Disney’s Hollywood Studios says “So Long” to Super Soap Weekend

You’d think that — what with this past weekend’s ABC-SOAPnet Super Soap Weekend supposedly being the last of these events to be held in Central Florida — that this past Saturday & Sunday would have been a pretty sad time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Photo by Jeff Lange

Well, that’s where you’d be wrong. Even the soap fans who literally camped out overnight in front of this theme park (So that they could then be first in line to for autographs) were a pretty upbeat bunch. Determined to make the most of this allegedly last opportunity to get up-close and personal with their favorite ABC Daytime stars.

Cameron Mathison of “All My Children.” Photo by Angela Ragno

So just as they have at every other year that they’ve taken part in this WDW event, performers like “All My Children” ‘s Cameron Mathison found themselves fielding somewhat oddball questions from soap fans. Like “What did you with all of those Frequent Flyer miles that you racked up back in 2007 when you kept going out to LA to appear on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ ?” Cameron’s reply? He took his wife, Vanessa on a romantic trip to Paris. Where they then dined at the restaurant inside of the Eiffel Tower.

Michael Easton of “One Life to Live” with Goofy. Photo by Angela Ragno

“One Life to Live” ‘s Michael Easton — when asked for his favorite Super Soap moment — talked about how ridiculously accommodating the WDW Cast Members were.

“They had just loaded me into a car for the Motorcade,” he remembered. “And they put Buzz Lightyear in the car beside me. And I — because I was trying to make a joke — said ‘Wouldn’t Goofy be more appropriate?’ And the Cast Members went ‘Oh. Okay’ and then immediately took Buzz Lightyear out of my car and loaded in Goofy.”

Jason Cook rides along with Pluto. Photo by Angela Ragno

Speaking of the characters … Jason Cook of “General Hospital” talked about being backstage at the studio theme park and suddenly finding himself surrounded by this huge horde of costumed Disney characters. “I felt like I was in ‘Shrek the Third,’ Jason said.

But it wasn’t the Disney characters that these hordes of soap fans (With over 44,000 of them crowding into the Park on Saturday) had come to DHS to see. These folks were here to see their favorite ABC Daytime stars. And these performers did everything they could to help make this very last Super-Soap-in-Central-Florida a truly memorable occasion. Be it by belting out “Lean on Me,” as Brittany Underwood and Jason Tam did in this year’s Colgate Total Street Jam …

Brittany Underwood & Jason Tam of “One Life to Live.” Photo by Angela Ragno

… or by just allowing themselves to be serenaded by the crowd. As Bradford Anderson did when a sick little girl came up onstage to perform “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” just for him.

As Sunday night arrived, even the ABC Daytime stars seemed reluctant to accept the idea that this could be the very last ABC-SOAPnet Super Soap Weekend to be held at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. “This is my favorite thing to do all year,” Kassie DePaiva told the crowds. “So let’s just say that this is the last one for now.”

The fans who gathered at DHS this past weekend seemed to feel just as Kassie did. Which is why you’d periodically hear chants of “Save Super Soap!” break out. Not to mention small pockets of people booing whenever that Super Soap replacement event, “Rock the Soap,” was mentioned.

(L to R) Ricky Paul Goldin, Bob Guiney, Kassie Depaiva and Brandon Barash perform at this past
weekend’s Colgate Total Street Jam. Photo by Angela Ragno

But overall, both the ABC Daytime performers and their fans were determined to have a blast at allegedly the very last ABC-SOAPnet Super Soap Weekend to be held in Central Florida. And for the most part, I think they succeeded.

Your thoughts?