New Years

[Luvmyfam3]

Hey all!

This is the first time that I'll be at Disney during New Years! Yippee!! I know that Pleasure Island has a party, but what about the other parks? Do they stay open later? Do anything special like fireworks at midnight? I would go to Pleasure Island, but we'll have 5 kids between the ages of 9 to 13. Any suggestions would be welcome! Oh, we're also planning on going to Universal at some point during our trip. Do they do anything special?

Thanks so much!!!

Kim

 

[jdonat]

Wow!
Yes, all the parks are open late -usually
until 1am. (Animal Kingdom is not!)
The parks that are open all do special
fireworks shows on NYE. We've done
Epcot for many many years, but did the MK
this last year (good idea RB)! The fireworks
at the MK on NYE are fantastic! They're
Fantasy in the Sky rather than Wishes, by the
bye... Last year we got the fireworks behind
the castle as usual, and then matching fireworks
done somewhere just off the park grounds (
maybe in the lagoon) -they mirrored the FITS
fireworks we saw behind the castle. At
midnight, we had fireworks all around us -at least 10 different locations. We were on
Main Street just past Casey's corner (the hot
dog place) and the fireworks were all around us!
Epcot usually does extra fireworks as part of
it's usual Illuminations show -any extra fireworks
that they shoot off are usually behind the Japan pavillion...
The studios does Sorcery in the Sky
supposedly one of 2 times/year that this is
done now with Fantasmic! running every
night.

Be aware,,, THIS IS THE BUSIEST NIGHT OF
THE YEAR... it gets crowded, but you can
still find quieter areas to relax in if you're not
good with crowds. Epcot seems less crowded,
it's because its a LOT bigger than the MK or
the Studios. If you can, get PS dinner reservations as soon as they open up -NYE
will be very very busy even at the quick
service places. MK doesn't serve any
alcohol, so if you want some bubbly, you may
need to go to Epcot for NYE.

As far as rides go, USE FASTPASS. We
found out something -you don't need to use
the passes during the "window" listed on
the passes -as long as you are after the
start time on the pass, you're OK. We did
that on NYE -we got passes about 1000 for
Space Mtn. for 2pm, and used them about
10pm. We got very strange looks from the
CM at the Fastpass entrance, but we got in!
The Standby line at Space Mtn. at about
10pm was 270!!! minutes. I kid you not. One
of our friends got a picture of the time....

If you have any questions about NYE, let
me know, and I'll help however I can. We've
been there NYE since 1992 except for 1999/2000....
John

 

[Connears]

We have been to WDW that week for the last 2 years and are returning this year. TipS: make all PS at 90 days for your sit-down restaurants(especially NYE_they will ask for CC#); be prepared for large crowds, especially MK for the whole time; FP will be used up earlier in the day than normal at all parks; MGM has always been very easy to tour with FPs; AK on EMH is really crazy, avoid it if possible FP for Kilamanjaro were all gone by 1pm; decide where you want to be for NYE and make plans accordingly-if its MK plan on getting there by 10am and staying there-it has been closed to all guests including resort guest by 10am and you can't get in if they are at max capacity even if you have a PS; MGM and Epcot are ok to park hop(2002-3 we started at MGM then hit Epcot at 4:30-2003-4, we stayed at MGM the whole time). All the parks have holiday special stuff going on-take advantage of them and enjoy the atmosphere and they are all open the latest of the year. Don't think you can see it all..you will not be able to commando tour! Its a great time if you have the right attitude. Remember, you will be with alot of people!
Connears