MK Birthday / New Year... Am I Crazy?

[Jnewry]

Okay, so..

I decided to take the bait and book a trip from 12/28/17-1/2/18 this year for my birthday (12/30) and for New Year's celebrations. 12/30 On my birthday I'm going to want to go to Shula's for dinner and then I was wondering what my chances are for making it back into the MK to see the first showing of the new years fireworks. I know parks are usually at capacity for those days... but I'm also hoping that families with kids will want to leave early that night because: it's not actually new years, and their kids will be sleeping.

For actual new year celebrations, I want to be in Epcot. Am I doomed to staying in this park all day and all night until the festivities begin due to capacity issues? Or, will I be able to leave for a little while and come back at some point?

Also, I'm making tons of ADR's for my trip and going to go crazy on fastpasses when those open up. But, am I crazy for trying to go on these dates? I've never been around the holiday season, and I'm glad I'm not going for Christmas, but is this time crazy also? Any help or advice is greatly welcomed!

 

[minniegirl19]

I've been there the past 3 New Years. Get ready for CROWDS. Go in with low expectation because you'll come out being pleasantly surprised. We never waited more then 20 minutes for a ride because we took advantage of emu and fastpass. It's a fun atmosphere, you'll get the New Years fireworks the Christmas fireworks and the Christmas parade. MK has never hit capacity on the 30th when I was there the last 3 years and Epcot never has either so you should be good! Have fun and just enjoy it!

 

[courtneyall]

Busiest time of the year, but also the most fun! People, people everywhere but the excitement buzzing through the parks is unreal! Have fun!

 

[ShannonRT]

Our family of 5 is also going this year 12/30-1/6. DH and stepkids have never been at all at Christmas time so I'm super-excited for them to see all the decorations! DD and I went one year around this time, but arrived late on New Years Day so the crowds died down after we arrived. None of us have ever experienced the crowds and mayhem we know will be happening on 12/30 and 12/31. We are planning MK fireworks for 12/30 and Epcot fireworks on 12/31. I'm really struggling with ADR's because Disney is JUST NOW releasing park hours for these dates....one day at a time. So I'm trying to plan park days now, and I feel like it's so late. My 180 day mark is Monday. Normally, I would have this thought out a while ago but it seems like they are really late in releasing park hours. I've also never stayed off-site before so not being able to make FP selections until 30 days out is making me nervous at such a busy time of year. But we plan to just go with the flow and have fun. There are the newer attractions that are a must-do but we've all been there before so we can just take our time with everything else.