You know I love a good off-beat celebration. My favorite holidays include Presidents Day, Election Day, and Leap Day. Leap Day is my favorite though. I say it's better than Christmas, because it only comes once every four years (and that year is an election AND summer olympics year, so that's always exciting- though I got screwed out of those in 2020). I always want to do something really fun with our 'extra day' (yes, I know that's not exactly how it works), but people are always befuddled when I ask 'what are you doing for Leap Day?'
We got a jump on our leap day celebration this year (get what I did there?....jump? leap day?), and headed off to Disney on the 28th. I had gotten a great deal on a DVC room at Old Key West resort (by renting points from DVC Shop) which was especially exciting because Key West is considered a 'Deluxe' resort, and on certain nights and at certain parks, only deluxe resort guests get to stay in the park two hours after normal closing to ride rides. With the way lines had been lately, and reports that those nights were virtually empty in the parks, I was super excited to take advantage of those extra hours the night before Leap Day in the Magic Kingdom. Plus the 'kids' always like to go to Disney if we're actually staying there and not just going for the day.
Though, when we arrived at Disney, our room was not ready yet. We decided to play some mini golf to kill time, and yet again found ourselves back at the Fairways course at Fantasia mini golf. I had some bad putts, but I am getting better at that course for sure.
Old Key West is one of the few Disney resorts I haven't stayed in. I'd have to think about it, but it might be the only one I haven't stayed in. (If the Polynesian when I was five counts). The room was nice, we had lots of space, a nice big bathroom, our little mini kitchen, and a balcony that looked out onto the golf course. But we were kind of stuffed off in the corner. It was fine, because we weren't really there to be at the resort (while a 'quiet pool' wasn't too far enough, it's just so spread out the main lobby and pool were really far away). Still, it's one of those really sprawling Disney resorts, but unlike places like Saratoga, Caribbean Beach, and Port Orleans it didn't really have a hub to it. And not a lot of sidewalks to walk places. It was just kind of weird. But, it did have the bus to Magic Kingdom, so we hopped on that around 7.
The plan was to get to the park and do some of the lower wait attractions before the park closed to 'normal guests', and we did just that. We hit up the Tomorrowland Speedway, the Teacups, the Barnstormer, and Dumbo before pausing to watch the fireworks from the back to the park (the hub, as always, was too crowded for us).
That did, however, help us get in line for Winnie the Pooh before the fireworks rush. Then it was on to under the sea, Philharmagic, and the carousel. And that was all before the park was set to close. We grabbed some waffle sandwiches to fuel up for the rest of the evening.
And then, man, the park emptied out. Everything except for Seven Dwarfs was walk on (that took us 20 minutes of waiting). But no problem with Jungle Cruise, the magic carpets, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, or Peter Pan. We had just enough time to squeeze in Mine Train, and Space Ranger Spin before it was time for our Tron virtual queue I had nabbed earlier in the evening. And as the clock struck midnight for Leap Day, we found ourselves hanging out in front of the castle. Not a bad way to start Leap Day.
Lets rewind, a second, back to Leap Day 2012- when Disney stayed open for 24 hours to mark the event. I took a picture of the clock on Main Street, with the castle in the background to denote how long into the night the kids made it (I think it was 2-something), and so on my way out in 2024, I snapped a picture of that same clock with the castle in the background. I'm so glad this is in the new blog, so the pictures of it will upload!
I will note, these are our brand new passes- and it's now been five years since Asa and I 100%-ed Disney, so were going to try and do it on these passes too. Some things we haven't done in five years (Here's looking at you, Mission Space and Tiki Room), some things are new, or have changed- and some are about to be re-done so we'll try and squeeze them in before they close. Either way, we're running it back and doing it again, so stay tuned for those adventures!
It was late by the time we all went to bed- maybe 2. (And everyone was starving, so Spaghettios were had in the middle of the night.) I was the first to wake up the next morning, so I had my breakfast of coffee and gideon's cake outside on the patio. Because calories do not count on Leap Day.
Since Leap Day is such a special occasion, we did spring for Genie+ to skip the lines at $25 per person. We didn't get to skip as much as I thought we would, but it was a decent deal for what we did do. We started out our day in Hollywood Studios, and got to meet with Frozone, go on Star Tours, Alien Swirling Saucers, and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.
Then we made our way over to Epcot, where we took in the topiaries for this years Flower and Garden Festival that had just started the day before. We had some snacks, enjoyed the flowers, and did some rides: Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Soarin, and Nemo.
By now it was time for dinner, so we headed over to Disney Springs for our reservation at Homecomin' (my favorite!) We picked this as our special Leap Day dinner because on leap day we do 'backwards dinner' where we have dessert first. So, you have to pick somewhere that has good desserts. Not only does Homecoming have good desserts, they even have a dessert sampler which comes with their moonshine cake, hummingbird cake, and pecan pie. We got that (which confused all the wait staff when they'd come out with our next dishes and saw we had dessert), and we devoured it. So good. And then we all got dinner- my fried chicken was to die for.
At dinner, I said 'you know, if we make it to Animal Kingdom, we would have technically been to all four parks ON Leap Day (thanks to being in Magic Kingdom for midnight). Everyone was very tired (there had been a lot of steps), but decided it'd be fun- so off we went to Animal Kingdom, and we made it just before they closed Kilamonjaro Safaris for the day. And evening safaris are usually the best. Full of animal activity- and this one did not disappoint. It was all a good kickoff for the 100%ing Disney. I've made the list, but I think there are probably a few more secret odds and ends around, plus things opening this year that we'll have to add along the way
We headed home after that, because we had a Leap Day time capsule to dig up from the yard. It was a tiny bit of a bust though. Asa did in fact remember where it was buried- but the whole wood box had decomposed over the years. This was the first time we tried burying it, because 2020 Leap Day was the first one where we owned a house. Previously they were just wrapped up in my closet.
Anyway, some things made it through, in ziplock bags. Other things, not so much.
We did find something we think will be much sturdier and buried that with all our new treasures and predictions in it, so that'll be fun to see in four years. (I purposely don't write about what's in there, so it'll be a surprise in four years). Olivia, of course, could not be here- but she called and we wrote down her 2028 predictions.
And then, we got to burying it in the backyard again.
Next up: We're onto March! It's time for our 18th Florida Anniversary!
