As part of the "One More Disney Day" promotion, Disneyland in Anaheim and The Magic Kingdom in Orlando will remain open for 24 hours from 6 a.m. February 29th until 6 a.m. the following day on March 1st.
The Magic Kingdom in Orlando has little experience in holding an all night affair. So it's hard to say what they've come up with. But the same can't be said for Disneyland, which has been hosting all night Grad Nite Parties, started by Walt Disney back in 1961. Once this promotion was conceived of last fall, Disneyland began reaching out to the different departments that would be involved with this event, trying to come up with offerings that will keep people entertained throughout the night, calling upon their popular Grad Nite events as a template.
A special Leap Year Day Fantasmic! will be performed at 1:00AM, bringing back the show to the Rivers of America after a lengthy rehab during the winter. This "enhanced" Fantasmic! will pump up the lasers, add more digital projections to the stage, along with plenty of stagecraft maintenance and technical upgrading for the entire show, in addition to a big renovation for the sailing ship Columbia that is used during the Peter Pan segment. Fantasmic! will now be the main entertainment offering for the Leap Year party at Disneyland.
Details are being worked out for a possible time to start for the overnight party with a late evening fireworks show, and perhaps a Grad Nite style party opening in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. The 29th being a school night, and with neighborhoods surrounding Disneyland, there is an agreement that there would be no fireworks beyond 9:30. So a smaller show may be used instead.
There are plans for Characters to be available all night long, both familiar and not so familiar, as the majority of the park guests attending will be regular Disneyland fans who appreciate those rare Character sightings simiiar to the Character Fan Days event from last year. Also possible is a late night performance of Mickey’s Soundsational Parade, in addition to it's normal 7 p.m. performance.
Marketing has come up with some branded merchandise and some free giveaways for this event. There will be special Leap Year Day merchandise available during the overnight hours of the party, and may be releasing them in little by little throughout the night to create buyer enthusiasm at some of the main gift stores.
Sources: http://www.disneylandnewstoday.com/, http://www.mouseplanet.com/, ht...
