New Year's ....Crazy

[mollyhan]

My husband and I are going to be at Disney from 12/28 to 1/1....we have all our days planned out with our dinning (if we get the ADRs we want) but we don't know what we want to do New Year's Eve...do we need to be at the Magic Kingdom all day if we want to be there at midnight....(seeing the castle at midnight is high on my bucket list) I am just afraid that the park will close

[Dolce27]

Originally Posted by mollyhan

My husband and I are going to be at Disney from 12/28 to 1/1....we have all our days planned out with our dinning (if we get the ADRs we want) but we don't know what we want to do New Year's Eve...do we need to be at the Magic Kingdom all day if we want to be there at midnight....(seeing the castle at midnight is high on my bucket list) I am just afraid that the park will close

Yes, if you go to the MK for NYE - arrive early and plan to stay the day. It will be crazy-busy with insane wait times. It will close due to capacity. I believe that last year it closed before noon, briefly opened during the 1:00 hour, and then closed again. Have you thought about doing the MK on the 30th instead? This is what I did last year. I went to the MK just before midnight on the 30th to watch the trial run of the NYE fireworks. They shoot them all off - act just like it was actually NYE. Then after, they still act like it's NYE. They started up dance parties and a DJ had taken over the park's PA system for the rest of the night (EMH hours so the park didn't close until 3AM). Walking into Fantasyland and seeing about 20-30 people doing the Electric Slide in Ariel's Grotto wasn't what I expect to see.

For NYE I went to DHS. I really enjoyed the fireworks there - much more than the MK's. They had a live band performing at DHS. They were singing classic songs such as Aerosmith's 'Dream On' and the Beetles 'Let it Be'. Let me tell you, that was the most magical moment. I'm standing in the middle of a packed Hollywood Blvd and they begin to sing 'Let it Be'. All noise makers and cheering stopped and everyone began singing along with the song in unison as the fireworks exploded in the sky. It was a great performance/show.

[mollyhan]

Did you guys stay all day at DHS or did you go later???? Is the magic kingdom the only park that tends to close on new year's eve???Thank you so much for the good information!!!

[wdwphile]

We've spent 2 of the last 4 New Years Eves at Disney World. Magic Kindom will be crazy crowded. Expect the park to be closed by late morning. They may reopen to new guests later in the day, but it's a crap shoot.

We've spent each NYE at Epcot/World Showcase. The first year we arrived at 8:00 AM and stayed until 2:00 AM - long day. Last year we entered Epcot at 8:30 AM, went back to our resort at 1:30 PM, and returned to World Showcase at 6:00 PM. No problems getting back into the park.

Each year we went to Magic Kingdom on the 30th. The park is less crowded than it will be on NYE, it's open until 12:00 midnight, and the fireworks at 11:50 PM are the same as their NYE show - and they are amazing.

This year we are planning to spend NYE at Hollywood Studios, but will definitely be at MK on the 30th. It's like having 2 New Years Eve celebrations.

[Mickey_for_President]

We also spent NYE at WDW this last year. Two adults in love + no kids = !

We LOVED it... would do it again in a heartbeat if I wasn't expecting right now. Pregnant women cannot do anything fun at Disney.

We went to EPCOT and hung out at the World Showcase. We certainly made a point to "drink around the world" that night. It was a BLAST! Plus, they have all kinds of music and dance parties going on at once... much more of an adult crowd too.

It is an interesting day though. We saw lots of people napping in the grass!
The counter service places were nuts too... so eat early. Oh yeah... and it was WAAAY overcrowded by Mexico... go the other way around.

[Dolce27]

Originally Posted by mollyhan

Did you guys stay all day at DHS or did you go later???? Is the magic kingdom the only park that tends to close on new year's eve???Thank you so much for the good information!!!

Actually, it was just me. My birthday is December 30. I came down to spend the entire Christmas (Dec 23-Jan 2) at Disney to celebrate my 30th b-day. I had some family come down on Dec 26 to spend my b-day with me on the 30th. NYE I met my mother at the Poly for breakfast at Kona's and then we spent the morning out on the Sea Raycers. I was on the monorail going around to the TTC when the MK closed again. It closed just after we passed the Contemporary; the driver made an announcement. My mother and grandmother flew home that afternoon and I think that I just hung out in my hotel room (Boardwalk) I had a 5:30 ADR at Flying Fish that night and then, after dinner, walked over to DHS around 6:30? I was still able to get in at that time - but I guess that there's no promise it's like that every year.

They had bars set up all over the park for people to purchase drinks at. They'd already been passing out hats and noisemakers. I was able to easily get on RnR via the singles line. Skipped the long line at Tower. Star Tours was a walk-on, hung out watching the Osborne lights, just hung out and called a friend back home to chat. The atmosphere was festive and I had fun. I arrived early on Hollywood Blvd to find my patch of pavement. There were EMH that night, but I didn’t stick around. I really enjoyed DHS for NYE.