Wow...it sounds like this is WDW's lowest attended NYE in many a year...

[DisneyKidds]

But there's no way to know what this year before 3, and last year after 5, would have felt to you.

Unless you are suggesting that it might possibly have gotten less crowded between 3:00 and 5:00 last year (I doubt that), or that this year it was more crowded at 3:00 than at 5:00 (again, doubtful), then I think my inferences/observations are valid.

 

[DisneyKidds]

You are so, so off base here. Epcot and DHS were packed that day. Social media was full of photos and wait time reports that proved it. Also, Epcot was so buys, it added a second set of fireworks at 6 p.m. to try and get people to leave the park.

Yes, the parks were very crowded. However, they didn't add a second set of fireworks at 6pm because of the crowd, it was/is always on the NYE entertainment schedule. Disney knows many families with younger kids can't stay through midnight, so they offer an earlier show.

Despite the park being very crowded, we were lucky enough to get a great spot for the late fireworks just 15 or 20 minutes before they started.

 

[Linda T.]

I can't compare to other NYE celebrations but Epcot was packed on December 31st... I have never seen so many people and it was very hard to move around to get to different places. Glad we went there but we won't do Epcot on NYE again.

We did go to MK on December 30th to watch their pre NYE fireworks and we stood on Main Street. It was crowded but I think the rains kept a lot of people away. Those fireworks were awesome that nigh and crowds were manageable.

 

[rajak73]

We were not there but I was watching wait times on the phone and told the DW that Epcot must be packed, Captain EO was 15 min.

 

[clsteve]

I have no idea what the attendance was actually like, but regarding this, I would think it unlikely, this is counter to what many many people have reported, and what is intuitively logical.

Many people have reported that crowds have seemed larger when they are in fact lower, due to FP+.

And this makes sense. One of the stated goals is to take people out of line, and put them in the shops and restaurants (and therefore the streets and pathways as well).

Indeed as we have (again) seen here, many people report basically wandering around or lingering around while waiting for their FP windows to open up.

So it would be likely the reverse would be true, the new system would make it feel more crowded rather than less.

Makes perfect sense.

Similar to how it can seem crowded on a low attendance day when everyone is getting in and out of the rides quickly and back on the walkways.

If they're keeping you in the Parks longer with FP time spreads, what else are you gonna do besides walk, eat, shop, or hop in a standby line?

The SB wait time increases on the omnimovers back up your observation as well.

 

[gzmtlock]

We were not there but I was watching wait times on the phone and told the DW that Epcot must be packed, Captain EO was 15 min.

Wow! Even though I was there, I didn't know it was THAT bad!!!

 

[phoebusII]

MK was crowded Dec. 30, but pretty manageable. Many people were waiting for the fireworks, so the ride times weren't too bad in the evening. We got a spot on Main Street, close to the hub for the fireworks. Not quite ideal, but a pretty good spot.

Epcot on Dec. 31 was insanely crowded. I can't compare it to past years, but Soarin' had a wait time of 240 minutes and people were still getting in line. We were able to get FP+, thankfully, so didn't have to wait in that. Also, I had scheduled a Behind the Seeds tour, which got us out of the crowds for an hour or so. It was a very nice tour. At one point, they closed the first floor of the Land pavilion and refused to let any more people enter until some left. Some of the stairs were closed and they were directing traffic in a specific direction to manage the crowds. A few people jumped the line and tried to use the closed staircase anyway and were stopped by CM's. We saw them arguing with the CM's as to why they should be allowed priority. The CM's were polite, but firm.

We were able to snag a first row spot at the railing for the fireworks about 2 hours beforehand. We were near China, so there was an island in the way, but the view was still quite good. The island didn't interfere that much. After the fireworks we waited for the crowds to clear a bit, but the people just kept coming and coming, without end. We finally joined the departing crowd and were routed behind Norway, through the backstage area, and back into the main park by Test Track. It was interesting to see the backstage area. At the bus stop we noticed that they had parked cars on the grass areas.

Both days were crowded. To me it felt like Epcot was the worst of the two days. The MK fireworks were awesome. The Epcot ones were good, but I'm not sure I would brave those crowds again just for the fireworks show.

The weather has been described as dreary, but it wasn't too bad. A light jacket was sufficient. Much better than the 10 degrees Fahrenheit we had upon our return. I'm suffering a bit of weather shock at the moment, knowing how nice it is in Florida and wondering why I cope with this weather when there is a much better alternative.

 

[wisblue]

I have no idea what the attendance was actually like, but regarding this, I would think it unlikely, this is counter to what many many people have reported, and what is intuitively logical.

Many people have reported that crowds have seemed larger when they are in fact lower, due to FP+.

And this makes sense. One of the stated goals is to take people out of line, and put them in the shops and restaurants (and therefore the streets and pathways as well).

Indeed as we have (again) seen here, many people report basically wandering around or lingering around while waiting for their FP windows to open up.

So it would be likely the reverse would be true, the new system would make it feel more crowded rather than less.

Why is it illogical for the parks to feel (and actually be) less crowded even with higher attendance numbers?

With FP+, some people will get to the park early, do some attractions before lines get too long, use their 3 FPs in the late morning and early afternoon, and then leave the park. Others will make their FP+ reservations for later and enter the park later. So, the overall number of people entering the park at some point in the day could be as high or higher but the number of people in the park at any one time might be lower. That is what Disney said happened at the MK last Christmas.

With paper FPs people who received FPs in the late morning with return times 8 hours later might be more inclined to hang around to use those FPs. With FP+, it is pretty easy to get 3 FPs back to back to back and use all 3 of them in a little more than an hour. That is what we did during the week after Christmas last year with our FPs in the 5-6, 6-7, and 7-8 blocks. We would use the first one a little before 6, the last one a little after 7, and the other one in between. That allowed us to stay out of the parks during the extremely crowded middle of the day after doing a lot of things at park opening.

 

[Shaden]

Why is it illogical for the parks to feel (and actually be) less crowded even with higher attendance numbers?

With FP+, some people will get to the park early, do some attractions before lines get too long, use their 3 FPs in the late morning and early afternoon, and then leave the park. Others will make their FP+ reservations for later and enter the park later. So, the overall number of people entering the park at some point in the day could be as high or higher but the number of people in the park at any one time might be lower. That is what Disney said happened at the MK last Christmas.

With paper FPs people who received FPs in the late morning with return times 8 hours later might be more inclined to hang around to use those FPs.

Oh I agree this will happen for some, mainly people like us, people who have been to WDW multiple times, know how to work the system, etc. but not the majority of people.

And this is not what WDW wants with FP+. They want people in the parks, spending money. If this is actually how it panned out, they would scrap the system.

But this isn't what we have seen is it ? You read these boards as much as I do I think and what we have seen a LOT of reports are, the parks seem much more crowded, even though according to Iger attendance was only up 4% year over year (in the fourth quarter at least I think).

 

[wisblue]

Oh I agree this will happen for some, mainly people like us, people who have been to WDW multiple times, know how to work the system, etc. but not the majority of people.

But this is not what WDW wants with FP+. They want people in the parks, spending money. If this is actually how it panned out, they would scrap the system.

But this isn't what we have seen is it ? You read these boards as much as I do I think and what we have seen a LOT of reports are, the parks seem much more crowded, even though according to Iger attendance was only up 4% year over year (in the fourth quarter at least I think).

I don't keep score, but what I see on these boards are reports that range from inconsistent to downright contradictory, and this thread seems like a perfect example of that. It isn't unusual to have two people in a park on the same day and one will say that it was insanely crowded and another will say that it was very manageable and less crowded than on the same day last year.

I don't agree that Disney necessarily wants people in the parks all day spending money. They want people to spend money by staying at their resorts and spending money at their parks and other facilities around the resort. If we leave a park at noon and have lunch at one of the resorts or go play mini golf, that is the best of both worlds for Disney because we are spending money while leaving room for others in the parks.

 

[DisneyKidds]

It isn't unusual to have two people in a park on the same day and one will say that it was insanely crowded and another will say that it was very manageable and less crowded than on the same day last year.

So true, and I suppose it makes it hard for people reading to discern a true picture. It all comes down to where one is at a certain moment in the park, or even what direction they are going. Heck, earlier in this thread someone else related their FP+ experience for the 6pm Illuminations on NYE. They left after the fireworks headed for the International Gateway and got stuck in foot traffic that wasn't moving. We were at the same FP+ for Illuminations, waited maybe 5 or 10 minutes for some of the crowd to disperse, and made our way, without troubles despite the heavy traffic flow, through the crowds to Spaceship Earth. Just a couple posts above someone talks about the crowds and traffic they encountered getting from China to the front of the park, with a steady stream of people and routing through back areas. After the same fireworks, which we viewed from Canada, we waited about 15 minutes for some of the crowds to clear and then we headed the long way around (past Mexico/Norway/China, etc.) the World Showcase to the International Gateway. While crowded, we had no trouble moving, and made stops at the raves in China and Italy along the way. Two perfect examples of people leaving the same places, headed in opposite directions, who had very different experiences!

I'm sure the person that had the problem leaving the early Illuminations for the International Gateway had the same problem we had earlier. Just before the Canada stage when you are headed toward the International Gateway the promenade narrows a little. Seems to be a bit of a bottleneck. We got stuck there on the way to our FP+ for Illuminations, while the Lumberjacks were on. 15 minutes to move 200 feet, traffic at a standstill, people literally chanting, tempers flaring. It was horrible. If that was all I related from our night it would come across as a disaster. While it is a good snapshot of how big the crowds were, it wasn't indicative of the whole night. It was a bad 15 minutes in an otherwise very good night. I try to focus on the positives of the majority of the night, in spite of the few hiccups. It's like I told the kids when making our way around the World Showcase in the hour and a half leading up to the late illuminations (yes, we made a full circle, with 15 minute stops each at the DJ parties in the UK, Italy and China)......don't look at the crowds, look at the space between the crowds. For us the space between the crowds was there.

 

[lugnut33]

I read that the parking lot at Epcot was full on NYE, they started parking cars on the exit roads.

A couple of years ago we were there for NYE and we were directed to parked in the grass under the monorail right up near the entrance. We were some of the first people in Epcot that day.

 

[kristainohio]

We were there dec 19-28, so not NYE but close. I will say that MK this year felt much, much more crowded than last year (we were there the same dates last year) By 11 am, Main Street was insane most days. We got there before 7 am on MK days and did lots of rides but it was crazy by mid morning. Lots more people at RD this year than last and they all rushed for 7d and A & E. We did everything else! the crowds were pretty crazy.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I will say that MK this year felt much, much more crowded than last year (we were there the same dates last year)

kristainohio...how were the other three parks in comparison to last year?

 

[Clawdya]

IMHO, I believe it all has to do with when you got there and if you had a plan. For instance, our bus on NYE was the first to arrive to Magic Kingdom. It was dark and empty when we arrived. We were some of the first people at the entrance and held back by the rope. And even though a lot of people came and were behind us as it got closer to 7, since we were at the very front it didn't feel that crowded. I bet, though, that those that got there sometime afterward and saw the crowd ahead of them, probably felt it was more crowded than we did. But for us, it didn't feel that way.

When we went in, we walked behind the rope all the way through the castle and to Fantasy Land. From there we walked right onto Peter Pan's Flight and then walked right onto It's a Small World. Afterwards, we thought about going to Big Thunder Mountain but that part was still closed until 8am. We opted to go to Tomorrowland instead. As we went by 7DMT, we saw that the stand-by line was already at 60mins! Yikes! Good thing we had a fp+ for later on that day so we went to Tomorrowland Speedway and waited a few minutes but that was mostly due to waiting for the CMs to add more cars. From there we went to Buzz Lightyear, the wait was about 5 mins. By this time it was just after 8am, we decided to start walking to Adventure Land, still no real crowds. As we crossed the castle we asked one of the photographers to take us a picture, the background looks empty in our picture except for 2 people that had already set up camp (crazy!). From there we went straight to Big Thunder Mountain, there was a line out the door (but I think it was because it was not zig zagging before the stand-by sign) and the posted time read 30 mins, and next door the posted time for Splash Mountain was 5 mins. DH said he would stand in line while I took the kids to Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain turned out to be walk on. When we came out, DH had gotten back in line at Big Thunder because it had gone really fast and he had to ride it by himself. We waited, the posted time was still 30 mins but it only took 15 mins (if that). After Big Thunder the Splash Mountain sign still showed 5 mins, we went for it and walked right on again.

Then we walked to Pirates of the Caribbean and the posted time was 45 mins. We decided to take a coffee break at this point at Tortuga Tavern. Then we waited at POTC for approximately 35-40 mins even though the wait time was supposed to be longer (after our coffee break it had gone from 45mins to 60mins). From there we shopped and had some tags personalized to take back home. At this point it was looking very crowded (but not too bad). We shopped and walked around until it was time for our reservation at Crystal Palace (11:50am). The people ahead of us were turned away and we overheard them turn away those behind us as well. Now, if that had been us, without a reservation, then we would have felt the weight of the crowd more and felt like it was insane to be there at this point. However, for us, since we did have a reservation we were able to go inside and have a nice sit down lunch that lasted almost 2 hours (our waitress was so cool and chatty).

After lunch we walked to the Mad Tea Party (waited about 20-25mins), then we headed towards our first fp+ for the Haunted Mansion. Yes, we were all over the park but we were excited and didn't feel tired at all. We then made our way to our 2nd fp+ at 7DMT, after that we walked to get a Dole Whip and sat for about 30 mins to enjoy it, then we picked up our personalized tags from the POTC store and went back towards Fantasy Land and waited to take a picture with the carriage that had the 2015 sign. From there we went to Space Mountain to use the extra fp that a CM had given us earlier that day. After that, we checked in to our reservations at Be Our Guest. We then went and used our fp+ at Space Mountain, then went to Stitch's Great Escape. We had planned to do the Monsters Inc Laugh Factory but time was going by so fast by this time that it was time to check in to our Dessert Party. Our check in was supposed to be at 11:05pm but we checked in at 10:50pm. The Desserts were meh but the view and reserved chairs/table were totally worth the money and the perfect way to ring in the New Year. My kids couldn't thank me enough for all the reservations through-out our day/night. Through out the day we only felt the crowds thick when CMs were directing us to go all a certain way, as the day wore on and during/after a parade. When we left there we felt like we did so much and had an amazing time. But, had we not had any of the reservations, this would have changed our view of the crowds. We would have been frustrated to wait in line to get something to eat or go to the restrooms (we tried whenever possible to use them during our reservations at the restaurants) and we would have probably said it was a horrible trip. Also, if we had arrived any later than we did, we wouldn't have been able to do as much as we did in the morning and this too might have changed how we felt. But due to how our day/night worked out, the crowds didn't bother us much and we went home (exhausted but happy) remembering what an amazing day/night we had and thinking about a return trip. Also, please note that my children are 9 and 12, had they been younger then they might not have lasted as long as they did, especially with all the crazy walking in the opposite direction of where we would go next.

The reason I posted this message was to let everyone else know how plans and timing (like rope-drop) made a huge difference in how the crowd felt on our visit to the MK on NYE. When I booked my trip back in April 2014, I was so excited that I did as much research as I could. That's how I found the disboards and learned so much about ADRs and FP+. It was here that I learned about the Dessert Party. And I learned from pictures and posts that it would be insanely crowded (beware of the pictures that are posted though, it seems to me that those that post pics of that day specifically choose the most congested parts to snap a picture of). Had I not known about any of these things, I would be cursing and saying how awful our trip was....so THANKS TO ALL THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THESE DISBOARDS. And I hope that by posting my experience, that it can help others that are looking into braving the NYE crowds at MK.