Oh boy I'm in trouble.....

[dizneelvr]

Hello to all, I am new to the DIS and I need all your help! Dear Hubby (DH I think?) just informed me yesterday he's surprising us with a trip to WDW for New Years. I'm bewildered. And elated. I have so many questions and need help fast! If the questions are silly or can be answered in another forum, please direct me there! First question: I have old park hopper passes with a few days left on them. They are at least 4 years old. Are they any good now?
Second question: We will be at WDW on New Years Eve if we can get there early enough before they close the park (Magic Kingdom I think) by when will they close it down due to crowds? And where's the best place to go for a nice meal? And please tell me how not to panic........thank you.

 

[pixiemel]

Welcome! Congratulations on your upcoming trip! No question is silly-there will be many people on this board that can help with anything!

Your old passes should be fine-I did this once and went to guest services at Mk and they were able to apply them to a new hopper with more days! I'm sure they can help you with whatever you need.

As for your question about the park closing-I'm not sure, but someone will have the answer for you!

 

[lovetoscrap]

You're not in trouble! You have come to just the right place and no question is silly so bring them on!

First of all BREATHE! You are going to Disney World! What a great surprise and what a great husband!


You can use your old park hoppers. You have 2 choices. You can either just use the remaining days on them and if you need more days buy an additional ticket. OR you can have them apply the value of the old tickets toward the cost of buying your new tickets. What is the better deal? Well, that I don't know. It depends on quite a few factors, beginning with how old your old ones are, how many days are left on them, and how many days of a new ticket you would need.

New tickets are cheaper overall the more days you buy. So buying just a one day ticket is not really a great deal. There is some great information about this at mousesavers.com .

I don't know much about the crowds on the holiday days. I know I saw a thread somewhere about it. If I find it I will let you know. I know I have heard that sometimes the parks are full by about 10am on the biggest days which I would assume NYE would be one. I would plan to get there as early as possible and to stay in the park once you are in. And to have an alternate park plan in case MK is full when you get there. I would think that Epcot would also be an awesome park for NYE.

As for a nice meal on New Years Eve please prepare yourself for the fact that you may not be able to do that at this point. Reservations for sit down meals at WDW now can be made 6 months in advance and for the big days like NYE I would guess that they have been booked up for months. If you are willing to be completely flexible and take anything that they have you might have a chance. I am not sure you can go wrong with anything in the Magic Kingdom. Call 407-WDW-DINE and ask them if they have ANYTHING at MK available at anytime on Dec 31st and see what they say. If you are lucky you may end up with a 3:30 meal somewhere, but that is probably the best you can co.

But there are some great counter service options. Again be flexible. Maybe see if you can get a nice sit down meal for Jan 1st or 2nd and just plan to eat a faster meal on NYE so you can enjoy more of the park.

Let us know if you have more questions.

 

[Rochmom]

I exchanged old park hoppers about two weeks ago. When you arrive at any park, go to the guest relations windows outside the gate. Hand them your old park hoppers, and they will issue you new ones. If you're not sure how many days are left on your old passes, they will be able to tell you.

We were at MK on a very low attendance day, but the whole process only took about five minutes to convert four old passes.

Previous posters are also right about the meals. If you're very flexible about what time you want a table service meal, you may get lucky. Otherwise, you may need to rely on counter service - but the food there can be tasty, too. Another option, depending on how you plan your days, might be to check with the table service places in the resorts. They might be less crowded.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Here is a thread on the Theme Park board about New Years Eve. It sounds like you need to get there EARLY and expect high crowds: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1660742

 

[Camster0307]

OMG - You're not in trouble - you'll be in WDW in 2 weeks. Who cares if you don't have sit down dinner reservations? Some vacations can be planned months in advance - others are just spur of the moment. Either way can still be fun!

But, really, if you're THAT concerned, I'd love to take this trip off your hands. You can put the reservations in my name! Have a blast - and what a wonderful husband you have to surprise you like that! (I couldn't even get mine to make dinner reservations for a local restaurant - guess that's why he's my ex now! )

 

[hematite153]

Have a great trip!

If your tickets are OLD ENOUGH, then you can use them. They must be before the current "Magic Your Way" ticket era, or, have had the "no expiration" option added.

Assuming that they are old....
If you have enough days left on your old tickets, it will be MUCH cheaper to just use them as is, rather than trade them in. Since they've been used, they will give you a fairly small amount for a trade-in. (I believe that if they were 5 day PHs and you used 3-days previously, you will get the value of the cost difference between a 3-day and a 5-day pass at the time you purchased them. In other words, less than the cost of a single day now.)

If your trip will be short enough to just use the old tickets--great! If you need to buy more tickets consider what your future disney plans will be. If you usually go for 2-3 day trips, you'll save money by purchasing a 10-day, no expiry ticket and saving it for the future. If you are going now for a full week and only have 2-3 days on your old passes, you'll save money by buy a week-long ticket now and saving the old ones for some time when you come for a shorter trip. Etc.

As for the restaurants and parks on NYE...
Call WDW-DINE as soon as possible. My guess is that there will be something still available (or available because somebody canceled) but whether or not it will be something you want is a different story. You may wish to eat a counter service meal on NYE and a nice meal out the next evening (when the demand decreases significantly).

Where are you staying? If you are staying on disney property then you can probably get in fairly late. They don't close the parks at a specific time, but, rather at a particular occupancy. As occupancy grows they first close the parks to guests who are not staying at a disney resort. Then, much later, they close the parks to on-site guests.

Last year, we arrived at disney around 4 pm on NYE. We checked in at ASMusic, went for a swim, ate dinner at the CS at ASMovies and then called disney info to check on the status (probably around 8pm) of the parks. They told me that all parking lots, except for the TTC, were full and that two of the parks were closed to off-site guests. I remember that the MK was one of them.

I have also heard of years where all parks were closed to outside guests as early as 10am.

So, if you weren't planning to stay on-site and you are picky about which park you visit, you may wish to look into an on-site accommodation.

 

[HannaBelle]

Welcome to the dis!!!

What dates are you going? Where are you staying? How many days do you plan on going to the parks? How many people are in your party? (Just you and hubby this trip?)

You have come to the right place for answers! This board is great!!!