New Year's Eve suggestions?

[LLM]

My family and I will be getting off of the Disney Dream on New Year's Eve, getting a shuttle from Port Canaveral and checking into the Art of Animation for 4 nights. I am trying to decide if we should go to a park on NYE or just hit the parks from January 1st to 3rd, flying home early on the 4th. We haven't purchased our park tickets yet, but I will get them before our 60 FP+ mark. Please help me figure out what we should do on NYE! TIA.

Lisa

 

[danny1649]

I always enjoyed being at MK on NYE I mean it is crowded . Still feel the magic of MK than other parks. it often reachs crowd capacity , so if you go plan on staying from arrival time until NY. Have been 5 times and did Epcot once it was a good time but didn't measure up to MK experience. Just my thoughts and hard to explain if you have never done it.

 

[LLM]

My concern with that is the park may reach capacity before we can get there. Since we are coming from Port Canaveral and have to check in to our resort rope drop is impossible. Also I will have by son (7 at time of travel) and 2 year old twins in tow. Not sure how tired they will be after the cruise.

Any further suggestions?

Lisa

 

[danny1649]

What resort are you staying at? You know Disney has baby sitting program. So take kids over for some fun. Them come back to resort and then get back to MK before 7 pm. I think service is called Fairy Godmothers. Not sure but call resort and they can give you the information. I know it's not cheap but Disney has had the sitters checked back to when they were born.Sorry if this doesn't help you. I was hoping you would get some ideas from other Board Members.

 

[PirateD]

We have gone to EP before for NYE and had a blast! We used good touring strategies and stayed out of the crowds for the most part. They had an early showing at 6 PM of Illuminations which was nice because we had young children with us and were staying offsite with family about 40 minutes away. So we were able to still catch the fireworks and some of the dance party in Future World and then be home before it got too late.

We thought EP had a great atmosphere. They started handing out New Year's hats and noisemakers out late afternoon. They opened up some of the grassy areas in FW and we sat on the grass there for awhile just soaking it all in. It was the biggest NYE party I've attended and definitely the most fun!

 

[staceyrhood]

Being as big as it is, EPCOT will be your best bet on NYE. MK will most likely capacity by the time you will get there. you could always watch the fireworks from a resort beach and not even venture into a park that day.

 

[tink9702]

I have been in Epcot on New Years and personally did NOT like it. too crowded by far for my taste.

You could always go to HS or AK during the day and spend the night/evening at your resort. with that plan you wouldn't have cranky kids or have to deal with as many crowds.

 

[supersnoop]

There is something to be said for rope-drop on 1/1. I bet the parks will be empty early in the morning.

 

[heybravo626]

We have done several Christmas trip and we are going again this year. NYE is insane like nothing you have ever seen. You are correct that some parks may be at capacity by the time you get there from PC. What we have done the last few years and will do again this year on NYE is hit EP at RD and then head over to AK with FP’s before the crowds get huge at EP. Then we do a nice dinner in the evening (like signature of Hoop Dee....Luau this year ) and will hang out resort which is Poly this year. We might try to stay up for fireworks but maybe not because we then hit MK at RD on 1/1. It takes some time for the crowds to show on 1/1 so you get a lot done early. It’s the least crowded morning of the week.

Just as a side note that won’t work for you, we hit MK on 12/30 for the “test run” of NYE fireworks.

 

[melifeld]

We LOVED DHS on NYE. That was our arrival day, and we had a late ADR at SciFi, went on a couple of rides, then went over to see the Osbourne lights. We were there at midnight, where they had a dance party in the streets. It was extremely fun. This was a few years ago now.

 

[LLM]

Thank you all for the replies! I guess I have a decision to make!

Lisa