I’m Taking You Behind-the-Scenes on One of the Most Chaotic Days I’ve Had in Disney World

While I work from home most of the time writing Disney snack reviews, breaking news, and planning tips, I also get to go to Disney World sometimes to help out the YouTube team!

Yes, that means for a few days each month, I get to hang with Quincy, Sage, Angie, Myranda, Breedlove, and sometimes extra special guests like Emma, Fry Bucket, and DFB Breea! Sometimes, I get to be in front of the camera, filming super fun videos, and other times, I’m behind the camera as a Production Assistant (PA), which is just as fun. If you’ve ever wanted a behind-the-scenes look into what it takes to make a video in Disney World, allow me to walk you through what it was like filming the AllEars Amazing Race challenge (out on the channel now!) — FOUR videos, all in one day!

To tell a story properly, I’ve got to start at the beginning: I had been debating coming down to Disney World on New Year’s Eve (which is SO crowded and busy; it’s not for the faint of heart). I had almost settled on canceling the trip when I got a text from Sage asking if I’d be in town. From there, I was recruited to help as a PA to film all the host segments for the AllEars Amazing Race video. Thrilled, I said, “I’ll be there!”

Due to some scheduling conflicts, the Amazing Race video was produced a little out of order. In fact, Sage, our host for the video, had to film his parts a few weeks after the bulk of filming. Yes, that means we had FOUR episodes worth of content to shoot in one day! A challenge? For sure, especially because these host segments were long (gotta explain the game somehow!) and took place in ALL FOUR PARKS, plus a few hotels! I drove down to the park on New Year’s Day, popped into Magic Kingdom for a bit, said hi to Mickey, then got a good night’s sleep before the wild day ahead.

The next morning, I stepped into Magic Kingdom and found Myranda reporting in the park! After hanging out with her for a few minutes, we headed over to Pete’s Silly Sideshow to start filming for the day. The plan was to start at the furthest filming point away from the entrance, then make our way back to the front, to avoid zig-zagging, which worked out very well!

Now, Sage and I came up with a secret way to make filming extra efficient, but we’ll be keeping those details a secret! 😉 We continued through Magic Kingdom, and WOW was that park crowded! For a few shots, I was walking backward and Sage and I came up with a silent code to ensure my safety, and you can even see it in the clip below — Sage would casually put his hand up in a subtle “stop” motion to get me to stop moving if there was someone behind me. Before long, we were in sync with each other — if he saw someone behind me, he’d stop moving; therefore, I’d stop, and we’d both be safe without even needing our signal!

Filming in front of the castle was easily the hardest and most crowded, but about two hours later, we were out of the park and headed to EPCOT! What I really loved about this day was that Sage and I really got to get to know each other and talk the whole day. As a little gift from me to you, enjoy a free blooper!

We had less to film over in EPCOT, but this park is more expansive and harder to get around. My favorite shot over in this park has to be a tie between the Spaceship Earth mirror shot…

…or the continually moving shot we did with Sage getting up from the Dreamer’s Point Statue.

I was personally really happy with how both shots came out! We started at the front of EPCOT and made our way back to World Showcase so we could stop on the beaches of Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts. Let me tell you, trying to walk backward on sand is HARD! This was also where Sage and I started to get extra silly, and this blooper below is one of my personal favorites.

Despite the laughs that threatened to distract us, we made it over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the Skyliner — fun fact: while traveling over, Sage was watching another video coming out in a few days and giving notes on it!

Hollywood Studios was a VERY short section with only 2-3 clips to film, and within half an hour, we were on a bus heading to Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom was also a relatively short section to film, as Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom were visited in the same episode. However, it was around 3:30 PM by this time, and we still had one final filming location that was another big one — Port Orleans French Quarter! We hopped on another bus and crossed our fingers the sun would stay up long enough.

Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter Resort is inspired by New Orleans, Louisiana, which was exactly what Sage and the creative team wanted for this episode since the teams were actually in New Orleans for the finale! The pressure was on to film all the sections we needed around the resort in about an hour. A few times, Sage was worried about the light, but I kept saying, “No, no, we can do it! You’re so close!” And sure enough, with probably ten minutes to spare before the light became too low and we would have had to stop filming, we filmed our final shot, which is another one of my favorites (wait until the very end)!

After rejoicing in our success, Sage and I hopped on a bus back to Magic Kingdom to get back to our cars, and THAT’S really when the marathon of the day caught up to us. Quincy had told me months prior that the team was in agreement that park hopping was one of the most tiring parts of a day because it stops the momentum you have going, and this was the day I experienced that truth for myself! Then, I got another night of sleep and drove back home the next day, January 3rd. What a whirlwind!

Overall, it was an incredible trip, and I had the time of my life getting to help with the video. Be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for all the latest wild Disney challenges, news, and more!

JP’s Mocktail Corner Episode 2: FINALLY! Disney Made a Drink That Isn’t BASIC!

Did you enjoy this look behind the scenes? Be sure to tell me in the comments below — I’d love to give you more BTS insight if it’s something readers are interested in!

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