One More Day

This year we spent Leap Day at Disneyland. However, my parents planned this extravagant vacation in Newport Beach over four months ago. It wasn't until January that Disneyland announced that they would be open for 24 hours on February 29. Of course when I saw the preview for this I started to cry, then I cried harder knowing that we would be there on such a magical day {literally}.

I will not get into my love and passion for Disney {however you best believe that post will come within the next few days}, but I will give you the statistics of how busy that day got. Wednesday February 29, Disneyland opened it's gates at 6am to welcome families by standing down Main Street USA with huge Mickey hands high-fiving all the children who passed {don't you love how Disneyland goes out of their way to keep the magic alive, especially to those who go out of their way to be there on such a special day}. If I had known that, I might have pulled my lazy trash out of bed to be there and cry a little harder to see people display their appreciation and excitement! Wait, you did know I cried three times the first 30 minutes we were there right? Again I am saving that for another post....

Back on topic.... the gates were opened, the park was ready to greet people who were ready to party a whole 24 hours = 68,400 seconds aka 68,400 more memories. We all arrived around 10am, got our picture taken in front of the castle, and made it until midnight. Yep, that is right, we lasted a whole 14 hours!!! Our beloved and devoted husbands took the kids back to the hotel while us sisters continued to have a blast. We then met up with our husbands around 9pm. By the time we left the park, we thought we were going to be sleep walkers. We were pooped! As we left the park it only seemed to be getting busier. The streets were packed with overflowing cars. As we walked, I don't believe I saw one of them move... not even an inch.

Want to know how many people were there? A grand total of 106,000 people, 66,000 of those were annual pass holders {and in case you care, there are just about 900,000 annual pass holders so far this year}. Disneyland was expecting around 52-56 thousand guest, so as you can imagine they were totally understaffed. The lines were long, the rides broke down, but the churro stands stood strong and provided enough for all to partake! Yep I had 2.5 that day! For the record, Leap Day was the busiest it has been in the history of any holiday {minus the dates of December 25 - January 2} and I think it is fair to say that over 50% of those people were annual pass holders. However, the crowds did not start to pick up until about 7pm that night, so we were lucky and smart to have been there as early as we did.

So you think you are sad for missing one more day at the Happiest Place on Earth... well you should be!!! It was magical, fantastic, and we really did make that many more memories. Unless you hate crowds then don't beat yourself up... just don't plan to be there on any other Leap Day because according to these numbers I am guessing Disney will do this again!