Disney princesses, Teslas, helicopters? Prom entrances, looks that went viral in 2024

Each year high school students up the ante more and more for prom. As the school year winds down and summer begins, we're taking a look at some of the biggest viral moments on social media when it came to prom looks and entrances in 2024.

Many of course chose to enter their proms riding in style like this high school in Miami that had teens pulling up in fancy cars like Tesla Cybertrucks, Bentleys and BMWs.

This fly prom couple from a high school in Uganda took flight and descended to their prom in a helicopter.

This prom entrance was giving "Addams Family"/"Wednesday" vibes as the teen arrived in a hearse and came out of a casket for a very unique entrance.

Two different groups of students had a blast entering their proms walking out of the back of livestock trailers.

This prom beauty chose to have a slithering accessory to complement her look.

Ultimately, the goal of a great prom entrance was to always go out with a bang or in this case with a whole parade and fireworks.

Prom night flashback: See your fave celebrities in dresses, suits before they were famous

Many prom looks in 2024 were Disney-inspired

In addition, some of the biggest social media reactions from prom this year came from looks that were inspired by Disney princes and princesses.

Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami, Florida took the internet by storm with their “Once Upon A Time” prom theme.

Khadidra Muhammad, CEO and lead event producer of Priceless Event Planning, LLC, was enlisted to help develop the theme. Muhammad is no stranger to creative designs. She has been the director behind many children parties, weddings, special events and now prom. In addition, she has covered celebrity events for singer Mary J. Blige and an Arabian-themed birthday party for rapper Cardi B.

The Florida high school, the first historically black high school created in South Florida in 1926, has always exhibited a sense of community. This year's theme brought the students and community together as students dressed up as princesses, princes and villains for a prom night to remember.

Activities Director, Talia Williams, and Senior Class Sponsor, Tia Ellis, told USA TODAY how the prom theme came about before it went viral on TikTok.

‘Once Upon A Time' prom theme was an idea that came into fruition

While working with the Student Government Association (SGA) Williams proposed five prom themes to them in the summer. A process of elimination was conducted and a prom theme was chosen.

“The Disney theme came about because I just thought it was amazing if we could have princesses and have all of the kids dressed as princesses,” Williams said. “We kind of have a hard time usually getting our kids to get into our themes, so I have to get my SGA involved and say, ‘what about if you guys can see yourselves walking around with the princess gowns on, what if we got cardboard cut outs of you guys as promotion pictures first.’ My president and vice president at the time really loved it.”

Ellis and Williams said that prom is notoriously known for its provocative dresses and for their high school they wanted to change that narrative by offering a theme that would be enjoyable and appropriate.

“We kind of wanted to go with something where our kids would stand out, but also still look beautiful,” Williams said. “Enjoy themselves, giving them the option to pick their own dresses."

“She also had this amazing idea to hire princesses. Who sung, they danced, and they took pictures,” Ellis said.

Two of the princesses that they highlighted were Princess Belle and Princess Tiana. Both characters brought their stories to life through their songs, performances and interactions with the high school students.

Two years ago, Ellis’ idea “Dripping in Luxury” was chosen to be the prom theme for that year. Even though that prom theme was great, not a lot of students participated. This time, with Williams’ “Once Upon A Time” theme the students brought the storybooks to prom.

“This one was actually magical, and we did the big large storybook with the balloons and everything and it just pulled everything together,” she said. “The kids did an amazing job this year at bringing it to life.”

The high school is in a low-income area, but Williams said they did their best to make sure everyone could be a part of it.

“We wanted them to participate, so we kind of did our part to make sure we had lots of kids that could go, whether it was paying for them or any of those things,” she said. "We just needed everyone to participate.”

D'Yani Bivens, a senior at the high school, dressed up like Princess Jasmine and won prom queen. Bivens loves the Disney character but wanted to wear something that was more authentic.

“Princess Jasmine is one of my favorite princesses and I wanted to go different because she is an Arabic princess and I wanted to go more traditional,” Bivens said. “So I did the traditional Sari and the Choli.”

Bivens attended prom last year but said for this year’s theme all of the students participated.

“Everybody had a lot more spirit, like school spirit in this prom,” she said. “Everybody dressed up, they were a Disney princess or they were a villain.”

Although Ellis and Williams liked all of the outfits that were at the prom, they did have some favorites.

“I had three personal favorites. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and the traditional Jasmine,” Williams said.

Ellis liked the princesses but liked other storybook characters as well.

“My favorite was Maleficent because her date was the crow. He had a very long croquet and it was so beautiful. All came together and I like Little Red Riding Hood," she said. "Just the details with the apples. I love them all and my last one would be Tinker Bell, because she even had the prosthetic ears that looked like Tinker Bell.”

Another viral moment with same theme brings Cinderella to life

With the same theme, event planner Khadidra Muhammad turned heads in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as she brought the Cinderella story to life in a Lancaster neighborhood. The scenery had social media users stunned. On TikTok, the video has amassed thousands of views and comments.

In March Muhammad's client, Treva Harris, asked her if she could create a magical Cinderella theme for her daughter's prom.

"My client is Treva and we actually did her son's prom send-off last year," Muhammad told USA TODAY.

Harris and Muhammad started working together with her son's prom. Harris told USA TODAY that the theme she had in mind was a BET red carpet. However, she had no idea how that would come to life.

"I had already had his suit done and the young lady already had a dress, so I knew that I wanted something more elegant and a little classy," Harris said. "I don't know how she came up with the idea of having the front of the house with balloons from top to bottom. I think that was the talk of the town with that balloon structure that she placed on the front of the building, but everything just turned out to be super fantastic and we got so much positive feedback from that event."

Based on the reactions from her son's prom, Harris decided to contact Muhammad again for her daughter's prom.

"Now [it's] her daughter's prom and she contacted me and was like, 'hey, thinking about doing a prom send-off again but she wants Cinderella and a castle to be incorporated somehow' that was pretty much all she gave me and I was just like okay."

Harris said the idea stemmed from her wedding in 2011. When she got married, her daughter was her fairy godmother that transformed her into Cinderella. Now, the roles would be reversed.

Harris said the way that Muhammad set the stage for her daughter's prom, many people felt like they just opened a page of a storybook or traveled to Disneyland to see Cinderella in-person.

"So many people, I wanna say children, adults, everyone, no matter what age they were, in that moment, it just felt magical," Harris said. "You'll see in some of the comments, some people are like, 'I thought we were in Disneyland.' Like it just took you from one place to another for 30 seconds, but even then alone it is a great feeling. I'm so proud of that moment."

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at aforbes@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter).

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prom 2024: Extravagant entrances, looks that took over social media