New Years Week Help Please!!

[ScarletFire]

Love, love, love NYE @ EPCOT! This past year, we had dinner at Cape May and entered through the International Gateway around 10pm; no lines. The DJ in Italy was a SHOW!

I don't suggest staking out a "spot" for the day. Strolling though WS is a blast in the evening but check out this daytime picture around 3pm.



YIKES! We spent NYE morning at The Studios; rope drop with light crowds.

I do suggest an evening ADR in the EPCOT resort area before the NYE festivities. We received our party hats and noise makers at dinner.

It's a great place to be NYE! My second all time favorite!!

 

[pgende80]

Thanks again for all these replies!! Keep them coming!!

 

[pad406]

We did our first trip over the Christmas/New Year period in 2010 and had a blast. A lot will depend on you expectations. If you hope/like to do loads of rides then yes, you will have to be up at rope drop and make good use of your FP+. If you like soaking up atmosphere and chilling it will be easier. As we tend to stay longer, 15 nights that trip, we have the luxury of not trying to pack everything in on a short trip.

Use of a good crowd calendar and judicious choice of when to go and no got to parks will also smooth things out. For instance on Christmas Day, we wandered around the resorts, never went near a park. But we were up early on the 26th and had a practically empty park for 3-4 hours. As others mentioned the preview of the MK NYE fireworks on the 30th is worth watching if you don't plan to do MK on the day. We watched from the beach at the Poly (we were staying there) with a beer and sodas for the kids. NYE we spent in HS and had a blast. I think MK was the only park to close that day.

We're hoping for Christmas/New Year again this year probably 27th to 10th in WDW. Can't wait

 

[kaybird]

Crazy crowded, Crazy FUN!!!

GLOVES-Whatever else you take, this can save your trip if its cold. Keeping your hands and head warm is half the battle. Take shorts, for the other alternative.

BOG-The bridge near Beasts castle was AWESOME for NYE fireworks. They were in a complete 360* around us, and was not as crowded as we expected. My DH could not stop talking about it for weeks!

RED- Can't tell you how many people wore red shirts at the MK on NYE. Couple that with the free black top hats they gave out, and it was hard to find each other. (Yes, we had on red shirts too Next time, maybe something that glows in the dark!

Rope Drop- Essential, no matter where you are. We made a last minute trip, made FP+ after we got there, and had no trouble riding.

ADRs- If you want a TS, make an ADR. We saw more people turned away this time than ever before.

FORT WILDERNESS- If you have time, take a trip over. Lots of long time campers make decorating a BIG DEAL. Some rival the Osborne lights!!!

 

[pgende80]

Thanks!!

 

[athumann]

This is an awesome thread! I have been on the fence about a short 4 day trip 12/26-12/30. Do any of you know how long they keep the Christmas decorations up? I have also considered going 1/1 - 1/5 since it may be less crowded and airfare is about half the price of my previous dates.

 

[csjordan]

This is an awesome thread! I have been on the fence about a short 4 day trip 12/26-12/30. Do any of you know how long they keep the Christmas decorations up? I have also considered going 1/1 - 1/5 since it may be less crowded and airfare is about half the price of my previous dates.

We were batting around different dates for Christmas break, too. We decided on 12/30-1/4. This gets us the best of both worlds. Should still be able to see some Christmas/NYE events, but also get cheaper resort prices after 12/31.

 

[athumann]

We were batting around different dates for Christmas break, too. We decided on 12/30-1/4. This gets us the best of both worlds. Should still be able to see some Christmas/NYE events, but also get cheaper resort prices after 12/31.

That sounds perfect but I have 2 college aged girls who aren't real thrilled about spending New Years Eve with their parents, so I have to avoid that day altogether.

 

[csjordan]

That sounds perfect but I have 2 college aged girls who aren't real thrilled about spending New Years Eve with their parents, so I have to avoid that day altogether.

I hear you! I have a sophomore/soon-to-be junior in high school, so he still thinks I'm ok to hang out with on NYE! I'll enjoy it while I can! Good luck with your planning!

 

[GoMegGo]

Seem like most people have hit my tips, already, but I'll reiterate. It's GREAT that you are a rope drop family. Park close for capacity reasons fairly early in the day. Do the MK NYE celebration the night before NYE, as someone mentioned already. It's awesome and not very busy. We were in HS for NYE and it took close to 4 hours to get back to POP… it sucked, hard core. I'm not sure if I would be willing to spend NYE inside an actual park again. Tour the resorts for decorations (Fort Wilderness is a hoot, some people have really huge displays), be flexible with dining and rest times, and (I mean this in the most positive way possible) set your expectations fairly low as far as seeing and doing everything. It's way too busy to go commando through the parks, so enjoy the decorations and seasonal magic and go with the flow.

FWIW, I can only go during peak times, too, since I'm married to a teacher. NYE is by far the busiest time in WDW, and while I'm thankful we were able to experience it once, I don't think we'll do it again. Have fun and happy planning!

 

[pgende80]

Thanks!! Keep them coming!! Lol

 

[ibela]

Some great tips on this thread, thanks to OP for starting it! Unfortunately we don't RD but are going in Aug as well so I may try to get them up early a few days to see if we can handle it. If not, I guess we'll be doing a lot of shows and people watching.

 

[Swim Spence]

Hi everyone! I saw someone mention December 30, and we will be there this year that day at MK and we were wondering if the Christmas parade and fireworks were played that night?

 

[Itinkso]

Hi everyone! I saw someone mention December 30, and we will be there this year that day at MK and we were wondering if the Christmas parade and fireworks were played that night?

The Christmas Parade will run twice each afternoon... probably 12:00 and 3:30.

 

[llbmom]

My DD(17) and I had a great trip this past New Years. We were there Dec 30-Jan 4 and it was our first holiday trip. I agree with some previous posts that the crowds were not as bad as I was expecting. I followed the recommended days on easywdw and I think that and doing rope drop makes a big difference. We arrived late on Dec 30th so we didn't get the MK until around 10pm. I would also suggest going that night to see the fireworks. It was very crowded when we got there but we just rode the train, got a snack and hung out on Main St. About a half hour before the castle show began we found a great spot right outside Casey's to stand. The best part was the EMH were until 3am so right after the fireworks ended we headed to Adventureland when most people were heading out. We started off with about 20min waits and by the time we got to Fantasyland most things were walkons. Walking down Main St at 3am was the highlight of our trip! I had planned for a late start on New Years Eve since we were out so late at the MK. Our plan was to have lunch at Sanaa at 11:45 but the traffic was so bad with everyone trying to get to the MK and EPCOT that it took us 1.5hrs to get from POFQ to AK. Luckily I was able to get our ADR moved back so it all worked out. We spent NYE at AK-got there around 3:30. After the parade the crowds really cleared out. It was open until 8 so we had a great evening. We walked right in and had our picture with Mickey & Minnie. Afterwards we went to Beaches & Cream for our ice cream dinner. From there we walked over to DHS to catch the bus back to the resort. Maybe someday I will brave the crowds and celebrate at EPCOT but we enjoyed our relaxed NYE. New Years Day at MK was great! We got there right at 8am rope drop. We had lunch at BOG around 11:30. When we came out is when I felt it was really getting crowded. We headed out around 3 because we were having tea at the GF. Between our EMH and getting there at rope drop we were able to do everything we had wanted so we didn't go back in the evening. We did head to DTD and it was a madhouse!! You could barely walk through the big World of Disney store there was so many people. We went back on our last morning and it was so much better. The day we went to EPCOT we got a late start. I have always wanted to go to the Catholic Shrine nearby so we went for morning mass that day. We got to EPCOT around 10 and oh my!! I think it took us about half hr to get through the bag check. But we had a fun day. Our last day was DHS. I know alot of people don't like it but aside from MK it is my favorite. We loved the Osbourne lights! There was also an Improv group that used to perform at Pleasure Island that did a holiday show-it was hysterical! I would highly recommend it. We also enjoyed the special holiday cupcakes at Starring Rolls-it was gingerbread with cream cheese frosting-very yummy! Hope you have a great trip!

 

[mitchwebb]

Had a great NYE trip 12/27-1/2. We are not rope drop coming from west coast and three teenagers we don't even try. We do stay until 2am closing and at Mk one night and everything was a walk on. On 12/30 we hit Mk and did desert firework party. 12/31 we slept in and had noon lunch at Beaches and Cream went into Epcot did a ride and it was packed. WE headed back to hotel for a rest and went back in at 6:30pm for a 6:45pm Rose and Crown. After dinner we did last two FP+ rides. Such a great night walking around listen to music and people watching. Suggest attending a park you can walk to or get in without a bus ride. We love the BW just for this reason.

Get ADR's for NYE as soon as possible.

 

[pgende80]

Awesome thanks guys!!

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

By the way - I think I have seen that most people seem the most concerned with the parks being closed and being shut out of the park.

Now, MK is a much smaller park... and, while the parks do get PACKED - more packed and crowded than you've ever experienced, my family arrived at EPCOT around 10:30pm NYE this past year and had no problems. The only problem was my dad who didn't want to deal with the crowds and pushed us to go home!

We do stay onsite, so it has to be monumentally crowded (Phase 4) for us to be closed out.