New Years at Disney

[ButterflyEffect]

Our upcoming trip is our third and we will be arriving on Dec.30 and leaving Jan.8. DH has surprised me by suggesting we go this winter so I am just starting the planning! Our last trip was Dec.10-17 and the crowds I thought we're fairly low/moderate most days. I don't think we will brave the parks on the 31st as we have heard how crazy Christmas Day is, so I am thinking New Years Eve would be crazy as well.
Some questions. Is the 1st of January crazy crowds or would that be quieter? It doesn't matter to us what park we start with. By what day would the parks be relatively quiet compared to New Years?

Any ideas as to what to do on the 31st? Are there kids fireworks earlier than midnight anywhere? Not sure what resort we will be at yet, but will be one of the values.

Thanks!

 

[Mickey & Minnie Mom]

Have only spent one NYE in Disney. Spent the morning watching son play baseball at WWOS then headed over to DHS. Yes, the lines were long...I think the wait for RNR was about 2 hours. But still able to do some things and we were there for the fireworks. Stayed at BC so was an easy walk back to the resort when I know there was a lot of traffic out on the roadways.

We hit MK early the next morning & based on our experience, I would definitely recommend. The crowd was very light as most people were up late the night before and not ready to be up and out the door on New Years Day. Later in the afternoon traffic picked up, but we got a lot done before.

Hope you have a great time welcoming in 2018 wherever you end up!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

The crowds will probably be very heavy all week as many schools are out that entire week because of where Jan 1st lands on the calendar. You can still have fun, but you need a touring plan that takes into account crowd level 9/10 days through your stay. This will be nothing like your previous stay in December.

As for 1/1 (and every other day on this trip, for that matter), you can really get a lot out of a rope drop strategy. As said earlier, folks will roll into the parks later on 1/1 than usual give the 12/31 celebrations. So get to the park early and ride, ride, ride. Eat when the crowds roll in - don't waste the only low crowd time of the day in a restaurant.

 

[mrsR123]

New Years Day is actually pretty doable. You're right about NYE crowds being crazy, but the fireworks in MK on the 30th and Epcot on 12/31 are absolutely wonderful.

 

[FelisLachesis]

New year's Day still pretty much hits the 10 on most crowd calendars. It's plenty busy, but a little less so than New Year's Eve. The 31st is one of the few days the crowd calendars go all Spinal Tap (put it up to 11!). This past holiday, the eve saw a Phase B closure at MK, the next day had no phase closure in place.

The mornings on The First are quieter than most mornings. People take longer to get up, but they'll still get up.

The one complication for January 2018 is the end of the 2017 holiday season comes right up against WDW Marathon Weekend. Races start on Thursday the 4th, and culminate with the marathon on the 7th.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Any ideas as to what to do on the 31st? Are there kids fireworks earlier than midnight anywhere? Not sure what resort we will be at yet, but will be one of the values.

We've done the past 7/8 years for Christmas and NYE. We go 12/24-1/1, typically.

IMO, NYE is the most crowded day of the year at Disney. The parks get pretty crowded on Christmas and again on like 12/27 and 12/28... but nothing like 12/31.

First and foremost, NYE and any day of the year is doable with the right plan. I'd assume you're staying on-site, right? If so, then you have A LOT more flexibility. Back when we first started going, we were under the impression that the parks "all closed due to capacity." This is true, to an extent. MK will hit a Phase 3 closure. However, it takes a Phase 4 closure for resort guests to be turned away and in all the years we've gone, it's never happened during Christmas or NYE.

So, we stopped going to the parks during the day. We spent the day relaxing by the pool, going to Disney Springs and wiping the tears from our eyes as we packed for 1/1. Then, we did a nice dinner and went to the parks later in the evening.

This year we went a little too late. We went to EPCOT around 10pm and couldn't move. We didn't expect to find a great spot for the fireworks, but it was a little too crazy for our liking. The year before we found a solid spot in Italy (~9:30pm). However, my mom's knee had been bothering her that year and my sister and I didn't want her standing for that long. Plus, this was right after Paris and as bad as this sounds—we had a bad feeling in our stomach. We wound up leaving in 2015 and watching from the resort. In 2016 we happened to be staying at BC. We left around 10:30 and watched from the pier at the YC. This wound up being the BEST spot, as it was not crowded, it was relaxful and right after the fireworks at EPCOT, the Star Wars fireworks went off at DHS. We were literally surrounded by fireworks.

My recommendation to you would be to go for Xmas/NYE. No, it's not for everyone, but I think you should experience it once. Disney really is unreal during Christmas. The fact that you can wake up on 12/26 and 12/27 and celebrate all over again—while everyone else wakes up and returns to their normal life—is my biggest selling point. I'd do MK on 12/30 for the fireworks. This year we're going to skip the parks all together on 12/31 and just enjoy it from the BC beach, BW or YC.

To answer your question - EPCOT does do Illuminations ~6pm with a special ending. Nothing beats being in the park for their NYE fireworks but this is a pretty good alternative. Also - Raglan Road celebrates NYE (no fireworks, though) at 7 or 8pm—whenever it hits 12am in Ireland.

1/1 gets crazy crowded at MK, but EPCOT is a ghost town. I remember walking around saying "But you couldn't move 12 hours ago... now there's no one in sight!"

Keep in mind that the first week of January was marathon week, this year. Our hotel lobby was actually much, much more crowded when we were checking out (1/1) than when we checked in (12/24).

 

[greenmom2b]

We have done the past two holidays at WDW - myself & DD12 & DD7 - Dec31-Jan3 in 2015 and Dec27-Jan1 in 2016 this past year.
We love the temps and like prior poster said - it's Christmas all week long!!!! Then New Years - well it's absolutely crowded - but we still do things and we still go just with scaled back plan and plenty of ADRs to have a place to eat and escape the multitudes!
We do MK for New Years Eve the early family fireworks at like 7 or 8 pm then we go back to the resort and watch HS fireworks from AOA.
Granted we do not stay for midnight in the parks but they do a countdown and castle show and everything for the early family fireworks. We aren't much nightowls.
The two trips for us - being there after New Years Eve into first of January was amazing slower time. But the last trip being there right after Christmas was much more festive and chipper! By New Years, everyone is like so done with the Christmas music... and seeing the MK Holiday parade more than twice gets that song stuck in my head like the dreaded 'it's a small world after all' ...... yep you are all singing that now in your mind right????
You will have an absolutely awesome time with holidays at Disney!!!!
I am secretly hoping to go again then haha!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

New Years Day is actually pretty doable. You're right about NYE crowds being crazy, but the fireworks in MK on the 30th and Epcot on 12/31 are absolutely wonderful.

+1.

The countdown and fireworks at EPCOT on NYE were amazing, but it was WALL to WALL people. We had a somewhat obstructed view on the balcony outside the Mexico pavilion to get away from the crowds a bit because my son was cranky, but it was amazing nonetheless. So amazing that we're doing it again this year.

 

[ButterflyEffect]

Thank you so much for all the excellent insight everyone! I feel more confident about going that time of year now

Will we still see any Christmas decorations if our first park day isn't until the 1st?

Thank you @PlutoTheDog89 for the Epcot recommendation for the 1st, we will definitely do that!. We will try to get an early start like others suggested.

Bummer about it being Marathon time, but hopefully it will be manageable that weekend.

 

[FelisLachesis]

Will we still see any Christmas decorations if our first park day isn't until the 1st?

The 1st should be good at most parks. However, the resorts might start taking them down at this time. Starting from the 1st to the 4th-5th(?) you'll see less Christmas around the parks. The resorts and the three "outer" parks (EP, HS, AK) will go down pretty quickly. Then the decoration teams will converge on MK and take it all down real quick overnight.

 

[jvz82]

I've only been to Disney on NYE once and I doubt I'll ever do it again, but wow what a cool experience! We almost always go at Christmas time so we're very used to crowds, but NYE is a whole different beast! I have never seen crowds like that before. We went to MK and they had to open up back paths usually reserved for cast members because otherwise you would not be able to move through the parks, and even with extra paths opened up you still could barely move.

But we stayed on site and arrived early that morning for EMH. We walked on to EVERYTHING all morning! No waits at all. It was practically a ghost town (as far as MK is concerned anyway). The crowds didn't really pick up until about lunch time, and then we left the park and spent a few hours at the resort. It was actually kind of amazing how many rides we went on that morning, my family and I still talk about how crazy it was. I suppose since people are planning to be up late for fireworks then they sleep in that morning.

And the other positive thing, like others mentioned, the fireworks are absolutely phenomenal. Never seen anything like it! It made the crazy crowds totally worth it... once, anyway.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Thank you so much for all the excellent insight everyone! I feel more confident about going that time of year now

Will we still see any Christmas decorations if our first park day isn't until the 1st?

Thank you @PlutoTheDog89 for the Epcot recommendation for the 1st, we will definitely do that!. We will try to get an early start like others suggested.

Bummer about it being Marathon time, but hopefully it will be manageable that weekend.

The tree will (surprisingly) be down in EPCOT. I remember going the next day and being like "wait a minute.. something is different." Otherwise, most Xmas decorations will stay up through the first week. If memory serves me right, I think TimTracker did a video showing Xmas decorations staying up until the 12th this year. That's not typical, though.

 

[greenmom2b]

We have done Epcot both trips for Jan 1st. Loved it!!! Like prior poster said no one is awake that next morning. It was great especially after the crowd overload from night before .
We enjoyed the feel of world showcase with so few early people. Saw lots of characters. Even got a 4th fast pass on Frozen Ever After that day ! Girls were thrilled.
Of course my littlest peed her way thru future world with mixed up schedule from day year before .....
SO we joke that's croc shoes aren't just for rain anymore!

 

[mickeymom22]

We have been there for NYE. We stayed at our resort, Port Orleans Riverside. They had a countdown party complete with hats and beads! I bet all the resorts have some kind of festivities! We didn't even attempt to go the parks that day. We rented a surrey bike, and toured some resorts and took in the decorations. We were even were able to snag a table at Boatwright's that night without a reservation or wait. New Year's Day is our anniversary and we spent the day at Epcot. The crowds weren't super high or low there. We did get there at rope drop. We were hoping everyone had their fill of Epcot the night before! Epcot just seems to be able to absorb the crowds better to me. All the decorations were up for our stay. We didn't leave until the 5th.

Have a great trip!

 

[fairygagamother]

This past December was the first time we were there for this particular holiday. The 31st was my family's arrival day &hi figured they would be pretty tired, & because of expected NYE crowds, we planned to just stay at the resort. The kids had never stayed at PO, so we just explored the resort, had a nice dinner at Boatwrights & then went to the resort's party. Mickey himself was there! We went to bed early-ish & then went to AK at rope drop. The crowds were minimal. We did EMH when available all week & saved our FP for later at a second park. It worked out beautifully! It was warm enough for the kids to swim & the Christmas decorations were up almost all week.
The only downside was that once the races started, traffic was terrible & it was hard to find parking spaces at 2 of the hotels we stayed in (Poly & BWI). But other than parking issues & road closures, it was a great time to go!

 

[Accident]

Last year both the 30th and 31st it got so crowded in MK they had the parking lot between tony's and tomorrowland opened plus the bypass to allow more people into the park and a place to watch the fireworks from.. you will be there the most crowded time of the year.. the plus is any other time will feel "managable" after doing it once...

edit: there will be other things announced closer to do.. generally there is some pay parties, special meals, etc etc that get announced closer. Also it's a 2 day thing at WDW so you can do more than 1 NYE celebration activity..

 

[Deirdres]

We will be arriving at MCO around 4pm on the 30th, from the west coast. My thought was after checking into OKW, to head over to MK after 8 for a few FP+, late ADR at BOG, fireworks and some PM EMH. No young children, youngest is 14 and is a night owl, anyone see any issues with this plan, aside from jetlag? Is 8pm a really bad time to try and enter the park? We will be going to MK again later in the week, so I will be fine with just hitting the FP's this night.

 

[Deirdres]

Also wanted to add that unlike most people, MK is not a priority park for us, as we go to DLR often, and the rides are similar, so we will only be hitting the attractions that are not found at DLR.