New Year's Eve @ OKW?

[joeybugs]

My husband and his parents will be staying at OKW on New Year's Eve. I am trying to decide if we should stay in the parks all day/evening on New Year's Eve or if there is anything exciting at the resort? Can you see any fireworks from OKW?

 

[CraftyMouse]

We'll be at OKW for NYE too! They won't be able to see many fireworks from OKW but, depending on where their room is, they may be able to see some of the higher bursts from EPCOT.

Right now we're planning to spend NYE at EPCOT, but we're going to play it by ear.

 

[joeybugs]

Cool! We will probably be at Epcot too. Although, not sure we will stay until midnight.

 

[Caskbill]

We're going to Epcot also. It's our favorite park for NYE.

Warning, the crowds will be huge, so don't plan on trying to do any attractions. If you get there early in the day you might be able to get some fast passes.

Be sure to make dining reservations. Basically every restaurant will be booked full for the evening. Every NYE we will see people come up to a restaurant without reservations, and seeing the shock on their face when they find out they can't get in at all.

The CS restaurants will be packed and the lines will get very long.

If you're at OKW and stay late, take your time after the midnight fireworks finish. The busses will be jammed. Walk around for an hour or so. It's better than waiting at the bus stop for an hour.

Keep in mind that the park has a capacity. When it is reached, they won't allow any more visitors in. They have a procedure on who gets locked out first...day trippers. Those staying on property are the last group to get locked out. Don't plan on waiting until 9:00 pm to go to the park, as you probably won't get in. I would estimate to get there no later than about 5:00 or 6:00 pm. I have noticed this varies a lot and think it follows NYE's day of the week where people can stretch NYE into a long weekend. When it's the middle of the week, like this year, I suspect the crowds will be down a little.

Bring warm clothes. Florida warms up during the day from solar heating of all the terrain. Once the sun goes down it can cool off. You'll see people coming in at noon in shorts and a T-shirt because it's in the 70's. But after the sun goes down it can drop to the 50's very quickly. Remember, it is winter.

Do not plan on communicating with your party via cell phones. The phone lines will be at capacity and you'll be getting messages that your call cannot be made. Always have backup meeting places and times.

From certain locations at Epcot, you can see the fireworks going off at HS and MK, all off in the distance.

At OKW I would think you could see the upper fireworks from Epcot a little, especially if you were on the West side of the resort and looking in that direction. This would include some buildings in Millers', South Point, and the far edge of Turtle. If you plan on staying at the resort and want to see anything, try asking for an upper level villa at those locations.

At Epcot they run illumination twice during the evening. I believe the regular show is still at 9:00. People who aren't staying till midnight will tend to leave then. They'll pass out hats and horns, and then repeat illuminations shortly before midnight, followed immediately by the midnight fireworks. The midnight fireworks display has been different for every NYE we've spent there.

I'd have to count them up, but I think this will be our 8th NYE at Epcot.

I'm thinking that with NEY being mid-week, and the economy like it is, that the crowds may be down quite a bit. Won't know until we get there so don't let my comments above scare you off.

Can't think of anything else right now.

Everyone have a great time.

 

[joeybugs]

Thanks for the tips! I made all of our ADR's at 180 days so we are fine there. Just trying to figure out if we leave early - if there is anything to see from OKW or if we should stick around since I do not like the crowds. I am just trying to think of alternative to avoiding the mad rush to the buses at the end of the night. So my guess is we will either leave early or wait it out rather than trying to leave right with everyone else. Thanks!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Epcot is our favorite NYE place too! Unfortunately, we wont be there this year (going the end of January instead), but we usually arrive on NYE day (to keep the point costs at a minimum) and head to Epcot as soon as we get checked in. If our room isn't ready, we just leave everything in the car and hop the first Epcot bus from OKW. We don't worry about reserving a spot at the rail for Illuminations, because it can be seen from ust abuot anywhere. Then we usually have a dinner ressie at our favorite Epcot eatery (Teppan Edo) for early evening. If you go to each of the countries at the EST equivelent of midnight in each country, they will be celebrating the new year then. For example; the European contries are mostly celebrating at 6 PM EST. It's great fun!

 

[dvc guy]

We will also be at OKW NYE. You can see some fireworks and hear most of them from OKW. This year we are trying something different, we are going to the boardwalk for NYE. They are supposed to have bands and lots of different activities. We are skipping the Parks completely NYE, and we are planning a very late night (2/3) AM at MK on 12/30.

Can't wait see you soon

 

[Sheribo]

Downtown Disney had a nice fireworks show on NYE for the past few years but I wonder if that will continue now that Pleasure Island has closed.

Happy New Year!

 

[TenThousandVolts]

We will also be at OKW NYE. You can see some fireworks and hear most of them from OKW. This year we are trying something different, we are going to the boardwalk for NYE. They are supposed to have bands and lots of different activities. We are skipping the Parks completely NYE, and we are planning a very late night (2/3) AM at MK on 12/30.

Can't wait see you soon

That is what we did last year- super late night on 12/30 (we even got the special fireworks and midnight countdown. Then we rested on 12/31. We didn't go to the boardwalk but went to dinner at CR and enjoyed the hustle and bustle on the monorail and talked to lots of folks who were coming from MK. Many people left at 8pm despite their plans to stay past midnight- they couldn't handle the crowds.
12/30 at mk was not that crowded and 1/1 early in the morning we went to MGM- it was empty until about 1pm.

We were staying at OKW and they didn't seem to have anything special at the resort, but you could always take a boatride to ssr for their party.

 

[manning]

My husband and his parents will be staying at OKW on New Year's Eve. I am trying to decide if we should stay in the parks all day/evening on New Year's Eve or if there is anything exciting at the resort? Can you see any fireworks from OKW?

When do you check in?

 

[twinklebug]

Do not plan on communicating with your party via cell phones. The phone lines will be at capacity and you'll be getting messages that your call cannot be made. Always have backup meeting places and times.
...

At Epcot they run illumination twice during the evening. I believe the regular show is still at 9:00. People who aren't staying till midnight will tend to leave then. They'll pass out hats and horns, and then repeat illuminations shortly before midnight, followed immediately by the midnight fireworks. The midnight fireworks display has been different for every NYE we've spent there.

I was thinking of spending NYE with my kids at SSR (not sure if they're shooting off any fireworks r will have their party with the close of pleasure Island), but after reading what you wrote I think Epcot might be in our future - I'm not afraid of no stinkin crowds (and my kids are over 4' tall which makes a huge difference)

Thanks for the info about the cell phones - I do depend on them too much & would be scared & mad if I couldn't find my kids.

I think if we do go we'll be there by 1pm, see if the crowds don't clear out a little for the 9pm illuminations & just play