During Pride Month this year, Disneyland and Disney World has embraced the celebration with exclusive merchandise, food, displays and the very first Disneyland Pride Nite event which took place after hours at the theme park on Tuesday and has an encore on Thursday night. The debut event looked like an absolute blast for its attendees, with some rather iconic moments for the park’s Stitch character, who was getting down at the event’s dance parties all night long.
The special Disneyland event that painted Main Street U.S.A. rainbow (literally) from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. featured all sorts of fun character interactions. Mickey, Minnie and friends all strutted at the theme park in pride outfits, but we really need to talk about Stitch’s dancing. Attendees couldn’t stop sharing videos of experiment 626 getting down on TikTok. I mean, just check out the character having a ball to Britney Spears’ “Toxic”:
@beyondtheturnstile ♬ original sound - BeyondTheTurnstile
He’s seriously got the moves and in a brown leather jacket and matching cap no less. And that wasn’t the only song he appeared for. There’s also this moment where Stitch danced along with “Run The World” by Beyoncé and the crowd was here for it:
@itsjessicamcdonald ♬ original sound - Jessica McDonald
At another point, Stitch also showed up with his full Elvis Presley outfit from the original film to bop around to “Dancing Queen” by ABBA. The character really brought the party to Pride Nite!
@mandalodien ♬ original sound - A L O D I E
Stitch could be seen at the event’s “Ohana Dance Party,” which Disneyland describes as a “family-friendly, joyful dance party with Disney Characters.” The theme park’s Pride Nite had a few places throughout the parks for guests to dance it off, including by the Rivers of America and the Golden Horseshoe. The event also featured a small parade featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse among other core characters.
All sorts of Disney characters were spotted at Pride Nite, from the Evil Queen from Snow White, to Terk from Tarzan, to Cruella de Vil and the Queen of Hearts. One special appearance that got people really talking was when the Muses of Hercules, who are truly a rarity at the Disney Parks, showed up. Check it:
@disneyd23 ♬ original sound - Disney D23
While theme park goers can just about always expect characters like the Disney Princesses or the Star Wars characters to be roaming about, it was a real perk to see Stitch and the Muses among other favorites. It’s a great time to see Stitch too given a live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch has rounded out its cast and is in production. Not to mention a live-action Hercules movie is also among Dsiney's upcoming movies.
While Disney Parks have been hosting Gay Days since the early 1990s, Pride Nite was a first-time special event to celebrate the studios’ many LGBTQ+ fans and provide a safe space for them to party it up with their community. Universal Orlando is also celebrating Pride this June with merchandise that will be donated to LGBTQ+ organizations. With the first Pride Nite on the books, it was great to see so much joy coming out of the evening.
