New Years Eve

On the Lake

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Messages
63
Where's the best place to be on New Years Eve? At a park, resort, etc.?

If you go to a park, which one do you go to and when do you go? I'm a little leary of going to the park from 9:00 am till after midnight and not leaving the park. I'm not sure my wife and 7 year old can handle being in the park for 16 hours straight!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
We did NYE at the Polynesian one year. Really great party, and we had a great view of the fireworks over the castle.
 
Stayed at the Boardwalk which is great anyway. Went to EPCOT at 3PM no problem but left around 8 and watched the fireworks from BW which were great as the kids slept. Got up early and did 7 major attractions at MK (it was super quiet) before 10:30 and went back to the room.
 

If you are looking for the most spectacular fireworks, epcot is the place.

The other parks do shows but none even rival Epcot's.
 
Last NYE at Epcot, and I`m sad to say we would`nt do it again. We arrived about 11am, had lunch in the restaurant at China and had a lovely leisurely walk around the World showcase. We could`nt do any rides as all fast passes had gone.
We saw the 7pm showing of Illuminations, which was fabulous. However after that the place was packed solid. I wanted to see some shows around the World showcase however there was no way to get through the crowds. We had an ADR for Le Cellier and basically we waited for that. We were seated about 10pm, about 90 mins after our time. We left Epcot at 11.30pm on the party poopers bus - how sad is that :rotfl:
Next time I would leave late afternoon and spend the evening at a good resort, probably the Poly.
I`m sure many others have had a much more positive experience than us.
 
Merylj said:
Last NYE at Epcot, and I`m sad to say we would`nt do it again. We arrived about 11am, had lunch in the restaurant at China and had a lovely leisurely walk around the World showcase. We could`nt do any rides as all fast passes had gone.
We saw the 7pm showing of Illuminations, which was fabulous. However after that the place was packed solid. I wanted to see some shows around the World showcase however there was no way to get through the crowds. We had an ADR for Le Cellier and basically we waited for that. We were seated about 10pm, about 90 mins after our time. We left Epcot at 11.30pm on the party poopers bus - how sad is that :rotfl:
Next time I would leave late afternoon and spend the evening at a good resort, probably the Poly.
I`m sure many others have had a much more positive experience than us.


I agree. The fireworks are amazing but the crowds are more than one can almost bear.

As much as I loved the 4th of July show, I will never go back to the park to watch it. I will see them again but will stay outside of the park to watch them.
 
We spent NYE 2005 at MK and I agree that we wouldn't do it again. By noon everything was packed. We got stuck on one of the side sidewalks between the riverboat and Tom Sawyer's rafts and were there for 45 minutes while the Christmas parade went by. It was horrible--people were swearing and pushing and no CMs were around to help.

After we survived that incident, we spent the remainder of the day wasting time since all the fast passes were gone and stand-by waits were up to 2 hours (Peter Pan's Flight, for instance!). We made it through SpectroMagic and then gave up. Back to Coronado Springs to watch the ball drop in Times Square!

I wouldn't hesistate to go to Disney between Christmas and New Year's, but I think a reservation at a nice restaurant would be the way to go instead of battling 75,000 other people in a park!
 
We spent NYE in EPCOT several years ago, we were lucky, it had rained hard in the afternoon, so a lot of people had departed. We were told that if a park is at capacity, if you have proof of your ADR, they will let you in. We won't do it again, either, too, too, too crowded. Last year we played at Fantasia Minature Golf, watched the fireworks right when we finished, and got the heck out of there before the crowds let loose on the roads!
 
Can someone tell me about the party at the party at the Poly? We will be in Disney NYE and am considering a lot of differnet options for that evening.
 
I'd quite like to know about Poly to.

What is pleasure island like for New Years? I know you have to buy tickets for the party but is it worth it?
 
Our visit to the Poly on NYE was quite some time ago. We made reservations many months in advance. They had a full buffet dinner (and I mean FULL), drinks, dancing, champagne toast at midnight, the fireworks over MK with the music piped in. It was a really relaxing night.
 
Merylj said:
Last NYE at Epcot, and I`m sad to say we would`nt do it again. We arrived about 11am, had lunch in the restaurant at China and had a lovely leisurely walk around the World showcase. We could`nt do any rides as all fast passes had gone.
We saw the 7pm showing of Illuminations, which was fabulous. However after that the place was packed solid. I wanted to see some shows around the World showcase however there was no way to get through the crowds. We had an ADR for Le Cellier and basically we waited for that. We were seated about 10pm, about 90 mins after our time. We left Epcot at 11.30pm on the party poopers bus - how sad is that :rotfl:
Next time I would leave late afternoon and spend the evening at a good resort, probably the Poly.
I`m sure many others have had a much more positive experience than us.

We figured that may be the case, thats why we went back to BW and watched from there with no hassles and basically the same view since they are much higher than Illuminations.
 








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