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When I wrote about One More Disney Day I made an oversight: I didn’t check to see if the event was exclusive to Disney World or if it’s happening at Disneyland as well. My article on the subject only mentions the Orlando park.
Thanks to The Orange County Register I’ve found out that Disneyland is also celebrating Leap Year by keeping its gates open for a full 24 hours. In fact, the event is going to be basically the same as in Orlando: the fun starts at 6 a.m. on the 29th and will continue to that same early hour in the morning on March 1.
Only Disneyland will be open for the full time; other parks at the complex, like California Adventure, will follow more normal hours. The One More Disney Day Sweepstakes, in which a free visit to the park for Leap Year will be given away each day until the 29th, also applies for Disneyland.
As is swiftly becoming the case, a local paper (in this instance The Orlando County Register) has more details on the event than the Official Disney Parks Blog announcement. Disneyland is allowing guests to begin lining up for the Leap Year Extravaganza hours before it kicks off. Parking (and thus the queuing) begins at 10 p.m. on February 28th and lasts until 6 a.m. the next day.
The special parking is only valid for the Pumbaa Parking Lot, which is on Disney Way. The first 2,000 people in line the night before the Leap Year Extravaganza will receive special limited edition Mickey Mouse Ear hats. Restrooms will also be provided for guests in the line.
Different colored wristbands will be issued to those waiting, with the colors based on arrival times. Disneyland is doing this because between 10 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. guests will be allowed to wander around the esplanade – they won’t have to stay in their one place in line. The wristbands will help determine when they should be allowed to enter. Everyone will briefly have to leave the esplanade at 4:30 a.m. for a security check, but will be allowed to return when it’s over.
I’m a little worried about how much devotion Park execs are encouraging in Disney fans. Disneyland (and likely Disney World) execs are actually trying to turn the act of waiting in line for over 6 hours (a total of 8 hours to be precise) into a party. It’s going to be like a giant parking lot tail gate.
But really – can you imagine being so excited to get into an overcrowded amusement park that you’d show up 8 hours befoerhand? I know plenty of people do this for midnight movie premieres or even iPhone releases, and it’s not that different. But Disney’s providing bathrooms and wristbands and even handing out prizes; as usual, the House of Mouse has no trouble taking an already obsessive trend and pushing it just one step farther in accommodating and even encouraging it.
It should still be a good party, and there you have it: any of you West Coasters, or even just those who were planning to head out to Anaheim at the end of the month, also have the chance to participate in the One More Disney Day Leap Year Extravaganza. I make fun of Disney sometimes for using exaggerated language when they promote themselves, but I have to say that One More Disney Day sure sounds like it could easily become an extravaganza.
Related Articles:
Disney Park Secrets: The Mark Twain Riverboat
Adventures by Disney: New Destinations for 2012
No Longer the Happiest Turkeys on Earth
Most Frightening Disney Moments
(*This image by Denise Cross is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
