Here Now - 12/31/18

[KerryCM]

We aren't even going to bother to ride anything today. Just head in and go dance party to dance party

Just finishing up dinner on the lounge. Delicious prime rib

Angi, are you at the Boardwalk?

 

[Disneylover99]

At Via Napoli now. We have a very quiet booth near the back of the restaurant.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Enjoy all. Looks great Happy New Year, Revelers!

 

[AngiTN]

Angi, are you at the Boardwalk?

Yes indeed! Just talked to Lene, Jackie and all the others. Everyone doing great

 

[mrsap]

At Via Napoli now. We have a very quiet booth near the back of the restaurant.

I loved Via Napoli. Enjoy your dinner and night!

Hope you are all having an amazing time.

 

[rcj2000]

Following along as I am hoping to be there next year!

I'm planning a trip for this time next year too.

 

[NicoleLarson]

@GADisneyDad14. Happy New from from across the lake

 

[isabellea]

Duplicate post.

 

[isabellea]

We were at MK yesterday and had a very productive day. Today was a resort day at POFQ and it was fun to meet Mickey in his king outfit!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Happy New Year to all!

(View of 11:50pm fireworks from Poly beach)

 

[mrsap]

Happy New Year to all!

(View of 11:50pm fireworks from Poly beach)
View attachment 372688

So beautiful. Happy New Year

 

[yulilin3]

Happy to report that Epcot was quite manageable IMHO. Avoiding the 7-7:30pm bottleneck from all the people leaving and the people going into world showcase, it wasn't that horrible. Even the lines for food looked shorter than expected.
The bathrooms at World showplace are the best kept secret, and the exit through IG to beach club and to drive back home after the fireworks was a breeze.
Happy 2019 everyone

 

[Disneylover99]

View attachment 372676 We were at MK yesterday and had a very productive day. Today was a resort day at POFQ and it was fun to meet Mickey in his king outfit!

Awesome! How was the dance party?

 

[HopperFan]

Happy to report that Epcot was quite manageable IMHO. Avoiding the 7-7:30pm bottleneck from all the people leaving and the people going into world showcase, it wasn't that horrible. Even the lines for food looked shorter than expected.
The bathrooms at World showplace are the best kept secret, and the exit through IG to beach club and to drive back home after the fireworks was a breeze.
Happy 2019 everyone

And we left feeling the opposite and at this point will not return for New Years. Our last in I think 2015 was very manageable, lines but they moved, walkways were negotiable and we stayed from 11 am until midnight. We were staying onsite so walked to DHS and caught bus to hotel with no waits.

This year we opted to stay offsite (since we found last time that drink lines were too long to bother with so we were drinking water). We parked at DHS with same plan expecting it to be much better since the new entrance/exit has way more lanes, less cars to deal with. We enjoyed our time at DHS and headed to Epcot mid-afternoon. On arrival we were shocked at the crowds, the crawl of the pace to get anywhere. Lines were huge often blocking entry to other places. We briefly went in to Future World (the only respite) but without FP+ and long lines there was no reason to be in that part of the park. The first Illuminations (our purpose for going) we stood well over an hour to hold what would be our second row viewing once they made everyone stand. People were rude. Family was pushing in front of us and another woman shoved me from behind. I told her to stop pushing me and she's yelling at her husband to push people out of her way so she can get on the rail. There was zero personal space anywhere we went in World Showcase. We were expecting full and busy, but we even remarked we'd never seen so many CMs and they were every few feet herding folks.

We finally decided we had enough. You couldn't even sit and people watch or hang around music because it was solid bodies. We picked up a FP+ for RnR (our second of day) and head back to DHS for a break. We walked in and both immediately said "how festive, how happy everyone is" ... no pushing, lots of space to sit and enjoy, great dance party and music, snow on two roads, the projections ... just a positive environment. We enjoyed a bit of everything. We picked up FP+ not only for RnR but Aliens and the second Fantasmic. After that we were headed back to Epcot for the midnight fireworks and opted to stand on the bridge at the Dolphin and enjoy from there. Easy walk back to car and we were out and in bed (by SeaWorld) before friends who drove to Epcot even got to the Epcot parking lot exit.

I think maybe there is a different perspective when you are local and when you travel from out of town for the holiday. Traveling to Orlando, hotels, dining costs .... specifically to enjoy New Years .... not worth it. Had it been like 2015 - yes, but clearly Disney is filling those parks easily even on the most expensive dates.