Tween favorites draw huge crowds to the 2008 Disney Channel Games

Jim Hill

17 years ago

Did you hear a lot of high pitched squealing coming from Walt Disney World last week?

Well, there was a reason for that. The Jonas Brothers and the Cheetah Girls — not to mention the stars from “Hannah Montana,” “Cory in the House,” “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and “Wizards of Waverly Place” — were all in Orlando to take part in the 2008 Disney Channel Games. Which sent Central Florida’s tween population into an absolute frenzy.

Mitchel Musso leads the Red Team through the Hang Tight Challenge at the
2008 Disney Channel Games. Photo by Preston Mack.
Copyright 2008 Disney Channel. All Rights Reserved

All week long, kids from 8-to-14 hung out at WDW’s Wide World of Sports. Not just because these tweens wanted to watch the taping of the various competitions to be featured in this year’s Disney Channel Games. But also because they hoped to have a chance encounter with their favorite Disney Channel star. Maybe getting an autograph from Nick, Joe or Kevin …

The Jonas Brothers — Nick in red, Joe in green and Kevin
in yellow — sign autographs for their fans at Disney’s
Wide World of Sports. Photo by Preston Mack.
Copyright 2008 Disney Channel. All Rights Reserved

… or grabbing a picture of Selena Gomez as that “Wizards of Waverly Place” star rolled through Disney’s Hollywood Studios with Mickey Mouse by her side. This is why — last week — WDW was the epicenter of the tween universe.

Selena Gomez rides along with Mickey in the Disney Channel Games
Parade at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Photo by Matt Stroshane.
Copyright 2008 Disney Channel. All Rights Reserved

But the true highlight of this year’s event had to be Saturday night’s concert at Champion Stadium. Some diehard Disney Channel fans stood in the blazing Central Florida sun for as long as 14 hours for the chance to snag a spot right down front. So that they could then be as close as possible to their favorite performer.

Over 10,000 Disney Channel fans crammed into Champion Stadium on Saturday
night to see their favorite tween stars perform. Photo by Matt Stroshane.
Copyright 2008 Disney Channel. All Rights Reserved

Mind you, some of the kids who had attended Saturday night’s concert seemed to be a little too eager to reach out & touch their favorite Disney Channel stars. Which is this TV special’s production team repeatedly had to get on the PA, asking the fans who were standing on the field to “Take three steps back,” and then “Take ten steps back” … With the hope that this might then create some sort of safety buffer zone for the performers.

Miley Cyrus got the show started with an energetic
rendition of her hit single, “See You Again.” Photo
by Preston Mack. Copyright 2008 Disney Channel.
All Rights Reserved

But being this-close to their favorite Disney Channel stars did put a number of tweens right over the edge. According to what I’ve been told, WDW Security had to haul at least 30 little girls out of the crowd on the field who’d been overcome. Who just couldn’t handle the heat and the crush and the noise.

The Cheetah Girls — (L to R) Sabrina Bryan, Kiely Williams and Adrienne Bailon —
wowed the crowd with the title song from their new Disney
Channel Original, “One World.” Photo by Matt Stroshane.
Copyright 2008 Disney Channel. All Rights Reserved

Speaking of the heat … With the hope that some liquid refreshment might help bring this crazed group of tweens under control, Disney handed out hundreds of free bottles of water to those seated on the field. But as the evening wore on and this taping entered its third hour, the crowd just got crazier and crazier.

And once the Jonas Brothers took the stage to close the concert … Champion Stadium just went nuts. As one adult who attended Saturday night’s taping put it:

“I’ve been to a number of full-blown rock concerts. I’ve seen some of the biggest acts in the business. But I’ve never seen or heard a reaction like the Jonas Brothers got when they came on stage Saturday night. Champion Stadium just went nuts. Those kids — who had been screaming all night — just kicked it up to a whole new level. It was absolutely deafening. I kept thinking ‘This must have been what it was like to attend a Beatle concert at the height of Beatlemania back in the early 1960s.’ “

Nick, Demi, Joe and Kevin closed out the 2008 Disney Channel Games concert
by singing a few songs from the Jonas Brothers’ next album. Photo by
Matt Stroshane. Copyright 2008 Disney Channel. All Rights Reserved

Which — from the Disney Channel’s point of view — bodes well for “Camp Rock,” that new TV movie that this cable channel has high hopes for. Or — from Walt Disney Pictures’ point of view — bodes extremely well for their Jonas Brothers 3D movie. Which JHM revealed was in the works three weeks ago but that Disney officials finally admitted was actually a “Go” project yesterday.

The taping wrapped up at 11:30 p.m. And as this hoarse group of tweens shuffled out of Champion Stadium, they were then handed a commemorative 2008 Disney Channel Games poster.

So was all of that screaming and standing in the sun worth it? The people who post over at Disboards certainly seem to think so. There’s a number of folks there who are already planning on attending the next round of Disney Channel Games. Which will reportedly held at the WDW resort sometime in the Spring of 2009.

Which — according to the Disney’s Wide World of Sports staffers that I spoke with while prepping today’s story — is just about the time when the cast members who actually worked at Saturday night’s concert expect their ears to stop ringing.

Your thoughts?