Disney for New Years

[EEYORERULES]

We will be staying at Disney for New Years Eve this year & I was wondering if they have anything special that night re: parade, fireworks etc. Any info would be great - thanks

 

[sean-1966]

They usually have a great party at PI. You'll need tickets if memory serves.

 

[Mortlives]

From what I understand, they go all out with fireworks. A small warning: this is apparently the busiest day of the year, and the parks do reach capacity. There have been many threads on the Strategy board about how to make sure you can be in a park on New Years. I would definitely make ADR's as soon as you're allowed.

 

[MaryannF]

We rang in 2006 at WDW. Here is a little about our experience...
We chose to celebrate at Epcot because I was told that MK especially gets so crowded that they "close" the park to late arrivals. We got to Epcot shortly after the park opened. It was already crowded. Make sure you have ADR's for that day. All the restaurants were extremely crowded. Even counter service was crowded. During the course of the day we saw many people napping on any piece of grass they could find. Everyone was afraid to leave the park for fear they would not get back in. Lines for rides were ridiculous. Before noon they were giving out fast passes on most rides for late in the evening. At 6 o'clock they asked you to line up at a couple of places that had been set up to give out top hats and noise makers. Every country had a kiosk set up outside their pavillion to sell drinks. These lines got very long as the evening progressed. There were lines for all washrooms. We ate at the Biergarten Restaurant. Our reservation was for 6pm and when we were seated they were already celebrating the new year because it was midnight in Germany. When we came out of the Biergarten people were already staking out their spot for Illuminations which was at 11pm. After Illuminations each country did their own firework display set off from near their pavillion starting with the countries that had already rung in the new year. The United States was the last country and we counted down to midnight. It was really beautiful. Then the mass exodus began. Don't laugh when I tell you to take the time to use the facilities before going to get on the bus. We stayed at Pop Century and it is a long trek to where you get on the bus. There are also no facilities there. We waited a long time to get on a bus. Then the bus got stuck in the traffic that is leaving every park at the same time. By the time we got back to the resort it was close to 2am. Ringing in the new year with my children at WDW was wonderful and I'm glad we did it once but I don't think I would do it again.
We were lucky enough to be at MK on December 30 and saw a preview at midnight of the fireworks that they set off at midnight on the 31st. It was awesome. I was told that there are no guarantees that they will do this dress rehearsal but when they do it is the same show as on New Year's eve.
If you have any specific questions, just ask.

 

[robinb]

I have been to WDW for New Years Eve every year since 99/00. We always enter the park of our choice as early as possible and stay until about 1:00PM. We then leave the park and return to our resort for a little R&R, napping, swimming, etc. We then return to the park at around 6:00 PM. We always have an ADR for dinner and sometimes for lunch too. You can make them for this NYE NOW. I've had mine for Teppanyaki for over a month.

We never have a problem returning to the park or being turned away. We always stay onsite and either walk to Epcot or we take the bus to the MK. You will have a harder time re-entering the park if you are staying off site because the parking lots close well before the parks do. Also, the MK usually closes mid-day, but opens back up after the parade folks leave.

ETA: The MK, Epcot and MGM all have special fireworks. The MK does Fantasy In The Sky 360-degrees around you. The the same fireworks behind the castle are also shot off in the lagoon. Very cool! MGM does a special fireworks show and Epcot has an extended IllumiNations.

 

[TimNDansMom]

For NYE 2002, I made my family stay in Epcot for 14 hours because I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get back in if we left. We had been staying offsite but checked into Disney early morning on December 31, grabbed some breakfast in the food court and headed over on the Disney bus. I think we arrived in the park around 10am. We managed to get on a few rides in FW and wandered around the WS pavillions the rest of the time. We ate an early dinner at the Liberty Inn in American Adventure. The fireworks were fabulous and when Epcot's were over we could see MGM's in the distance still going on. Most stayed until those were finished too.

Like MaryannF, I'm glad to have done it once and my family was very accomodating that day.

 

[riu girl]

This may sound boring but for this past NYE, we checked into Pop Century early in the morning and swam and explored the resort all day. From our room, we watched the early fireworks and then put the kids to bed. I watched the midnight fireworks from our room and then went to bed.

Since the kids went to bed so early, we were able to be one of the first entering Epcot the next morning. We enjoyed a fabulous uncrowded Epcot for a few hours until the park started filling up. Since the kids had so much energy form a great sleep the night before, we stayed at Epcot until closing.

Maybe this isn't the plan for everyone, but definately worked out well for us.

 

[surfer_ed]

We rang in New Years 2004 on our Honey Moon. It was awesome, great parameter fireworks. We were just in front of the catsle. One good thing is the park was open until 2:00 and after the midnight fireworks, the rides were empty. We rode Big Thunder 3 times in a row with CM, didn't even need to go line up again!!!

 

[dhluvsDisney]

We just rang in the 2006 New Year at Disney. We chose to hang out at the Boardwalk Inn, and the kids had an absolutely wonderful time. They had a DJ playing for 4 hours and they had stilt snowflake ladies walking around and all sorts of other entertainment. They handed out party hats and noisemakers. It was not crowded at all, and you could walk around the Boardwalk, or just sit and relax. At midnight, you could see the Epcot and MK fireworks simultaneoulsly. That in itself was quite a sight!
The biggest mistake we made though, was taking a bus to PI from the Boardwalk Inn, as we thought it would be easier to catch a bus to our resort----BIG MISTAKE! Avoid the area toward DD at all costs. It took us over 2 hours just to get to POFQ from PI. Traffic was a complete gridlock and there were tons of "hardy" partiers at PI. Next time we will just walk over to MGM from Boardwalk and catch a bus directly to the resort from there.

The night before though, the kids sat on the beach at the Poly and watched them do a preview run for the NYE fireworks at the MK.