As I was researching the latest on Disneyland in preparation to return after the 13 year drought, I came across what sounded like a fun opportunity. The Princess and the Frog would be opening in theaters a few weeks after our trip to Disneyland, so there was quite a presence of merchandise, music, characters, etc. in the park, New Orleans Square in particular. I had read about a show called Tiana's Showboat Jubilee that involved a performance on the Mark Twain Riverboat. Jazzy New Orleans singers would parade through New Orleans Square, then board the steamboat and perform a show with characters from the movie while it sailed around the Rivers of America. Regular park guests had an opportunity to be in the show. You just had to secure one of these golden tickets earlier in the day:
OK, I'm not the performing type, but give me a golden choir robe, a
tambourine, and put me on the Mark Twain and I'm all over it! Once all of us regular guests
arrived (I think there were only 20-ish of us, including me and my 9 year old son), two of
the girls from the show gave us the low-down on what we'd be doing. I
was really excited. They explained what we'd be doing during each of
the three numbers we were involved in. We lined up on the side of the
boat that faces the island. We were each given a streamer to wad up in
our hands until showtime. When it was time, we were led to the other
side of the boat and we waved our streamers to "Goin' Down the Bayou,
Goin' Down the Bayou, Goin' Down the Bayou..." I don't really know if
that's the name of the song, but those were the words that were stuck in
my mind for the next while. After that song we went back to the other side of the boat where we
were each handed a very large music note. We were led back out and we
"danced" the music notes to and fro over the edge of the boat. Back to
the other side of the boat for our wardrobe change! Well, we didn't
actually change. We just put these golden choir robes on that zipped up
over our clothes. We each received a tambourine, and were led out once
again for the final number. (We were on the bottom level of the boat
all this time, by the way.) "You Gotta Diiiiig a Little Deeper..." Such a fun experience!
November 2009
Backtracking a bit...one of the "regular guests" that performed with us was Michael-Leon Wooley, who is the voice of Louis the Alligator in the movie. That's him in the picture below. I asked his companion if Michael just happened to be at Disneyland that day as a regular guest and he said yes. So that was fun. Michael introduced himself to my son and shook his hand. My son asked him if he would sign our golden ticket. I asked him to say something "Louis-y" for us, but he just laughed it off.
November 2009
