Dear God, What have I done?

[Drfate102]

So, I am an Accountant and that pretty much means that January is a block out for vacation time. My wife and I live in Florida and have done Walt Disney World for New Year's Eve for the last 11 years. But I want to try Disneyland for NYE, but being in California, that is a bit of a trip and with me not being able to take January vacation days, that is hard to do. But my new boss said how about when Jan 1st falls on a Friday? So, I started to flip though the calendar and what do you know, January 1st 2021 falls on a Friday. So I just booked a stay at Disneyland for December 26th through January 2nd, which will be our 3rd trip there in total. I have been in the hub at the Magic Kingdom with Phase 4 closings, it can't be worse than that, can it? What is New Years like out on the West Coast?

 

[Mr Snappy]

You booked a trip to Disneyland 15 months from now? Wow...you do like to plan! Not sure that is the most cost-effective route as airlines and hotels do not usually lower their rates that far in advance. Yes, it will be CRAZY busy that week.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Haven’t done it... but I would plan on getting a seated lunch and dinner ressie so you have a guaranteed quiet break inside the park, and plan on staying in the park all day and night. Maybe blue bayou for dinner with the Fantasmic package if they offer it... kill 2 birds... you get to eat at blue bayou and have a spot to watch Fantasmic from.

If you want to ride any rides, use max pass and stack them... you can get a new pass every 90 minutes or after you use one, and if you work it right you can stack quite a few of them.

 

[ddwlms]

You say you booked a stay, but where? My thought is stay on sight so you can make use of early entry. (Early entry does not increase crowd levels in DL like it does in DW) Your dates are likely the busiest dates of the year. Some years, New Years Day is one of the least crowded of Christmas break, but that "least crowded" is in relation to the crazy crowded that is during that time frame. Also, like M2PA says, use Max Pass.

 

[Malcon10t]

Haven’t done it... but I would plan on getting a seated lunch and dinner ressie so you have a guaranteed quiet break inside the park, and plan on staying in the park all day and night. Maybe blue bayou for dinner with the Fantasmic package if they offer it... kill 2 birds... you get to eat at blue bayou and have a spot to watch Fantasmic from.

If you want to ride any rides, use max pass and stack them... you can get a new pass every 90 minutes or after you use one, and if you work it right you can stack quite a few of them.

MaxPass is great, but on NYE, most will be gone by 1pm, so not much stacking time available.

OP - You have picked the single most busy day of the year. I usually tell people not to expect much and just enjoy being there. We are there every year except 2017, when we were in Epcot. Epcot was no where near as busy as Disneyland on NYE. A couple years ao, we came off Haunted Mansion and were going to head out of the park about 545p. It took us about 45 mins to go from the front of Haunted Mansion to the exit of POTC (they were routing traffic around that way.) Normally, that is MAYBE 3 mins?

 

[Drfate102]

OP - You have picked the single most busy day of the year. I usually tell people not to expect much and just enjoy being there. We are there every year except 2017, when we were in Epcot. Epcot was no where near as busy as Disneyland on NYE. A couple years ao, we came off Haunted Mansion and were going to head out of the park about 545p. It took us about 45 mins to go from the front of Haunted Mansion to the exit of POTC (they were routing traffic around that way.) Normally, that is MAYBE 3 mins?

Yeah, I am truly aware that it will be the busiest time. We are staying at Paradise Pier so that gives us an extra long day. We have done each of the WDW Parks except for Animal Kingdom for New Years before. EPCOT is large enough and wide enough to soak crowds amazingly well. And for the Magic Kingdom, the line for the Monorail, Fairy or even bus afterwards is in excess of 90 minuets long. So we know what to set our expectations to. The below picture, Disney lost control and at least two fights broke out that no one could get to.

 

[imbatman]

...it can't be worse than that, can it? What is New Years like out on the West Coast?

I think the first question depends on who answers. And NYE on the West Coast is certainly less humid! How exciting!!! Have you ever been to DL/CA?

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

So we were just there last weekend... and it was very busy, most of max pass was gone by 2 pm... we heard people grumbling about how it was a waste since it was already gone. But you have to keep checking, even though it said no more available for this date, some would get returned and pop back in. I am sure it won’t be many on NYE... but if last weekend I was getting the all are gone message in the middle of the afternoon, but still managed to stack, you may luck out!

 

[mcm574]

A question for those of you with New Year's experience - what will New Year's Day be like? We are driving down 12/31/19 and making our first park day 1/1/20 - just wondering what to expect! TIA!

 

[katyringo]

if You search my name you may find some posts I’ve made about going this time of year.

Our very first trip was December 26-29. We were newbies and I read everything I could get my hands on and was prepared. So I call this my guide to surviving the days after Christmas at Disneyland:

1. It’s all about priorities. You have to accept that when it’s that busy doing it all won’t happen. So what are the things you must do? Make them a priority, set realistic expectations and then all the extra magic that happens will be all the better.

2. If your staying on site, use your early access every single day. If not, use your 1 day early entry at Disneyland strategicly. What do I mean? Well it’s a little known fact, because Disneyland doesn’t opening advertise it, that the week after Christmas they offer the magic morning at Disneyland every morning instead of just every other day. Because it’s not heavily advertised, use it on a day it’s not normally offered and get there an hour before the time. We did this and got so much done that hour..

3. Again if your not staying on site another way to get in early is to book a breakfast during magic morning on a day you don’t have magic morning at Minnie’s. You will get in early to have breakfast but you can start using maxpass right away.

4. If your budget can swing it, show dinning packages and character meals. Character lines with be loooooong. So if they are priority, use a meal. Show standing room will be packed. A package takes the pressure off.

4. Use maxpass. And look at the maxpass thread about which rides run outta fastpasses first so you know what order to pull them in.

5. Disneyland daily’s plans work even on the craziest of days.

6. Under no circumstances decide to arrive to the parks later in the day.. you will find it difficult to do anything the first couple hours your there.

7. You will read a lot about capacity issues. Don’t panic. Capacity closures happen in phases and rarely is it completely closed for more then a few hours. One trick is if you have hopper tickets, always start the day by scanning at Disneyland. DCA doesn’t hit capacity, but one of the first steps of closure for Disneyland is only re admiring guests. Another capacity trick is having dinning reservations. If you plan to leave in the afternoon having a reservation gets you back in.. usually.

8. Use Mobile ordering.

9. Prioritize non maxpass rides first thing in the morning. You are used to WDW. Disneyland has way less fastpass options, and we like it that way.

10. Have an amazing trip. I’d go back during this time in a heartbeat. Tons of people but totally worth it.

 

[dina444444]

It will be busy in the days leading up to NYE. NYE while busy won’t be the busiest day of your trip. They do the NYE fireworks in Disneyland at 9pm and at midnight. They also do fireworks in DCA at midnight. Fair warning fireworks at Disneyland were canceled for both shows last year(2018 into 2018) due to wind. Fireworks at DCA still went off.

 

[Chickinvic]

Better you than me. You couldn't pay me to be in parks that crowded.

 

[fely1st]

Never been there NYE but I think it is a great idea. Two years ago we flew from Germany to Las Vegas to join a Star Trek convention just for three days. Everybody said we are crazy, that is not worth it. But we had a blast and memories we never forget. So go and enjoy to be there at NYE! Such crazy ideas sometimes are the best ones.

 

[Malcon10t]

We are there every year for NYE. (We are usually there Dec 22-Jan 4.) We enjoy it. We make sure we have reservations for any dining, as there won't be walk ups available. We know to expect turnstile closures. We know to expect wall to wall people. It is fun. But we also don't expect to do a lot of rides. Here is a pic of NYE in NOS about noon (I think it was 2016).

 

[Drfate102]

You booked a trip to Disneyland 15 months from now? Wow...you do like to plan! Not sure that is the most cost-effective route as airlines and hotels do not usually lower their rates that far in advance. Yes, it will be CRAZY busy that week.

It is more the 13 months to pay it off. We also have a placeholder for a Disney Cruise as well, so the longer to spread out the cost the better.

 

[Drfate102]

We are there every year for NYE. (We are usually there Dec 22-Jan 4.) We enjoy it. We make sure we have reservations for any dining, as there won't be walk ups available. We know to expect turnstile closures. We know to expect wall to wall people. It is fun. But we also don't expect to do a lot of rides. Here is a pic of NYE in NOS about noon (I think it was 2016).

It is both scary and cool all at the same time. I figure we can fall back on our WDW New Years experience with our expectations. I do know that Disneyland's Mobil Ordering is better for allergies than World's is, which my wife has. And we will have reservations made.

 

[Malcon10t]

A question for those of you with New Year's experience - what will New Year's Day be like? We are driving down 12/31/19 and making our first park day 1/1/20 - just wondering what to expect! TIA!

New Years Day starts slow in the morning, but after the Rose Bowl Parade gets out, it picks up quickly and can be quite crowded by evening.

 

[Malcon10t]

It is both scary and cool all at the same time. I figure we can fall back on our WDW New Years experience with our expectations. I do know that Disneyland's Mobil Ordering is better for allergies than World's is, which my wife has. And we will have reservations made.

You should be good then! Unless something comes up, we should be there, we will be the ones with Christmas shirts on!!!

 

[Cal-Pie]

(We are usually there Dec 22-Jan 4.)

Do you see any discernable difference in crowds during the days leading up to Christmas? I'm thinking about Dec. 19-22 next year.

 

[Malcon10t]

Do you see any discernable difference in crowds during the days leading up to Christmas? I'm thinking about Dec. 19-22 next year.

In our opinion, the days leading up to Christmas Day are not nearly as bad. Even Christmas day is busy, but still no where near the days after. I always joke that you go on the days leading up and think it is busy then on the 26th you head in and wonder how they fit 2 times more people in! (The 26th is the start of the Rose Bowl parade/game people, all the bands, cheer squads, the teams, all come t the park to perform or just visit.)