Have you ever thought of attempting a 24 Hour Day at Walt Disney World?
Wait...you can spend 24 Hours in Walt Disney World? Yep! You sure can! Each year for Memorial Day Weekend, guests are able to spend from 6:00 a.m. on a Friday until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday in the Magic Kingdom. It is a feat that I NEVER though I would accomplish...however, this year, I actually did.
So, let's back up. Disney started these 24 hour days back in 2012. That event was held on February 29 to celebrate Leap Year. The event was so popular that Disney moved it to Memorial Day Weekend and the rest is history. They announced that another 24 hour day was occurring this Memorial Day Weekend back in March, however, the hubby and I didn't decide to make the trip until just a couple of weeks prior.
We knew we had annual passes and we knew that we had a place to stay that weekend, since my brother lives in Orlando, and we knew we had the three day weekend off, so we thought...hmm....this could be fun.
So, we started planning. We would have to work on Friday until 5 p.m. and then we'd have to make the 7 hour (with Atlanta traffic) drive down to Orlando, so that meant we'd arrive at around 1:00 a.m. We weren't planning on spending the whole rest of the evening in the Magic Kingdom; I figured we'd leave around 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. out of sheer exhaustion. I know my sleepy limit and that's typically it. We'd also do some Star Wars Weekends stuff, cause I'd never visited during that time of year, and we'd go home on Monday. A short, but effective trip.
We did the first part as planned, but I was actually able to leave work a little early, however, ATL traffic, caused more delays than I was expecting. We got into Orlando at around 12:30 and walked into the Magic Kingdom at 1:00 a.m. and we were feeling good. The adrenaline had kicked in nicely.
Our first stop was at Starbucks. We had to get some caffeine.
Now, before our trip, I decided to make FastPass+ reservations for the times I was estimating we'd be in the park. I made an 11:30-12:30 reservation, a 12:30-1:30 reservation, and a 1:30-2:30 reservation for the three mountains. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get us into the Magic Kingdom in time for the first one, however, after we'd been fully caffeinated, we were able to use the second and third ones, and the best part is, that because we'd arrived so late, no one else had FastPasses! The standby lines were astronomical for Big Thunder Mountain and Splash, but we breezed right on.
What was especially awesome about this event was the party atmosphere. It was so weird hearing Taylor Swift playing from Tomorrowland, but at 2:00 a.m., you don't care. Whatever will keep you awake is great!
After about 2:00 a.m. the wait times for most attractions died down. We were able to breeze on most things in Fantasyland and Storybook Circus. By that time it was almost 4:00 and I have to admit...we were still feeling good. The tiredness hadn't set in yet. I started thinking...we can do this. We can make it two more hours.
That is until we sat down on the Wedway Peoplemover at about 4:45 a.m. At that point, I realized just how tired I was and I thought...should we go home? We heavily debated it, but as we were walking past Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, I saw that it had a 10 minute wait, so I thought...we can handle that.
It ended up being the best experience I've ever had at Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. Because at that time of the night, the crowd was all adults, the monsters were able to go a little more adult with their show (not rated R...more like PG-13.) It was fantastically fun!
By the time we got out of Monster's Inc, we started making our way to the front of the park, because we'd heard there was going to be a special goodbye ceremony. The ceremony was ok. It was kind of cute with the characters in their PJs, but just alright.
Holy cow! It's 6:00 a.m.! I'd made it! I couldn't believe it. And I wasn't as stupidly tired as I thought I would be. It was so cool to be in the Magic Kingdom that early in the morning.
When all was said and done, I was actually awake for 27 hours, by the time I got back home and settled.
The question is....would I do this event again and stay awake for 24 hours? You know....I wouldn't say I would never do it again. It was a lot of fun. The energy was fantastic. And I can say I did it. I may not stay awake the full 24 hours. I may choose to nap next time, but I think I would do an event like this again.
So now, I as you...would you do a 24 Hour Day at Walt Disney World? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments.
If you like this article, I shamelessly ask that you spread the word!
Share it on Twitter or Facebook...pin the photos on Pinterest, hit up the Google
+ emblem...just let others know about us here! Also, make sure to LIKE
our Facebook page
