Well, it wasn’t actually supposed to be a sleepover, but that’s what happens when you take 8, 10, and 12 year olds to an overnight commercial shoot!

On a whim, I signed the girls up on a local casting website. I didn’t think much of it, but then availability requests started rolling. An availability request doesn’t mean you’ve booked a job, it just means you may meet the requirements they’re looking for, so if you are available for that shoot, they ask you to send certain information in. We had submitted for a few things, but never got chosen, until last year.

We were already planning a weekend away in Orlando, so when we got chosen to be a part of Disney’s 50th Anniversary commercial, we figured it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity! Patrick had no interest in it, so the girls and I carefully selected some outfits and made our trek to a parking lot outside of the parks at 8 p.m.

Our night started in a parking lot, where everyone who was there for the shoot was to be seen by wardrobe, and would be taken by bus to Magic Kingdom. We were given a style guide to look at when choosing our clothes, and I’ll be honest, it was definitely not what I’d typically wear to a theme park. But, we followed the guidelines and looked very country club chic for our night at Disney (except Molly, who went full on Minnie Mouse mode…for a bit at least). The stylist was lovely and complimented our choice of outfits, so I guess we chose well!

When it was time, everyone was loaded on a bus and taken to the back entrance of Magic Kingdom. There were a lot of us! Many families, some people on their own, some friend groups, some couples. Many of them seemed like pros who had done this many times. We had no clue what to expect!

We were taken to our holding area for the night, a restaurant in Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland Terrace was our home for the evening, while they were setting up the shoots. We found a spot to put our things down and waited to be called. Before we headed out to begin the night, the costumer decided that Molly and another little girl should be dressed like princesses. So, Molly got a Belle costume, purse, and stuffed animal to hold for the night.

We weren’t allowed to take photos during the shoot. But we started on Main Street and to our surprise, we got to see the 50th anniversary fireworks show before anyone else! The first part of the night was getting our reactions. After running the show through twice, they switched to just lighting cues to mimic the show. The girls very quickly got tired of reacting to basically nothing and by about 2 am, were starting to get grumpy.

Luckily, they decided to break and serve us breakfast around this time. Molly and Maddy decided they were too tired to eat and napped, while Regina and I grabbed food for everyone. It wasn’t long before Regina was zonked out, too.

The girls were able to get a couple of hours of sleep in while they took volunteers for some smaller shoots. Around 6, I woke the girls up and we headed out to Main Street again, but this time closer to the castle. We got to watch the sunrise over Cinderella’s Castle, an experience we’ll never get again. That perked the girls up a bit! Molly happily dragged her sisters along racing in front of the castle, acting like it was their first time seeing it.

For this shoot, there was a “main” family with their daughter as the lead in the commercial and the rest of us were just background actors. We had no idea what to expect in the final product, or when it would actually come out. While we were definitely questioning our decision at about 2 in the morning, overall, it was a great experience and an amazing memory to share. Not many people can say they got to spend the night in Magic Kingdom, see the 50th-anniversary fireworks before anyone else, and watch the sunrise over Cinderella’s Castle.

We found the commercial on YouTube, but it also frequently airs on tv. We’ve especially noticed it during football games. We were pleasantly surprised to see a good shot of Maddy and Regina in front of the castle (which happened during one of Molly’s many bathroom breaks). And at the very end, you can see Maddy, Regina, and me watching the castle show (I had held Molly for about 2 hours during this part of the shoot, but they apparently only used the footage of when she was in front of me standing). Molly looked the cutest of us all and didn’t even make it in!

Here’s the YouTube link to the commercial. Look closely at the still image and you can clearly see Regina, Maddy, and me!