Monstrous Summer All-Nighter Planning Tips
During the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Disneyland & Disney California Adventure will be open for 24 consecutive hours beginning on May 24, 2013 at 6 am until 6 am on May 25, 2013. This is an extension of the “Limited Time Magic” promotional efforts and the kick-off of the Monstrous Summer to promote Disney*Pixar’s Monsters University. It also falls on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, making it the perfect time to take a long weekend trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland! We participated in the events of “One More Disney Day” (the 24-hour Leap Day event in 2012) and it was a ton of fun. It was also a great, unique opportunity for photography–so great that I made an eBook about the experience!
Based upon our experiences last year, here are some tips for enjoying these special events if you’re going to be Walt Disney World or Disneyland, and also some tips for those of you watching the fun from home! While this planning guide is a great primer, if you want a better idea of what to expect during the 24 hour event, I strongly encourage you to read our trip report from 2012′s “One More Disney Day” 24 hour event. Even if you’re not going, there are some pretty photos from the event!
Also, check out our general Disneyland Trip Planning Guide and Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide if you’re not a “regular” at either park for more general planning tips. With that said, here are our Monstrous Summer All-Nighter tips!
1. Take Photos!
This is probably a no-brainer, right? Well, more specifically, take photos of things most guests wouldn’t normally see. It’s rare for Disneyland and Walt Disney World guests to be able to photograph a sunrise, and most guests also aren’t in the parks at 3 or 4 am to take photos, either. Take advantage of these opportunities and grab some unique photos. Photograph the sunrise from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority or over the Tomorrowland Lagoon! Grab a photo of the clocks on Main Street at 5 am! Get shots you normally couldn’t get (for photo ideas, check out my Disney photos).
If you’re using an iPhone or other camera phone to take your photos, I highly recommend purchasing the Camera+ app. We rarely purchase apps, but made an exception for this one. It allows you more fine-tuned control over exposure (so you can expose for certain spots on your photos while choosing to focus on other spots) and then its advanced editing features allow to polish the image up in post processing. The exposure adjustments are very important for sunrise, sunset, and nighttime photography. (Tip: expose for the sky at sunrise and sunset; the rest of your scene will be darker, but you can brighten that in post processing.) Below is a photo Sarah took with her iPhone 4 (not 4s) using Camera+ at Walt Disney World.
2. Dine-it-Up!
Many restaurants in the parks will be offering special menus, test items, and foods that were long-ago retired, and after the smash success of these special menus during “One More Disney Day,” we expect even better (and more) options for the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter. With some many delicious menu items, you actually won’t have enough time to try everything!
Restaurants will be open until fairly unprecedented hours, so avail yourself of the opportunity to have a Dole Whip in the middle of the night and eat at a table service restaurant after midnight! We have so many different foods on our “want to try” list that I suspect if we eat them all, we’ll gain around 38 pounds each! For our restaurant suggestions, check out our Disney Dining Reviews Index.
3. Share!
I’m not big on constantly using social media when in the parks, as I already spend enough time taking photos, and I want to actually experience the moment I’m experiencing, not document and share it, but the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter should be a really fun opportunity to share the fun with others at home who weren’t crazy-enough to book a last minute trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland when the event was announced on New Year’s Eve. I expect that a lot of people will be experiencing the events vicariously through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media (I know that’s what I’ve done for the past two D23 Expos!), so have some fun with them!
On Twitter, Disney will have an official hastag (likely #MonstrousSummer24), so tag all of your posts with that hashtag. Some websites are even planning on covering the entire event in fun ways! Plenty of Fan Pages on Facebook also will likely be sharing, so try to determine in-advance who is going to be there, and subscribe to their updates or “Like” their fan page. I’ll be posting some updates on Twitter from @tom_bricker and Sarah will be posting constant live updates during the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter on Twitter @DisTouristBlog, on the Disney Tourist Blog Facebook page, and on Instagram. If you’re going to be posting updates from Disneyland or Walt Disney World, please feel free to post links to your blog or social media accounts in the comments to this post!
4. Bring the Right Supplies.
If you’re going to be Tweeting and Facebooking the day away, you’re going to need juice, or at least an outlet. During “One More Disney Day,” we saw a lot of people standing around just using outlets in the park. This looked absolutely no fun, but we didn’t have to do this, because we brought an external battery for charging our phone on the go. This is probably the best piece of advice in this article–spend the $20-40 on a nice external battery; it’s worth the money, as standing around charging your phone at Walt Disney World or Disneyland is no fun. Make sure you have plenty of memory cards and batteries for your camera, too. Beyond batteries, come prepared for all types of weather.
Why not throw a $.99 poncho in your bag for peace-of-mind? Bring some protein bars and vitamins to keep you energized. From what I’ve gathered from various television commercials, there is this amazing product on the market called 5-Hour Energy that gives you a boost without any “crash.” What a miraculous invention! 
For other things you should bring, check out our Disney packing list.
5. Experience the Un-experienced!
Ever done every ride in the Magic Kingdom in one day? Ever experienced Tomorrowland Transit Authority once every hour for twenty-four straight hours? Ever done Splash Mountain at 3:59 am? What about Haunted Mansion at 4:59 am? Have you seen Fantasmic at 1 am? What about Captain EO at…errr…let’s just skip that one all together. The point is that being in the park overnight affords you all sorts of crazy and unique opportunities to say “I did ________ at __ am!” The photo above is a pre-dawn photo I took of Sleeping Beauty Castle. One of my favorite experiences on “One More Disney Day” was just standing in this tranquil spot in the early morning after all the craziness had subsided, waiting for the park to close. When the clock finally hit 6 a.m., the remaining guests on Main Street cheered loudly, and it truly was one of those “chills” moments, as we had all managed to stay in Disneyland all night long.
Only crazy Disney fans would find joy in such bragging rights, but if you’re reading this, chances are that you’re a crazy Disney fan! So do some crazy-things about which you will someday be able to tell your kids or grand-kids. Even if you don’t plan on staying in the park for all 24 hours, there are a lot of fun things you can do that are unique to the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter. If you know you won’t be able to make it all 24 hours, we recommend going for the overnight portion, as it will be the most unique. Participate in the many meets taking place in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Have fun!
A day when the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, and Disney California Adventure are all open for 24-consecutive hours doesn’t happen very often, so if you’re considering going, DO IT! Trust us, it’s a lot of fun. You may experience heavier crowds than normal and longer waits, but the experience and ambiance of the parks more than makes up for the crowds. It’s something unique that you’ll remember for a long time.
I know that when I tell our kids about the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter sometime in the distant future, it won’t be a 24-hour event,” it’ll be “an epic 48 Disney Party,” and we’ll have stayed in the park for all 48 of them, battling 0 degree temperatures, snow, sleet, hail, and rain, as we experienced every single attraction at Disneyland 48 times each. By the time I get a chance to tell my grandchildren the story, you better believe that it will include my fighting a T-Rex with my bare hands and riding Splash Mountain with ALF. Half the fun in these types of events is the memories and stories you can later tell, and like any sage adult, I will embellish the heck out of all my stories!
Your Thoughts…
Did you do “One More Disney Day” last year, and if so, did you enjoy it? Are you doing the Monstrous Summer All-Nighter? If so, please share your thoughts and plans in the comments!
20 Responses to “Monstrous Summer All-Nighter Planning Tips”
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- Disney Tourist Blog News - Vol. 1, No. 2 - Disney Tourist Blog - [...] More Disney Day” planning tips highlighted. Critics scoff at half-hearted endorsement of 5 Hour Energy, feeling Mr. Pibb & ...
- "One More Disney Day" Live Reporting! - Disney Tourist Blog - [...] you may have seen in our “One More Disney Day” planning post, we’re heading to Disneyland for #Disney24! Sarah ...
- One More Disney Day: The Recap - Part 1 - TouringPlans.com Blog | TouringPlans.com Blog - [...] Adventure, and is a fair distance from Disneyland’s main entrance. As a photographer, my big goal for the morning ...
- Monstrous Summer All Nighter – Who’s Going? | Why I runDisney - [...] on attending this year. Tom and Sarah Bricker run the Disney Tourist Blog. Check out their tips here. Tom ...
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I read on touring plans that city hall @ MK has a free device check to charge all your batteries. Just bring the charger and they’ll give you a claim check!
I’ll be in Disneyland and tweeting as much as I can (from my non-smartphone) @Belgarion42.
We will be live blogging One More Disney Day at http://www.mouseonthemind.com/liveblog/. We’ll have three+ bloggers in WDW, one in Disneyland and two aboard the Disney Fantasy!! Please follow along and share with your friends!!
Sounds exciting, best of luck with it!
Thanks, Tom!!
We’ll be posting updates and periodic livestreaming beginning 2/28. Follow us on Twitter @planthemagic and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/planthemagic
Looking forward to sharing the fun!!
Awesome; best of luck with the updates!
You guys who are going should check out The Photographer’s Ephemeris. They have apps for android & iPhone and it tells you the direction and altitude of the sun and moon at any time of day. They also have a free desktop program you can use. Figure it might help plan out those sunrise shots at Disneyland.
http://photoephemeris.com/
(I also posted this comment on the ISO5571 page, but figured I’d post it here as well)
Michael, that’s a great site! Thanks for sharing. Will be posting pics shot in WDW from @planthemagic if you’re interested. Going to experiment shooting everything on my iPhone 4s to see how far I can push the technology. Should be interesting!
That should! Hopefully you have an external battery or something to keep charged all day long!
Yep, TPE is an excellent tool. It helped me plan some Disneyland shots for this trip!
Are you planning to attend, if so which park?
I booked a hotel room at Disneyland as soon as info about this leaked over a month ago (knowing prices would go up), but part of me wants to switch it to Florida…so not really sure at this point.
On kind of a side note, I really think it’d be cool if you added a calendar on this site to inform us of when you’ll be taking trips to Disney World and Disneyland. It’d add a layer of excitement if I knew that I was going on vacation the same time as you and Sarah and could bump into both at any moment on the TTA or just taking photos of Spaceship Earth!
We are going to be in Walt Disney World. Would love to run into you guys if you switch to FL, we love your pics and blog! Keep us posted on where you end up going!
Now I have to convince my family to to do this for my birthday? Great. I dont think they’ll last the night.Thanks for writing the article cause without it, I wouldn’t have known it was happening.
you lost me at #4 wen you recommended bringing 5 Hour Energy drinks. Energy drinks are dangerous to many and should be avoided.
Tom, what were the crowds like the day after OMDD? We’re booked at the GCH Saturday through Tuesday. We boked knowing it was a holiday weekend, and that Monstorous Summer was most likely happening, but we’re headed home from Aulani and I couldn’t resist extending our trip by a few days! I’m hoping the crowds will be lower on Saturday than they normally would be because so many locals and visitors will be exhauted from Friday. What do you think?
It was dead the day after OMDD. Completely dead. However, that was a weekday in February, and this will be a holiday weekend. I’d expect Magic Kingdom to be lighter than normal, but don’t expect everything to still be a walk-on. It’ll still be reasonably busy.
We will be there too tweeting away! I rented a lens for this trip so I am pretty excited to use it at off times. See you guys there, thanks for the tips!