Leap Year deals: hotels, theme parks, even pet food

Looking
to celebrate Leap Year this February? So many companies are offering
deals that you could never eat in all the restaurants or stay in all the
hotels with specials linked with Feb. 29.

Some
businesses tout $29 items, 29 percent off or flash sales that start 29
minutes after the hour. Disney World even plans extended hours on the
29th.
Others offer freebies for Leap Day babies, who technically have birthdays only once every four years.

"I
was born in 1936, so I'm turning 19," joked Fort Lauderdale resident
Martin D. Goodkin. When he was in his 40s, technically not yet 12, he
used to ask for children's prices at the movies. "That was fun."

Goodkin
is so swamped with Feb. 29 deals that he's pleased some companies
extend offers for a week or more. He's already enjoyed a free jambalaya
at the Quarterdeck restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

On
Leap Day, he's mulling a free birthday meal at Mexican chain Zona
Fresca. They're offering a chicken taco or bean and cheese burrito with a
soda in Fort Lauderdale, Plantation and Pompano Beach.
Travel deals are especially popular.
Disney
World, for the first time, is keeping the Magic Kingdom Park open for
24 hours starting Feb. 29 at 6 a.m. Plus, DisneyParks.com is giving away
a vacation every day until Feb. 29.
Palm Beach County 's tourism bureau promotes a contest with $50 gift cards as prizes for
people who answer questions about its 12 shopping districts.
Hotels
hope to lure women upholding the Irish tradition of popping the
marriage question to men Feb. 29. The Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, Mass.,
has a "Sadie, Sadie, Married Lady" package for $349 that includes two
nights stay, roses, champagne and in-room breakfast.
Even pet-food
companies are getting involved. Friskies plugs "Plus Day" to tout its
new cat-food Friskies Plus. Visit Friskies' Facebook page Feb. 29 to
find "extras for your cat," from toys to coupons.
For those
seeking hotel stays, the deals list is long. Some Kimpton Hotels offers a
$29 room upgrade for guests who check in Feb. 29 and stay at least two
nights. That includes the Surfcomber Miami Beach hotel, where rooms
start at $299 a night.
Numerous Marriotts have deals for booking
Feb. 29 only. The Frenchman's Reef Marriott in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin
Islands offers a sale Feb. 29 featuring one night at $229 and another at
$29 for travel from March 1 through Oct. 29.
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Actually
the way things are going my birthday may never end--I have about 7 free
dinners coming from as many restaurants to catch up with yet--will blog
about them AFTER I get finished with my scheduled 19 restaurants to eat
out in LOL