Epcot New Years Eve??

[LauraAnn630]

Was anyone at Epcot NYE? I would love to hear about it!! We were thinking about going 2006/2007.

 

[theemster]

My fiance and I were at Epcot for NYE. In my opinion it wasn't too bad, I had a good time, despite the crowds. We got there a little after 8am and grabbed fastpasses for Test Track then went straight on, no wait, to ride Mission Space. After that we went on a few smaller rides until it was time to ride Test Track. The rest of the day was spent getting fast passes, walking around the park, and riding rides with wait times of 30 minutes or less, which there were more of those than I thought! The only really bad wait was for Soarin' (by mid-afternoon there was a 3 hour wait!). When we went to get fast passes for Soarin' around 10am, they were already up to the 9:30-10:30pm timeslot! So that was a little crazy.

Now, I will say that I noticed the park really getting crowded by mid-afternoon. That was about the time my fiance and I started getting tired and we found a grassy place to sit and rest over in World Showcase (I have never done one park for an entire day. I am used to park-hopping and going back to the hotel in between to rest.). We had ADR for the Garden Grill at 5:30pm and absolutely loved it! Then after dinner we went back over to World Showcase to find a spot for the early bird showing of Illuminations. That was another time I noticed that it was extremely busy, especially after the fireworks and everyone who was not staying until midnight was trying to clear out of the park. My finace and I found some place to sit until the masses left and then we went to use our 9:30pm Fastpasses on Soarin' (great ride!). After that it was about 10pm and we decided to head out early and relax and celebrate back at Pop Century. There was no crowd leaving the park at that time and we had a nice, quiet bus ride back to the resort. So I can't tell you what the park what like from 10pm on, but in my opinion, during the time we were there, it wasn't that bad and I would do it again! Hope this helps!

 

[LauraAnn630]

Thanks for the report! I thought Epcot would be the best park for NYE.
We will go early and leave for lunch and a break then come back later in the evening.

 

[Maryr1]

We were at Epcot on NYE and it was wonderful!!!!! We had dinner at Citrico's at 8 P.M. Food was wonderful, service was awful. It was a set menu so it should not of been that bad, but it was. Appetisers were family style, no choice-3 selections served on 1 plate-and they took an hour to arrive! Dinner was 3 or 4 choices for the adults-chicken beef fish and maybe a pasta-and the kids had 3 or 4 choices-mac n cheese, steak etc. We were charged for one of our kids as an adult but the waitress was too busy to adjust the bill-and promised to refund the charge card. Hopefully she did. We ran out of there and took our car back to the YC where we were staying and walked over to Epcot. We got there around 11:15 P.M. walked right in and saw the fireworks. They were FANTASTIC! Crowds were heavy, but not frantic. We were back to our room by 12:45. I would do it again in a heartbeat!!!!!

 

[LauraAnn630]

Thanks for the response! Sounds like a good time! Now I just have to figure out where everyone wants to eat that night. Considering I have a year, it shouldnt be to hard.

 

[wonderlandaddict]

What foods were served at Garden Grill?

 

[LauraAnn630]

I forget what we had for dinner but I do remember desert! We had a chocolate fondu. They served fruits, marshmellows and cubed pound cake to dip in the chocolate! The kids loved it!

Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto were there for pictures. They all colored with my boys. They spent alot of time with us.

The restaurant revolves very slowly. We went in a complete circle by the time we finished our meals.

Oh yeah...My kids got chicken strips. They liked them a lot. They wernt crazy about the chicken strips at Chef Mickeys, Park Fair or Ohana. I think they all serve the same chicken strips. So I was happy they liked them!

 

[theemster]

For New Year's Eve the Garden Grill had an excellent dinner! Some sort of soft white bread with orange butter and caesar salad for appetizers. For the main dinner there was catfish, turkey with cranberry sauce, beef tenderloin, and vegetables. Dessert was an assortment- a lemon bar, marble cheesecake, pecan pie, and a brownie. We loved it, mmmmmmm!!!!

 

[Amy&Dan]

We were there and I was pleasantly surprised. Yes it was crowded like you cannot imagine but people were in good moods and everybody was having fun. We didn't arrive until around 8:30 p.m., we had slept in and then laid by the pool at POFQ all day since we had done EMH at MK on the 30th (into the 31st) until 4:00 a.m. We just wanted to experience midnight on NYE at Epcot so went to people watch and see Illuminations. The lines for the bathrooms were the worst factor. My husband reported women using the men's room. I know my daughter and I waited for maybe 20 minutes in Germany and then decided to not drink anything else! We did finally go again right near the American Experience, they had some fence/gate thing opened and had these little mobile home bathrooms open. Very unique potty experience my daughter reported later on! But it was exciting to be there at Epcot and I would do it again. Can't comment on the waits earlier in the day but I noticed on the board when we entered that the wait for Soarin at 8:30 was 170 minutes. So people watching was definitely our choice for entertainment!