Defunctland: The American Idol Theme Park Experience
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
- In this episode, Kevin deep dives into the history of the elaborate American Idol theme park experience that used to operate at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
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00:00 - The Birth of American Idol
08:24 - The Birth of Disney-MGM
13:19 - American Idol's Golden Age
20:36 - Disney-MGM's Dark Age
25:14 - The American Idol Experience
42:54 - Problems and Decline
57:03 - The Curtain Closes
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AttractionsMagazine.com
TheDisneyBlog.com
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Just wanted to drop in and let you know that this is no longer the "high point of my life." 46:18
Glad things only went up from there!
This comment is jawesome
Okay i need to know, how badly did it jumpscare you to have your full name read out by Defunctland
@@ItsDesca my band mate told me I was name checked. He didn't have a timestamp so I watched in anticipation for 46 minutes and it still made my soul exit my body for a bit. Nothing like having a mommy manager with the local paper on speed dial. 😂
I'm sure Peggy Sullivan is proud of where you are now
I learned 3 important lessons from this video, and they are:
1. One's relevancy is directly tied to Wikipedia.
2. "The Desk" is the make or break for an authentic singing audition experience.
3. Have fun.
Those are some good life lessons.
Having fun is the secret to winning American Idol apparently. That and looking good.
You forgot about the 4th lesson
Denim
>One's relevancy is directly tied to Wikipedia
Knowing the editor group's propensity for allowing falsifying info along with approving of circularly-sourced lies and slander, that might not be a good thing. Let's not forget that Wikipedia's editors are a gaggle of socially lifeless shut-ins.
Remember that consumer revolt misidentified as 'harassment group' called "Gamergate"? The group that first falsely identified them as such were people in the news industry fighting to preserve their jobs.
@@waterbullstudios9195it’s very generic but that was likely on purpose, in reality it’s all staged
This whole attraction is insane from a technical perspective. Running this show/process up to 7 times a day for nearly 6 years? Say what you want about the attraction itself, but that is impressive.
Right? With every step of the process, I thought WOW that's a lot of work for something almost no one would see. With that setup they might as well launch a real TV show and put it on Disney Channel or something, really bring back the "Studio" in Hollywood Studios
It really is so much work.
Imagine how much hatred you would have for amateur singing after a summer of running this
What a grind
My biggest sympathies go to the guys who had to clean up the confetti every night
More than that, I have to wonder. With 2,200 front of the line passes, none of the winners ever ran into each other and had to wait in a smaller line?
30:09 Hey! That’s me singing at the grand opening event. 😊 Met all the Idol winners and cast members. One of the coolest nights of my life! I got second place and, since the winner was above the age limit for the real show, he gave me the dream ticket and I used it to get ahead of the line at the auditions for the next season.
Nice glad you had fun, I thought the whole thing would flunk the fact it went on as long as it did is impressive
Seems unfair to me that they let people of basically all ages audition at the theme park without telling them they might not qualify for the real show. What a waste of their time!
@@dharmallars eh, they might have just wanted to have fun and didn't care about the prize
the dry humour was on point in this one. "Whether it was a genuine interest in vocal talent, or some biological yearning for the age of public executions" killed me
My favorite line from the vid
jotaro i love you
This was legit the hardest I've laughed at one of his videos and I'm not even all the way through it yet
“[doug] translated perfectly to live action with no issues” while it sloooowly zooms in on the horrific live action porkchop made me laugh really hard
100% He’s often SO funny in his videos. But he was firing on all cylinders here. I was laughing throughout.
The main indicator that American Idol was a cultural phenomenon was it was featured in Shrek 2.
Shrek 2 shoulda had more Ford ads
my dad watched 8+ seasons of american idol (i stopped watching with him at that point) and i still remmeber the shrek show best. simon finally got to show his (lack of) chops!
DreamWorks did Simon Cowell dirty and I love them for that.
I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!! God I remember picking the "unpopular" choices and getting mad that simon decided he won every time lol
The parody is featured as a dvd bonus, but it’s not in the actual film, common misconception
The running gag of "do you have any advice? Just have fun" gets me every time.
“What advice do you h-“ “HAVE FUN”
The way you always know it’s coming when he goes “*winner’s name* then proceeded to visit Disney world, and film segments to be inserted into the show…”
"The bridge part... I'd consider jumping off of."
This character is the best part of the experience, holy shit dude. I want to go perform/watch this just for that actor's roasts
ngl, I'm a sensitive little bitch and if I was ever roasted by "Simon" like that, I'd laugh too. I mean, the age range was 14 and up, surely you're old enough at that age to know they're just playing the part for authenticity's sake.
Man, that reminds me of those "HE GOT THAT HIDDEN TALENT 🔥🔥🔥 KEEP IT HIDDEN🔥🔥🔥" comments that are popular lately.
yeah, but i think that telling someone that they should off themselves, is a little too far
and that is what that is, telling someone to jump off a bridge is telling them to kill their self
like obviously it wasnt meant to be taken seriously, However, it could easily hit a very very sore spot
I got so invested in the American Idol lore in the first 10 minutes that I forgot I was watching Defunctland and this video was about a theme park.
Same man.
Same
Same and now I need to watch a history of American Idol
Same
Came to the comments for this lol
My takeaway from this video is Kevin wanted to do a DefunctTV for American Idol but you cant autopsy something that refuses to die
It will never die
Vivisection is the only way then.
@rainyrouge5123 it's still going?
@@nickgarcia1292how tf 😂😂😂
Zombie Idol
I was a casting director for Idol Experience and I just want to say thank you for preserving and educating people on the history of this attraction. We did feel it was misunderstood and underappreciated, and the observation at 1:06:15 that this experience was truly unique and special especially for the participants is something our cast lived every day and still look back on fondly with gratitude ten years after closing. Thank you for helping to keep its legacy alive!
I agree this seems like an awesome attraction. It's a real bummer how much they've dumbed down the attractions at theme parks these days to simple rides, shops, and actors to take photos with. Interactive elements are just scanning to get a currency that does nothing. Disney only recent attempt seems to be like the star cruiser which they put behind thousand dollar paywalls and even that had fairly simplistic play.
Learning about the turf wars in frontier land, adventure books that completing changed the park, or daily events are so much cooler. Disney is so expensive as the gate it would be much easier to justify with these daily events and stuff running through the park that would create deep memories.
That's really the underlying theme I see with Disney. Thousands of people who are putting in their all to make something awesome.
Sometimes it isn't enough, sometimes the economics don't work out, the culture changes, maybe the technology is ahead of its time, but even when it doesn't work, the effort shines through.
My wife was one of the contestants for this ride/show. It was super cool and a very unique experience. When you got through the auditions they gave you a lanyard to wear around with the Idol logo on it. As we were walking around a little girl’s mom stopped us and said that her daughter (8 or 9) wanted my wife’s autograph. The little girl was so starstruck and couldn’t speak. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.
I can’t stop laughing how you cut to every winner’s piece of advice which is to “have fun”
His humor is brilliant. Hilarious but not taking away from the actual analysis.
and stay in school
Somehow less energy than Scarlett Johansson telling Hatsune Miku (in a voicemail) to "believe in yourself and all your dreams will come true"
We do not care 😐
Anime pfp 😐😐
"Have fun" is this year's "Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car."
Or “Bear Fact”
Hey remember when people rode that one submarine thing and when the hatch opened they got blinded, y’know Deep Blue Blinding Sunlight.
“Denim”
...Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Denim Car 😂
just don't tell Adam Conover
I think the main reason for American Idol’s decline is the shift in corporate strategy from focusing on celebrities and star power to focusing on intellectual property. The fact that the theater used for the experience is now being used for Frozen shows is almost perfectly symbolic of that.
Yes exactly this. I feel that celebrity culture is very watered down now as well since social media has increased how much we see them and exposed a lot of the perils of being famous
@@yeskaitlyn8029It's less that, and more that celebrities, star actors and directors can make demands and ask for higher pays, while IP and franchises can not. If people are willing to buy your stuff just for the IP, you can just hire whoever and keep that money for yourself.
@@yeskaitlyn8029
Not to mention cancel culture and such.
I find it to be a chicken and egg situation. When people stopped watching TV and started being consumed by internet, they stopped having stars fed to them. With the rise of streaming, they started having so many options, they didn't need to go to the theater. Overall, it's hard to create stars when there are so many people to watch. The internet produced the "content" they liked, and the IP gained more value than the star because the IP, especially the older IPs, are the only things that still connect people. Corporations also followed the eyes and the money.
I stopped watching after Adam Lambert lost and Paula Abdul left.
I had no idea they made a theme park attraction that was ACTUALLY connected to the show, that's honestly really damn cool
(Gets roasted by Simon "Scuttlebug" Cowell)
Every goddamn time
It's cool but I was thinking at the end, when he mentioned that 2000 dream tickets were awarded, how many of those resulted in ending up on the top 16? Only 5-6 as far as I could tell. Not exactly a good ratio.
Hold up, it's Nathaniel B
@@TheInfamousBertman 5-6 out of 2000 sounds bad, but during the height of its popularity, Idol would occasionally have 10,000 people at a single audition day and pass as few as ten through to the Hollywood stage, much less the voting rounds. Relative to the general population, dream ticket holders have been extremely successful.
Ain’t you Nathaniel B
I swear Kevin could upload an hour long feature length video on the history of the fancy socks used by Disney personalities and I'd still watch it all.
Yeah, because at some point, it'd turn into an amazing piece about the person who chose the socks for the outfits they wore, and it'll make us all cry
I’d watch it
Second that XD
He'd also magically slip Michael Eisner somewhere in there lol
i would watch it 5 times over
I'm glad all that b-roll I shot of that building exterior twelve years ago has FINALLY been put to good use!
I am too. Thanks for sharing it.
Dude thank you for documenting that!!
you’re such a legend. work like this is so important no matter how little it may seem
As someone who watched that video almost a decade ago it's so cool seeing your footage in this!
My sister actually did this near the end of its life-cycle. We were approached by a staff member and they asked us if we wanted to participate.
We had no idea what it was and thought it was just some amusement thing instead of a pseudo-audition for the show. What we didn't know is they had contestants who had flown across the country and booked early, to the point they had intro videos for both of them. What THEY didn't know is my sister is a classically trained Opera-singer.
They pulled her in for an audition cause they were short on time and the producer was visibly sweating bullets once he realized she was a lot more than they bargained for. They already had one of the other contestants lined up to win, so the producer said she had to pick from a short list of songs, all of which had mostly talking instead of vocal projection (We went with Black Horse And The Cherry Tree from KT Tunstall).
Naturally, she didn't win (which we were all thankful for once we realized what this was) but they comp'd us 35 universal fast-passes for our time. We ended up riding the Aerosmith Rollercoaster an absurd amount of times.
The "HAVE FUN" advice sprinkled in from American Idol winners was so beautifully executed and made me audibly laugh. Defunctland doesn't miss.
I won’t lie, when the “Simon” said “at the bridge part I’d consider jumping off” I laughed it was so out of left field
LowTierJudge
It might not be theme park appropriate, but it was a really good line.
I know! My reaction was, "Sir, you're out of pocket!" and then laughing until I choked.
He understood the assignment.
The Hannibal Lecter line was also insanely out of pocket for a Disney park lmao
My wife tried out for AI on TV but was rejected before she had a chance to sing because too many people showed up to the audition. One day at HS we happened to walk passed a sign saying auditions were happening now and we decided she should try. She made it to 2nd place at the final. She has since passed away and its one of our son and mine's favorite memories. Seeing her feel so close to her dream and enjoying every min of it while showing off her voice. It was special.
what an amazing memory. so sorry for your loss
Ohhh, one day at Hollywood Studios… thinking it was “High School” really got me confused for a minute.😂
Thank you for sharing this
@@adamgreenspan4988I had to go back and read it again after reading your comment 😂
Jesus that was dark. Sorry tho
I was one of the contestants the day Scotty McCreary visited the park! I had auditioned the day before, and they mentioned a "special guest" would be attending the next day. They took care of EVERYTHING for me in order to stay another day. One of the coolest experiences EVER!
I should also mention that now I work for American Idol as a casting scout… So definitely has been a full circle experience!
That is just so cool
My mom did this in December of 2009! I remember the theatre was almost entirely empty except for the families of the singers. My mom is still mad that she lost because the guy who won had a bigger family and they were voting for him on the buttons of empty seats😅 but so great to see a video about this!!
Advice for watching this video? Just have fun
Didn’t expect you of all people to be here
Advice for participating in the replies to this comment? Just have fun (Much like the American Idol experience, the replies to RT's comment act as a smaller scale version of the 'real thing' that the video's main comment section represents. I point this out because I am very bored and procrastinating sleeping)
Get on up there and sing Country Roads. It's time.
I hate you!
Wheb they finally make a tf2 update, stay away
I love how the video has 2 main themes, denim and a thinly veiled frustration at Wikipedia being unreliable for highly niche research on people who are still alive.
I think the most important theme is that we have fun.
As a Big Time Rush fan. Katlyn Tarver is Wikipedia worthy to me… Jo and Kendall were my OTP
For a while I had a Wikipedia page about my career. Sadly, they put someone else's picture instead of mine on it. So I know how frustrating it was.
@@LancerX916the thing I hate is they claim to care about your input, yet any change you make is almost certainly gonna be rejected no matter if it’s actually true or not.
The subtitle of this episode is: Defunctland: Have Fun, Denim.
50:18 “do you know i can sing?” “what?” that took me out 😭💥
the american idol sound effect literally sends shivers down my body LMAO such a peak childhood memory. does anyone remember the american idol mcdonald’s happy meal toy? lmdaooo had to be 2008/2009 maybe?
YES!! I don't remember if there were others but I had the guitar(?) and I loved that thing!!
I HAD THE HEADSET OMG
Omg yes!!!! I had the guitar and I think a little star thing with the logo on it
YES, I had the hand clapper one, my parents hated it bc it was so loud
wut
The "have fun" somehow gets funnier every time, this video's "his mother is very proud"
where is "his mother is very proud" from?
@@ZoeG2099 HBomberguy's video about the origin of the roblox Oof sound, which slowly becomes a callout for a widescale liar Tommy Tallarico. The line is said by him and becomes a joke throughout the masterpiece of a video.
I can't believe Tommy Tallarico was the first American to be an Idol.
@@LawnieIt's crazy how he cofounded American Idol. His mother must be very proud
He's got a Guinness World Record for playing to the largest American Idol audience
That Michael Eisner bit Where you explain in full and believable detail how he stole the plans for Disney MGM from Universal and then ended it with an unceremonious "allegedly" was hilarious
You can just hear the mickey mouse shaped red dot sight turn off the second he says Allegedly
he really really stepped up his game with this video....my dude needs to put out some more videos.
"He KNEW the plans, he SAW the plans!!"
well there were good things to come out from Michael Eisner.
The animation of the plans coming out of his head was amazing
The fact that you give us a brief background on Michael Eisner every episode is classic 😂
YOOOO our childhood babysitter was working at hollywood studios when this opened! she had a bunch of photos of her meeting the american idol people, but the only person me and my siblings recognized was ryan seacrest. we always thought it was so awesome that she got to meet him, and for the longest time i remembered her telling us she did and showing us the photo but for the life of me i could never remember why. ancient memory unlocked
I competed in the Experience and made it to the final show (where I came in second). You got one small detail wrong... when you auditioned in the first room, you were asked to sing any song you'd like, a'capella. Only when you made it to the coke room, were you asked to choose a song from that list and then rehearse it for your second audition. That would be the same song you performed in the main show, if you made it.
Also... they made us wear these really high-tech sensors that made the automatic lights on stage follow us during our performances. (You can see the sensor clipped onto some of the people in certain shots of this video).
Also, the show really was karaoke... they had a really impressive teleprompter in the rafters at the very back of the theater. Most audience members never saw it.
My favorite part was that for the rest of my week at WDW, I kept getting recognized by random people. I would get random applause and cheers from out if nowhere. One family made me sign their kids' autograph books. I think about those kids all the time... grown adults now, flipping through their old Disney World autograph book and seeing my autograph in-between Mickey and Goofy. #blessed
Awesome comment, thanks for sharing : )
That's adorable
Omg - you're right on the last part! I felt like a celeb during my vacation, hence why I said at age 14 it was the high point of my life. 😂
This is amazing! Thanks for sharing!!
@@clairemartin790 You were that person?!
Honestly it's kind of impressive that an attraction requiring large amounts of skilled park operators, active guest engagement, and complicated sets based on an IP that was relevant in the wrong decade managed to stay in operation for 6 years, only to be taken out by Star Wars of all things instead of violently imploding in Disney's face
Yeah, I predicted 'it's far too expensive to run and it needs too many participants' being its downfall, not 'people just sorta stopped watching American Idol'
I was really impressed by how well thought out and resourced this attraction was. It would have been easy to throw together a half-assed karaoke show with a bit of theming, but they went all in. Which is one of the things I've always admired about Disney on all its forms. You might or might not like a given project, but (with occasional exceptions) it won't be because they half-assed it.
@@suedenimI'll be honest, that's what my family always thought it was, we wanted to do it for shits and giggles but the line was always wrapped around the building so we didn't care lol
Excellent phrase " imploding in D's face" lmao like a certain space hotel?😏🫣✨😝
Even employed in the parks( as in free entrance) never once was even tempted to enter that attraction. Of course I can't sing ...but still. I can tell u where every bathroom in every park( including pleasure Island) is well mbe was and nope never went in those doors😂
14:24
The AT&T executive that came up with that is the real winner of American Idol.
I had the privilege of sitting in the tech room one day backstage at the American Idol Experience when I was a Cast Member at WDW. The most impressive thing about the whole thing was how quickly the video editors worked to create a professional looking 1-1.5 minute video "package" in the extremely limited time between a live performance and the recap video at the end of that show, repeated constantly several times throughout the day.
I cannot believe they were able to keep this thing going every single day for so long. Hearing about how this attraction was operated was actually stressing me out. What an incredibly ambitious project this was.
That's the main thing I was thinking
My husband worked it as one of their professional interns in ‘10 or ‘11. He said it was wild.
Yeah, it surprised me that it was successful for so long.
Personal favorite running gags throughout this video
1. Denim
2. Wikipedia Relevancy Test
3. "Have fun"
4. The Desk
5. Ryan Seacrest Type
6. The clips with the"aaaAAaaah" sound in them
@@pandakatiefominz which, to be clear, is from BoJack Horseman
honestly of all of the attractions covered on this channel this one sounds the most genuinely amazing. like getting such an in depth and impressively themed experience as an auditioner just sounds like a total dream come true for some people, the idea is so so good and it sounds like it absolutely bled money trying to make that idea come to life, as all good art should do
Kevin, never have I once cared abour American Idol on my 20+ years on this earth. I'm not surprised that you, of all people, could keep me invested for over an hour with its history and Disney tie-in. Another great documentary. Fantastic work. I had fun.
the wikipedia photo test is actually THE most accurate way to test a person’s popularity/cultural relevance! can confirm I use it all the time
WGAT THE HELL I GOT HEARTED????? OMG MR PERJURER DEFUNCTLAND I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS SM THANK YOU
this comment isn’t even (entirely) a joke btw, I do this a lot
That is honestly adorable in the best way@@obscurequestions
@@obscurequestions A comment heart from Kevin Perjurer is no wikipedia photo, but it's a start. 😉
You can tell that someone was important enough to receive an actual photo on their Wikipedia page
this is exactly why i was forced to add a wikipedia photo to my favorite artist's page. otherwise he wouldnt seem relevant enough
I’m not joking at all, “Pants on the Ground” was an integral part of my childhood with my brothers and I had entirely forgotten about it. What the hell.
Haven't seen yet, but read that to the tune of "Stamp on the Ground
Saaaaame lol
LITERALLY. had no idea what he was talking about until he played the clip of him singing it and i got flashbanged with memories
I don’t always watch videos by Defunctland, but when I do I try and have fun with it.
It's pretty cool seeing how much behind-the-scenes work the chosen contestants had to go through for the attraction. If MGM/Hollywood Studios' original purpose was to bring the behind-the-scenes experience of film and television-making to the viewers as park guests, this was probably the most immersive and effective attraction they had.
"What's your advice?" and the progressively shortening "Just relax, be yourself, and have fun" -> "have fun" was a good recurring bit.
By the 5th time this hit, I was in stitches.
Agreed, these moments are why I always tune in to these videos. Even though I never watched/liked American Idol in the first place. But I did, "Have Fun."
It's family friendly safe advice to give.
I for one like that Carrie Underwood told us to stay in school
Paula saying "you're a sweet soul, and it comes across when you sing" while Simon audibly takes the fattest slurp on his drink as the frame zooms is such a good bit.
28:47
@@piper3778 Thanks! And wow, I'm surprised that has never became a modern gif.
Came for Defunctland, stayed for the American Idol retrospective. I'd forgotten how much of a watershed moment season 8 was for the show. Even at the time, it felt like the writing was on the wall between rumors of Paula leaving and Adam Lambert losing to....*checks notes because I legitimately forgot his name after 15 minutes* Kris Allen.
The production value for this all day show running daily for 6 years is absolutely absurd. Frankly insanely impressive for just some mostly forgotten theme park attraction
"And also in it's 7th place finisher, Jennifer Hudson"
This line just dropkicked me out of nowhere, holy shit
Ikr, I can't imagine finding 6 people better than her at performing in a single season.
If I remember correctly, Simon said that she had a "Broadway Voice", which he intended to be a negative, but just made him look like the biggest dumbass in music history.
Funny enough she did do broadway
EGOT Winner Jennifer Hudson. Simon Cowell can suck it.
@@rafaelmarkos4489I mean, tbf, Fantasia's probably my favorite American Idol winner ever from a vocal talent standpoint. If anyone was gonna be above J.Hud, I don't mind it being her.
Seeing an episode on this is insane. Nobody would have any reason to believe me, but my dad was a golden ticket winner. He was too old to actually go on the show, but he kept the ticket. I VIVIDLY remember going to the backstage set to film the biography intro with him when I was like 12. What a crazy memory.
Did they air his golden ticket audition?
@@EM-ol6rb No, he was 40 when he did it, so even though he won he couldn’t audition on the real show. There is a clip of his performance at Disney on RUclips somewhere.
@@pacnano4559was he aware of that before auditioning?
@@lotus_flower2001 He told me he wanted to do it for fun, so I’m guessing if he did know, he probably didn’t care. I imagine the employees told him before he auditioned.
I bet he’s beautiful
You got nominated for a Peabody award????? Congrats!!! Well deserved!
this was such an old school defunctland video and i loooooved it. Kevin's humor has also just ...CHEFS KISS matured perfectly
Glad you pulled out of that FastPass PTSD pretty quickly
To everyone who is about to watch the video: I know it's challenging to sit through a +1hr long documental but my advice is to just have fun
Ahaha
I watch on 2x speed for a reason
@@negative6442I just watch part and come back later lol
and denim
Oh, thanks for the advice... not really though 🙄
8:45 absolutely KILLED ME. The switchup was INCREDIBLE.
He was shown the plans, HE KNEW THE PLANS... allegedly
I performed in this when I was in high school! It was so much fun, they really made you feel special. They did your makeup and your hair, they had this little vocal coach, and they even gave you fast passes for any ride you wanted to compensate you for the time. They did these cool personalized little videos, it was very intense.
Ok, but "you are to pop music what Hannibal Lecter is to the food network" is legit one of the funniest insults I've heard in a while.
i wonder what Anthony Hopkins thinks of the insult.
I'll never forget. My dad required we record things like idol to skip commercials. We start watching a few hours after it premiered when the two contestants were both named David. And right after Ryan said '...David...' it cut off. Never seen my dad laugh so hard
I remember that season!! I still wonder if these two Davids are doing well music wise.
Also I remember how a few friends of mine liked one of the Davids (Archuleta).
@@lll.24601 maybe it was me, I was absolutely IN LOVE with him when I was like, 11 😂😂 'crush' gets me every time! I stopped watching the show because he didn't win
I remever that! It was David Cook and David Archilleta @@lll.24601
Your dad sounds like a cool content pirate dude.
David Archuleta is still very notable in the Mormon community. He did a stint with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and would do yearly Christmas tours around the Mormonsphere. A couple of years ago he came out as something between gay and bisexual which kind of rocked the notably homophobic (more accurately "homomisic") Mormon community. A year ago he announced that he was leaving organized religion which was incredibly shocking given that he was the poster child for the Brighamite Mormon sect for years. As a lifelong faithful believer in Mormonism my leaving was fairly close to his. These days I'm told that he's in the process of writing a "leaving religion/coming out" album.
Also, note that members of the Brighamite Mormonism sect (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remember the little 'd' as they couldn't get the rights to the big one) did a 180 on the term Mormon in 2018, and I can guarantee that they're pissed off just from me referring to them by that. They're also notably transphobic so the dead-naming is justified.
I didn't even realize this documentary was an hour long (or that American Idol continued after its "Farewell Season"). That's how good Mr. Kevin is at storytelling. Great work once again.
The recurring "have fun" advice was the cherry on top. *chef's kiss
"The bridge part.. I'd consider jumping off of" i am rolling at the thought that those words were legitimately said to somebody in a disney park lmfaoooo
I can practically see it.
Some parent: "oh my god!"
Their kid: "daddy what does that mean?"
It's what would happen if Jungle Cruise skippers were allowed to get 20% more unhinged
Same with the Hannibal Lecter roast 😭
@@floridaflamingogirl3119If the Skipper Dans were honest
That actor was having the time of his life.
To be honest, I'm surprised Defuncters didn't rush to add images to the Wikipedia pages and annoy Kevin.
No one would dare sully the legitimacy of the Wikipedia Music Group Relevancy Test
@@Defunctlandhow are you doing
@@DefunctlandWhat if this video increases their relevancy?
... _yet_
@@johnwhitney5840how are you doing John?
I used to work in that park. I tripped on the Sorcerer's Hat all the time, so I was glad when it finally came down.
I cannot believe it lasted so long. The costs sound insane. I don't generally follow theme parks (hate roller coasters) but this is the kind of attraction that would make me want to go to a theme park.
That Simon job had to be one of the most sought after jobs in the park. You get to sit there and tell guests they suck. As far as park actor jobs go, that’s got to be top of the list.
Honestly, a biography of Disneyland cast members would be an absolute hoot of a book. I've heard some whispers about the good, the bad, and the ugly (apparently the dudes love being Gaston, naturally, and women loathed being Meg from Hercules because that giant pompadour-ponytail wig was just whiplash waiting to happen,) but a nice compilation of the war-stories (the great, the horrible, and the hilarious) would be great.
@@Eviltwin531we need Kevin to do a history of cast members
@@princesscrystal6410 I'm guessing most are signed to NDAs that would make our hair curl, so at best they could only speak anonymously, but it might be interesting.
@@Eviltwin531 forget about the character actors, I want to hear from the cast members who have to do the dirty work
Yeah, unless you meet an angry mom outside who stalks you for being cruel to her baby.
As someone who's mother was one of the Lighting Technicians for multiple seasons both for Idol when they were in Hollywood and America X Factor; she confirmed that yes, Simon was a real jerk on and off camera, but he was half the diva that Seacrest was to the actual crews working for them. It's why she still accepted calls to work X Factor when it came over to the US. I have plenty of vacation memories that were paid for thanks to Mr. Cowell
"Never so bad it's not good for something", Norwegian saying.
@@TeruteruBozusamathis is a fantastic saying, thank you for sharing it
I never watched American Idol, and even managed to convince a few people at the height of its popularity that I'd never even *heard* of it, yet I still found this video very entertaining, informative, and funny. That's how good you are at this job, Kevin!
Phenomenal video, seriously. I am a History major, and it drives me crazy how many RUclipsrs do 1.5 hr + "documentaries" or long video essays that are not substantive, interesting, or factual. But I have yet to see a Defunctland video that is not genuinely funny, educational, and clever - it's amazing to me.
The steady shift in Kevin getting more and more informal with his narration in these videos while still being informative has been delightful to see.
You could say he’s being “informal-tive“.
@@OkayYaramanReported and blocked 😂😂😂
It's made them worse for me. I miss professionalism I'm RUclips videos, everyone thinks their a comedian eventually.
@@ryanmeade6742 Hello RUclips videos I'm dad
@@ryanmeade6742 you must be fun at parties
There’s a very subtle bit of humor the way he keeps playing the American Idol theme, but just the last note
I find it incredibly funny because that last scooping chord is the only thing I remember about the theme, probably due to its liberal use in transitions from one “scene” to the next in the actual show.
Like, it’s not even a song, just a singular noise that’s iconic to the brand. It’s like they captured a fraction of the power of the THX chord and applied it all over the place and it WORKED
The music in these documentaries is always on point.
I was about to connect on that. I had a good laugh
I think he got sick of hearing it so much while editing he wanted us to suffer too lol
What's especially great about these videos is the pure nostalgia I get from them. I definitely have fun
“Which to this day is still charting number one in the mind of American fathers” 💀💀💀 @51:19
"It's the early 2000s, and being famous sounds like a GOOD idea." banger opening line
“You are to pop music what Hannibal Lecter is to the Food Network” is actually a genuinely sick burn, not even gonna lie
Honestly, that sounds like something the actual Simon Cowell would've said.
@@Kaltagstar96 Don't disrespect fake Simon Cowell like that, he was way funnier than actual Simon Cowell
The “have fun” advice cut off is killing me every time
53:27 I would say that Melanie Martinez, who was a contestant on The Voice, was one of the few people to find success from there but also outside of it.
29:37 Seeing Grumpy holding a sign saying "Simon is my IDOL!" was the kind of spiritual experience I didn't know I needed.
Honestly, it's adorable good for you Grumpy!
I can imagine Kevin being grumpy all the time carrying all the shame for not being like his parents.
its so funny to me fsr
The fact that Kelly Clarkson is still famous now, between daytime tv show watchers AND tik tok kids that think most of her covers SMOKE the original versions, really is amazing. The very first Americans Idol!
She also somehow looks better now than she did back when she won. I heard her do an Aurora cover last week and was legit amazed how well she did
The first CD I ever bought for my portable CD player was her first album. Ahhh memories. Her skill is real.
@@PredictableEnigmaMe too! I knew every word on that album and would daydream music videos along to the song. 😅
This is now my favorite Defunctland video!
This is so of its time, and yet so ambitious. The green screen room with tips from a vocal coach are super cool and a great detail to add to the experience. The stage looks amazing... I kinda love it. It's such a great blend of real and make-believe.
Having to film a movie at a theme park with explosions going off in the background every 20 minutes honestly feels like a running gag from bojack horseman. I guess reality is sillier than fiction.
The “Ryan Seacrest Type” made me think of Bojack too 😂
I guess this shows just HOW well people working on Bojack did their homework.
@@AlexandriatheRed apparently it was in Bojack
@@Game_Hero yes, I know. That’s why mentioned it??
@@sallomon2357 Remember that Michael Eisner's company helped produce Bojack.
*“It’s the early 2000s and being famous sounds like a GOOD idea.”*
Fewer than 10 seconds in and Kevin summarized what sociologists have written entire books trying to say. I AM IN.
As we cut to a clip of Britney. Oof.
Wow, what an incredible documentary. I mean no offense by this, but you have the ability to make the most interesting deep dives about the most random and unimportant things that I never thought were so interesting. First I watched disney land lines, and now a theme park attraction based on a show? Bravo my dude, this was engaging and well done! Also, I grew up with American Idol on air, but never watched it. I didn't realize how much cultural impact the show actually had!
I love how the advice every winner gives, despite being the same, comes off more cynical and sarcastic with each person.
The sob story bit made me lose my mind.
“DO YOU KNOW THAT I SING?”
“…Do I what?”
Unintentional comedic genius
33:46 "The Coke room, which was either a reference to the soft drink sponsorship, or a way to _really_ prepare these contestants for Hollywood"
It's jokes like this that keep me coming back to this channel. Well, that and the incredibly researched deep dives into both theme park and pop culture history... but mostly the way Kevin downplays zingers like this.
Why else do you think everyone LOVES the '80s so much?
@@ExplorerDS6789i would too if i had access to Coke 😵💫
Cmon that was like such an obvious joke. He makes much better ones in this video.
I just like the delivery.
I STILL miss Superstart Television at MGM. I was just 8 or 9 when it was on, and super shy yet still wanted desperately to try my hand at being on camera. The year I finally had the courage to at least try volunteering, we arrived and it was gone. 😭
I'm not even gonna get into The Great Movie Ride. I know it was mostly a statue show by the time it was taken down, but I have so many wonderful family memories associated with it!
44:34 I will not forget those things Mike Wazowski said during his session at the Laugh Floor. He truly was having a bad day.
This video brought back a really sweet memory of mine from when I was a kid. When I went to Disney for the first time, Hollywood Studios was the park I was most excited for SPECIFICALLY because of this attraction. I talked about it for weeks beforehand because I thought I would get a chance to sing on stage. I genuinely wanted to forgo even seeing Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom just to get to Hollywood studios first. Unfortunately for me, I was also about 6 years old with zero vocal training, so I wasn't allowed to join the competition yet.
Despite this, my parents were somehow able to get me an "audition" with one of the workers. I sang my little heart out and had a fantastic time. Afterwards, the worker told me that my audition was "one of the best he's ever seen" and that he was going to save my name until I turned 15 so I could later on join the competition for real. Obviously, this wasn't true; I was and still am just okay at singing. But at the time, I was so happy it was unbelievable. I thought I was going to be a star and began literally counting down the days until I turned 15.
I'm a few years past 15 now, but I still think about that audition sometimes. I actually had no idea the attraction shut down until now. Looks like the world just wasn't ready for me.
That is the sweetest thing to read. Your little heart must have been fit to burst. I love it when adults go out of their way to do special things for children like that.
I just remember how Adam Lambert came in second place, but then ended up becoming way more famous than the guy who actually won, and even sings for Queen these days
Tbh it was the same for the X factor in the uk. Most of the big stars (JLS and little mix amongst others) placed second or barely made it to the final. Though also the X-factor very much ran on the anyone could be a star idea to the winner was often almost too normal, got the Christmas no1 and then faded away. Whilst groups or soloists who made it most of the way also got record deals and became huge.
i feel like its the case a lot of the time that the big star is never the winner, like 1D for example placed THIRD in XFactor and still managed to be one of if not the biggest star to ever come out of it
Adam Lambert is memorable. Who was that other guy again?
I was talking to a coworker about American Idol the other day and she had not followed the contestants as closely as I did, and she was blown away when I told her about Adam Lambert performing with Queen. He honestly got the coolest job of all out of the experience.
And Jennifer Hudson got to play Aretha Franklin, which, having watched this as a non-American not well-versed in any of this American pop-culture history, is definitely several kinds of funny.
Your ability to incorporate running gags into your videos is unparalleled. On my first time watching this video (yes, this is my second time now) I didn't notice the "just have fun" gag until the video was almost over. The fact that you can have a gag so subtle that it only calls attention to itself on its tenth repetition is genuinely impressive and makes the bit so much more memorable and entertaining. Now, mostly through my second watch, I am just now noticing a new running bit; that damn rising tone the live show uses so much (even in the old online minigame). You use it so much as well, and I am only now just noticing and appreciating it. Your videos have significant replay value and that is AMAZING in a way I can't fully describe. I'm gushing more than I realistically should over a defunct trend-chasing Disney attraction, but your presentation skills elevate it to being so much more than that. This channel is really something special.
To me the coolest thing about the show were the fans waiting for the winner of the finale outside the studio after the show ended. The winner often became an instant star with people asking for autographs and taking pictures with them.
I'm glad Bojack's 'Ryan Seacrest type' has entered the lexicon
This is literally what I was thinking throughout the entire video.
All part of Michael Eisner’s plan to make a further mark on pop culture.
I searched far and wide for a comment on this. I can’t hear his name without putting Type on the end now
I swear he literally took every opportunity he could to play the American Idol sound
just like the “toot toot chugga chugga big red car” in his wiggles dark ride video getting one word shorter every time it was played
baaAWaaaaa!
The only place that uses it more is the American Idol video game. Call Me Kevin has a great video featuring him getting really mad at the sound effect
Gave me Network TV PTSD flashbacks.
i dont know why but i have found out through this video that that sound effect gives me an innate anxiety reaction
I remember walking by this attraction and really wanting to do it, but never getting to do it because I wasn't an adult at the time and didn't really have the independence to break off from my family to do it. Really glad this video shows the ins and outs, highs and lows of it. Part of me still wishes I could've tried but seeing the time commitment needed for it also makes me glad I didn't.
The content is consistently great, but this video was outstanding for combining in-depth information, pop culture satire and a blend of witty, sarcastic humor that kept it all well paced and engaging. Awesome job
Fun fact: the guy playing Simon is actually named Simon. He was married to my acting teacher and I met him several times. He even gave me feedback on a monologue once, American Idol-style from behind a desk, although he was very nice! lol
Simple connections like this is why I love documentary content on this platform so much.
Arts Sake alumni as well??
@@jamesadams1546 Yessss!!!!!
That’s so cool!
I love how Kevin can make his distaste for Ellen blatantly obvious without saying anything negative about her, showing any negative footage, or even changing the tone of his voice.
I never followed the tv show but as he started describing the new host thought "oh god it'll be ellen"
It's because he always sounds sarcastic haha
You're still my favorite video essayist type creator. Your delivery adn humour is second to none as always lol
fast pass... fast fast pass fast pass
I didn’t even watch American Idol except for a couple one off times but that signature transition sound activated something in the back of my head like some kind of sleeper agent.