New Year's Eve at Disney

[leafette]

First of all, I am a new member on the board. When I was planning my Feb. land/sea vacation, the posts here were very helpful.

Now to my question: we are planning a trip for maybe December. I'd like to stay for New Year's (maybe Dec. 30-Jan 5). I know this is a "peak time," but how bad is it really? We went on Pres. Day week this year. Is it comparable?

Would I be better off waiting until Jan. 1 to arrive (maybe Jan. 1-8)?

Is the New Year's celebration at WDW outstanding?

~Debra

 

[Mom2DS]

We went Jan. 1-4, 2003 and found every day to have fairly low crowds except Jan. 1 at Magic Kingdom. The weather also cooperated with us and we only had 1 day where we had to wear sweatshirts. The only thing my boys missed was swimming in the resort pool (and even then they still did a couple of nights!!).

 

[tink606]

My DH2B and I have a disney tradition of spending New Years Eve at Epcot. We have been doing this for the past three yrs and will continue to do it Its really fun at Epcot each country has a club and they play different music. Also they have a special illuminations show. Its awesome, you can drink and have fun knowing that its a safe atmosphere and you dont have to drive cause you have disney transportation buses as long as u stay at a disney resort, so its awesome cause there are no worries while celebrating new years. Also the weather is awesome its sunny but its cool, like in the 60's or 70's during the day and the 50's at nite. the next couple of days at the parks is not crowded at all, its actually pretty good, the only day its busy is Jan 1. we normally get there the day before the 31st like the 30th and stay till Jan. 4 or 5th. normally by the 2nd or the 3rd the crowds die down. so we love it and we recommend it to anyone who wants to be there for New Year's Eve.

 

[mamacatnv]

If you check in on the 30th or 31st of Dec your entire stay will be priced at the Peak Holiday Rate, if you check in on 1/1 that is the beginning of Value season and the resorts are priced accordingly.

Having done 2 NYE's we are done for awhile, if I didn't have a younger child it would have been better, but the huge crowds were overwhelming on NYE and we opted to not visit a park that day.

We departed Disney on 1/5 this year, the crowds on the 1st & 2nd were still present but began to lessen as the week went on.

We will be returning on 1/1-9/07 and are looking forward to a little less chaos.

 

[TSM1993]

Been to MK on New Years Eve this past year. It was extremely crowded they shut the park down for awhile not allowing anymore people in. The attendence was 90,000 + people. We got stuck in one spot for over 4 hours. That being said the Midnight fireworks display was awesome. And worth being stuck in the same place for 4 hours.But crowds are very high waits for standy by lines alone were about 90 mins and fastpasses were gone by midday. But New Years Day different story the park(at least Epcot was) is dead atleast until afternoon. We thought the park was closed.We went 12/23/05 - 1/2/06 but the whole time the parks were extremely crowded except as I said New Years Day.

 

[tink1978]

I take my DS (7) every year from Jan. 1-8. Two years ago, we went on New Year's Eve and I have never been so miserable. We went to Epcot for the evening and it was so packed there were "traffic" jams in Mexico and in Canada. It took us close to two hours to get out of Canada and out of the park! And this was before 9:00pm!! Just be careful of where you choose to go in the evenings. Other people on this board have never had a problem with New Years Eve in the parks.

 

[got2gp]

We are also planing a trip to WDW over New Years, 12/30 to 1/6. We would like to spend 4 to 5 days at WDW and were looking at spending a day at Islands of Adventure and/or going to the Kennedy space center. Now I just got to figure out what to do when. Anyone know how the crowds stack up at IOA at this time? Is it worse, better, or about the same as WDW?

We were at WDW 1/2 to 1/4 a couple years ago and crowds were pretty light and the weather pleasant. I don't think we waited more than 20 to 30 minutes for anything, so I'm hoping that the last half of our trip will be the same.

 

[TSM1993]

We are also planing a trip to WDW over New Years, 12/30 to 1/6. We would like to spend 4 to 5 days at WDW and were looking at spending a day at Islands of Adventure and/or going to the Kennedy space center. Now I just got to figure out what to do when. Anyone know how the crowds stack up at IOA at this time? Is it worse, better, or about the same as WDW?

We were at WDW 1/2 to 1/4 a couple years ago and crowds were pretty light and the weather pleasant. I don't think we waited more than 20 to 30 minutes for anything, so I'm hoping that the last half of our trip will be the same.

They have a US/IOA board on here may ask that question there. As for me I dont plan on ever going back to US/IOA ever again. Last time we went rides were breaking down quite alot. Employees very rude. Just to metion a few of them. Went on MIB broke down got permission to go to the front of the line to ride again after it was up and going since it broke down when we were on it. Went again and it broke down again. JP broke down and was down for 2 days that same day along with Spiderman breaking down. So 3 major rides broke down in the same day. Just dont want to go back to that.

 

[Corryn]

I also want to go during Christmas/New Years, but one of my friends (not very Disney-saavy) went down two years ago for New Years and while she did say she enjoyed seeing her mom and dad (who has since passed) with her daughter enjoying themselves, she also said that she has never been any place more crowded. I'm sure her father's wheelchair added their not being able to navigate well.

She said the whole time they were there it was cold, they had to wear jeans and jackets and they did not get to enjoy the pools. She said she would never go again during that time of year. She showed me photos of her trip and in every single one, you could see the horribly stiffling crowd (different parks and different days!) She also told me about the Illuminations crowd, how they had to sit in a doorway for over an hour waiting for the crowd to pass them so they could leave!
Even though some posters have reported nice weather, just remember it is not southern Florida where it is warm all the time, it's central Florida where the temperatures at times do drop - It's not July, it's January.

Whatever your decision, enjoy yourself and have a good time

 

[Ted and Holly]

Expect heavy crowds if you go the week between Christmas and New Years.

Also, do not count on 60s or 70s during the day and 50s at night. It can get pretty chilly in the winter. One NYE, we were at Pleasure Island and it was 34 degrees.

Ted

 

[Cathy K.]

Hi,
I was about to start a post with some questions about NYE and saw this one. We will be at WDW from 12/30-1/6 for our 15th trip. However this is our first one during NYE. We decided today that Epcot was the park we want to spend NYE at. I've heard the stories of parks getting shut down. Does that apply if you are staying on property and taking Disney transportation? I'd like to not have to go over until mid to late afternoon if I don't need to worry about not being allowed in.

Thanks,
Cathy K.

 

[DeeDeeDis]

I mentioned to my gf just last nite that I wanted to spend NYE at WDW in 07, my son who is currently 20 yelled acrossed the room that he was going wether we wanted him or not, he was a CP last year and said NYE at Disney is "awesome".

I think if you go knowing the parks are going to be very crowded that nite, knowing if you wish to go on a ride it will take you a while, and are just contend to enjoy a cocktail or two and people watch - your bound to have a good time while you wait for what has to be the best fireworks show on earth...

Thats the attitude i'm going with and this is exactly what i'm planning on doings New Years Eve-December 31, 200 7!

 

[ToontownPrincess]

I go to WDW every year from Dec 29-Jan 5. Two years ago I went to MK for NYE. MK fills it max occupancy very fast. They do close the parks and that applies to everyone. Once they reach their occupancy limit, they have to close the gates (I know this b/c my aunt and uncle both work at WDW and they get all those statistics on how many guests are in the park). The year when I went they also closed the gates at Epcot (from what I heard) because it is so busy. NYE is THE busiest day of the year. If you are going to go to the parks on NYE I would suggest going early but pace yourself. Be prepared for the crowds and take lots of breaks and don't stress about the massive crowds. My boyfriend and I got so drained from being out all day and fighting the crowds, and getting annoyed at rude guests not allowing anyone to sit while waiting for the fireworks to start (This group had 3 people saving seats for their large group while the rest of their party rode the rides. On the other hand we were stuck trying to find someone to sit). It got to the point that an hour before midnight we couldn't stand up anymore so we started to head out toward the exit. (We had finally found a great spot in the hub right in front of the castle). Unfortunately we got stuck at the end of main street (close to the christmas tree) when the Spectromagic came through. We ended up finding a place to actually sit down and decided to stay....we were there all day and it seemed silly to leave before the best part of the day. Although the day was really frustrating, as soon as those fireworks started all the stress went away. It was the most spectacular sight I had ever seen. Basically you just have to weigh the pros and cons. I see it as something you should do atleast one time in your life. (sorry I got a bit long winded!)

 

[musicmama]

We (me, DH, DD) have been at WDW for the last 2 NYEs. In 2004/5, we spent all day (starting with 8am Crystal Palace breakfast) at Magic Kingdom. The fireworks were wonderful, but the crowds were horrible. The area near Pirates and Jungle Cruise became an absolute bottleneck, especially when they started handing out noisemakers and hats. We managed to snag 3 curbside Main Street "seats" after dinner and spent most of our time being trampled by people who couldn't be bothered looking for the crosswalk and just had to step on us. The early part of the day was a lot of fun - but as the morning went on you could feel the park getting more and more claustrophobic. We heard that it had closed somewhere between 10 and 11 am. NYE was the worst crowds we experienced of our vacation - crowds large but otherwise manageable by getting there early, staggering mealtimes and using FastPass.

This year, we went to AK for morning and afternoon and then moved to Downtown Disney for Cirque (wow! amazing!) and then Beach Club/Cape May buffet for dinner - finished the evening off at our camper (Fort Wilderness). We could see most of the fireworks along the beach - what a welcome relief from last year. DD and I went to MK on Dec 30th for EMHs and saw the NY fireworks from the bridge. Wow!! We experienced the 360 show and everything. Not crowded, all of the music and Tinkerbell. Who could ask for more? That would be my recommendation .... avoid MK on NYE by experiencing the NYE magic the night before. Driving between AK and DTD, we saw the signs that MK and Epcot were closed. (During dinner, we heard a family saying that their plans had been ruined because they didn't get over to MK early enough and didn't want to go anywhere else.) We were really glad that we had opted for something a little different. Again this year, crowds were from Christmas Day on, but manageable if you got there early and used FastPass.

Enjoy!

 

[tink606]

MY DH2B AND I HAVE SPENT NYE AT EPCOT FOR THE PAST THREE YRS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO B/C ITS SO MUCH FUN PLUS YOU DONT HAVE TO DRIVE ANYWHERE AS A DISNEY RESORT GUEST. WE HAVEN'T HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH EPCOT CLOSING ON US, WE USUALLY GET THERE LIKE AT 5PM AND STAY THERE UNTIL PARK CLOSING. LIKE I SAID ITS SAFE AND FUN AND THE FIREWORKS ARE AWESOME. WE NORMALLY MAKE RESERVATIONS TO EAT AROUND 6PM AT THE GARDEN GRILLE OR THE CANADIAN STEAKHOUSE (LE CELLIER) WE WATCH THE FIREWORKS BY FUTURE WORLD NOT THE COUNTRIES, GREAT VIEW AND U AVOID THE CROWDS WHEN U WANT TO LEAVE. WE STAY AROUND THE FUTURE WORLD AREA B/C THE DJ THAT IS AROUND THAT AREA IS AWESOME, BUT ITS UP TO U GUYS WHERE U WANT TO SPEND TIME, AT ALL THE COUNTRIES THERE IS A DJ THAT SPINS DIFF. KIND OF MUSIC, SO LIKE I SAID ITS UP TO U GUYS WHICH MUSIC U LIKE AND WHERE U WANT TO SPEND TIME IN. HOPE U HAVE A GOOD TIME.

 

[TracyK]

I'm just subscribing because I will be at WDW on NYE

Tracy