2 day trip 12/30-31. 1 park/1 day, thoughts on which order?

[bayareafamily5]

Hi all,

We have a trip booked for 12/30-31, with 1 day 1 park tickets for family of 5. (Yes, hoppers would have been ideal, but it is almost $200 cheaper to do one park each day and my kids all said they'd rather buy treats in the park with that $ and just hit one park each day from morning - night.) We are staying at the Tropicana so super close, not that I expect we'll even head back to the room if we're in danger of not getting back in if we exit the park due to capacity.

Wondering which order the wise DIS-ers would recommend...DCA first and then DL on NYE, or vice-versa? We had planned to do DL on NYE but knowing the crowds can make it hard to even walk, now I'm wondering if it might be better to do it at DCA? Or does it not make any difference since both will be insane and have long hours for those of us crazy enough to make marathon days out of it. Votes?

 

[scrapshappen]

Many, many years ago, we tried to do Disneyland on NYE and I was so claustrophobic from the crowds that we left around 10 p.m. So my initial thought was DCA on the 31st since it always seems less crowded to me with it's wide corridors.

However, the 31st will be early entry for onsite guests at DCA (assuming the usual MWFS schedule holds) so guests will already be in the park when you can get in. You'd also have that problem at DL if you did it on the 30th as well.

Just something else to think about.

 

[Hojoanaheim]

I haven't been to DL for NYE, but I hear that it gets incredibly packed and hits capacity multiple times throughout the day. I have done NYE at DCA twice and both times it was very manageable. From what I remember, there was a lot of space to breathe and lines were not too bad. Many guests save spots for WoC early in the day. Last time, my family got there late, so most good seats were taken, but we all had our Glow with the Show Ears and a CM brought all of us to a special viewing area, right in the middle!

With any park you choose, try to go early in the morning and make sure to get your hand stamped. At night on the first year I went, they only let guest in if they had their hand stamped.

HTH,
Kriss

 

[Kinni4673]

Hello Bayareafamily5,

I have been shamelessly creeping around the dis boards for years, and used the mass of knowledge this site has to offer to plan my last trip to DL in 2012, but have never made a post. Awful, I know.

However, I have been wanting to ask your same question, so figured this is the perfect spot for me to jump in.

DH and I have just booked a trip to DL/DCA for NYE and we are also trying to figure out which park will be best on NYE.

We are there December 31 & Jan 1. No park hoppers.

This will be my 4th trip to DLR, but first time for New Years.
I have been watching Youtube videos and it seems that DCA is much much calmer on NYE than Disneyland, and given that I am not much for crowds, I think we have decided to spend NYE there.

I also think the WoC show on NYE looks incredible, and as much as DL fireworks are out of this world, fireworks are still just fireworks?
WoC is so unique!

I also noticed that DCA is open at 11am on NYE so we may hit up a character breakfast before the park opens.

Does anyone think we may have a problem getting into DCA if the park opens to resort guests early?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Hello Bayareafamily5,

I also noticed that DCA is open at 11am on NYE so we may hit up a character breakfast before the park opens.

Not sure where you got your information, but I believe both DL and DCA open at 8 AM on NYE. DL stays open until 2 AM and DCA until 1 AM.

 

[Kinni4673]

Oops, my mistake.
10AM - according to the unofficial hours on this site.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Oops, my mistake.
10AM - according to the unofficial hours on this site.

Yeah, that's not right either. The hours haven't been released yet, but I expect opening time will be 8 AM. If you use this site and look at what the official hours were for December 2013, then you will see the hours were as I mentioned. Since the DCA grand re-opening in 2012, DCA has generally run with longer park hours than it used to do. This has meant that when DL opens at 8 AM, 9 AM, or 10 AM, DCA matches that opening time. There are exceptions, of course, such as when a half-marathon or some other special event delays the opening of one of the parks. Historically, from what I can find, that 10 AM - 1 AM opening for NYE for DCA occurred 2011 and prior.

 

[cmpeter]

We had one day at the parks for NYE in 2013. We picked DCA for a couple reasons: it isn't as congested as DL and we wanted to ride RSR. We flew down from Seattle that morning and didn't get to the parks until around 11:00. We went straight to RSR and rode single rider. Did that again later at night. Spent the rest of the day/evening riding TSM, TOT, Soarin, Screamin, Little Mermaid, Luigi's and Monster's Inc. Some of them more than once. We didn't stay for WOC. We really wanted to, but were pooped from getting up at 5:00 for our flight and although we thought we were dressed warmly, we were freezing (even with the fleece blanket we bought at the gift shop.)

I would totally go again, it was so much fun. Great party atmosphere, they passed out hats and noise makers. Getting a drink with the glowing ice cube was fun too.

I have heard that DL can be shoulder to shoulder. Neither park was turning folks away though.