New Year's Eve fireworks?

[DeanDoug]

Hi, everyone. My family and I will be at WDW for our first new year's ever! We've read that going to the parks on New Year's Eve is often extremely crowded, but New Year's Day is a bit lighter.

Are there any locations around the World where we can see fireworks on New Year's Eve without park admission?

Any other fun things to do on New Year's Eve outside the parks?

Many thanks!

 

[MSaboCLBR]

The Magic Kingdom does a preview of the New Years Eve fireworks at midnight on December 30th. It is the same show with less than half the crowds. I do that every year and then just relax at the resort on NYE with family and friends.

 

[backinoz]

I know this is not answering your question, but I can share what we did for NYE 2008/9. WDW is a long way for us, so the idea of not going to the parks for a day wasn't worth considering - at the time it was me, DH, DD9 & DD11. After MUCH research (i.e. reading of the DISboards) I decided we'd head to Epcot for the day, made my ADR's well in advance, we checked in on the 30th and had an early night. Arrived at Epcot just in time for park opening, did Soarin, grabbed FP for TT (return was about 3pm), did just about everything else in FW (crowds weren't bad at all) then headed for WSC as soon as it opened. We did the ride in Mexico, had the latest breakfast seating for Princess Meal in Akershus, then spent time exploring the WSC pavilions, especially the bits at the back which were far less crowded. The great thing about Epcot when there's masses of people - there's HEAPS more characters out and about - especially in the quieter areas of the WSC pavilions. After riding TT we went to the theatre to see one of the shows (Ellen maybe?) - had to wait 20 min or so to get in, but that show was a great chance for my DD's to recharge (i.e. they slept through the whole thing). Dinner (ADR at Nine Dragons ) was where we encountered our longest wait time for the day (for the ladies bathroom), so took our time having a lovely 3 course meal. Crowds were pretty heavy when we came out so we went back over to FW to do some exploring and had a highly memorable Turtle Talk with Crush (He instructed all the kids that they were to use the word "Dude" as much as possible, preferably in every sentence, for the rest of the year. Us parental units were not to worry tho, coz it was only for the next 2 hours or so). I think from there we wandered back over to WSC to find a spot near the lagoon, and sat down ready for the fireworks. I did a snack run, and this line was long, about a 25 minute wait, but I was prepared for it so it didn't bother me. We exited EPCot through the international gateway, then walked over to DHS to get the bus back to POP - that was the best tip EVER from the DIS - no wading through the hoards of people to get to EPCOT front entrance, and by the time we got to DHS, the flood of post-fireworks people had dissipated.

Long story short, don't write off the parks for NYE - we had a wonderful day at EPCOT, and the fireworks were SPECTACULAR!!!!!!

 

[dvcterry]

op, you didn't say where you were staying. is it at BLT? you can see from there or Poly. no park entry needed. one year we stayed at BCV and my parents had a room with pretty good view, but I decided to go down to the Boardwalk. Just another thought.