Tonight, at 10pm PDT, many people will start lining up for the Monstrous Summer All Nighter at the Disneyland Resort. Since I’m not an East Coast guy, I’m not sure about the details regarding this event at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. However, I do know that the line up will start at 10pm tonight at Disneyland. Then, at 6am tomorrow (May 24th), BOTH Disneyland AND Disney California Adventure parks will be open for an entire 24 hours. As many of you know, they opened Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom parks for 24 hours last year on February 29th. This was so successful, that the folks at Disney Parks and Resorts decided to do it again.

From what I read, the event at the Magic Kingdom went off well without any major negative feedback. However, out here, Disneyland saw overcrowding like they’ve never seen before. The event was on a Wednesday. So, it appears that the planners didn’t think that this event would be nearly as popular as it turned out. The major problems at Disneyland didn’t start, however, until 6-7pm when the Annual Pass holders descended on the park after work. By that time, management at Disneyland were largely off from work as well. So, when they left for the day, the crowds were manageable. As the Annual Pass holders descended to Disneyland for the all night event, attendance swelled rather quickly. I remember reading that the line to get off the 5 freeway at Disneyland Drive took people more than an hour. The Mickey and Friends parking structure filled quickly and traffic around Disneyland came to a stand still. Due to the traffic problems, even when managers tried calling in reinforcements, it would take those cast members longer to get in to help. In short, it was a mess.

In addition to the traffic mess, there was long lines to get into Disneyland. Because people wanted to be apart of this first ever over night event, the stand by line to get in was super long. What was amazing to me were the reports of people leaving Disneyland at 3 or 4 am and still finding long lines of people waiting to get in. Imagine that. Waiting in a long line just to get in for 2-3 hours at Disneyland. Crazy.

From what I could gather, it appeared that the people inside Disneyland had a blast. One of the bloggers whom I read all the time was there. On his blog, he has some tips that I would like to link y’all to if you are planning on attending this year. Tom and Sarah Bricker run the Disney Tourist Blog. Check out their tips here. Tom and Sarah take some amazing photos of the Disney Theme Parks. If you haven’t visited their blog and are a Disney fan, you owe it to yourself to do so.

If you haven’t made up your mind yet, check out the Disney Parks Blog for more information about the events, both at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World.

Even though last year’s event proved to be crazier for Disneyland than they planned, I’m confident that they will be much better staffed this year. Sadly, I won’t be able to join in the festivities. As a resident of Southern California, I have the advantage of picking and choosing when I go to Disneyland. Events like this one are ones I choose to skip because I know it will be crazy crowed. Other days you will not find me at the “Happiest Place on Earth” include July 4th and New Year’s Eve. It’s just too busy. However, I know that many people love these crazy busy days. So, is anyone else going? Please let us know.