New Years

[Iggipolka]

Anyone going over New Years Eve? We're so tempted to make a semi-spontaneous trip to celebrate the New Year with the mouse! :cool1:

[salmoneous]

Anyone going over New Years Eve? We're so tempted to make a semi-spontaneous trip to celebrate the New Year with the mouse! :cool1:

Unfortunately, spontaneous, NYE and Disney don't go together so well. Probably the quickest of all nights to sell out.

[Deb & Bill]

If you don't already have a reservation, you can be spontaneous for next year. Just make that reservation on Jan 31.

[Caskbill]

If you don't already have a reservation, you can be spontaneous for next year. Just make that reservation on Jan 31.

And if you're looking for something like a Standard View Studio at BWV, you'd better call right at 9:00 am. By 10:00 am they'll all be gone!

Someone else reported in another thread that they had called last Jan 31, first thing in the morning, for a 2-B/R (standard view?) and got it, but their friend called later in the day, after lunchtime, and was not able to get a 2-B/R Standard view, nor a 2-B/R guaranteed boardwalk view. Those were all gone. They were able to get a 2-B/R preferred view.

["Got Disney"]

Were doing DL for NYE at the Grand...wish they were all ready DVC!!!

[lovinthemouse]

We will be at SSR on NYE. We had to go on a waitlist at the 10month window. It did come through though in August. Good Luck!!:goodvibes

[tomandrobin]

We will be at Disney for NYE this year, third year in a row! We absolutely love the parks for the Holidays. Its crowded, but most places you go to celebrate NYE is crowded. So why not Disney style.

That all said, I think your chances are very slim to get a room. I would still call and waitlist. People area always changing thier plans. Life throws you a curve and even the best laid plans will change. I hope you are able to get something. As a fall back, if have to go to Disney, try the Swan and Dolphin or off-site resorts near DTD.

[Iggipolka]

Oh dear..I knew that the park would be busy, I didn't realize that it would be that busy!!

I heard a rumor that MK and EPCOT are open 24 hours December 31st - Jan 1st. Is that true?

[wdw1972]

Oh dear..I knew that the park would be busy, I didn't realize that it would be that busy!!

I heard a rumor that MK and EPCOT are open 24 hours December 31st - Jan 1st. Is that true?

No - definitely not.

What MIGHT happen is if the MK is open til 11 or midnight, and there's 3 hours of EMH one of those nights, the park would then be open til 2 or 3am. Then it may open as early as 8 the next day...but they're never open 24 hours.

[tomandrobin]

Oh dear..I knew that the park would be busy, I didn't realize that it would be that busy!!

I heard a rumor that MK and EPCOT are open 24 hours December 31st - Jan 1st. Is that true?

The week between Christmas and New Years Eve is the busiest week of the year at WDW. Magic Kingdom will close to new guests during the day, due to reaching capacity.

Several of the parks are open late, on different days that week. Last year MGM was open until 3:30 am on NYE and MK was open until 3:30 or more on 12/30 and 12/31. Not sure about Epcot, but I don't think it was open as late as the others.

[IndianaMouseLover]

We are going to be with the mouse for NYE (Dec. 29- Jan. 6). We are staying at our lovely home of SSR. :banana: We were there last Christmas for 10 days and loved it. We left Dec. 30 just before the NYE rush. We weren't DVC members yet and stayed at POR.

Can't wait to go back.

84 days left and counting!:yay:

[sjdisneywedding]

No - definitely not.

What MIGHT happen is if the MK is open til 11 or midnight, and there's 3 hours of EMH one of those nights, the park would then be open til 2 or 3am. Then it may open as early as 8 the next day...but they're never open 24 hours.



they are all scheduled to be open officially until 1 am(excpet AK)

but if planning to go to the parks you MUST plan on arriving early sometimes even before noon especially at MK
many years (if not all) the gates are closed due to park maximum attendance being reached

truly the most crowded day of the year by a landslide

[dianeschlicht]

We've done NYE at WDW several times, and it is a blast! That being said, it is also the most crowded time to be there. The biggest mass of humanity I have ever experienced was trying to leave Epcot after the midnight Illuminations on 12/31/99/-1/1/00. It was shoulder to shoulder with the entire crowd moving as one mass toward the exits. I was so amazed that we only waited about 10 minutes for a bus back to OKW!

Be forwarned that if you go next year (this year is sold out), be prepared to get to the park of choice for your NYE celebration very early. We stay away from the MK that night, but have always done Epcot. On non-millenium years it hasn't been that bad, but you do need to get yourself inside by mid afternoon. Last time we had a handicapped vehicle with us, and the person in the cart was able to reserve a prime Illuminations viewing spot near Rose and Crown, and her whole party (us) was able to join her. It was fantastic, because we had no crowds around us as we watched the amazing NYE show!

[mackeyapp]

It's a great time to be there. Worth the crowds for sure.

[robinb]

If you're set on making a last minute trip, I would call and be put on the waitlist for any resort. A lot of people do cancel at the last minute and others on the waitlist may have made other plans.

[CheapMom]

I heard a rumor that MK and EPCOT are open 24 hours December 31st - Jan 1st. Is that true?
Well you can check the calendar on disneyworld.com and although it is not 24hours they are open a lot- seems like some nights they are closing just long enough to turn the park over- for example, on Dec. 30 (with emh) MK is open till 4:00am- then opens back up at 7:00am with morning emh.

[sgtpet]

My family is heading down for a short trip to VWL from 12/31/07-1/5/08. The wife and I are surprising the children (DS 7, DD4). I booked prior to the 7 month window. My guess is it will be hard to get a DVC location at this late date.

[Mean Queen]

We're doing HHI DVC for New Year's. We called at the 7-month window for the 3-bedroom and got waitlisted. We did end up getting the Villa. I don't want to use the points for New Years at WDW since we always have friends stay on our points.

[skibum]

We'll be at BCV and enjoying SAB (hopefully it's warm)!!:cool1:

[dtauer]

We weren't able to get anything for the week after Christmas at any DVC resorts so we were put on a wait list and I booked a 3 bedroom at Cypress Pointe for $171 a night.

As the months have passed and we aren't getting anything on our wait list, I started questioning our off site decision and called to get something onsite.

There were very few options and I ended up with Wilderness Lodge at $420 a night which is an incredible amount of money.

I've never been there for Christmas or New Years, any opinions as to whether or not WL is worth an extra $250 night for a regular room vs. an offsite villa? I know we love being onsite but that's a LOT of additional money. We can afford either one, but I'm at a point where we do have a much cheaper option, and I feel like I'm being gouged with the Disney holiday pricing.

[tomandrobin]

We weren't able to get anything for the week after Christmas at any DVC resorts so we were put on a wait list and I booked a 3 bedroom at Cypress Pointe for $171 a night.

As the months have passed and we aren't getting anything on our wait list, I started questioning our off site decision and called to get something onsite.

There were very few options and I ended up with Wilderness Lodge at $420 a night which is an incredible amount of money.

I've never been there for Christmas or New Years, any opinions as to whether or not WL is worth an extra $250 night for a regular room vs. an offsite villa? I know we love being onsite but that's a LOT of additional money. We can afford either one, but I'm at a point where we do have a much cheaper option, and I feel like I'm being gouged with the Disney holiday pricing.

Did you check the Swan Hotel? Its still on site and uses the Disney transportation.

[dtauer]

Did you check the Swan Hotel? Its still on site and uses the Disney transportation.

Yes, we've talked a little about the Swan/Dolphin. The transportation would be nice, but we have stayed at the Swan and we missed the Disney theming a lot.

Thanks for the input, it may be a good option.

[robinb]

Did you check the Swan Hotel? Its still on site and uses the Disney transportation.I second this. I would never pay $420 for the Wilderness Lodge! I have only stayed over on the Villas side, but I personally don't think that it's worth that kind of money.

I don't know your exact dates but I plugged in 12/26 - 1/6 over at the DIS home page: http://www.wdwinfo.com/ (in the "Orlando Hotel" section ... middle right of the page) and the Dolphin came up at $299 for the nights of 12/23 - 12/31, $259 for 1/1 and $159 1/2 - 1/5.

[global_mom]

I guess that we were really fortunate to book our NYE ressie at only 6 months out at SSR (4 nights, 1 bedroom). We cant wait, have never been to WDW for NYE or NYD. We do think that we will avoid the parks on NYE and just celebrate at dinner and back at SSR. We'll hit the parks when we return to WDW after our Jan. 3rd cruise. Yea! :goodvibes

[drommer0]

We will be going to SSR on 12/30-1/5. We are paying cash on NYE due to the fact that they were all sold out. We were just happy to get a room. It will be our first time at SSR. Only 82 more days:yay: !!!!

[bwvBound]

Wow ... what an eye-opening thread. We just booked our family's NYE plans yesterday at our favorite SoCal resort. Even booking this late we were able to grab 4 rooms, 3 nights each (12/29-1/1) and to choose our specific room numbers. The "owner rate" on my room is just $51/night. Phew!

[Disney Doc]

If you don't already have a reservation, you can be spontaneous for next year. Just make that reservation on Jan 31.

Wouldn't a New Year's Eve reservation have to be made on February 1? (I thought it was 11 months from check-out day.)

[tomandrobin]

Yes, we've talked a little about the Swan/Dolphin. The transportation would be nice, but we have stayed at the Swan and we missed the Disney theming a lot.

Thanks for the input, it may be a good option.

We stayed at the Swan last NYE. If you are planning to go to MGM or EPCOT on NYE night, its the right location. How much time are you actually spending in the hotel? The Swan and Dolphin are decorated for the Holidays and will have special evants too. There is a character breakfast at the Swan that doesn't get much hype. Its also one of the few places you can get last minute dining reservations.

Oh, and the Swan has the Westin heavenly beds!!! :cloud9:

Down side is you can't charge to your room key in the parks. Other then that its a pretty nice option.

[DisneyBB]

We are going this NYE and staying at OKW. We went in 2005 and stayed in the Dolpin (not enough points to stay at DVC). It was great, really good location and went to Epcot on NYE. Epcot was a nightmare! So crowded! At about 10pm my DD5 got really sick and we had to leave the park, it took over hour to get out to the international gateway. My lovely DH then took her back to the Dolphin while me and DD11 enjoyed a fabulas firework display from the boardwalk bridge. We saw Epcot, MGM and DTD fire works. The whole sky was lit up and no crowds. We thought we would do the same this year and not bother with Epcot.

[ADP]

We'll be there on 12/29 - 1/7. This will be our first New Year's experience.

[Questforthemouse]

DW and I will be there from 12/29 - 1/5. Staying at POP the first night then moving to SSR on the 30th for the rest of the trip. We're going to AK for NYE day and then coming back to SSR to watch the fireworks at Pleasure Island from the Congress Park section of SSR. They give out hats and snacks etc... at the Congress Park section before midnight. We don't like the massive NYE crowds nor are we big partyers. AK is great on NYE day as the crowd is minimal for that time of year and being at our resort for fireworks means a short walk back to our room afterwards.

[staceyj2]

We'll be there 12/31-1/3. It's short trip, but we wanted to see WDW during the holidays. Will the Christmas decorations still be up? I'm not looking forward to the crowds, but plan on having a great time despite them.

[robinb]

We'll be there 12/31-1/3. It's short trip, but we wanted to see WDW during the holidays. Will the Christmas decorations still be up? I'm not looking forward to the crowds, but plan on having a great time despite them.Yes, the Christmas decorations are up and the music is still full-blast. There are just so many times you can hear "Winter Wonderland" without going insane :scared1:.

[Questforthemouse]

We'll be there 12/31-1/3. It's short trip, but we wanted to see WDW during the holidays. Will the Christmas decorations still be up? I'm not looking forward to the crowds, but plan on having a great time despite them.

As robinb said...the Christmas decorations and music will still be in full bloom! A CM told me two years ago that WDW sort of celebrates the "12 Days of Christmas" so they don't start "officially" taking decorations down until the night of Jan 5th. I have noticed the odd thing come down prior to that but for the most part it is true. I remember staying at POP two years ago and going to bed on the 5th and waking up on the 6th to find all the resort decorations gone and the music switched to the regular POP stuff. As robinb also said...you can get a little tired of the repetitive christmas music after a handful of days but for the guests just arriving it is wonderful.

The crowds will be huge no doubt but other than NYE if you get to the park for rope drop and use fastpass properly you will get all the rides and attractions in during the first few hours just like any other time of year. If you don't walk into the parks until 11am or later then you'll be waiting in long, long lines. Soarin' can be a 3 hour wait by mid day at this time of year.

We love Christmas/NY at WDW. This will be our 3rd year in a row and we wouldn't trade it for another time of year!

Have a Fantasmic short visit :banana:

[ADP]

I would add that resort decorations go down first. In January of 2007 the resort decorations were taken down on January 2nd. There were no trace of them on January 3rd.

The theme park decorations stayed until January 8th.