We have done NYE at DL 4 out of the past 5 years. One of the times was when I proposed to my now DW. The weather is usually good (probably considered great compared to the majority of the country), except this past 2005 New Years when it rained. It rained hard only in the AM, this kept alot of the previous years crowds away. But it turned into a beautiful NYE night. If you want to avoid crowds, i would suggest extending you vacation a couple days into the New Year, even crowds on Jan 1st are not that bad. So by the 2nd or 3rd they have dissipated. Except next year(2006) the Rose Parade will be on the 2nd so many of the people attending the parade may go to DL on the 1st.