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View Full Version : Regis Philbin Hosting DCA Millionaire opening



cryan71
09-05-2001, 09:07 AM
From Army Archard's column in Variety this morning:

It's a GOOD MORNING back in Hollywood after a brief vacation. My first phone call was to Regis, to give him a report on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire -- Play It!" It's the new attraction in Disneyland's California Adventure, at which I sneaked a peek. Philbin will officially host its opening Sept. 13, 10:30 ayem. I can report he will feel completely at home in the stage built (at a cost of $6 million!) in the Hollywood Back Lot area of the park. It looks like the real McCoy, only better: 680 seats compared to N.Y.'s 200. (Everything else looks and sounds the same.) Philbin has christened a similar stage at DisneyWorld. Everyone hopes the new one has similar success in Disneyland where audiences will fill in, spill out of the stage every half-hour. Of course, Regis can't linger in L.A.: He has double duties to deliver in N.Y. The Disneyland host spot will be taken over by the park's "cast members" now being trained to be Philbin fill-ins. Guest celeb hosts are also plotted. Of course there are several changes between the ABC TV'er and the California Adventure version. First, no money is won; instead, points are awarded as the questions are progressively answered. They range from 100 points to 1 million; assorted prizes are given at each level, with the prize for the top answer being a trip to N.Y. to watch the real thing. There's also a time limit on answering, thus moving the contestants in-and-out of the theater every half hour, for as many as 16 shows a day. Every member of the audience can be a contestant thanks to the high-tech screens at each seat. And yes, the lead contestant ("hot seat") has the TV-show participant's options: i.e., "50-50," "Ask the audience" and "Phone -- a complete stranger"!

Alex S.
09-05-2001, 02:57 PM
A couple of errors in that. The guest spill every hour and spill out a half-hour later. The show is a half-hour long, they couldn't possibly do it twice an hour.

Second, there aren't high-tech screens at every seat, just a panel for selecting your answer to the question (a touch-pad). The have set up a "ring of fire" like on the show. These ten seats do get their own screen for "watching" the show, but otherwise have no advantage (and in fact, they have the same push-button setup as every other seat for answering the questions). If you want to seat there (though I can't figure out why you would) then get to the front of the fastpass line and try to get a yellow pass (they hound out five of them, each on gets a guest).

EandCDad
09-05-2001, 05:39 PM
The other obvious error, unless it was in the transcription by cryan71 was the reference to Disneyland's California Adventure and that the attraction is at Disneyland. Wouldn't you like to see the face of the guy who buys tickets to DL thinking he is going to see WWTBAM.

Nigel2
09-05-2001, 09:23 PM
Dang it, I was wrong. I thought that Regis wouldn't be hosting any showings of it. Oh well, mabey I will try to go see the episode he will host. That probably makes it a little different in the preshow, (if its like the MGM one where he is on screen and ditches the show to go back to NYC).

cryan71
09-05-2001, 11:20 PM
Hey, I just cut and pasted it from Variety.com. Army usually makes alot of errors in his columns.

RideMax Mark
09-06-2001, 09:05 AM
Also, I thought the "official" opening was the 14th, not the 13th??

Alex S.
09-06-2001, 09:49 AM
My understanding is that on the 14th they are doing an invite only event. Of course, my understanding is not always as accurate as the understandings of other MousePlanet people; I'm sure they'll correct me.

analog8
09-13-2001, 11:12 PM
my guess is that regis didnt make it?? any news on this?

JRob2k1
09-14-2001, 12:12 AM
Originally posted by analog8
my guess is that regis didnt make it?? any news on this?

Actually they cancelled the official opening until further notice because of the tragedies. I would assume sometime next week it will have its grand opening?? So for now, its still in soft-open.

Alex: I found the ring of fire seats to my advantage because i had the screen right in front of me instead of looking up and across the whole set, just to see the question. The time I made it to the hot seat, I was seated in the ring of fire...But that doesnt mean anything I guess.

I got into the ring of fire because the CM's in line were asking Disney Trivia and the people who answered correctly were given the orange "ring of fire" tickets.

kmann728
09-14-2001, 10:21 AM
I visited DCA this past weekend and had saw the millionaire show 4 times. The time that I sat in the ring of fire I realized that the only advantage that it has is that you have more room. The seats in the audience are quite small and crowded. 2 kids in front of me (approx 9 years old) even filled up the seats. I was sitting in the general audience when I got into the hot seat. The best time to go is first show in the morning on Monday- Wednesday because there are less people to play against.:D

RideMax Mark
09-14-2001, 12:24 PM
Now that the show is presumably running in a fairly "normal" mode, I was wondering:

Do shows run the entire day?
How far apart are they scheduled?
Does FASTPASS do you any good for this one?

Thanks,
Mark

Nigel2
09-14-2001, 01:11 PM
I think the fastpass is good if you don't care where you sit, and you want to come late. Can anyone tell me if the fast pass only lasts like 10 minutes, (I think thats how long the window is at MGM).

JRob2k1
09-14-2001, 01:34 PM
Originally posted by RideMax Mark
Do shows run the entire day?
How far apart are they scheduled?
Does FASTPASS do you any good for this one?

When I was there: First show 1 hour after DCA opened - Last show 1 hour before DCA closed.

They do one show every hour...The show lasts 1/2 hour.

FASTPASS does good if there is a huge line, but since it can hold 600+ people, there was really no need for FASTPASS. That might change though...

AVP
09-14-2001, 02:28 PM
The press event for Millionaire, which was scheduled for yesterday (Thursday), was cancelled on Tuesday after the attacks in New York.

At the moment, the game looks totally different than it did Monday. According to a CM friend, and I will be going there later tonight to check this out, ALL references to New York have been removed from the show. There are no New York questions or answers, guests are no longer asked where they are from, and the tape of Regis, which once played at the start of every show, is no longer being used.

Ironically, the first Million Point Winner happened on Thursday, which was supposed to be the "Grand Opening". The CMs are no longer mentioning that the Million Point Prize is a trip to New York to see a taping of the show. Instead, they are just saying that the grand prize is a trip for two. If a guest wins, they are being allowed to schedule that trip at a much later date.

Adrienne VP

Nigel2
09-14-2001, 03:23 PM
Eventhough the show is set in NYC, they should make it a trip to WDW or something like that, since more people here would rather go there. But whatever, also does anyone know the airline that disney is using for the trips, they never said it in the MGM show.

JeffG
09-14-2001, 03:42 PM
Those changes all seem incredibly bizarre to me. Are we now supposed to pretend that New York City doesn't exist?

While this tragedy is horrifying and overwhelming, it doesn't change the fact that New York City is still an important part of our country with a lot to offer. I hate to think that this situation has made even the mere mention of the city somehow unbearable or taboo.

-Jeff

Nigel2
09-14-2001, 09:50 PM
I dont know which is worse, constant reminders of the event over and over again for days on end, (no offense) including people on this site using photos of the impacts. I am sick of looking at it on tv, in the paper, on the net. Its almost as bad as removing any mention of it from the public eye, I can understand them not showing some things that involved terrorism, but removing an entire section of the country? Come on.

zapppop
09-15-2001, 05:21 AM
I made it into the hot seat on Wednesday and noticed they didn't ask me where I was from. I was wondering why.

I messed up on the 64,000 question.

CaliforniaCrazy
09-16-2001, 08:00 PM
Not only did they remove all references to New York, but they also removed the line Regis the next generation, and the Regis video. Are we supposed to think Regis doesn't exist, either? I know that alot of people would like that, but I really think it's Regis that makes the show.

Nigel2
09-17-2001, 10:01 PM
It might not be a perminat removal, if you look there are images on the wall by the door with "serious" regis, and the music in the ROF/FP line has some Regis sound bytes. I love how they are all money songs, like Goldfinger.:D