What’s It REALLY Like To Play Hide and Seek in Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Something BIG happened on my last trip to Disney World, y’all, and I’m not ready to stop talking about it anytime soon!

While I’ve been writing with AllEars for a while now, I’m the first one to admit that I’ve been watching the YouTube team’s videos and have been a MAJOR fan for a long time. Like a lot of you out there, some of my favorite videos are the ones where there’s a high-stakes GAME involved. So, imagine my delight when I got to play not one but TWO games of hide-and-seek with the cast! Did I have the time of my life? For sure, but let me tell you — actually playing the game is different than I thought it would be, and now I’m here to bring you all the behind-the-scenes tea from the game!

Every so often, I travel down to Florida to help the AllEars YouTube team with new videos. Sometimes, I help as a Production Assistant behind the scenes, which is a great learning experience, but other times, I get to be in front of the camera!

My last trip was a big one with the AllEars team, and trust me, that’s important to this story! I visited during a “mega week,” which means that a TON of team members come together to film a bunch of content in one week. For this mega week, Fry Bucket, DFB Breea, and Emma all flew in for a week-long sleepover!

Remember how I said it was a big, important week? Well, we were there to cover the first day of EPCOT’s Flower & Garden Festival, film, and play some games for YouTube videos! After a busy day of food reviews and flower photos, it was time to play some hide-and-seek.

I was BEYOND excited about the game, but again, I’ve spent years watching these videos, so I wanted to go all out. First, we filmed Extreme Hide and Seek in Universal (which was a TON of fun, but that’s all I can tell you about it — check out that video coming to the channel this Saturday, March 29th!), and then it was time for hide-and-seek #2 in Disney World. For this game, let’s just say I couldn’t use my go-to disguise. That meant I had to find a new disguise and FAST.

Thankfully, when you work with people who have an office FULL of clothing and accessories, you’ve got options! (Shoutout to AllEars Style; we’ve got some CUTE outfits over there!) So, before we left to film the hide-and-seek video, I tried on a bunch of different outfits in the span of five minutes, settled on one, and hoped it would make a good disguise before I hid it in my bag so no one would see.

Before I knew it, we were out the door and all driving to the park (THAT was a ton of fun), and then it was time to film! Again, this was actually my second time playing hide-and-seek with the group, but it was my first time playing this “normal” version (Universal hide-and-seek has some twists and turns!), so I was a little nervous! Sage counted down, and then it was time to HUSTLE to get changed into my disguise. In case you haven’t seen the video, this was my undercover disguise to avoid being spotted!

Before I knew it, Sage was on the hunt, and the real nerves set in. I grabbed myself some bonus points by completing an extra task and then set out to lay low and blend in to avoid being found. I remembered watching last year’s Capture the Flag video and recognized the great hiding spot Fry had found back in the queue for Toy Story Mania, and I found somewhere similar. This clip didn’t make it into the final video, but watch how CLOSE Sage gets to finding me without realizing it!

Panicking at how easily I was almost found, I headed to the locker to put away my bag and jacket since they were dead giveaways to identify me. Then I headed over to Sunset Boulevard.

Here, I did something that, a few months ago, my anxiety would have never let me do, but I’ve made great progress, and I was in it to win it — I asked strangers if I could sit with them to blend in! I table-hopped around to three different groups over the course of about 45 minutes and asked to sit with them at Sunset Ranch Market while they waited for family to get off rides or ate an early lunch.

Basically, I walked up and said, “Hi, I have a silly question. I’m playing hide and seek with my friends — do you mind if I sit here with you to blend in?” Surprisingly, all three groups said yes, including one group of girls and their families who were in town for a cheer competition! The scariest part, though, was seeing Fry and Quincy walk RIGHT. BY. Although they looked straight at me, essentially, and my heart was pounding, they didn’t notice it was me. And I have the amazing groups who let me sit with them to thank for that, so if you’re reading this, THANK YOU!

It’s hard for me to describe the intense mix of emotions I felt when I realized I was the last one to be found. On the one hand, I was so excited and proud of myself — while I’m competitive and play to win, I’m also just grateful to be able to play, so I don’t expect to win or do well by any means. But the FEAR that runs through your body when you know your friends are all basically hunting you, and each minute that passes gets you another point BUT you don’t know where everyone’s points stand? It’s intense!

Now, we do have a group chat going with all the players so we can see who has been found and who’s gotten bonus points or snacks, but that’s really the only way we can tell where everyone is. And if you play like I do and don’t really send anything, you go MIA pretty quickly. However, seeing texts come through that other people have been found and knowing there’s one more seeker out to get you? I don’t think my nervous system can tell the difference between being hunted in hide and seek and being stalked by a bear.

Then came time for my downfall, also known as one of the twists in this game — dance party. This was a new rule added where I had to dance in public for thirty seconds, which could attract attention. However, what I didn’t realize was that I didn’t need to record myself dancing. I’m big on honesty and not wanting anyone to think I didn’t play a game fairly, so instead of ASKING if I had to send a video, I JUST SENT IT! Which gave up my location AND what I was wearing, and I knew it was done for. I somehow made it out of the Sunset Ranch Market area before Quincy got to me (looking back at the footage, she was SECONDS away from getting me right then and there) and made my way back to Rock Around The Shop to make my final stand.

It was here that I knew my time was running out because ALL FOUR SEEKERS had made their way into the land, and I knew they’d find me sooner rather than later. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I ALMOST made it around Fry without her seeing me, but alas, she found me, and the game ended. 

Someday, I’m determined to hide well enough that I make it to the end of a hide-and-seek game without being found, so we’ll see if I get a chance to play again and make that dream a reality! In the meantime, I can’t wait for you all to see the other fun videos we filmed during mega week, and stay tuned to AllEars for all the latest Disney news.

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

Would you like to hear more behind-the-scenes stories from filming with the AllEars crew? Let me know in the comments — goodness knows I have lots of stories to tell!

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