New Years @ Disney World

[Bryan Sockel]

Hi,

We have a trip to Disney World over new years and i am look for some tips and advice. It has been eight years since we have been. We will be flying in on Fri Dec 29th and flying out on January 4th. We are staying All-Star Music resort

We initially planned on 5 days at the parks, and are tempted to add a 6th day ticket for the day we arrive. Our flight get's in about 10:30 in the morning so by the time we get to the hotel and then to the park it may be 1:00. And if we do we may elect to spend the half day at Hollywood Studios.

Of the Parks Hollywood studios is the one we are least excited about, would a 1/2 day be enough time with the crowds. There are only a few things there that are on our must do list there.

We know it will be crowded this time of year, so i don't know if would we would even be able to get in the park because of crowd levels.

I need to make our dining reservations as they open up soon and i am looking for reservations tips. We are not doing the dining plan this time around and there will be 3 of traveling. Our daughter is 12.

Last time we did and are considering booking again.

• Tusker House at Animal Kingdom
• Akershus Royal Banquet at Epcot

We also want to book Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom.

We are tempted for the Fantasmic Dinner package on Hollywood Studios Mama Mel Rose

Where i am stuck at is what do we book for the fireworks on NYE. Currently we plan on spending NYE
at Epcot, second option would Magic Kingdom. What are the your opinions on one vs the other? Best place for viewing the fireworks. Etc.


Any Advice is much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[CAS239]

Best tip for new years is to do MK on the 30th and do Epcot on nye. Mk does their bye fireworks on the 30th and 31st so this way you can see both nye shows. It'll also help you avoid the painful waits to leave Mk on that night

As far as capacity and not being able to get into parks, you're staying on site so you have nothing to worry about. Only way on site and AP guests are blocked from entering the parks is if the parks reach full capacity which is rare and has only happened a handful of times since wdw has been open

If you plan do to a tusker house ADR then you might as well book the Rivers of light dining package if you'd be interested in that show. It's just a couple dollars more per person

 

[minniegirl19]

We did those exact dates this past year. And our flight landed at that same time on arrival day (any chance you're from Cleveland? lol) but what we did was pool and Disney springs the first day, mk the 30th, epcot 31st, AK 1st, HS 2nd, MK 3rd left the 4th.

If you can add the 6th day on arrival day I'd do it but plan on still getting back to the resort at a decent time because this time of year you'll have longggg days. Also I'd sleep in on the 31st and head to Epcot around 1130 noon because there's a chance you won't be on a bus back to the resort until 2 or 3am. After the fireworks go to test track and do single rider. We rode it twice after the fireworks with no wait and I'd rather do that then wait in a line anyway.

Plan on utilizing fastpass so have them all booked early to start so you can get the extra ones earlier. We did it this way and were able to ride everything in every park without waiting in a line more then 15 minutes.

Enjoy this time of year it's my favorite. You get holiday wishes the holiday parade and New Years. It will be very very crowded but you just have to take it for what it is and have fun!

 

[Bryan Sockel]

Thanks for the advise, Will plan on Magic Kingdom and then Epcot 30th/31st. Will also check out the Rivers of Light, that is not something i have looked into yet.

Really just trying to figure out which days to go to which parks so i can make my dining plans. But our agenda looks a lot like your's minniegirl. And yes i am from Cleveland, Lol, but currently live in Texas.

First and probably only time going at the Holiday's but it is something we have always wanted to do. We can not wait.

 

[ShannonRT]

Jumping in here...my family of 5 has this same week planned this year except we are driving and staying off-site. We are driving most of the way (within 2-3 hours) on 12/29 and the rest of the way on 12/30. We already planned on the MK fireworks for 12/30 and then Epcot on 12/31. We are staying until Saturday 1/6 and have 7-day park hoppers. Planning this trip has been frustrating because we are now 189 days out and Disney is just now releasing park hours (one day at a time!) for our dates. So I'm struggling with ADR's and which days to choose for each park.

I've never been on New Year's Eve so I really need advice on where we need to be for fireworks at both MK and Epcot, both for viewing and exit afterwards. And how early should we plan to be in our spots before fireworks start?

Also, what time do we need to arrive at the park those days? If we wanted to start the day at another park and hop over, what time do we need to plan to do that?

 

[CAS239]

I've never been on New Year's Eve so I really need advice on where we need to be for fireworks at both MK and Epcot, both for viewing and exit afterwards. And how early should we plan to be in our spots before fireworks start?

Also, what time do we need to arrive at the park those days? If we wanted to start the day at another park and hop over, what time do we need to plan to do that?

-NYE fireworks people grab a spot hours in advance. When we did Epcot for NYE we grabbed a spot in morocco about 60-90 min prior to midnight. If you want a seat somewhere or to be up again a wall with no one in front of you, then I'd aim to find a spot 2 hours or more ahead of time

-Arrival doesn't matter imo as long as you're an AP or staying on site. If you're using single day tickets, then I'd be worried about phased closures. Traffic to Mk the morning of NYE is usually brutal and backed up far so I'd either get there super early or go a little later in the day. For Epcot, we arrived around 9/10am and it was just like any other day. No long lines and parking was quick. If you plan on hopping I'd plan on being in the night park by around 5pm. Epcot does special fireworks at around 6:30pm as well

Lines for rides are insanely long so utilize FP wisely and plan to wait for quite a while..so while some stay in the park all day, next time I do NYE I probably won't arrive until a little later