NEW YORK (UPI) -- More than 1 million revelers reportedly flocked to New York's Times Square Monday to watch the ball drop and ring in 2008.

"I came all the way from Thailand to be here and it was all worth it," spectator Surisa Vatha told the New York Daily News.

"It's amazing," said Wilson Antongiorgi, who flew in from Puerto Rico to attend the event. "I hope everyone in the world has the opportunity to be here at least once in their lifetime. Already we've met people from Mexico, Italy, Spain and France."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was joined by Police Academy valedictorian and Iraq war veteran Karolina Wierzchowska in helping to drop the enormous, glittering New Year's Eve ball at 1 Times Square moments before midnight, the Daily News said.

For Monday night's festivities, the 1,415-pound crystal globe was outfitted with more than 9,500 energy-efficient diodes, using about the same amount of energy to light the 600 crystals as is needed to fire up 10 toasters, CNN reported.

The first ball dropped in Times Square in 1907 was made of iron and wood and lit with 100 light bulbs.