It's Called Leap Day-Not Sleep Day-OMDD with the TCD Gang!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hey, it's a new TCD trip report!

Oh boy!

This is the tale of the TCD gang's visit to WDW for the One More Disney Day Leap Year event.

We heard about this on our last stay at the Fort.

On New Year's Eve.

For the first time ever, the MK would stay open for 24 hours.

Wow!

We had to be there!

But, the 29th fell on a Wednesday.

That's a school day.

The TCD twins worked very hard to convince Mrs. TCD and I that they should be allowed to go.

Truthfully, I didn't need much convincing.

But how would we do this?

The old Boy Scout in me knew that we needed to be prepared. What would we do if the weather was bad? How would transportation work? What if we wanted to take a rest somewhere during the day?

I figured we needed a base camp.

But we could only stay for one night.

If we did this, the girls would have to miss two days of school.

There is no way that we would let them miss more.

I didn't want to mess with setting up camp at the Fort for one night.

We have done plenty of one night stays at the All Stars, and have had great times on those visits.

But, the All Stars are a long way from the MK.

I wanted to be closer.

The twins suggested we get a room at the Contemporary Resort.

That was a good suggestion.

Except for one thing.

The price.

I'm cheap.

Rooms at the Contemporary are not.

But, the Contemporary would make a perfect base camp for this historic visit.

So, I opened up my wallet, let the moths fly out, and we booked the room.

I got a Passholder discount, and we went with a Bay Lake view Tower room, which was a little cheaper than the MK view rooms.

So, we were all set.

Now the plan. . .

Since the MK was opening at 6 am on the 29th, and we would have to get up early anyway, I decided that we would just leave from home early that morning, park at the Contemporary, hit the MK, and then check in later.

We went to bed like normal on the 28th. But my alarm was set for 2 am.

And that's when we got up.

We got ready, and were on the road by 3.

There wasn't much traffic at that hour.

But there was quite a bit of fog.

It never got too heavy, but I was worried for a while that the fog might get bad enough that they would be closing I-4. Especially after the tragedy that happened on I-75 in January.

Fortunately, the fog did not get heavy enough to warrant a road closing, and we were pulling up to the Contemporary guard shack at 4:30.

It's a good thing we had a reservation, because the guard actually checked.

They weren't letting anyone in the lot except for registered guests and those with room reservations.

Since we were early, I went ahead and checked in. We got our KTTW cards and parking pass, but the room wasn't ready yet. No suprise there. The castmember took my cell number and said they would text the room number later.

We went up to see if perhaps they had opened to quick serve restaurant early.

They didn't.

But the coffee machine was on, so that was good.

Here's something you wont see again for a long time, if ever:

Here is what we will call the before photo. The TCD twins in the CR before we headed over for our big day:

I wasn't sure that the monorails would be running this early.

But they were.

However, the MK is a short walk from the CR, and we didn't want to risk being stuck on a monorail somewhere. So we headed out to walk.

It was still very dark out as we headed out:

That's TCD twin #1 there on he walkway.

As you can see, no one else was walking along with us.

We weren't sure what to expect in terms of crowds.

Did the empty walkway mean that we would have the MK to ourselves?

Not so much!

As we approached the entrance, there was a huge crowd of people.

They were directing everyone to the right, but the left turnstiles looked like they were open too.

Some people ahead of us tried to go to the left.

They were told that only people with orange wristbands could enter on the left.

Who were they?

We never found out.

But I suspect that they might have been Passholders.

When this Leap Day event was first announced, they had a promotion which allowed Passholders to register for a free pair of "Leap Ears." The registration for this closed very quickly. From what I heard, the lucky Passholders who were able to register were told to check-in at the Transportation and Ticket Center at 4:15. I think they were then taken by monorail to the MK, and they got let in early.

We didn't get to go to the left.

We had to stand over here:

You can see that it was crowded and foggy.

And people kept coming.

This is what it looked like behind us:

There was a stage with bright lights set up in front of the train station:

You can see that the train was in the station:

Information about what exactly would be happening at the MK for this special day was hard to come by. I had read that there was going to be an opening show at 5:50 am. But, since the train was already there in the station, I figured that meant that the normal opening show, which includes characters arriving on the train, was not going to be performed.

We couldn't get close to the stage from where we were, but it was obvious that they were filming things over there. If you look closely at this photo, you can see Mickey is on the stage with a night cap on:

At about 5:45, the people in front of us began to move forward, and we could see that they were letting guest through the turnstiles.

Here, you can see that they were filiming folks coming through the turnstiles:

As soon as we made our way through the turnstiles, we hit a big crowd, and everyone seemed to stop. We could see that there were castmembers passing out Mickey Ears and Pins. And, boy were folks crowding around like they were giving away something for free. Which they were:

Here's the crowd in front of us:

Luckily for us, we were able to score some of the free ears:

But we were packed in like sardines!

Here's a look to our right:

Somewhere in this chaos, the train pulled away from the station. Tents blocked our view of the station from here, but the train is gone:

We could see a bit of the station, and we heard the Mayor of the MK come out and welcome the crowd:

Here's the crowd which was gathered to our left:

Remember it was dark and foggy, so you will have to excuse the quality of this photo which shows the train approaching the station in the pre-dawn darkness. This is something else that you will not see again for a long time, if ever:

The train had passengers, and they unloaded at the station:

You can see Mary Poppins up on the train platform, to the right of the tree in this photo:

Those tents blocked our view pretty good, but you can see some of the performers here, both to the left and right of the tents:

There was a countdown from ten to open the park, and I knew that meant some fireworks would go off. Here's what I caught of that:

Streamers get shot off along with the fireworks. You can see them hanging down from the platform in this photo:

Those fireworks meant it was time to go in to the MK, and the crowd surged forward:

We shuffled along with the crowd under this arch that we have walked under many, many times. But never before 6 am:

As we walked into the park, we grabbed a times guide, and headed on in.

Next up, we will look at the times guide, and begin our One More Disney Day!

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I'm in!! I knew there would be a lot of people attending this event but holy cow! Looking forward to your adventure, Andrew!

[SCTigerCock 171]

:jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I'm happy the daughters twisted your arm... :rofl2: :heart: :wave1:

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Wow!!! I'm happy we waited till "MUCH" later to enter!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in!! I knew there would be a lot of people attending this event but holy cow! Looking forward to your adventure, Andrew!

Yes, it was crowded at the beginning, but it wasn't bad at all once everyone got in and spread out. You'll see.

:jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I'm happy the daughters twisted your arm... :rofl2: :heart: :wave1:

Me too!

But as I said, there wasn't much arm twisting involved.

Wow!!! I'm happy we waited till "MUCH" later to enter!!

Yes, but did you get free ears?

You snooze; you loose!

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Anoterh TCD TR! What a great way to start the week!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Very cool! Being a morning person, I could much more easily be there at 5 am than stay in the park all night. Looking forward to more!

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Leapin Lizards!!! A TCD report AND I'm in on the first page! Woo Hoo to both!!! lol

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As we moved with the crowd through the train station, we were able to grab a times guide. This was our first look at the official schedule:

As you can see, most everything was set to be open for 24 hours. The exceptions were noted.

There wasn't much special going on. Except for the 24 hour part.

So, our plan was to ride everything.

With 24 hours to do it, that would not be a problem at all.

Here are the twins as we paused before heading down Main Street:

Here's the Main Street clock:

And here we are with the clock. We planned to stop by here again in 24 hours. You will have to read on to see if we made it:

These photos of the castle may not seem special, because you can see the castle after dark any night. But, if you look carefully, the clock shows that it is just after 6. It is never that dark at 6 pm:

The hub area was not very crowded:

Here we are just before we enter the castle:

And this is a look from up here down Main Street:

In this photo, you can see a guy in front of the castle, holding up a sign. You can see that he is being filmed. We saw this throughout the morning. Camera crews were traveling around and asking people to hold a sign that said One More Disney Day. We didn't get picked for this. I never heard when they planned on showing this footage. It will be neat to see it.

We decided to get things started in Fantasyland. There obviously were not small children in the crowds, so we correctly guessed that there would be short waits for all of these attractions first thing in the morning.

We did Peter Pan first:

Then Small World:

Then Snow White:

We could hear workers over the fence working on the Fantasyland expansion. It is amazing how much has been done in the past year. This artwork, which once seemed so hard to imagine, now makes a lot of sense:

We skipped Philharmagic and the Carousel for now. Those would be easy to do later, and moved on to Pooh:

The entry to the ride vehicles is elevated here, and this allowed us a good peek over the construction fence:

There are all kinds of Disney Pillow Pals available these days. This Mickey one does not look right:

Next stop was the Teacups.

Not my favorite.

But the deal was we had to ride everything.

And that meant the Teacups too. So hear we go:

Ug!

But, I survived.

We then headed to Tommowland.

We thought about stopping for the race cars, but the line was long.

I thought we should try to start collecting Fastpasses, so we passed by the race cars for now, and headed to Space Mountain. You can see it was still pretty foggy:

Here are the TCD twins about to board our rocket:

And here is a self portrait aboard the rocket:

We found out that the Fastpass machines would not be turned on until 8 am, so we headed over to Buzz:

Everything meant COP too. So we got that out of the way:

And then we rode the Peoplemover:

As we rode around, we notice that something is being built at the Space Mountain entrance near the Fastpass return queue:

I think this has something to do with the NextGen Fastpasses we have heard about.

We have never seen these R2D2 popcorn buckets before. It was too early for popcorn this morning, but we want to get one of these:

We hung around Tommorowland long enough to get some SM Fastpasses for later.

We decided to skip Stitch and the Laugh Floor for now, and headed over toward Main Street to hit the bakery for breakfast.

You can see that the fog was beginning to lift as the sun began to burn to fog off:

Next up, we head down Main Street to the bakery.

And we check out the new interactive game called Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I was just thinking it we were over due for a TCD report and I'd better check the new content... I was rewarded (sing song voice)!

I can't wait to go along on the Tr with you but boy am I glad I wasn't in that crowd!

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

I'm here... :popcorn:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I'm having fun already!! Except for the Tea Cups, ugh is putting it mildly. :top-points-smiley:

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I have been anxiously awaiting this one. So glad the girls did not have to twist your arm too much to convince you.

[Sheraugh ~~~ Sheila 21]

Enjoying this report all ready! Keep it coming, Please and Thank you!

[shoreline99 137]

Wow! A Bonus TCD special report!

Will they make it? Will the fog ever burn off? Will they survive the terrors of Disney after Dark?

Will TCD put his mad climbing skills to work in the MK?

Tune in, faithful readers...

:pc:

[Just Beachy 18]

:popcorn: I'm in & loving it!!

[Lil Lisa 53]

Awesome!! I'm in!

[stefa70 205]

So far, so good!

No way could I have handled that crowd without someone getting hurt, so I will live vicariously through the TCD gang.

It's especially nice to see so many pictures with you in them. :heart: You guys are too darn cute.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Anoterh TCD TR! What a great way to start the week!

Yes, it is a great way to start the week. Happy Monday!

Very cool! Being a morning person, I could much more easily be there at 5 am than stay in the park all night. Looking forward to more!

You are right about that. Getting there early was not much of a struggle at all. I knew that staying all night would be.

Especially since we got up at 2 am to get there that morning.

But, I had a plan!

Leapin Lizards!!! A TCD report AND I'm in on the first page! Woo Hoo to both!!! lol

Good job on getting in on the first page!

I was just thinking it we were over due for a TCD report and I'd better check the new content... I was rewarded (sing song voice)!

I can't wait to go along on the Tr with you but boy am I glad I wasn't in that crowd!

The crowd was bad there at the beginning, but it wasn't bad once we got in the park.

All of the attractions we went to in the first two hours were walk-ons. Even Buzz and Space Mountain.

We thought we had seen the worst of the crowds that we would encounter that day.

But we were wrong.

I'm here... :popcorn:

Good job!

First page for you too!

I'm having fun already!! Except for the Tea Cups, ugh is putting it mildly. :top-points-smiley:

Yeah, I think the teacups are my least favorite ride in all four parks.

But, everything means everything!

And we set out to ride everything.

I have been anxiously awaiting this one. So glad the girls did not have to twist your arm too much to convince you.

Gee, thanks for waiting.

I hope it doesn't get too boring since we are focused on one park for one day.

It wasn't boring for us, so hopefully the TR won't be boring either.

Enjoying this report all ready! Keep it coming, Please and Thank you!

Thanks. And I will try to keep it coming.

No sense in dragging this one out.

Wow! A Bonus TCD special report!

Will they make it? Will the fog ever burn off? Will they survive the terrors of Disney after Dark?

Will TCD put his mad climbing skills to work in the MK?

Tune in, faithful readers...

:pc:

Good cliffhangers, there.

I don't recall climbing anything.

Other than that stupid tree house.

:popcorn: I'm in & loving it!!

Thanks!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Awesome!! I'm in!

Nice.

Page one, too!

WTG, LL!

So far, so good!

No way could I have handled that crowd without someone getting hurt, so I will live vicariously through the TCD gang.

It's especially nice to see so many pictures with you in them. :heart: You guys are too darn cute.

Gee, thanks.

I made a point to get some group shots this time, as if there is ever another Leap Day 24 hour thing, the twins will be 20 years old then. Somehow, I don't see them dropping whatever they may be doing when they are 20 to spend the day with the old man. So, this truly was a once in a lifetime thing for us.

TCD

[ajcjmom 8]

I had to work both Wednesday and Thursday but I stopped by Wednesday night for a few hours for a couple of pics!

I also got my button!

Can't wait to hear about your adventure.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I'm having fun already!! Except for the Tea Cups, ugh is putting it mildly. :top-points-smiley:

Yeah, I think the teacups are my least favorite ride in all four parks.

But, everything means everything!

And we set out to ride everything.

I won't say they are my favorite... but I will say don't ever ride the cups with me! I may get motion sick in a car, can't ride the tilt a whirl but I can make people sick on the cups. DH could barely walk the last time... it's all about the control!

[stefa70 205]

Somehow, I don't see them dropping whatever they may be doing when they are 20 to spend the day with the old man. So, this truly was a once in a lifetime thing for us.

TCD

I wouldn't count it out. If you're lucky enough to have them want to hang with you at 16, you're way ahead of the game. They will probably appreciate you even more as they get older. Daddy's girls are always Daddy's girls!

[SCTigerCock 171]

I made a point to get some group shots this time, as if there is ever another Leap Day 24 hour thing, the twins will be 20 years old then. Somehow, I don't see them dropping whatever they may be doing when they are 20 to spend the day with the old man. So, this truly was a once in a lifetime thing for us.

Nah, if they are 20 and in college, they will be needing some $$$$, so you will still be around for a while..... :rofl2: :heart: :rofl2:

Seriously, I'm glad yall get to spend so much quality time together! :jumpforjoy

[SCTigerCock 171]

I wouldn't count it out. If you're lucky enough to have them want to hang with you at 16, you're way ahead of the game. They will probably appreciate you even more as they get older. Daddy's girls are always Daddy's girls!

X2