Like many people, I visited Disneyland
for their One More Disney Day Leap Day promotion. I wasn’t going to attempt going 24 hours, or
anything close to that, but I was drawn by the rare opportunity to see Disneyland at sunrise.
I was expecting a special day.
What I wasn’t expecting was to find the ABC series Modern Family shooting an episode in the park, adding an extra kind
of insanity to the day.
Rico Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara, Eric Stonestreet and Ed O’Neil from ABC’s Emmy Award-
winning “Modern Family” shoot a scene in front of the MIckey floral planter at
Disneyland Park. Photo by Richard Murphy
I’m an annual passholder.
Disneyland is a half-hour drive from my
home. I arrived at the main parking
structure at 5:30 a.m. and found a tram leaving right away. When we arrived at the Downtown Disney tram
plaza, shortly before 6 a.m., the line of
people waiting to pass through security was 200 yards long. When I got into line, I soon saw why: they hadn’t yet opened up the security
stations. I couldn’t figure out why
security hadn’t opened up yet for a park that was opening in five minutes. But we soon learned that the plaza inside was
already filled with people. I discovered
later that they had starting arriving the previous evening. We couldn’t see those already inside, but we
could sure hear them cheer when the turnstiles opened at 6:00. Once they had cleared the plaza, security opened
and worked efficiently to get us through.
I entered the park at 6:15.
Crowds gather outside the entrance of Disneyland Park as they wait for the “One More
Disney Day” Leap Day celebration to begin. Photo by Richard Murphy
First stop: Star
Tours FastPass. Then I went over to Big
Thunder. I had ridden it at sunrise when
Disneyland did a 24-hour event for Captain
EO‘s opening and it was great. Unfortunately,
they had not yet opened Big
Thunder Mountain. So I walked along the riverfront toward New Orleans Square. That’s where I saw a huge swath of the New Orleans riverfront
roped off. I wondered if there was going
to be some special entertainment offering for leap day. Then I saw a sign: Modern
Family would be filming. I could see
a few people beginning to roll out equipment.
A directors chair from this Emmy Award-winning series
would have been a cool Leap Day souvenir, don’t you
think? Photo by Richard Murphy
I continued to tour the park. As it turned out, expeditious use of the
FastPass system allowed me to ride Big Thunder twice. My early morning ride was a brisk experience
in the cold air. The horizontal sunlight
enhanced the rocky spires of the mountain.
The “Modern Family” camera crew gets ready to shoot along the edge of the Rivers of
America. Photo by Richard Murphy
Just before noon, I took a cruise on the Columbia sailing ship, a favorite of
mine. When we returned to the dock I was
heading over to the Golden Horseshoe for the Laughing Stock show and saw that
the Modern Family crew was now set up in the center of the Frontierland
village, between the Horseshoe and the Rancho del Zocalo restaurant. I saw the show in the Horseshoe, and when I
came out, the area was mobbed. The
actors had arrived. Eric Stonestreet (Cam) was the easiest to spot. But soon the crowd found Jesse Tyler Ferguson
(Mitch) and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (their daughter Lily). Park guests stood four or five deep around
the area. The scene was about Cam and
Mitch trying to decide if it was better to protect Lily by having her on a
child leash while in the crowded park, or let her run free.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons on location in
front of the Golden Horseshoe. Photo by Richard Murphy
I watched for about half an hour. Working where they were created a significant
obstruction for guests in the park, though cast members kept a path open along
the Golden Horseshoe. It made me wonder
why someone scheduled a shoot for one of Television’s most popular shows on a
day when attendance would be driven by one of Disney’s more aggressive
promotions.
The Pritchett family waits for its queue before then beginning their stroll through the
Park. Photo by Richard Murphy
It was very interesting to see Eric, Tyler, and Aubrey
interact between takes. They happily
gathered together, and it was obvious that their affection for each other was
genuine. They really did seem like a
family.
Aubrey, Eric & Jesse share a laugh before shooting resumes in Frontierland.
Photo by Richard Murphy
By mid-afternoon I had been in the park for 8 hours and was
ready to head over to California Adventure to check out construction progress
before heading home. After my usual stop
at the Disneyana store on Main
Street, I approached the right exit tunnel below
the railroad tracks. A line of Disney
cast members stopped me and directed me to the left tunnel. Modern
Family had struck again.
Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell go over their blocking with the crew. Photo by Richard Murphy
Two thirds of the plaza inside the entry turnstiles was
roped off. They were shooting a scene
that involved every member of the cast directly in front of the floral
Mickey. People entering and exiting the
park were told to keep moving. Only the
east turnstiles were open. Outside the
turnstiles were a mob of people pressed against the park gates trying to see
the cast and take pictures. For the
actors inside, they must have felt like they were the animals at a zoo. But it also must have given them a direct
taste of their popularity. As popular as
the show is, however, few people seemed to know the actors actual names. And poor Ed O’Neil was referenced by most
people as either “the old guy” or “Ed Bundy”-a character he hasn’t played for
15 years.
Ed O’Neil gets ready to perform in front of the Mickey floral
planter at the front of Disneyland Park. Photo by
Richard Murphy
I have no idea how long they continued to shoot in the park
after I left. But people who were fans
of the show (I am definitely one of them) had an unexpected treat. I don’t know when the episode might air, but
I’m sure to watch. IMDb.com identifies a
future episode called “The Last Walt”.
Richard Murphy is a former Imagineer and a freelance technical writer. He lives in Whittier, CA.