OK I'll Start It!! NYE Party @ SSR! Who Else?

[kdzgon]

I never saw this thread and had my own thread from when we booked 11 months ago:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1340284

Well, we are here.....

Ended up in "The Springs"....with a view of the small lake and fountain. GREAT location!

We were able to walk to the Community Hall, Pool, arcade, etc. Much better than last year at the Paddocks where we had to drive to everything!

Looking forward to NYE.....should be fun.

We will hang out here tomorrow...kids want to ride the Surrey bikes and go to the pool. Then it is off to Universal Studios for Friday and Saturday.

They are calling for rain on Monday, so that may be the day for Disney Quest (although we may do Sunday since it might be really crowded on Monday with rain)

Is the party at the main pool or Congress hall? This is only our second time at the resort and were aren't familiar with where everything is.

We'll be watching for you guys - we'll be at SSR 12/30 - 1/04, bringing my mom and one of our DGS - a 4 1/2 yr old - he'll be thrilled to have a couple of kids (especially boys) anywhere near his age - we usually bring at least 2 of our grandkids at a time, so this will be the first time he will be the only "kid" with us.

BTW, just look for 2 scooters plus a tired lady on foot, chasing a rambunctious little boy <g>

 

[global_mom]

Hi all: we are driving down from Georgia on Sunday. Staying one night at The Gaylord and then over to SSR for NYE and 2 more nights after that.

Can I ask a couple of questions about the SSR

1. where is it? Pool, Community hall etc.
2. Is there a charge other than the cash bar that I read about?
3. what time does it all get started?

We will also be at Ohanas for dinner at 8pm so we should be back in plenty of time for partying. We have ds12, dd9, and dd7 who are sooooo excited about NYE at Disney. DH does not drink, and I drink very little, so we are looking forward to a relaxing "family style" NYE.

After all that NY's fun we leave on the 3rd for DCL 3 night cruise then back to the World for one night at CR.

Thanks for the help with the questions!!
Elizabeth

 

[drommer0]

My mom and dad gave me a stay at SSR for my college graduation present. I am traveling with my cousin. We will be arriving on 12/30 and staying until 1/5. This will be my first NYE at WDW. We have dinner resos at Chef de France on 12/31 and then we thought we would head over to BW. I didn't know that SSR had a pool party. We will have to stop by later. Only 38 hourse until we leave

 

[TreesyB]

Just wanted to say: what a fun pool party it was. Pretty much the last night a kid could swim, but we had just come back from Epcot and DTD. So I told Ricky he couldn't swim, but what a fun party, we received party hats, noise makers and not to mention it was just steps from our room at Congress Park! I could go up and down to our room for drinks of champagne.

And the fireworks were fantastic, especially when we could watch the fireworks at the other parks about 10 min. before the DTD fireworks came on. Glad I didn't have to pay $100 for the night to view them!

Anyone else back yet?

 

[tomandrobin]

We got back 2 days ago and were also at the SSR pool party!

Our family had a very good time. Got to see another great fireworks show and not deal with those crowds.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Would love to see pics of the party.

 

[BroganMc]

Alas I forgot to take pictures at the party. By the time we got there and finished talking to tomandrobin, we were more concerned with finding a spot by the water for fireworks. Everyone had started filtering out lakeside and speading out on the lawn.

It had rained early so ponchos were needed for the wet ground. But the view of fireworks was absolutely the best I saw onsite the entire time. And that includes seeing the Dec 30 viewing of MK and 7:30pm early bird showing of EPCOT fireworks.

From SSR you could hear the party at PI, had the best view of DTD fireworks (no fences or people in your way) and saw fireworks at MK, EPCOT and MGM at the same time. It felt like we all had our own private luxury condo party overlooking Times Square.

As for the party. Well I expected more food and drink. All I saw was a little stand with beer, sodas and chips. We wished we had brought dinner from AP with us for our picnic. (Never saw the champagne.)

None of my party drank that night. But considering last year I got myself in a stupid drinking contest at my brother's house, I was just as happy to teetotal this year.

I'll definitely do it again but probably not next year. The whole trip was a tad exhausting coming off a busy Christmas holiday at home. (17 people invade my house Christmas day. Nine of them children under 10.) We're thinking of doing a weekend in early December instead.

Here are some pics I grabbed off my video of the fireworks. I really needed a wide angle lens to capture it all.

Whoever first tipped me off to this party last January, THANK YOU! I never even considered heading to Disney during peak times. This party made it worth it for me. Like I said, it was the best place to ring in the new year on property.

One side note, after the fireworks a bunch of us headed down to the Congress park bus stop to hop a bus to MGM for EMH. But after an hour of waiting we learned the road to MGM had been closed so they could clean up the fireworks debris. When it reopened traffic was a nightmare. We all got there though... at 1:30am. Park closed at 3am. We got home around 4.

 

[BroganMc]

Oh I forgot to add... for all those non-SSR Lovers out there, it was really a dismal, awful party and so totally not worth it. I mean who wants to stay in the boonies by the red light district. Stay home and watch Dick Clark instead.

(Think that'll keep the hordes away?)

 

[unixadm]

Yes, it was a great time!

It was the Boy's first NYE staying up late....and they had a GREAT Time...we didn't get to bed until 2am!

This pic was taken at about 1am!

 

[BroganMc]

Hi Brogan!

It may be a little tame for you and your Dad! (I wanna party with y'all!)

Funny thing was it was a bit tame for us. I'm surprised you didn't catch my dad and I zooming through about 11pm. tomandrobin (our new best friends apparently) did.

We spent the evening at EPCOT for the 7:30pm fireworks. Then after with me half drenched from that early rain shower and my chair on half power (unable to be charged), my dad says "Hey let's take cousin John on a trip around the world". Dad just had to see the night life.

Mexico was hopping. China had technopop. Italy was in laser lights. England was rockin. And the new disco ball (sorry Spaceship Earth) had a disco party going. ("Dancing queen... young and sweet... only seventeen...") By the time we got back to SSR it was after 10.

They had just finished the cha cha slide as we rolled onto the scene. I think we hit a lull in the party. I was just sorry we missed the trivia contest at 10. Dad and I rule at that. So where were all my fellow DISers when we hit the EMHs? Come home at 3-5 am and we're the only ones on the bus. You guys are amateurs.

 

[BroganMc]

Ah, so that's what it looked like back there. I wondered.

 

[tomandrobin]

Funny thing, between me, and the kids we took over 3000 pictures on this trip. Not a single person took pictures of the New Years Eve party. Go figure!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Funny thing was it was a bit tame for us. I'm surprised you didn't catch my dad and I zooming through about 11pm. tomandrobin (our new best friends apparently) did.

We spent the evening at EPCOT for the 7:30pm fireworks. Then after with me half drenched from that early rain shower and my chair on half power (unable to be charged), my dad says "Hey let's take cousin John on a trip around the world". Dad just had to see the night life.

Mexico was hopping. China had technopop. Italy was in laser lights. England was rockin. And the new disco ball (sorry Spaceship Earth) had a disco party going. ("Dancing queen... young and sweet... only seventeen...") By the time we got back to SSR it was after 10.

They had just finished the cha cha slide as we rolled onto the scene. I think we hit a lull in the party. I was just sorry we missed the trivia contest at 10. Dad and I rule at that. So where were all my fellow DISers when we hit the EMHs? Come home at 3-5 am and we're the only ones on the bus. You guys are amateurs.

Hi Brogan! I wasnt being snarky, but after reading your trip report where you two did 4 parks in 1 day, I knew it would be a little tame for you

Glad to hear you had a great time! I probably missed you, because we were out there doing the Cha Cha slide!! The boys swam most of the night and I had to pull them out just in time for the fireworks.
We brought our Champagne with us and had dinner on our patio that faced the Congress Park pool.
We lounged out a little after the party, hit the hot tub and went to bed!
Unix, great pics! We didnt take any pics either! We were having such a good time, it kind of slipped.
One year we watched the fireworks from the hot tub, so there is not a bad spot from anywhere in that area.
Happy New Year everyone

 

[TreesyB]

I was so very glad to have received this tip, and my family loved it too! It was such a treat to stay at Congress Park, and have to just walk up the stairs after the fireworks.

Great pics everyone!

 

[BroganMc]

Hi Brogan! I wasnt being snarky, but after reading your trip report where you two did 4 parks in 1 day, I knew it would be a little tame for you

No worries. You weren't being snarky. Hope I wasn't.

The 4 parks in a day thing was fun. Next on my list is "hop the first park bus that comes" along with some backstage tours.

We're actually surprised we did as much as we did this time. When I suggested we do the 4am EMH at MK the first day it was always tentative. But after the midnight fireworks and my first ride on POTC in 3 years (it's great bringing a strong guy who can lift you), I was well into my second wind. Nearly lost it on Small World though. Such a slow moving boat ride.

I only wish we had gotten to the pool party earlier. We enjoy meeting DISers.

And going over the schedule it looks like we may very well be doing it again this year. Same points as last year and the timing works out. So put us down for NYE '08 as well. (When do we make ressies? Jan 31?)

Next time, I promise to take more pictures. I'm surprised all of us had too much fun to think about it. Those fireworks were just so awesome. Right over your head and multi-layered.

 

[tomandrobin]

We will be there again for a our fourth NYE trip in a row! We already decided that we are going to EPCOT for the NYE fireworks. Its the only show we have not seen.

I did the the "first bus" thing on the 30th this year. Boys were sleeping in, the girls went to the spa, so Tom went to Magic Kingdom.

 

[goldilocks_63]

I thought the FW were great. DD won the 9-16 year old hula hoop contest. Boy that made her night! (Orange swim suit).

I'm glad they turned on the heat on the pool. I called and nagged 2 days earlier that um, hello, you're having a pool party and the water is cold....

We went to MK and Epcot the 2 days prior, and that worked great for us....

BUt then I caught the flu, and now the rest of the trip was blown for me (DD and Hubby went to Disney quest themselves - at least they had fun).

Until next year.... Goldi

 

[IndianaMouseLover]

We loved the pool party also. Our pictures didn't turn out very well since we just bought the camera a few hours before the party. We were still getting use to the new camera. We had a mishap with our camera we brought and had to go to DTD to buy a new one NYE day. The fireworks were amazing for DTD. We got also got to see the MK NYE fireworks the night before. Did any of you see them. They were AWESOME!!!!!!

 

[BroganMc]

We will be there again for a our fourth NYE trip in a row! We already decided that we are going to EPCOT for the NYE fireworks. Its the only show we have not seen.

Take my advice. Go to the 7:30pm early bird showing, walk around the world for the parties then bus back to SSR. It was a much more peaceful surrounding back home. All those noisemakers in EPCOT gave me a headache. Though the countdown on the disco ball (er... Spaceship Earth) was cool).

 

[bigsmooth]

I was pleasantly surprised by the DtD fireworks. I was down by the pool early on (had BBQ duty for everyone back in the condo), then retreated to watch the fireworks from the balcony. We had a third floor DtD facing balcony in Congress Park- also facing the pool (could hear the music and trivia from the balcony). Really enjoyed it.