Seeing a Celebrity Guest at Walt Disney World
After his win at the Super Bowl, Eagles quarterback and MVP Nick Foles visited the Magic Kingdom. The Super Bowl MVP doesn’t just say they’re going to Disney World. They actually go to Disney World! I was lucky enough to be at the park when Nick made his post-victory, Disney visit. Although I didn’t see much of Nick, it was exciting and unique to say that I was celebrating at Disney with him. Here is my park experience with a celebrity guest.
I had no idea that Nick Foles was coming
Some other park guests might have known he coming, but I wasn’t one of them. And every other park guest that I spoke to had no idea either.
I walked into the Magic Kingdom an hour before park opening. Everything seemed normal. There were a lot of people dressed in their Eagles regale, but I didn’t think that was unusual. After all, the Eagles won their first Super Bowl ten hours before. Their fans are bound to be excited, especially if they watched the game in the most magical place on earth. If the Patriots had won, I’m sure there would’ve been as many Pats fans showing their pride. Now looking back, there probably were more Eagles fans than usual.
At the end of Main Street in front of the Plaza Restaurant, three or four cameras were set up. They were angled, so the cameras got a great view of the castle. Again, I didn’t think this was unusual. Disney is always filming something. Promos, television shows, Youtube videos, the list is endless. There’s a sign when you walk into the Magic Kingdom telling you that they’re filming, even if they’re not filming. So seeing cameras in Disney World is no big deal.
The crowd waiting for the parade was insane
What was a big deal was the parade. Every afternoon, the Magic Kingdom hosts the Flights of Fantasy parade. Some park guests will pop a squat on Main Street and reserve their parade spots hours before. I’m not that kind of park guest. I’ve got better things to do than wait two hours for a parade.
Generally, if you go to Frontierland about a half an hour before the parade begins, you can get a decent spot. You won’t be in the front row, but you’ll have good view two or three rows behind. Most guests want to see the parade on Main Street, so Frontierland will be less crowded.
Except on Monday after the Super Bowl.
I went to Frontierland forty minutes before the parade started and my parade spot was five rows back. Although the crowd was unusually large for Frontierland, I didn’t think too much of it. It was a busy day at the Magic Kingdom, especially for early February.
Ten minutes before the parade, Disney announced Nick Foles was there. He would be celebrating his MVP Super Bowl win by joining the parade.
That’s when all the Eagles fans in the front row made sense.
Nick delayed the parade
When three o’clock came around, the parade didn’t start. Ten minutes went by and the parade still wasn’t coming.
A cast member blew the whistle. Apparently, Nick’s flight from Minnesota was delayed. This, in turn, delayed the parade. I don’t know why he couldn’t have flown in the night before. It’s not like he was busy on Sunday…
Fifteen minutes after the parade was supposed to start, Nick’s float came. The second Nick made his appearance, hundreds of phones flew into the air. Everyone was dying to get a picture and almost every picture I took had someone else’s hand in the shot.
To be honest, I thought the float was lazy. Nick did a wonderful job, smiling and waving at the crowd. He did his best to turn both to his left and right so everyone could see him. He was an excellent grand marshal. But Disney didn’t put much effort into the float. Characters like Mickey and Minnie were on the float, wearing sports outfits. But I would’ve liked to see them wearing Eagles jerseys or at least wearing green jerseys. It’s not like Disney didn’t know who was in the Super Bowl.
There was a banner on the float declaring that Nick was a Super Bowl winner. But the banner was rather generic, just like the float. You can tell that the float is a spare float they have lying around as compared to a float they designed for the day. While it was amazing to see Nick Foles, Disney could have done more to make his celebration more magical.
After Nick passed by, most of the crowd cleared out. Especially those who were wearing Eagles jerseys. This allowed me to get my usual decent parade spot. The Flights of Fantasy parade started ten minutes after Nick’s float left. This was thirty minutes after the parade was supposed to start.
A fifteen-minute parade turned into an hour ordeal.
But Nick didn’t go away
I saw Nick once more during his Disney day. I saw him at the end of Main Street where I had seen the cameras earlier in the day. He was doing press in front of the cameras surrounded by Eagles fans. Main Street was packed. Main Street is always packed. But that day it was downright congested.
A woman at the Plaza Ice Cream parlor asked me why Main Street was so crowded. When I told her Nick Foles was over there, she told me she had no idea who he was. Somebody wasn’t at the parade…
In conclusion
It was awesome to see the Super Bowl MVP the day after he won the big game. I plan on going to the Magic Kingdom next year the day after the Super Bowl to see if I can relive this experience. However, I don’t expect Disney to always have the MVP the day after the Super Bowl. And I wouldn’t plan a Disney World vacation around Super Bowl Sunday and expect to see a celebrity guest.
Except for the parade announcement, Disney didn’t announce that Nick Foles was at the park. There were no displays or special notices in the park guides. I’m certain that this celebrity appearance was planned, but Disney didn’t broadcast their special guest.
Seeing a celebrity guest takes a little bit of luck…and some pixie dust.
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Thanks to Brittni Sutter for writing this article! As a lover of all things Disney, I’ve made it my life’s mission to learn about the history and artistry the House of Mouse. I’ve vacationed to half of the resorts and plan to complete the Disney Parks mecca in the coming years. I fill my life with as much magic as Disney can muster and I love encouraging others to do the same.
