Look Out Disneyland Here We Are! Leap Day

One More Disney Day Celebration  

As we leave from DCA after the Wonderful World of Color on Feb. 28th, we see people already lining up for the One More Disney Day Celebration On Feb. 29th.  Guess we will have little or no chance of getting a free Mickey Mouse Ears Hat.  My daughter has hope so her mother & brother get up early to get into line there.   The celebration is scheduled from 6:00 AM, February 29^th till 6:00 AM the next morning.  So at 4:30 they headed out for the park.  They found the line too long.  They texted “Sleep in.” But for me Disneyland was right across the street.  I couldn't sleep.  I was wondering what was happening there.  The neat thing about Southern California is every channel on the TV had a reporter at the Main Gate.  Bouncing through the numerous TV channels and listening to fluff reporter and weathermen, I saw what was happening at the Main Gate.

They confirmed that the hats were gone.  I decided to get ready to go over and join my family.  Then at about 6:15, my family texted that they were walking in the gate.  I jumped in the shower and headed over.  I reached the crosswalk and  I saw a large group of people on the other side waiting to cross. That's when I noticed on their heads those special hats.  So as I walked to security and the main Gate, I counted the valuable hats leaving the park.  At first there were just a few but then the number shot up.  In all, I counted 111 hats, and it was just 7:30 in the morning.   I entered the turn styles and did receive a commemorative button.  It was the same saying that was stenciled on the front of the Mickey Mouse ears.  


They had a banner that welcomed everybody, hanging at the tunnel under the berm.  I snapped a couple pictures, and texted to find where my family was at.  Cell phones changed our adventure to Disneyland.  Back in the old days we bought walkie-talkies.  There were only a few channels.  We constantly heard other people’s conversations.

I joined my family.  They were in line for the Autotopia.  I waited for them to finish the ride. They had been up since Dark Thirty and they were hungry. 

With big crowds, a great plan is to sit and eat.  24 hours gives you a long time to get everything in so a good breakfast is in order.  It was still cold.  Remember the snow that we had to dodge over the Grapevine.  So my wife suggested that we eat inside for a change.  Inside my favorite breakfast spot, the River Belle Terrace, we ordered mass quantities of food. There were four of us so we ordered five meals.  That 17-year-old boy with a hollow leg needs to be fed. 

 Another activity I learned from my Mother was when it is busy shop.  We were noticing some cool tee shirts and sweat shirts.  They read, “I Took the Leap and Didn’t Sleep.  I pulled an All-Nighter at Disneyland.”  There were two different styles.  My daughter chose the less loudly colored one.  

She also found out that she could get a set of Mickey Mouse ears and they would embroider the Leap day information on the back.  Actually it was nicer than the give-a-way.  The day was getting really busy so my wife, son, and I went back to the room for a nap.  My daughter didn’t want to “cheat” so she stayed behind with her friend and parents determined to stay all 24 hours.  I think it was a quest on her part now.  We did get Fast Passes for Star Tours.  We had to return between 5:15 and 6:15.  I was glad we got them. It was so busy by that time.  This was the best Star Tours we were on and we have ridden it least ten times since they changed it.  They pick a person in the cabin and identify them as a Rebel Spy.  Some Empire types tries to stop us.  This time it was Darth Vader himself. It was the first time we have seen him in the scenarios. 

After the encounter with Darth Vader, we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room.  I could have stayed there the rest of the night, you get to sit down.  However, when we went out the line was outrageous.  So I went over to the Tomorrowland Terrace.  They have three things chairs, music and people dancing.  One More Disney Day and I'm doing something that I did forty-two years ago.  It was New Years Eve. The year was changing from 1969 to 1970 on that night. I was there to see the decade change at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace. It was a great spot to watch people dancing and listening to futuristic music. Then it was rock and roll, now it is a DJ and Hip Hop. The DJ synthesized "the girls are standing in the line to the bathroom."  Sure it's catchy but it's no “Nonona Hey Hey.”   

Oddly for all the changes dancing hasn't changed much only the dance floor is more crowded and there is one guy and a computer instead of the group steam playing instruments. I think I'll take a picture. WTF! Somebody took seat.  So, I moved on.  Totally separated from my family now.  I tried to call them without success.  There were tens of thousands of people and they too were trying to use their phones too.  The cell service was jammed and almost unusable.  So I knew they were waiting for the parade so I worked my way back towards Main Street.  I finally got through on a garbled broken call to my wife it was 10:00 and she was headed back to the motel room.  I have not seen such crowds since July 17^th 2005, for the 50^th Anniversary.  You could not move.  Only shuffle along using baby steeps.  It was like a herd of animals.  I mooed loudly.  There were several returned moos from others.  It was now midnight.

I felt that I spent Leap Day at Disneyland and I too was making my way toward to exit.  When I got to the gate and exited, I was totally surprised.  The crowd waiting outside was longer than it had been at 6:00AM.  It wound all the way to DCA and down toward Downtown Disney.  My son petered out about 3:30 and returned to the room.  He was such a good kid; he called us to let us know he was heading back alone.  My daughter and her friend made it all the way to 6:00 AM.  They were the true Disney All-Nighters. 

Would I ever do it in four years when Leap Year comes again?  No! not me.  I am way out of college and not able to pull all-nighters anymore.  It was fun to be part of history, but I have learned to take small doses of Disneyland at a time. And I’m keeping it that way from now on.