Approximately two weeks ago my family and I rocked our Disney Sides at the 24 hour party. The first I had ever heard about Disney’s 24 hour parties was a month prior to this one. Being the Disney Geek that I am, my first thought was “Heck ya”!! My enthusiasm waned as I read about past parties mainly because every article I read stressed the issue of large crowds. While I don’t normally like large crowds. Getting stuck in the middle of a crowd while in my wheelchair is far from pleasant. The last time this happened my daughter began to complain and said I was lucky because I was sitting. I replied by pointing out that she could at least breath fresh air, I had arses in my face, one pungent fart and I’d be dead. But it is not just my discomfort in crowds, I have to also consider the person who will be pushing my wheelchair, which is usually my husband. It sucks trying to push me through a sea of people and hope nobody is seriously hurt when they run into us or we into them. Since I know that I am unable to maneuver through the park on my own, I left the decision of whether or not we attended to my husband. To my surprise my husband said yes. Living nearby gave us the opportunity to check it out without stress. If the crowds became too great, we would just go home.
I would love to say that I was there for the full 24 hours. But there is no way I would be able to stay awake for that long. **I just love saying that!! To think that for 11 years my insomnia was so bad that I could have gone several days without sleep. With the medicinal route that I chose almost a year ago, now I always get a good nights rest.***** With my gold ears and matching Minnie bow and skirt, my daughter dressed as Belle, and my husband donning his Jack Sparrow hat we arrived at Disneyland and California Adventure around 1:00 PM.
I won’t lie, it was crowded, but there was something different. The crowd was calm. Never in all my years of visiting the Disneyland Resort have I experienced such a polite and relaxed crowd. Instead of having 9 out of every 10 people tripping over my legs and feet as they rushed to the next attraction or ride, I only had 1, yes just 1 per
son trip over me during our visit. The only explanation that my family and I could come up with is that knowing they had all day and night, people didn’t feel the need to rush. I know we didn’t feel like we needed to hurry. Or maybe it was because adults were allowed to be in costume. I saw some of the most awesome costumes, everything from Geppetto to Alice in Wonderland. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable visits to Disneyland EVER! The longest we had to wait for a ride on the Disneyland side was 45 minutes. Our longest wait over at California Adventure was 90 minutes and that is because we decided that we wanted to take the extra time by not going through the single rider line like we normally do and enjoy the Radiator Spring’s Racers together for once.
When my body needed a rest from the rides, I enjoyed the bands and DJ’s located in the various lands while my husband and daughter went on more rides. All the entertainment was fabulous. As much as we wanted to stay until 6:00 AM, we just couldn’t. We left the park around 4:00 AM. We weren’t the only ones that were ready to call it a night; it took a little over an hour to get on our shuttle and to our parking lot.
We shut off our doorbell the moment we arrived home; we were ready to sleep the day away. Thankfully it didn’t take me more than a day to get back to my normal sleep schedule. Overall, the 24-hour party was the best visit I have ever had. My family and I have decided that we would attend another should they do it again. The only thing we will do differently is that even though we are only a 40-minute drive to the park, we would rather stay at a hotel for this event so we can just crash into bed once we are done.
Gentle hugs,
The Disabled Diva