On May 24, 2013, the Magic Kingdom in Florida, and both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in California stayed open for 24 hours to kick off the Monstrous Summer promotion! And of course I was there to experience it here in California! And I’m proud to say that I completed the full 24 hours!
Last year’s 24 hour event, One More Disney Day, was a huge success for Disney Parks, so it’s no surprise that Disney decided to do it again. Although, this time things were much better planned. Since I attended both last year and this year, I definitely noticed a huge improvement in the way things were planned out. It really helped that Disney California Adventure was open for the full 24 hours as well because it helped spread out the major crowds. Last year, Disneyland reached capacity and stopped letting people inside quite early in the night and left thousands of guests waiting outside, (I was one of them, until they finally let me in!).
This year, I had friends that didn’t even arrive to the park until around 9pm and were still able to enter Disneyland without any problem at all. So huge props to the Disneyland resort for a very successful 24 hour event without any huge problems.
All that being said, here are some of my photos from the 24 hours!
As I entered Disneyland, I saw this Monstrous Summer photo opportunity that many guests would stop to take pictures with. There was also one on Buena Vista Street at DCA.Also upon entering the parks, guests were given a Monstrous Summer button featuring Mike and Sulley from the new Disney/Pixar animated movie “Monsters University.”
After spending some time at Disneyland, I made my way over to DCA and was surprised to find out that the official @Disneyland twitter account made an announcement that Annual Passholders were being invited to a special pre-screening of Monsters University at the AMC in Downtown Disney! Of course I couldn’t say no to that so my friends and I made our way over to the Monsters Inc attraction in Hollywood Land to claim our tickets. We then watched the film and absolutely LOVED it! I’m sure everyone will love it as well when it comes out in a few weeks!After watching the movie, we went back to DCA and decided to watch the Pixar Play Parade because the new Monsters University inspired opening for the parade was making its debut!
The Monsters University float featured new characters from the movie such as Art, Squishy, and Terri and Terry, joined by our two favorite monsters, Mike and Sulley.Mike was showing off some school spirit in the back of the float!As the day turned into night, the special Monstrous Summer exclusive offerings were beginning, including a special photo opportunity with the MU float, characters, and performers from the Pixar Play Parade!When I came back to Disneyland, I headed over to Mickey’s Toontown for the special character pajama party, which featured all our favorite Toontown citizens, like Chip and Dale!Goofy is always acting goofy, even after midnight!Donald and Daisy also greeted guests together.In Tomorrowland, there was a very special Star Wars themed meet and greet, but instead of the typical Stormtroopers coming out for pictures, it was Mickey and Minnie dressed as Luke and Leia Skywalker! This was definitely one of my favorite moments of the night!Donald and Goofy alternated with Mickey and Minnie at this Star Wars meet and greet, and they were dressed in Star Wars gear as well. Goofy being Darth Vader and Donald being a Stormtrooper.At around 4:00am, Sleeping Beauty Castle was lit up really bright due to Good Morning America filming a live segment for their show, since it was already 7am in the east coast at this time.It was 5:00am and there was only one hour left before the All-Nighter was over! Light began to flood the sky and the castle looked even more beautiful at dawn.As the final few minutes arrived, hundreds of guests that managed to stay up all night made their way to the castle for their special “6am castle shots!”Finally, 6:00am had arrived and that meant I completed the 24 hours of staying awake at Disneyland! The castle looked beautiful and everyone was tired but still excited!As we all made our way out of the park, Mickey and all his friends came out to congratulate everyone and wave goodbye as we exited the park. Also, since it was now May 25th, everyone began to sing Happy Birthday to the one and only Goofy! It was a real magical moment indeed.
The Monstrous Summer 24 hour party was extremely fun for me and I made so many new memories with friends. I would definitely do it again if Disney decided to host another 24 hour party! I hope everyone enjoyed my update and thank you for reading!
