New Years Eve

[wdwjmp239]

What kind of activities does WDW have planned for New Years Eve? How late do the parks stay open? How late does transportation run?

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Both MK and Epcot have fireworks at midnight and are open to 1 AM. And Pleasure Island will kick it up a notch from there normal midnight show for sure.

Not sure of any other "celebrations" but I bet there are more as well.

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by AkiraRaptor
Both MK and Epcot have fireworks at midnight and are open to 1 AM. And Pleasure Island will kick it up a notch from there normal midnight show for sure.

Not sure of any other "celebrations" but I bet there are more as well.

MGM should have Sorcery in the Sky and be open until 1 am as well.

Blondie is the headliner for the PI NYE celebration.

 

[prberk]

Originally posted by ntn_haqqer
How late does transportation run?

Be prepared for a transportation nightmare after 12:30 a.m., until at least 2:00.

I was there in 1998-'99 for New Year's, and we left MK via WDW bus (picked up by a contracted local bus instead of an actual WDW bus) to our hotel, Dixie Landings (now called Port Orleans, Riverside). We left MK at 12:30, got on a bus around 1 and got to the hotel around 2 a.m.

The problem was that all four parks (including AK that year, but not this year) closed at the same time, and they were filled. The road could not handle hundreds of thousands of people trying to move at the same time. Our bus just sat in the MK exit traffic forever.

The monorails are really the only useful transportation on that night right after the parks close. They ride above it all....

The only other option is just to be patient and wait it all out, maybe by staying at the park and shopping or riding things as late as you can....

One other note: If you are staying on property, have a separate reservation for January 1 than from December 31, because the rates go down on January 1 considerably, but your rate is based on the first day of your reservation. I paid for a one-night stay on December 31, then checked out and back in on January 1 for my last two days; I did not have to change rooms, because the resort had knowledge of it beforehand, when I first checked in.