New Years Eve - Advice

[lucyem]

Arriving on Dec 31st and staying at Saratoga Springs for 3 nights and then one night at Old Key West. I have a waitlist for the last night at Saratoga. Minus the moving it might be nice to stay at Old Key West since we have not seen either resort.

Anyhow we drive. Arrival on the 31st could be when we want. We could push it and arrive early. Is it worth it to be at MK that day? I am expecting it to close at some point. My kids are 10 & 7 and experienced WDW goers. Would there be anything to do or will it just be too super crazy? Or will the atmosphere help take the sting out of long waits? What time should we arrive?

Would we be better off elsewhere?

Other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[rocknterror88]

Arriving on Dec 31st and staying at Saratoga Springs for 3 nights and then one night at Old Key West. I have a waitlist for the last night at Saratoga. Minus the moving it might be nice to stay at Old Key West since we have not seen either resort.

Anyhow we drive. Arrival on the 31st could be when we want. We could push it and arrive early. Is it worth it to be at MK that day? I am expecting it to close at some point. My kids are 10 & 7 and experienced WDW goers. Would there be anything to do or will it just be too super crazy? Or will the atmosphere help take the sting out of long waits? What time should we arrive?

Would we be better off elsewhere?

Other ideas?



Thanks!

My wife and I visited WDW over new years for our honeymoon a couple years ago. On the 31st Magic Kingdom reached its capacity half way through the morning, we decided to forgo the MK and stay at HS to bring in the New Year and it was a good choice. Disney had a house band playing most of the night and had a great fireworks show, which normally doesn't happen at HS. When we were there last time MK had a preview of the New Year's fireworks on the 30th for resort guests, so we didnt miss anything that happened on the 31st. Lines were long, really long; but that should be expected. Hope this helps.

 

[MouseMomx2]

Our park of choice on NYE is EPCOT. It seems to absorb crowds better and the fireworks are incredible...truly the definition of the word breathtaking. We were last there for NYE '08/'09 and the park never reached capacity.

 

[drusba]

Crowds at all parks are huge, with MK and Epcot the largest. MK street crowds will be so thick you will have difficulty going from one place to another. At Epcot in the evening, World Showcase street crowds are the same. Nevertheless, our park of choice NYE is Epcot including because the nations have their own NYE festivities going on.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We are trying DHS this year for a change on NYE! We've been at Epcot for the past 3 NYEs. We have not had any problems getting in at the International Gateway near the fireworks time, which is about 11:40.

We do go to MK on the 30th, they do have the fireworks then, including the countdown, 10, 9, 8...numbers up in the sky! It's wonderful, but very crowded. I can't imagine what it's like there on the 31st!

 

[double r]

A few years ago we did the MK for NYE and had a blast, we avoided EPCOT just because of the alchol and with kids just felt it was best, anyway we went in the park around 9am and stayed till 1am. Crowd level was high heard they closed entry around 11am, my only gripe would be the exit that night leaving just felt that they could have done a better job directing the mass of people, it was a zoo when you left the MK to get to the transportation mode you needed plus by then most folks were just so tired their brains went to sleep before they got home, took almost a hour & half to drive back to Sarayoga Springs.
Go and have a good time we plan to do it again in 2013 call us crazy!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[abdgeek]

Arriving on Dec 31st and staying at Saratoga Springs for 3 nights and then one night at Old Key West. I have a waitlist for the last night at Saratoga. Minus the moving it might be nice to stay at Old Key West since we have not seen either resort.

Anyhow we drive. Arrival on the 31st could be when we want. We could push it and arrive early. Is it worth it to be at MK that day? I am expecting it to close at some point. My kids are 10 & 7 and experienced WDW goers. Would there be anything to do or will it just be too super crazy? Or will the atmosphere help take the sting out of long waits? What time should we arrive?

Would we be better off elsewhere?

Other ideas?


Thanks!

I did NYE at MK two years ago and had a blast! I stayed at OKW because that was the only property I could get with points 7 months out. I spent the day at MK and got there early. I'm glad I did because they closed the park at 10am because it was to capacity.

Now, having said all that, MK was mobbed!! I did my must do's first(space mountain, big thunder railroad, cars, tea party, small world, etc.) and watched the parade. I also had dinner at a TS restaurant in MK and watched the evening parades and fireworks. I had every intention of staying until midnight. Unfortunately, by 10 pm my feet were killing me and I couldn't imagine standing for or staying another 2 hours. There was nowhere to sit. Some people brought chairs and blankets to help them make it through the night. At one point, I stood in line for the train for about 2 hours just to get back to the front of the park because I didn't want to walk. I would have gotten there faster by walking. The wait for most rides by 11 am was over an hour. If I did it again, I would probably leave around dinner time and then come back. I saw several people doing that. I know I could have spent NYE in another park, but MK was where I wanted to be!

The perk about being at OKW was that I was able to see the fireworks from HS at midnight. An unexpected surprise!

 

[iluveeyore]

Enjoy your New Years whatever park you decide on! We won't actually arrive until Jan. 1st and will be at OKW for a week - it's my daughter's BFF's birthday on the 2nd, and her first trip to WDW, so we really didn't want her to have to deal with crowds on the 31st for her first visit. We are driving down (20 hours) and are spending New Years in St. Augustine on the ocean - the girls wanted to light lanterns like in Tangled (well, they only have two, so not quite like that ) and we thought it would be the perfect spot since we are only a couple of hours from WDW for arrival day. Maybe MK won't be too busy for them on the 1st since everyone will hopefully be sleeping in after New Years celebrations!

 

[MSUmom]

My DS (16) and his friend (17) are going to do Disney Quest. DDs 19 and 23 do not want to do this so we are thinking of just hanging in DTD, maybe hitting the new Splitsville. Has anyone done DTD on NYE?