I just booked for my family of 4 a New Years adventure 2007-2008

[its jus tme]

Ok... I have read a lot of other DIS's but am truely still overwhelmed. This will be my and my family's FIRST WDW vacation. I was given a FREE one week stay at a Resort just outside of the MK. It is in Kissimee about 3 miles away. A Co-worker/ friend gave it to me for my birthday. It is right across from Arabian Nights?? Is that a place to bring a 5 yo and 7 yo for a night dinner show??? I have questioned the difference in park hours for myself (staying outside of Disney) and get 2 answers?? Will I be able to watch "wishes" on NEw Years Eve with my kids or am i kicked out at 7pm??? The park times show 1 am but is that for disney resort guests only??? How do the photopass cards work? Where do i get them from??? Does my family have the availabilty to use the monorails and other transpertation to and from different locations or other parks???? Do you wear bracelets that give access to the transportation or is it just open to anyone within the gates??? Do they travel to MGM, Epicot, etc?????

Is the waterpark passes worth getting for the time on my travels?? Dec 30 - January 6th??? And what would be the ultimate BDAY expeience i could get for my daughter (turning 8)
Is ther and High School Musical or Hannah Montana things there???? PLEASE HELP!!!! I have so many questions - any advice on anyhting is greatly appreciated. OH...... what is the ideal plan or best event ot have my children expeirience during our stay over NEW YEARS. Is there any specific special events for NEW years????
I look forward to hearing more from everyone. I still have to figure out my count down days. I have to be kind of quiet about though. My kids know we are going to Florida for a vacation but have NO clue we are going to WDW. Santa will eb bringing them a 4-5 day ticket for Xmas....... Im soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
EXCITED

 

[ntsammy5]

To answer some of your questions (but not all).

If there are EMH (Extra Magic Hours) on New Years Eve you have to be a resort guest to ride on the rides past normal closing hours -- they won't kick you out you just can't ride rides. Actually there are no EMH in MK on 12/31 so don't worry. If they close the parks though before you get in, which is a possibility, you can't get in without being a resort guest.

You can ride any of the WDW transportation. No problem with that -- there are no wrist bands or anything else for that. There are wrist bands for EMH though.

You can pick up a photo pass card from any photographer in the parks. they'll explain it to you.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Arabian Nights. Good luck and have fun.

 

[earthfaries]

We went to Arabian Nights last year and brought our three children with us. It is a family show, don't worry. They were 4 and 10 and they loved it! The horses were wonderful and did awesome tricks. We paid extra and got the VIP experience. We sat up front and went behind the scenes to the stables and met the actors. They also had a few of the horses set up in the stage ring area for the kids to sit on and take pics. The food was awful though~be forwarned!

As for Wishes, they have the fireworks show before or at the regular park closing time so all can see it. Then everyone without the EMH leaves.

Here is a website I found that goes into extreme detail on the photopass
http://www.stitchkingdom.com/photopass/ That should answer ALL your photopass questions

Monorails, buses and boats are all free~run all day and before and after park closings. They are easy to use but you will have some waiting on buses most likely.
To ride the monorail you have to either get on at Polynesian Resort, Grand Floridian Resort, Contemporary, MK or Epcot or the Ticket and Transportion Center. When going to the MK you park in the MK parking lot and walk to the TTC where you can board a Monorail to the MK or to the above listed resorts and MK. You can also take a boat to the MK instead.
You can take the monorail for a quick trip to Epcot also. The kids love to ride the monorail and our first night we always eat at Trail's End at Fort Wilderness then take a boat across the lake to MK and ride the monorail around to the resorts. We usually get out and look around and go to the giftshops at the resorts. Then we hop back on the monorail back to the MK and take the boat back to FW then the bus back to the parking lot. It is a great fun night We try to catch the Wishes at the Poly . You can see them from the second floor windows there.
The buses go from and to all the parks, inc. water parks and downtown disney and to all the disney resorts. They are clearly marked and easy to use.

You could probably go to the water parks during your visit. Lots of people go in Jan. and Feb, so Dec/Jan should be fine. They are so fun, we esp. love BB.
It is a great deal to get the add on. We are going Jan. 11-20 and opted not to get the add on this time because we are not sure about the weather. We decided to go to SeaWorld instead

As for the ultimate bday exp. we have found the most magical to be at Crystal Palace in the MK. Just tell them when makes ADR's. It is wonderful. They do a birthday parade, give a certificate, all the characters come to the table, it was great. Also you can get pins from all the parks saying it is her birthday

MGM has High School Musical shows and stuff.

I don't know anything about special events for NYE, sorry

And as for countdowns, www.tickerfactory.com will give you a free countdown like mine below.

Hope all this helps! You can send me a personal message if I can help you more! I know how it is the first time. I still research constantly and this will be our 6th trip since our first in 2003