Wheel of Fortune taping
On Monday night (December 15, 2008) Dave, Mark, Kirsten and I had tickets to the taping of Wheel of Fortune at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. We were all excited to see what goes on during the taping so we got there at a time that we thought was early. We arrived at about 6:50 PM and the doors were not scheduled to open until 8:30 PM. Would you believe that hundreds of other people had the same idea? We were dismayed to see how far back we were in line, but the longer we waited the longer that line got, so that by 8:30 PM our spots in line were looking pretty good! Also, we got to meet some other nice people in line. That helped a little to wile away the hours.
They opened the doors late (about 8:45 PM) and by that time my feet were pretty sore. I just wanted to sit down and Kirsten started getting a little tired. But she perked up when we walked into the arena. The taping was held in the outdoor arena where the Shamu show is in SeaWorld. Everything was beautiful! The skies were clear and the air was warm (70 degrees or so.) There were fountains with pretty lights shining on them and the roller coaster in the background was all lit up with blue lights. And of course the Wheel set itself was pretty colorful. Mark made the classic comment that it looks bigger on TV.
We were fortunate and got some pretty good seats on the left towards the front. Apparently, all of our patient waiting paid off. Once everyone was seated they got the production rolling pretty fast. A production director came out and explained about the cameras scanning the audience (don't look into the cameras, watch the set was rule one- somehow, that was tough for some people) He cued us about clapping and being quiet and not whispering the answers to the puzzles. Would you believe that people could not remember that one either? I heard people saying the answer and partly through the production Pat Sajak also had to explain to people not to do that because they would have to throw out the puzzle if they could hear the answer on-stage. I guess some people just can't control themselves.
I was surprised that Pat and Vanna did absolutely no interaction with the audience other than one "Hi, glad you are here" during one break between puzzles. I guess after all this time of doing this show they have run out of things to say to people? I don't know. They didn't even speak with the contestants.
Another thing we couldn't figure out was where does Vanna go between the taping and why? As soon as the taping of a puzzle had stopped she slipped off backstage. She didn't re-emerge until the very second that taping re-started. Does she need that many make-up touch-ups? That would be hard to believe as beautiful as she is.
Speaking of Vanna, Kirsten was enthralled when she walked out on to the stage. Not so much because of Vanna, but because of the dresses. The first one was a shimmering sea-green long gown that sparkled. Kirsten loved the sparkles. The second one (they taped two shows when we were there) was a deep red long gown that was equally beautiful and elegant.
Between shows (when Vanna and Pat had to go change clothes) they were going to do a dance contest to entertain the crowd. Kirsten so much wanted to participate that she kept waving her arm trying to get their attention for a good 15 minutes, if not more. She was disappointed when she didn't get selected. I was amazed that my shy, "don't pay attention to me" nine year old would want to go dance on stage in front of thousands of people but she said she wanted to. She cheered up though when one of the stage managers said he saw her with her hand up the entire time and he gave her a T-shirt. The T-shirt had SeaWorld written on the front and back and has a picture of the "Wheel" on it. She loves her T-shirt and raved about it most of the way home.
Do you know it is hard to clap for an hour? You think you can, but after the first show was done taping, my hands were red and I had to give up the clapping. Sounded to me like a lot of other people did also. I wonder if they have to add a clap track in later?
It was close to 11:00 PM by the time we were leaving the arena. Lucky Pat and Vanna got driven to their awaiting stretch limos in a golf cart. We walked right by them getting into the golf cart, but I couldn't see them (Dave is taller - he saw them.) Then we walked by them again as they were getting into their limos. We were literally feet away from them with nobody else near us (we were not walking with the crowd to the trams - we decided to walk quickly to the parking lot so we could beat everyone else out.) But again, I didn't catch a glimpse of them, oh well. But we did get a Wheel of Fortune magnet....
We ended up getting stuck in the parking lot traffic (probably 10 - 15 min) despite our best efforts, so we got home really late. But what great memories we have! We all had a good time, the weather was fantastic, the night was beautiful, and we got to spend some good family time. What could be better than that?