New Year's Eve

[asunutgirl]

I'm a local and annual passholder. This is the one and only year that we will have premium passes. Last weekend we started discussion NYE with the kids. (They are 17 and 13.) We were on the Dream for NYE last year and had an absolute blast. Sitting at home in front of the TV just seems boring now.

Are we crazy to attempt DLR for NYE? Because we are locals, we don't want to spend the whole day there or spend the $$ for a hotel. If we arrive late afternoon, would we even been able to get in? We don't care about which rides we can do necessarily but I wonder if we can even get in or if the park will be too crowded.

I'm trying to decide if this is a completely crazy idea. Any help, past experiences or recommendations would be appreciated. TIA

 

[TheDoleWhipper]

You are NOT crazy for wanting to attempt DLR on New Years Eve! The Christmas decorations and just the jolly holiday feel is unbeatable! It will always be better than staying at home watching TV, at least!

But remember... the reality is, the park does have to close due to capacity if it gets too crazy. There are many different stages of closure, but the last one is when the park is 100% full and the fire marshal gets in. No one, repeat, no one, can get in at this point, even for re-entry. The good thing is, usually DCA is less crowded and you can go there when DL is full. This link pretty much sums up the capacity issues on NYE:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic...Am_I_Locked_Out_of_DL-Anaheim_California.html

But do not worry! You can easily get in if you arrive right at opening, or shortly after, say at 8:00 am, but no later than 10:00 am, if you want to be safe. I know that you said that you wanted to arrive around late afternoon, but unfortunately, arriving in the morning just might be your only option if you want to get in. On usual days, the crowds are the heaviest in the afternoon, but for NYE, the crowds swell even more in preparation for the nighttime festivities as the day wears on. People start staking out spots for fireworks right at opening

Disneyland is a great place to be on New Years Eve. But just expect crowds, expect lines, and know that you are braving Disneyland Park on it's absolute busiest day of the year.

Good luck!

 

[SMD]

How important to you is it to be in DL (instead of DCA) at midnight or to see the fireworks from Main St? There are some days where following your regular AP touring pattern isn't going to work and you have to invest extra time and get there early. This is one of them.

How local are you? Could you go in the morning and get hand stamps? That will increase your chances of getting back into the park later.

 

[Sherry E]

On our own forum, some members have been kind enough to share their New Year's Eve experiences.

In this post -- HERE -- look for wonderfuller's NYE review under the 2013 category, and ArchOwl's review in the 2012 category. There are other NYE trips linked in that post as well (from tksbaskets, for example), but those two are the ones that you may want to read first because they are solely about NYE and New Year's Day, and not necessarily about a longer trip that included NYE.

 

[asunutgirl]

These were very helpful - thank you.

On our own forum, some members have been kind enough to share their New Year's Eve experiences.

In this post -- HERE -- look for wonderfuller's NYE review under the 2013 category, and ArchOwl's review in the 2012 category. There are other NYE trips linked in that post as well (from tksbaskets, for example), but those two are the ones that you may want to read first because they are solely about NYE and New Year's Day, and not necessarily about a longer trip that included NYE.

 

[Bigrob37]

We are going to be in Disneyland opening morning on NYE, with them doing 2 firework shows one at 9pm and one at midnight, we might see the Disneyland fireworks at 9 then hop over to DCA for the midnight WOC and fireworks.