks and a book. A couple times, we filmed segments welcoming people 'back to American Idol' but other than that, nothing very exciting happened. Once I did get inside, I had to go to one of several tables containing Idol people. I showed them my ID, then was given a ticket (for my seat in the arena where we were) and a wristband to prove I hadn't stolen my ticket, along with two pieces of paper with the rules and what to expect/do on audition day.

Among those things was learn the crowd song, and not to get my wristband wet.

Since I had registered day 1, I didn't have to come back until audition day, day 3. This time, I *had* to be there by 5 am (so said my papers). I did get there, and got to be further up the line this time. Eventually, around 7 am, we were moved to the front of the arena. At this point, the press started doing interviews with people in line and taking pictures. That was kinda cool - I got to sing "Sweet Home Alabama" into one of the cameras with some people. Then we were herded inside.The arena was MASSIVE - and nearly every seat was full. They then brought out the official Idol cameras, and had us filming more "welcome/welcome back" segments. Then we sang some songs ("Heartbreaker" and "When You Wish Upon a Star") and cheered. Then people actually got to sing for the producers around 9 am. I was far back in the lineup, so I didn't get to sing until around 1:30 pm ish. My row got called down to the arena floor, then we were lined up in groups of four. We were then sent before 2 producers. When they pointed at a person, person X had 30 seconds to sing. Then, after all 4 had sung, they discussed for a moment, then determined whether or not anyone would go on. My entire group got the following comment:
"Your auditions were good, but you're not right for American Idol."

With that, we were dismissed. I went out, got my ride, and headed away.

And there you have it.




This is a news photo taken from the roof of the arena. I'm on the left side of the picture, under the last flag pole. (In the bigger picture, I found my aqua skirt.)

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