A couple of weeks ago I attended the prestigious Monsters University (Pixar Animation Studios). Monsters University’s haunted halls have been producing top rate scarers since it was founded in 1313. My nerves were on edge when I arrived, would I be scary enough?

There was so much to see and do on campus. We stayed close to our orientation leader, Marshall. He led us through the grounds and showed us where we needed to go.

When we arrived on campus we first went to get our photos for our student ID cards taken. I think mine came out pretty scary.

After our orientation photos were taken we saw a very special orientation film to get us acquainted with Monsters University. Here is the latest trailer for Monsters University. Our special film was actually the first forty minutes of the Monsters University movie, plus the short film The Blue Umbrella. In the orientation movie we were introduced to a couple of superstar freshmen, James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski. I was lucky enough to have a photo taken with the guys, too.

After the orientation movie there was an opening reception where I was able to mingle with the other students as well as professors like Professor of Monsterous Animation Directing, Dan Scanlon (Director of Monsters University). I spoke with Dan at length about the orientation movie and how much I enjoyed it. He was very down to earth and excited to hear what people thought of it. I found it to be excellent and very enjoyable. I cannot wait to see the rest of it when the full movie arrives in theaters June 21. Until then there is a brand new trailer to watch.

I also spoke with Professor of Realistic Animation Directing, Saschka Unseld (Director of The Blue Umbrella). With me was Matt Blum of GeekDad.com. He was also a student of Monsters University. The two of us spoke with Saschka for a while, asking a bunch of questions about the inspiration for The Blue Umbrella.

It was an excellent first day at the University but it was time to head back to the dorms for a big day the next day, classes were starting.

On the second day at Monsters University I was feeling much better about being there. I had met many other classmates and we were all excited and nervous about the day of classes ahead. We loaded into the campus van and headed to Monsters University.

When we arrived there was a marching band there to greet us and tons of student organizations eager to sign up some fresh faced wide eyed freshmen. We were given our student IDs and the days syllabus plus some additional information.

We entered the main campus building (The Steve Jobs Building) for an orientation breakfast and welcome.

We were split into two groups, the purple and the green. I was in the green group and we went together to our classes for the day. I’ll detail more about the classes in a future post but I can say that they were pretty darn amazing. If only I could have stayed on campus and gone to those classes for four years…

After our classes we headed out to the quad for a pep rally and tailgate lunch. The marching band’s drum line was there along with some of the MU cheerleaders. They cheered us on as we entered the quad and continued to play and cheer while we enjoyed a tasty tailgate style lunch. The food was delicious with a fried chicken salad, sliders, mini mac and cheese cups and the tasty treat called the “It’s-It” which is a chocolate covered ice cream cookie (oatmeal) sandwich.

With our bellies full we went back into the main campus building to meet with our student advisers (Round table interviews with Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae and Saschka Unseld). I’ll be telling you about what we spoke about in those sessions in a future post.

With our meetings done for the day we took a mini tour of campus to areas that most monsters cannot go and where photography was forbidden. There we saw a bunch of behind the scenes materials that were used to put together the orientation film (Monsters University). There were models, paintings, drawings and more. Each item had something to do with the creation of the film. With our tour complete we completed an exit exam and I am happy to say that I passed with flying colors.

I did make sure to stop off at the Student Store (Pixar Studio Store) before I went home.

I had to make sure to pick up some Monsters University items for the whole family.

It was a fantastic couple of days and I met so many other magnificent monsters. We took a bunch of group photos before we left including this one.

I also got a couple of photos taken of me as we left including a last photo with Mike and Sulley.

This was one fantastic experience.

Disclosure: I did not receive monetary compensation for this review. I attended an all expense paid Disney and Pixar hosted event in April. The opinions expressed are 100% my own.