Response to the Second 24 Hour Disney Day

Two weeks ago Disney embarked on their second all nighter, the "Monstrous Summer All Nighter" on May 24th. This was in response to last years "One More Disney Day" On February 29th, leap day. The idea seemed to be good, and it appears as though Disney learned from last years issues that saw many un-Disney like things occur. To start, consider the timing: the May 24th date coincided perfectly with the Memorial Day vacation crowds. It appeared that Disney saw this as a way to take guests away from their competition by staying open overnight. Whether it worked or not remains to be seen, and though we will never know, it must be assumed that it certainly put a dent into the other parks attendance for two days.

Disney made a few changes this year, on both coasts that made the experience better for guests: In Disneyland, parts of California Adventure remained open as did all of Disneyland, and on both coasts the parks were closed to employees, unless they purchased a ticket on their own. This made a huge difference, as it appeared and was claimed by many that last years extravaganza was mired by what seemed like college frat parties. The lack of employees and college program employees no doubt had an effect on the crowds. Sadly to say, their absence made the experience much more child friendly, with less illegal activity and lewd images being presented.

The point of the new 24 hour day appeared to mark the beginning of the summer, and to promote the opening of Monster's University. Though not really a promotion, the name of the event was promotion enough. The second point was to take money out of the pockets of Universal, and Sea World respectively. Though Sea World is not huge competition, it was said that for those two nights both franchises had lower than expectation numbers, and that was a result of the Disney raid. The long day on the 24th followed by people needing the 25th to recuperate.

All in all the 24 hour Disney day proved successful, even if its crowd was not as big as last year (the lack of cast member guests kept that number down). The question is how often this might reoccur, on a yearly basis or less often? By doing it a second time, with the mistakes made being rectified suggests that they may make this a yearly occurrence. Stay tuned for rumors about next year.