Yes it was.

I sent my 21 yr old son and 17 yr old daughter from JFK-SNA on Feb 28th just so they could experience a full 24 hours in Disneyland. Got them a SuperShuttle ride to the Fairfield Inn, directly across the street so they'd be within walking distance of the park.

Disneyland said they'd open a line at 10pm for those looking to wait for the 6a opening the next day.

At 10p, my son looked at the line (which was growing to 800 strong), called his sister at the hotel and said 'pack up, we're waiting on line NOW'. When they got on line by about 1030p, estimates were they were ~800. Within the next half hour, there were over 2000 people on line. Bracelets were issued, color coded to identify your place in line.

I had equipped them with thin airline 'type' blankets and those heat warmers in foil packs that you buy at the sporting goods store. Others were more prepared and had blow up mattresses and tents. The night was cold but the crowd was friendly and orderly. Neighbors in line went for coffee and hot chocolate and asked my kids if they wanted any. One woman let me daughter have her much heavier blanket when the lady went out for a beverage (the night air was COOOLD).

At 420a Disneyland folks told everyone they had 30 mins to get rid of anything that would not be allowed in the parks, so people went back to their cars to get rid of air mattresses, pillows, suitcases and folding chairs.

At 6a, they entered the park, got special commemorative Mouse Ears (only 2000 issued), a free Leap Day button, and off they went. Huge lines formed for the special Leap Day t shirts and sweatshirts that were being sold. But my kids were here for the rides.

And ride they did. All day. All night. All morning again.

The crowds weren't too bad in the morning. 20 minute wait tops. The kids said the day was great until about dinnertime. Then the locals arrived.

Apparently all the roads leading to Disneyland were totally backed up with locals, annual pass holders who were coming to make a night of it. By 8p, the gates were completely shut to any new entries. The park was over capacity at 88,000 guests. At one point, there apparently was total park gridlock and no one could move, anywhere. My kids were OK but others have said they felt panicked and literally could not move. They envisioned a stampede, or one of those awful 'soccer match' tragedies where people get trampled under their own weight.

Fortunately, that did not happen. But my daughter did remark that, while she was waiting for the 1a showing of Fantasmic, that she felt that if a firework had gone rogue, she'd be a 'dead man' as there was just no sure or safe way to escape the crowd.

Many of the rides had waits of two and three hours.

The nighttime crowd was filled with locals in their 20s and apparently many were drinking and smoking pot.

Disneyland execs were nowhere to be found, apparently having left their posts at 5p for home, under the impression that the day had been a success.
Employees coming in to relieve other cast members from their shifts were stuck in traffic and unable to report. Current employees could not go home and the general consensus was that the staff was completely unprepared for the way they event had evolved.

The nighttime crowd never really let up. It did lessen, but my kids said the park was still very crowded at 4a and there were 50+ minute rides for all of the E ticket attractions up til closing time at 6a.

Their last ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 555a. They left the park around 630a and were completely exhausted. They had done 24.5 hours in the park and another 7.5 hours waiting on line to get in.

My kids loved it. They are Disney nuts, of course, and are so thrilled to be able to say that they were there for the day that broke ALL the records. But they said it was completely underestimated by the folks in Disneyland and will probably never happen this way in that park again. (Apparently, Disney World had less issues with crowd controls and the event went smoother there. More AP holders in SoCal seemed to be the real problem in Anaheim.)

Would my kids do it again? I'm sure they would Would the folks in charge of Disneyland do it again? Hopefully not, unless they sell special event tickets like they do for the Halloween event and such, or open California Adventure as well. This park could not hold all those who came out.

Hope that gives you a little idea of what the day was like