For those who have done the week between Christmas and NY--looking for your tips

[Mousefan mom]

I'm looking for advice from DIS'ers who have actually done Disney World over NYE.

Our kids are older, tween/teen years (more manageable), and we are considering going this very busy time in 2019. I'm looking for tips/suggestions that make it more manageable, particularly on the 30th and 31st. We are also wondering if anyone predicts what impact all the new stuff opening in Hollywood will have to shift the crowds over there more on NYE versus other parks?

If we do this, it would be a total Christmas surprise for our kids on Christmas morning. We would certainly stay on property and look at early reservations and planning. I was thinking MK on the 30th, and I've always wanted to try Epcot on the 31st. I can't imagine being in a park all day though--we always come back to the room and relax in the afternoon. Can some of you who have done it, please share any tips or tricks. We are tossing around staying at AoA or CBR this time. We'd be there about a week. I'm not terribly worried about the other days--but I know 31st is insane.

* is it worth it to do the deluxe dining? I've always thought that was an insane amount of food, but wondering if we would be better served to do 2 table service (where we know we have ADR) versus the one table and one quick we usually do?

*Possibly do a candlelight procession dining package on 31st?

* Is park hopping even possible on the 31st? I thought of doing AK for the day, relax at resort in the afternoon and Epcot at night?

* Did any park other than MK reach capacity this year?

 

[Monykalyn]

My DH and I did this in 2017; had a ball. We were there to get a kid from the end of her College program and drive with her back home. We stayed CSR dec 29-jan2 then switched to a DS hotel for 2 more days.
We did MK on the 30th, even snagged a LTT dinner a few days before arrival, and a dessert party a couple weeks before arrival for the 30th. MK was packed to bursting, but fun. LOVED having the dessert party to watch the fireworks! We had a table in terrace directly under where Tinkerbell flew. Nice to be out of crowd.
Slept in and went later in afternoon to Epcot. Make dinner reservations when window opens up! I didn’t but managed to snag a Japan dining at a decent time slot (730 I think) very late in game. Wanted a later dinner to help carry through the evening. Epcot was jammed packed as well, but it was a really fun atmosphere with all the dance parties, extra food areas etc. lines seemed long for food and drinks but they usually moved fairly quickly. I even snagged a FP for frozen that day for two of us, and when we got over there no wait to see the princess meet n greet (yes we did lol). Getting out of Epcot was the nightmare! We ended up walking over to DHS and taking our time on boardwalk, to catch a bus back to Resort. Worked for us that year as no TSL and of course, no Star Wars either, DHS had closed but busses still running. Epcot parking lot nightmare for hours with traffic. I wouldn’t worry about park hopping on 31st to Ak then Epcot - should be fine.
Pro tip-the bathrooms right outside IG were always clean and never as busy as inside Epcot, I’d just hand my bag to DH and go, then he’d do the same. Let us go through the bagless reentry line.

We did Dec 26-Dec 30 at Universal this past Christmas. Also packed, but so loved the EP and not having to plan for rides for all 4 of us (oldest didn’t come with this trip).

Parks at holidays are so beautiful! Have fun!

 

[Disneylover99]

We do MK on the 30th and Epcot on the 31st.

We like to stay for the midnight fireworks on the 30th and hang out after at the MK while the masses leave so New Years Eve we sleep in and head to Epcot late afternoon. I don't recommend park hopping New Year's Eve.

There were no other capacity closings this year.

 

[Gehrig1B]

I'm looking for advice from DIS'ers who have actually done Disney World over NYE.

Our kids are older, tween/teen years (more manageable), and we are considering going this very busy time in 2019. I'm looking for tips/suggestions that make it more manageable, particularly on the 30th and 31st. We are also wondering if anyone predicts what impact all the new stuff opening in Hollywood will have to shift the crowds over there more on NYE versus other parks?

If we do this, it would be a total Christmas surprise for our kids on Christmas morning. We would certainly stay on property and look at early reservations and planning. I was thinking MK on the 30th, and I've always wanted to try Epcot on the 31st. I can't imagine being in a park all day though--we always come back to the room and relax in the afternoon. Can some of you who have done it, please share any tips or tricks. We are tossing around staying at AoA or CBR this time. We'd be there about a week. I'm not terribly worried about the other days--but I know 31st is insane.

* is it worth it to do the deluxe dining? I've always thought that was an insane amount of food, but wondering if we would be better served to do 2 table service (where we know we have ADR) versus the one table and one quick we usually do?

*Possibly do a candlelight procession dining package on 31st?

* Is park hopping even possible on the 31st? I thought of doing AK for the day, relax at resort in the afternoon and Epcot at night?

* Did any park other than MK reach capacity this year?

We have done it 4 years in a row, obviously we enjoy it.

We never get any Dining Plan any more, we find it too restricting and we can eat when, where, how we want and spend a lot less money out of pocket. If you want the convenience of prepaid food, put the cost of the plan on a Disney Gift Card... do remember to include tax and tips in the total.

Better idea to do a fireworks dessert package as there is no Candlelight Processional on NYE.

We have park hopped every NYE... if you are on site or have an ADR you will not be locked out of MK. This year the closure was a phase 2. There has not been a phase 4 in over 10 years. Having said that, many will do the NYE fireworks at MK on the 30th and Epcot (handles crowds better) on the 31st. We went to AK in the AM this year then Epcot for the NYE fireworks.

No other park reached capacity this year.

Have a good plan, do not drive on the 31st, and understand there will be huge crowds. We always hit the parks early with FPs between 10-1 then leave during the crowded time and return about 5:00.

Of course, with Galaxy's Edge opening in December all bets are off!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I did it once.
I wouldn't necessarily choose to do it again but then again I wouldn't refuse to either lol.
My biggest advice would be BOOK NOW and pack your patience.
It is absolutely wall to wall people.They have lines taped in the middle of the walkways and CM's with light wands directing traffice saying stay to your right stay to your right. The bathrooms completely close for cleaning.
It takes a very long time to get from point A to point B.
Lines are absolutely insane.
I personally wouldn't get the DxDP ever but that's really up to you.
We always stay from RD until we are done no matter what time that is.
Personally I would not plan to leave the park for a break when it is THAT crowded instead I just find somewhere to sit and rest.

 

[xlsm]

We've done the last two years in a row.

I have TRs in my signature, including one in progress.

If you go, stay in an Epcot area resort or on the monorail line. Do NOT be on the roads between noon and 7pm on NYE.
MK is usually at some kind of closure by 11am.

Be patient, be flexible, have fun!

For 17/18 NYE we did MK on the 30, Epcot on 31...this year there was no way we were going to be in a park on NYE, and we spent it at the resort. It was much more fun and less stressful.

 

[FSU Girl]

It is so much fun! I did it for the first time this past NYE and went to Magic Kingdom. Yes it is crowded, but the CM do such a great job with the crowds it didn’t feel bad at all, I was expecting so much worse, but that could also be because I was expecting mayhem and it wasn’t close to that. With the opening of Star Wars I do this it’ll be a lot more crowded and I could see Hollywood Studios having some sort of closure, but no one really knows what’s happen.

I recommend staying at either an Epcot resort or monorail resort to avoid traffic on the roads. If it’s too expensive for the whole trip consider switching to that hotel for 30-1. We stayed at Contemporary Theme Park View room. This was perfect, being able to walk to Magic Kingdom and we watched the fireworks from our balcony away from the crowds.

I highly recommend getting ADRs and avoid quick services in the parks. They were crazy crowded to just order and no where to sit to eat. It’s nice to have a break from the madness. We went to Ohana for dinner on NYE.

Make sure you make your fast passes! The wait times for rides were all 4 hours or more. Insane. Fast pass lines were no more than 5 minutes.

Before I went I didn’t think I’d ever do it again, but I definitely will. Just going to wait until the Star Wars madness dies down a bit.

Have a good time!

 

[deedubb]

Stick with your plan of MK on the 30th, Epcot 31st. Highly recommend a dessert party for the 30th at MK.

As others have mentioned, stay at an Epcot resort. You really don't want to be waiting for a bus, then on the roads, after the midnight fireworks. It will be a loooong ride back to the resort. Make sure you book ADRs! Dining at quick service will be torture. We did a late dinner at Epcot, but it was still very tiring waiting for fireworks after dinner, so we went back to the hotel for a bit (stayed at Boardwalk). That was a lifesaver for the kids, and it would have been tough to do if we were not at Boardwalk.

Overall, we had a great time and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

 

[McKelly]

We just were there this past holiday. We did as everyone suggests. MK on the 30th and Epcot on the 31st. We did the dessert party on the 30th - definitely recommend that. It was nice to be away from the crowds and be able to watch the fireworks.

On the 31st, we left our resort to get to Epcot about 3pm and drove right in. We must have just hit it right because my DD went earlier, noonish, and she spent 1.5 hours in traffic trying to get to Epcot. Allow time to get to the parks.

We didn't try to secure a spot for the Epcot fireworks until about 1.5-2 hours before. I read on these boards that it isn't really necessary because the fireworks are in the air and you can seem them from anywhere. We found a semi-decent spot, about eight rows back, unobstructed by trees, and thought this is fine. But what happened when the fireworks started, people went up on people's shoulders, EVERYONE put their hands straight up holding their phones to record it and people squeezed in every inch there was available at the last minute - no idea where they came from. It was ruined for me. I watched the fireworks from the person's phone in front of me, because I couldn't see a thing, and I'm not short. I felt terrible for the kids around me that had been waiting for hours. I'm just telling you this so you have all the facts, you might want to stake out a spot much earlier to ensure a front row spot for the fireworks. I won't go for the NYE fireworks again at Epcot.

I didn't think the exiting/traffic back to the resort was bad back at the buses. The lines were LONG, I will give you that. But we got lucky because we were staying at Riverside, but a bus pulled up for French Quarter just as we were getting in the bus lines and hardly anybody was waiting in that line. So we took that bus home and walked back to Riverside. We got back to our resort in about 20 minutes. It appeared that many of the exit ramps were for "buses only." The roads looked closed, but buses were allowed to go through the barricades.

 

[wmoon]

We did our first Christmas trip this year 24th December till 4th January. We loved it.

In the 30th we went shopping offsite then to Epcot about 4pm. We stayed in world showcase, had a fp for frozen, had dinner at nine dragons and watched illuminations from the bridge at France it was really quiet.

After illuminations we walked my mother in law back to our resort, the beach club and ds, Dh and I got a bus straight away to MK, we watched the second viewing of the fireworks, yes it was very busy but we got a good space and we stayed for emh and got to our room about 3am.

31st - we swam, played mini golf at Fantasia gardens and went to HS in the evening. We had dinner at HBD and used fastpasses including fantasmic, it was pretty busy.

Ds and my mother in law went to bed and Dh and I walked into Epcot to see the nye fireworks about 11.30. It was wall to wall but still not as bad as I had read about. It was great to see.

Over the whole trip I only saw crazy toilet lines twice.

Staying in an epcot resort over new year was a big advantage. And we also stayed at the contemporary over Christmas which made Mk manageable on christmas morning at 6am.

 

[Mousefan mom]

We've done the last two years in a row.

I have TRs in my signature, including one in progress.

If you go, stay in an Epcot area resort or on the monorail line. Do NOT be on the roads between noon and 7pm on NYE.
MK is usually at some kind of closure by 11am.

Be patient, be flexible, have fun!

For 17/18 NYE we did MK on the 30, Epcot on 31...this year there was no way we were going to be in a park on NYE, and we spent it at the resort. It was much more fun and less stressful.

I LOVED viewing your trip report. This is the first report I've found where the person was actually there over the holiday itself, so very realistic view of what to expect. I did not realize there were "two shows" on the 30th and 31st for fireworks. This is certainly helpful. It sounds like it makes a lot more sense to do a desert party than deluxe dining. I'll check that out. I think now if we went to Epcot on NYE, we'd try to go in about 7pm--find something else to do that day. I debated on MK being the same (arrive after the 2nd fireworks on the 30th--but we will see).

 

[Mousefan mom]

We have done it 4 years in a row, obviously we enjoy it.

We never get any Dining Plan any more, we find it too restricting and we can eat when, where, how we want and spend a lot less money out of pocket. If you want the convenience of prepaid food, put the cost of the plan on a Disney Gift Card... do remember to include tax and tips in the total.

Better idea to do a fireworks dessert package as there is no Candlelight Processional on NYE.

We have park hopped every NYE... if you are on site or have an ADR you will not be locked out of MK. This year the closure was a phase 2. There has not been a phase 4 in over 10 years. Having said that, many will do the NYE fireworks at MK on the 30th and Epcot (handles crowds better) on the 31st. We went to AK in the AM this year then Epcot for the NYE fireworks.

No other park reached capacity this year.

Have a good plan, do not drive on the 31st, and understand there will be huge crowds. We always hit the parks early with FPs between 10-1 then leave during the crowded time and return about 5:00.

Of course, with Galaxy's Edge opening in December all bets are off!

I had no idea there was no Candlelight processional on NYE--makes sense though. Do these go all the way up to the 31st typically? Will help for planning purposes!

 

[Mousefan mom]

Stick with your plan of MK on the 30th, Epcot 31st. Highly recommend a dessert party for the 30th at MK.

As others have mentioned, stay at an Epcot resort. You really don't want to be waiting for a bus, then on the roads, after the midnight fireworks. It will be a loooong ride back to the resort. Make sure you book ADRs! Dining at quick service will be torture. We did a late dinner at Epcot, but it was still very tiring waiting for fireworks after dinner, so we went back to the hotel for a bit (stayed at Boardwalk). That was a lifesaver for the kids, and it would have been tough to do if we were not at Boardwalk.

Overall, we had a great time and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

I'm hoping with the new skyliner system, CBR or AoA would be a doable option of "avoiding the roads" and still opening up those resorts. We do love the Boardwalk--depending on prices that might be an option. Unfortunately, though it does throw a wrench in my park hop to AK plan that day--no other way to get there than the roads, lol.

 

[Gehrig1B]

I had no idea there was no Candlelight processional on NYE--makes sense though. Do these go all the way up to the 31st typically? Will help for planning purposes!

Epcot's Festival of the Holidays ends December 30th. CP is part of the festival.

Wee booked a late dinner at Teppan Edo but decided after to avoid the crazy crowds after the fireworks. We walked toward the main gate as fireworks began and were easily on our bus back to WL before the crowds. If you do stay for the entire show I would not try to exit before 1:00 am.

Others have walked to DHS to get a bus... not sure how that wiil be now with the Skyliner. Of course this all depends on which resort you book.

I'm hoping with the new skyliner system, CBR or AoA would be a doable option of "avoiding the roads" and still opening up those resorts. We do love the Boardwalk--depending on prices that might be an option. Unfortunately, though it does throw a wrench in my park hop to AK plan that day--no other way to get there than the roads, lol.

We went to AK on the 31st this year, returned to WL via bus (mid-day roads were OK), then Ubered to Epcot at 7:00 without a problem. So many believe you have to be there first thing and stay all day that the roads are crazy prior to noon but not so much later, at least in our experience.

 

[d-train]

We did this about 10 years ago, lots of fun, great Christmas decorations, and snow on Main Street was cool, fun Christmas theming around the parks, but the crowds...never again. Well...never say never, but we would probably choose a different time frame...

 

[Justplainchy]

We did this 2017-2018, from Christmas Day to January 1st. Like everyone else has mentioned, do the MK fireworks on the 30th (with a dessert party if you can, the crowds that night were nuts, even if they paled in comparison to the next day) and then NYE at Epcot. If we could do it again, we'd follow your plan -- rest at least some point during the day (you'l have no trouble going from AK to Epcot), and then head to Epcot late. We managed to get a BoG reservation for lunch on NYE (we'd been trying all week) so we spent precisely two hours at MK and that was enough for us. Literally shoulder to shoulder people from Fantasy land to the front gate. We couldn't bail fast enough. Epcot was also crowded but it's much more spread out, so it didn't feel so bad. People start staking out fireworks spots about 8:00 -- we got a decent spot at 11, but if we did it again we would just bring some cards or books or something and just grab a spot about 9:00 or 10:00 and then go out in pairs to enjoy things/grab food etc. I definitely would get an ADR on NYE -- we managed to secure one at Chefs De France, and it was a really nice break from the crowds. Also -- a thing I didn't expect though I should have-- prep for seeing drunk people at Epcot. The alcohol is flowing and people take advantage. The show is worth it though. I would definitely go back again, as long as we made the adjustments we did. It was my wife's first trip, and now she's as obsessed as I am, so definitely don't fear doing it.

My other weird advice: on a busy day at some point from 1pm-3pm (and if you're good at saying no) take the DVC people up on their spiel. They pick you up at the park and return you, give you a $50-$100 gift card AND you get three multi-experience fast passes. We did it on the 30th when we were at Magic Kingdom and it got us out of the crowds at the busiest time of the day, three extra fast passes AND a gift card. It's not a hard sell -- they present the info, you ask questions and then you get ice cream. Definitely not like the ones we've done where they keep getting pushier and pushier people to convince you to buy. Only do it if you're either 1) really interested or 2) good at resisting what seems like a magical thing, though.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[AJT607]

We've done Christmas/New Year's at Disney for the past two years and I would do it again in a heartbeat. All of the parks have extended hours and we had a lot of success with reasonable plans going to each park from rope drop until around noon, and then heading back to the parks in the evening around 5pm until close. Yes, it is crowded, but if you have reasonable expectations and a solid plan - I think you can have a great time.

I second the previous posters who recommend the MK dessert party on Dec 30. We also managed to snag an Epcot fireworks cruise on Dec 31 this year - which was amazing. Bathroom waits can be long during peak times and on December 30-31st, but we found that manageable, as well.

My wife liked Thanksgiving better than Christmas because she thought that the crowds were lower and the parks were still magically decorated for the holidays. However, there's nothing else in the world like the New Year's Eve fireworks at Epcot.

Hope you have an amazing trip!

 

[hakepb]

I'm hoping with the new skyliner system, CBR or AoA would be a doable option of "avoiding the roads" and still opening up those resorts. We do love the Boardwalk--depending on prices that might be an option. Unfortunately, though it does throw a wrench in my park hop to AK plan that day--no other way to get there than the roads, lol.

That should help.

As long as the bus doesn’t take the wrong route, it should be OK (but we got stuck on a bus where it took 60+ minutes on the bus to drive from CBR to AK on Christmas Day since a bus driver inexplicably drove us in front of Epcot)...I’d still try AK earlier on the 31st.

Try getting a dinner ADR at MK for the 30th

In the evening on the 31st, Epcot opens up lawn areas between Figment and World Showcase, so if you have a blanket and supplies, it can be a place to chill/more comfortably watch fireworks. (And still be somewhat close to International Gateway) But if your family / teens love energy, the various loud D.J. party’s around World Showcase are a fun but very crowed way to spend the night.

 

[tinkerjo]

We went a few years ago. NYE was awful but we were at HS, the last year for the Osborn lights. They handed out these stupid noisemakers about 5PM and everyone blew them till my head was pounding. Ended up leaving early and RD MK on 1/1. We had the park to ourselves till noon!!!! It was great!!!! Everyone sleeps in. Much better than staying up and listening to those stupid kazoos all night long!!!!!!!

 

[yulilin3]

We went a few years ago. NYE was awful but we were at HS, the last year for the Osborn lights. They handed out these stupid noisemakers about 5PM and everyone blew them till my head was pounding. Ended up leaving early and RD MK on 1/1. We had the park to ourselves till noon!!!! It was great!!!! Everyone sleeps in. Much better than staying up and listening to those stupid kazoos all night long!!!!!!!

The soundtrack of a disney park nye
They give them at all parks and yes they are very annoying