It is New Years Eve... Is it crowded??

[tcherjen]

I hadn't heard, so are the parks very busy tonight??? Wish we were there....

 

[sandybeach14]

My daughter is at Epcot. All day I got text messages about how long the riders were. 120 mins for spaceship earth. 250 mins for Test Track 65 mins for figment ect. It's crowded! But she's having a blast.

 

[mousehockey37]

I've seen pictures throughout the day, as well as the wait times. There are pictures from the UK Pavilion in WS and yeah, it's just shoulder to shoulder people. It doesn't look like you can even move. Can't imagine that MK is any better.

 

[tcherjen]

That's what I figured. Still a wonderful place to bring in the New Year. I hope your daughter has a great time.

 

[CruiserMom]

We were at Epcot yesterday, got off of Test track at 8:30pm and the standby line was 300 minutes! At 8:30pm! Does that mean they kept the park open so everyone in the line could ride? I wondered how that would work.

 

[Robo]

We were at Epcot yesterday, got off of Test track at 8:30pm and the standby line was 300 minutes! At 8:30pm!
Does that mean they kept the park open so everyone in the line could ride? I wondered how that would work.

Yes, they would continue to operate the attraction until guests who entered the line before park "closing time" have ridden.
(Unless there is ride breakdown, in which case they would close the attraction
and apologize to those guests still waiting.)

HOWEVER-
It is a very common practice (especially at Epcot) for the CMs to artificially inflate the numbers
and post a long, long standby wait time as park closing time gets near.
It discourages new guests from entering the line.

 

[disfan888]

Isn't it always crowded on new year's eve?

 

[mesaboy2]

Isn't it always crowded on new year's eve?

Yes.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I've seen pictures throughout the day, as well as the wait times. There are pictures from the UK Pavilion in WS and yeah, it's just shoulder to shoulder people.

Yes, it was crowded in the parks. The attraction wait times throughout the day tell you that. The traffic headed toward the MK at 11:00, when the park had hit phase 1 closure at 9:00 and may have been at phase 2 by 11:00......it was amazingly, horrendously terrible. Traffic diverted to Epcot was just as bad. Just wow. WOW!

You may have seen pictures, but pictures just don't do justice to how really, really, really........NOT THAT CROWDED it really was. We were at Epcot last night. Had a blast, and ended up really surprised at how fun it was despite the obvious crowd levels.

Here is why I say pictures don't do justice in terms of giving people an accurate picture. Sure, I could have posted pictures of our attempt to move past the Canada stage as the Lumberjack's were racing their chainsaws. We were attempting to move from the International Gateway to the plaza at the front of World Showcase for our FP+ for the 6:00 Illuminations. Best FP ever, by the way. Well, as we hit the stage area there are throngs headed in the direction we are going, and throngs headed the other way, and people watching the 'jacks......and shoulder to shoulder doesn't even describe it. It was packed like sardines. At one point there was no movement in either direction. People started chanting, tempers flared. It literally took 15 minutes to move 200 feet. Now THAT was crowded, and anyone seeing a picture of that would never want to visit such a place. But that was a snapshot. A moment in time that was NOT representative of what things were really like.

Now before I go on, and anyone says I'm crazy, I will say it WAS very crowded. There were lot and lots and LOTS of people. The rides has incredibly long standby lines if you didn't have a FP+ and wanted to do them. As our Canada experience proves, there were times it was incredibly, almost dangerously, packed. I don't dispute that, and many people are likely to have horror stories and pics to go with.

However, in our experience, for a very crowded park on the biggest holiday (celebration and crowd wise) of the year it wasn't bad at all. Notice I didn't say wasn't THAT bad, implying an acceptable level of badness. No, for us it wasn't bad at all. It was downright enjoyable and fun. Now we didn't go for the rides. Frankly, anyone who goes on NYE for the rides is a little bit foolish, because even the most simple research or planning would tell anyone that the rides will be bad. No, we went for the very thing we are talking about, the crowds. The people, the atmosphere, the entertainment, the crazy.....that's what you have to embrace.

So how did our evening go, and how were the crowds for us? Well, we arrived at the International Gateway at about 5pm. No problem, no wait getting in. As we hit the promenade things are moving. The Fish and Chips line is longer than I've ever seen, but we ate at Beaches and Cream before we hit the park (planning), so that didn't bother us. Time to start getting my NYE on, and there is no line to grab a couple of draughts outside the UK pavilion. Things are looking ok, despite our trepidation. Then we hit that Canada fiasco, and panic sets in that THAT is what the night is going to be like. However, that snapshot proved not to foretell things to come. We had FP+ for Mission Space good until 5:30 that we could have used, but as we've done it plenty of times we skipped it in favor of getting our FP+ (planning) spot for the 6pm Illuminations. We entered the area at 5:20 and got the best primo spot right at the front. No jostling, no crowds, just pleasant discussion with the cast members and lovely guests around us. I will say we were right next to the rope between the FP and non FP section, the non FP section being crowded with people who had probably been there for 3 hours or more, people trying to jump the rope into the FP area and being rebuffed by the cast members. Remember, it is crowded after all. However, we thoroughly enjoy our non-crowded perfect view of Illuminations. Once Illuminations was done the ropes dropped, and masses of people flooded in to claim spots, at 6:15 mind you, for the midnight Illuminations. Not for us, thankyouverymuch. We head off to use our Spaceship Earth FP+. Yes, crowds and traffic flow are interesting, but we navigate through with little trouble. We hit the bathroom outside of Spaceship Earth with only a short line for the ladies. Finished with our ride it is time to head to Fantasia 2014 (planning) for dinner (will post separate review of that). We spend from 8:00 to 10:00 out of the crowds, eating decent food, with easy access to booze that surprisingly wasn't overpriced. So, sheltered from the sea of humanity for a couple of hours, with midnight approaching, we nervously make our way to the promenade. The self imposed mission is to make it once around the World Showcase once, and ring the New Year in around Canada. Expecting throngs to make it nearly impossible to walk....we set forth. A short stroll and we hear the DJ in the UK. We make our way in at about 10:15. Crowded? I suppose. Shoulder to shoulder? Not while we were there. We stood in a nice spot along the building, plenty of space. After enjoying the DJ there for a bit we had to continue our mission. Things were moving surprisingly well as we headed over the bridge to France, past Morocco, to our next stop to observe the silent DJ party at Japan. Very interesting to watch for a few minutes, and we moved on. Very Latin flair at the American Gardens Theatre and we were able to easily move past after observing for a few minutes. On to Italy! Ok, it's packed in by the DJ, but you can still move......and if you are in there it's because you want to be, to feed off of the crowd, the loud music, the pulsing lights and smoke/laser show. Very cool scene, and after a bit of jumping and dancing we continue the mission. No problem moving on to China, where the next rave is in full swing. You could easily pass by on the promenade if you wanted, but we dive in. With bass to thump you to the core, great lights, shooting fire and a dragon breathing smoke over a true mosh pit, it's truly shoulder to shoulder insanity of the best kind, with people being passed over the top of the crowd. My daughter was throughly impressed by the DJ and his "drops", as I pretended to know what the heck she is talking about. Very cool scene, but it's 11:30 and we need to get to Canada. Once again we can move fairly easily around the promenade, and we arrive by Canada at 11:40. Worried about finding a spot for the fireworks we notice that, despite tape clearly indicating that it is an available viewing area, people have not claimed the "curb" space in front of the steps in Canada. We grab a "front row" seat for an incredible Illuminations show to ring in the New Year. Incredible show, just incredible. After the show we wait about 15 minutes for the crowds to disperse and we make our way back around the World Showcase the long way, with stops in China and Italy for some more dancing a revelry. We exited the park about 1am, dealt with a little traffic on the way back, but were safely back at the GF by 2am. All in all it was a great night, and much less crowded/aggravating than I expected it to be.

Notice the number of times I pointed out planning? If you plan ahead you can have a great experience. You also have to be willing to embrace the crowds and the insanity. All things considered, it was a great way to celebrate New Years Eve.

 

[Disneylover99]

Yes, it was crowded in the parks. The attraction wait times throughout the day tell you that. The traffic headed toward the MK at 11:00, when the park had hit phase 1 closure at 9:00 and may have been at phase 2 by 11:00......it was amazingly, horrendously terrible. Traffic diverted to Epcot was just as bad. Just wow. WOW!

You may have seen pictures, but pictures just don't do justice to how really, really, really........NOT THAT CROWDED it really was. We were at Epcot last night. Had a blast, and ended up really surprised at how fun it was despite the obvious crowd levels.

Here is why I say pictures don't do justice in terms of giving people an accurate picture. Sure, I could have posted pictures of our attempt to move past the Canada stage as the Lumberjack's were racing their chainsaws. We were attempting to move from the International Gateway to the plaza at the front of World Showcase for our FP+ for the 6:00 Illuminations. Best FP ever, by the way. Well, as we hit the stage area there are throngs headed in the direction we are going, and throngs headed the other way, and people watching the 'jacks......and shoulder to shoulder doesn't even describe it. It was packed like sardines. At one point there was no movement in either direction. People started chanting, tempers flared. It literally took 15 minutes to move 200 feet. Now THAT was crowded, and anyone seeing a picture of that would never want to visit such a place. But that was a snapshot. A moment in time that was NOT representative of what things were really like.

Now before I go on, and anyone says I'm crazy, I will say it WAS very crowded. There were lot and lots and LOTS of people. The rides has incredibly long standby lines if you didn't have a FP+ and wanted to do them. As our Canada experience proves, there were times it was incredibly, almost dangerously, packed. I don't dispute that, and many people are likely to have horror stories and pics to go with.

However, in our experience, for a very crowded park on the biggest holiday (celebration and crowd wise) of the year it wasn't bad at all. Notice I didn't say wasn't THAT bad, implying an acceptable level of badness. No, for us it wasn't bad at all. It was downright enjoyable and fun. Now we didn't go for the rides. Frankly, anyone who goes on NYE for the rides is a little bit foolish, because even the most simple research or planning would tell anyone that the rides will be bad. No, we went for the very thing we are talking about, the crowds. The people, the atmosphere, the entertainment, the crazy.....that's what you have to embrace.

So how did our evening go, and how were the crowds for us? Well, we arrived at the International Gateway at about 5pm. No problem, no wait getting in. As we hit the promenade things are moving. The Fish and Chips line is longer than I've ever seen, but we ate at Beaches and Cream before we hit the park (planning), so that didn't bother us. Time to start getting my NYE on, and there is no line to grab a couple of draughts outside the UK pavilion. Things are looking ok, despite our trepidation. Then we hit that Canada fiasco, and panic sets in that THAT is what the night is going to be like. However, that snapshot proved not to foretell things to come. We had FP+ for Mission Space good until 5:30 that we could have used, but as we've done it plenty of times we skipped it in favor of getting our FP+ (planning) spot for the 6pm Illuminations. We entered the area at 5:20 and got the best primo spot right at the front. No jostling, no crowds, just pleasant discussion with the cast members and lovely guests around us. I will say we were right next to the rope between the FP and non FP section, the non FP section being crowded with people who had probably been there for 3 hours or more, people trying to jump the rope into the FP area and being rebuffed by the cast members. Remember, it is crowded after all. However, we thoroughly enjoy our non-crowded perfect view of Illuminations. Once Illuminations was done the ropes dropped, and masses of people flooded in to claim spots, at 6:15 mind you, for the midnight Illuminations. Not for us, thankyouverymuch. We head off to use our Spaceship Earth FP+. Yes, crowds and traffic flow are interesting, but we navigate through with little trouble. We hit the bathroom outside of Spaceship Earth with only a short line for the ladies. Finished with our ride it is time to head to Fantasia 2014 (planning) for dinner (will post separate review of that). We spend from 8:00 to 10:00 out of the crowds, eating decent food, with easy access to booze that surprisingly wasn't overpriced. So, sheltered from the sea of humanity for a couple of hours, with midnight approaching, we nervously make our way to the promenade. The self imposed mission is to make it once around the World Showcase once, and ring the New Year in around Canada. Expecting throngs to make it nearly impossible to walk....we set forth. A short stroll and we hear the DJ in the UK. We make our way in at about 10:15. Crowded? I suppose. Shoulder to shoulder? Not while we were there. We stood in a nice spot along the building, plenty of space. After enjoying the DJ there for a bit we had to continue our mission. Things were moving surprisingly well as we headed over the bridge to France, past Morocco, to our next stop to observe the silent DJ party at Japan. Very interesting to watch for a few minutes, and we moved on. Very Latin flair at the American Gardens Theatre and we were able to easily move past after observing for a few minutes. On to Italy! Ok, it's packed in by the DJ, but you can still move......and if you are in there it's because you want to be, to feed off of the crowd, the loud music, the pulsing lights and smoke/laser show. Very cool scene, and after a bit of jumping and dancing we continue the mission. No problem moving on to China, where the next rave is in full swing. You could easily pass by on the promenade if you wanted, but we dive in. With bass to thump you to the core, great lights, shooting fire and a dragon breathing smoke over a true mosh pit, it's truly shoulder to shoulder insanity of the best kind, with people being passed over the top of the crowd. My daughter was throughly impressed by the DJ and his "drops", as I pretended to know what the heck she is talking about. Very cool scene, but it's 11:30 and we need to get to Canada. Once again we can move fairly easily around the promenade, and we arrive by Canada at 11:40. Worried about finding a spot for the fireworks we notice that, despite tape clearly indicating that it is an available viewing area, people have not claimed the "curb" space in front of the steps in Canada. We grab a "front row" seat for an incredible Illuminations show to ring in the New Year. Incredible show, just incredible. After the show we wait about 15 minutes for the crowds to disperse and we make our way back around the World Showcase the long way, with stops in China and Italy for some more dancing a revelry. We exited the park about 1am, dealt with a little traffic on the way back, but were safely back at the GF by 2am. All in all it was a great night, and much less crowded/aggravating than I expected it to be.

Notice the number of times I pointed out planning? If you plan ahead you can have a great experience. You also have to be willing to embrace the crowds and the insanity. All things considered, it was a great way to celebrate New Years Eve.

I've really enjoyed reading your report! Glad you had a great time!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I've really enjoyed reading your report! Glad you had a great time!

Same here!!

We will probably never have the opportunity to visit WDW during New Years Eve as June and July are always our only true options so it was a thrill to read this unique take on all of it.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

I hadn't heard, so are the parks very busy tonight??? Wish we were there....

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

 

[Mom loves Disney]

We were in front of the castle in mk last night and it was packed but fun. I don't feel the need to do it again though. Lol

 

[mafibisha]

Hows the weather been?

It hasn't looked good from our news but I know how wrong THAT can be!

 

[Mom loves Disney]

Today it finally cleared up.

 

[tcherjen]

Thanks for posting. I usually see threads about how crazy it is, but didn't see any this year. While I knew the parks were not empty, I just wondered if they weren't as bad this year. I still want to go, just to say we did it.

 

[Aurora0427]

Yes, it was crowded in the parks. The attraction wait times throughout the day tell you that. The traffic headed toward the MK at 11:00, when the park had hit phase 1 closure at 9:00 and may have been at phase 2 by 11:00......it was amazingly, horrendously terrible. Traffic diverted to Epcot was just as bad. Just wow. WOW!

You may have seen pictures, but pictures just don't do justice to how really, really, really........NOT THAT CROWDED it really was. We were at Epcot last night. Had a blast, and ended up really surprised at how fun it was despite the obvious crowd levels.

Here is why I say pictures don't do justice in terms of giving people an accurate picture. Sure, I could have posted pictures of our attempt to move past the Canada stage as the Lumberjack's were racing their chainsaws. We were attempting to move from the International Gateway to the plaza at the front of World Showcase for our FP+ for the 6:00 Illuminations. Best FP ever, by the way. Well, as we hit the stage area there are throngs headed in the direction we are going, and throngs headed the other way, and people watching the 'jacks......and shoulder to shoulder doesn't even describe it. It was packed like sardines. At one point there was no movement in either direction. People started chanting, tempers flared. It literally took 15 minutes to move 200 feet. Now THAT was crowded, and anyone seeing a picture of that would never want to visit such a place. But that was a snapshot. A moment in time that was NOT representative of what things were really like.

Now before I go on, and anyone says I'm crazy, I will say it WAS very crowded. There were lot and lots and LOTS of people. The rides has incredibly long standby lines if you didn't have a FP+ and wanted to do them. As our Canada experience proves, there were times it was incredibly, almost dangerously, packed. I don't dispute that, and many people are likely to have horror stories and pics to go with.

However, in our experience, for a very crowded park on the biggest holiday (celebration and crowd wise) of the year it wasn't bad at all. Notice I didn't say wasn't THAT bad, implying an acceptable level of badness. No, for us it wasn't bad at all. It was downright enjoyable and fun. Now we didn't go for the rides. Frankly, anyone who goes on NYE for the rides is a little bit foolish, because even the most simple research or planning would tell anyone that the rides will be bad. No, we went for the very thing we are talking about, the crowds. The people, the atmosphere, the entertainment, the crazy.....that's what you have to embrace.

So how did our evening go, and how were the crowds for us? Well, we arrived at the International Gateway at about 5pm. No problem, no wait getting in. As we hit the promenade things are moving. The Fish and Chips line is longer than I've ever seen, but we ate at Beaches and Cream before we hit the park (planning), so that didn't bother us. Time to start getting my NYE on, and there is no line to grab a couple of draughts outside the UK pavilion. Things are looking ok, despite our trepidation. Then we hit that Canada fiasco, and panic sets in that THAT is what the night is going to be like. However, that snapshot proved not to foretell things to come. We had FP+ for Mission Space good until 5:30 that we could have used, but as we've done it plenty of times we skipped it in favor of getting our FP+ (planning) spot for the 6pm Illuminations. We entered the area at 5:20 and got the best primo spot right at the front. No jostling, no crowds, just pleasant discussion with the cast members and lovely guests around us. I will say we were right next to the rope between the FP and non FP section, the non FP section being crowded with people who had probably been there for 3 hours or more, people trying to jump the rope into the FP area and being rebuffed by the cast members. Remember, it is crowded after all. However, we thoroughly enjoy our non-crowded perfect view of Illuminations. Once Illuminations was done the ropes dropped, and masses of people flooded in to claim spots, at 6:15 mind you, for the midnight Illuminations. Not for us, thankyouverymuch. We head off to use our Spaceship Earth FP+. Yes, crowds and traffic flow are interesting, but we navigate through with little trouble. We hit the bathroom outside of Spaceship Earth with only a short line for the ladies. Finished with our ride it is time to head to Fantasia 2014 (planning) for dinner (will post separate review of that). We spend from 8:00 to 10:00 out of the crowds, eating decent food, with easy access to booze that surprisingly wasn't overpriced. So, sheltered from the sea of humanity for a couple of hours, with midnight approaching, we nervously make our way to the promenade. The self imposed mission is to make it once around the World Showcase once, and ring the New Year in around Canada. Expecting throngs to make it nearly impossible to walk....we set forth. A short stroll and we hear the DJ in the UK. We make our way in at about 10:15. Crowded? I suppose. Shoulder to shoulder? Not while we were there. We stood in a nice spot along the building, plenty of space. After enjoying the DJ there for a bit we had to continue our mission. Things were moving surprisingly well as we headed over the bridge to France, past Morocco, to our next stop to observe the silent DJ party at Japan. Very interesting to watch for a few minutes, and we moved on. Very Latin flair at the American Gardens Theatre and we were able to easily move past after observing for a few minutes. On to Italy! Ok, it's packed in by the DJ, but you can still move......and if you are in there it's because you want to be, to feed off of the crowd, the loud music, the pulsing lights and smoke/laser show. Very cool scene, and after a bit of jumping and dancing we continue the mission. No problem moving on to China, where the next rave is in full swing. You could easily pass by on the promenade if you wanted, but we dive in. With bass to thump you to the core, great lights, shooting fire and a dragon breathing smoke over a true mosh pit, it's truly shoulder to shoulder insanity of the best kind, with people being passed over the top of the crowd. My daughter was throughly impressed by the DJ and his "drops", as I pretended to know what the heck she is talking about. Very cool scene, but it's 11:30 and we need to get to Canada. Once again we can move fairly easily around the promenade, and we arrive by Canada at 11:40. Worried about finding a spot for the fireworks we notice that, despite tape clearly indicating that it is an available viewing area, people have not claimed the "curb" space in front of the steps in Canada. We grab a "front row" seat for an incredible Illuminations show to ring in the New Year. Incredible show, just incredible. After the show we wait about 15 minutes for the crowds to disperse and we make our way back around the World Showcase the long way, with stops in China and Italy for some more dancing a revelry. We exited the park about 1am, dealt with a little traffic on the way back, but were safely back at the GF by 2am. All in all it was a great night, and much less crowded/aggravating than I expected it to be.

Notice the number of times I pointed out planning? If you plan ahead you can have a great experience. You also have to be willing to embrace the crowds and the insanity. All things considered, it was a great way to celebrate New Years Eve.

I loved reading your story and I am so glad you had such a great time. The week between Christmas and NYE is not something I want to experience until our daughter is MUCH older (she is 3.5) But NYE at EPCOT is something I could totally handle with a teenager or with my husband.

 

[NEV2OLD4DIS]

Enjoyed the report on NYE in Epcot. We left the evening of 12/30 after a nice vacation and crowds that really built up after Christmas. MK was so busy on 12/29 that we used our FP's and left. We had been in WDW for 10 nights by then, so we had pretty much done all we wanted to do at that point anyway. I think we would have enjoyed Epcot like you had we been there though, and our plans would have been much the same with riding only those rides we used FP's for. Sounds fun, especially since I spent my sick in bed after vacation!

 

[mudman]

Didn't go to the parks last night (NYE) instead we opted for 9:20 ADR at O'Hana. No problem viewing fireworks for the beach. They had a special section roped off for concierge but right beside that it was available to anyone (confirmed with those checking concierge magic bands). They gave out hats, noisemakers and glow in the dark glasses to everyone. We had front row on the lounge chairs and a perfect view of the beach and fireworks. Back at our hotel (all Stars) within 1/2 hr after the new year no traffic.

 

[lawgator]

We did also did a non-park, but fun NYE at Disney last night. Stayed at OKW and took the relaxing (and not crowded) ferry to Downtown Disney for a 7pm (midnight in Ireland) celebration with Irish music and dancing (and Guinness)...they handed out hats, 2015 glasses and free champagne at 7pm. We had a 6pm ressie through "Open Table". Later we took a bus to the Poly for some Kona Cafe coffee and dessert (had a 9:45pm ADR) and then the monorail to the Contemporary where we viewed the incredible MK fireworks from a high up outdoor stairwell at the Contemporary. We packed a couple of collapsible small stools in our backpack and they served us well for a comfortable 45 minute wait. After the fireworks we very quickly walked to the MK to catch a bus back to OKW and were surprised and pleased to immediately be able to board a bus and be back at OKW a little after 12:30am.