Time Machine: One More Disney Day

February 29th, 2012 was known as Leap Day. Leap Year is the time when February gets 29 days not 28 days. 2 years ago, Disney decided to have Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in FL open from 6am on Feb 29th to 6am the next day (March 1st). I decided to attend the 24 hour day but I was able to spend 14 hours because I spent the first 10 hours preparing and having lunch with my parents. Getting there, it felt like a normal day but as the night arrived, the masses arrived and Disneyland was hit to capacity before midnight. I attended a "Midnight Snack" event arranged by the Disney Parks Blog people though there was a conflict as I was in the "Original" line for it while a second line formed. Disneyland Managers took care of it by making sure that those that were in the original line for the small event went in while those that tried to form a 2nd line was held back by Disneyland security. The small event was fun and some characters came out. To cap off the event, we were directed to New Orleans Square to an area reserved for us for Fantasmic! which was making a one night performance before going back to refurbishment as it was needed for the 24 hour day and wasn't scheduled to return until that weekend. The lines were long as expected but it caught the Disneyland executives off guard as they figured that there wouldn't be a lot of people (it fell on a weekday). There were even some Cast Members from California Adventure that had to come into Disneyland to help the overwhelmed Disneyland Cast Members (as I saw in New Orleans Square). California Adventure was not open for 24 hours that day.

By 5am, people were either leaving or gathering around Main Street for the final closing announcement at 6am which was a recording of the goodbye song from the Mickey Mouse Club. The video above is not mine but shows the closing announcement.

I got home before 7:30am and feeling a bit hungry, I heated up a tv dinner, ate it then went to bed. Woke up around 2:30pm and sure enough, my sleeping schedule did not change as a result of the all nighter. Would I do this again? Theres another one next week and I just might do it because its on the day after my graduation it would be like Grad Nite all over again. Only this time, I don't have to pay! Well...except for food and other stuff.

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