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NYE Closure?
- Thread starter brertigger
- Start date
nibblesandbits
Well-Known Member
I'm going next week during the weekend of the marathon...I'll see what I can do!GoofyFreek said:
Wow
I parked near the boardwalk I entered the gate off the boardwalk around 8:30pm and it was the biggest crowds I've seen there. The soarin queue was 1hr and 20 mins when I entered it around 9:50; right after that found a spot for the 11:40 illuminations, which was a battle in itself. The atmosphere was what made it all worth it though, not the rides.
I parked near the boardwalk I entered the gate off the boardwalk around 8:30pm and it was the biggest crowds I've seen there. The soarin queue was 1hr and 20 mins when I entered it around 9:50; right after that found a spot for the 11:40 illuminations, which was a battle in itself. The atmosphere was what made it all worth it though, not the rides.
yoyoflamingo
Well-Known Member
I think 60 minutes for SSE and 30 Minutes for Journey into Imagination are the more impressive wait times, IMHO.
mousermerf
Account Suspended
Energy pulling a 15min wait is impressive too - that's a 2-show wait, equivilent to about 30mins on SSE.
Epcot 12/31
I went in to Epcot at 7:00 or so. Parked @ Boardwalk (in case Epcot was still in a Phase close, which it was for several hours on Saturday), but went in anyway. Saw the first Illuminations, which was simply the holiday "Peace On Earth" add-on, but always fun to see. Then we went to the Land, where Soarin' had a 180 minute wait, but Living With The Land had none, so we did than and then ate at Sunshine Seasons, which was quick and delicious as always.
Wonders of Life was empty, there was a line extending outside from Universe of Energy, and Test Track was posted as a 90 min wait but the queue went all the way out past the Fastpass machines.
I staked out my spot for Illuminations @ 9:30, and after a 2 hour wait got the Holy Grail of viewing locations: on the stage across the lagoon from American Adventure, front row.
The show was spectacular, and if you've never seen Illuminations from that viewpoint you're missing out. When the Inferno Barge was part of the show (we miss ye, hot stuff...) the heat was like sitting near a large campfire from that vantage point. Anyway, a GREAT fireworks show, and then we decided to check out Soarin' again, just to see if anyone would still be riding at 12:30am. They were, and the line was posted as a 60 minute wait but I think it was less, but the line grew steadily after I got in. Met a lovely family from the U.K.
Went home happy and tired Disney customers. It's nice to have neighbors who throw the mother of all NYE parties right in your backyard! Happy New Year to all!
I went in to Epcot at 7:00 or so. Parked @ Boardwalk (in case Epcot was still in a Phase close, which it was for several hours on Saturday), but went in anyway. Saw the first Illuminations, which was simply the holiday "Peace On Earth" add-on, but always fun to see. Then we went to the Land, where Soarin' had a 180 minute wait, but Living With The Land had none, so we did than and then ate at Sunshine Seasons, which was quick and delicious as always.
Wonders of Life was empty, there was a line extending outside from Universe of Energy, and Test Track was posted as a 90 min wait but the queue went all the way out past the Fastpass machines.
I staked out my spot for Illuminations @ 9:30, and after a 2 hour wait got the Holy Grail of viewing locations: on the stage across the lagoon from American Adventure, front row.
The show was spectacular, and if you've never seen Illuminations from that viewpoint you're missing out. When the Inferno Barge was part of the show (we miss ye, hot stuff...) the heat was like sitting near a large campfire from that vantage point. Anyway, a GREAT fireworks show, and then we decided to check out Soarin' again, just to see if anyone would still be riding at 12:30am. They were, and the line was posted as a 60 minute wait but I think it was less, but the line grew steadily after I got in. Met a lovely family from the U.K.
Went home happy and tired Disney customers. It's nice to have neighbors who throw the mother of all NYE parties right in your backyard! Happy New Year to all!
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
MrNonacho said:
Isnt as bad as the 200 minute wait i saw a few days before Christmas.
Thats right, 3 hours and 20 minutes for Soarin.
Thats how long it takes to fly from Houston to Orlando....thats scary.PhotoDave219 said:
Horizons1
Well-Known Member
Well like someone else had said, Soarin' had a 4 hour wait. I didn't even venture over to Future World west at all because I knew it would be bad.
WOL was like an oasis in the middle of the desert. There were really not that many people in there, so there was all sorts of room. The folks that were in there, were having a great time with the exhibits and kids were running around playing with the stuff. They even had a Kidcot station set up inside.
Body Wars was a supposed 10 minute wait...nope it was walk on, same with Cranium Command.
The Making of Me had a line tho...:lol:
WOL was like an oasis in the middle of the desert. There were really not that many people in there, so there was all sorts of room. The folks that were in there, were having a great time with the exhibits and kids were running around playing with the stuff. They even had a Kidcot station set up inside.
Body Wars was a supposed 10 minute wait...nope it was walk on, same with Cranium Command.
The Making of Me had a line tho...:lol:
YOWSA! Seeing pictures like those reminds me why we don't do NYE @ WDW anymore. We've done MGM (2001)...we've done PI (2002)...we've done MK (2003)...we've done the "wait in traffic for 2 hours to try to get out of the parking lot" (until we figured out the best secret place to park). Just too crowded for our tastes.
Last year we stayed home, cuddled and watched movies...this year we went to a small get-together with some close friends. Might not be as exciting as ringing in the New Year at WDW, but definitely more our speed and more enjoyable for us.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Last year we stayed home, cuddled and watched movies...this year we went to a small get-together with some close friends. Might not be as exciting as ringing in the New Year at WDW, but definitely more our speed and more enjoyable for us.
Happy New Year, everyone!
fillerup
Well-Known Member
This whole question of parks closing versus parking lots closing is a confusing one.
I'm not going to say definitively that parks don't close, because I can't do that. But Disney has always maintained - going back to the beginning that parks don't close, but parking lots do. That was the case in the Orlando Sentinel on Friday when an article said that the MK parking lot closed on Thursday for half an hour.
Anyway - on 12/31, my wife wanted to see the MK Christmas Parade one last time and I didn't. We decided I'd drop her at the GF.
Upon arrival at the parking booths - a temp sign stated MK closed. Told the attendant where we were going and were passed right through. Told GF security what we were doing and passed through.
Were warmly welcomed by Valet staff - my wife was warmly welcomed onto the monorail, and warmly welcomed at the MK entrance where she enjoyed the parade.
Again, no difficulties upon my return to pick her up.
And again last night - warmly welcomed at Boardwalk self parking around 11pm where we went to the bridge to watch the awesome Epcot and Studio fireworks.
Happy New Year
I'm not going to say definitively that parks don't close, because I can't do that. But Disney has always maintained - going back to the beginning that parks don't close, but parking lots do. That was the case in the Orlando Sentinel on Friday when an article said that the MK parking lot closed on Thursday for half an hour.
Anyway - on 12/31, my wife wanted to see the MK Christmas Parade one last time and I didn't. We decided I'd drop her at the GF.
Upon arrival at the parking booths - a temp sign stated MK closed. Told the attendant where we were going and were passed right through. Told GF security what we were doing and passed through.
Were warmly welcomed by Valet staff - my wife was warmly welcomed onto the monorail, and warmly welcomed at the MK entrance where she enjoyed the parade.
Again, no difficulties upon my return to pick her up.
And again last night - warmly welcomed at Boardwalk self parking around 11pm where we went to the bridge to watch the awesome Epcot and Studio fireworks.
Happy New Year
We got into the TTC at 11am. Parking was crazy --- we were directed all the way to Donald, then drove up to the front of Goofy and had to go all the way through Happy and then over to Sleepy where everyone was parking (why they didn't just have us go straight up through the Dwarve's lots and over to Sleepy instead of taking 20 minutes to get around to there, I'll never know). I took a bus to DAK while the rest of the family went into MK. While I was walking to the bus stop there was a long line at the Group Sales/Will Call window, and a CM was going around to everyone telling them that they may not get into the park. Sure enough, as I was on the bus to DAK, the 'FULL' sign was over the arrow on the direction signs on the roads. My family got in fine, but they said it was extremely crowded with 90 minute waits for everything in Tomorrowland, which was the only land they were in the whole time because they left about 2 hours later.
DAK was very manageable....I waited 10 minutes for Dinosaur, while Kali River Rapids was a walk-on and Kilimanjaro Safaris only had a 20 minute wait. At around 1:30pm or so I went to the Studios which is where I was for the rest of the day. It really wasn't bad at all --- in the afternoon Tower and RNRC were both pulling waits of only an hour and stuff like Star Tours, Muppet*Vision 3D, and the Great Movie Ride had wait times that were only around 10-20 minutes. Crowds picked up later in the night though, as RNRC had a 100-110 minute wait for most of the night after 6pm, but it still wasn't as bad as the waits for the Epcot/MK attractions, and my family was easily able to get in the park at 9pm.
DAK was very manageable....I waited 10 minutes for Dinosaur, while Kali River Rapids was a walk-on and Kilimanjaro Safaris only had a 20 minute wait. At around 1:30pm or so I went to the Studios which is where I was for the rest of the day. It really wasn't bad at all --- in the afternoon Tower and RNRC were both pulling waits of only an hour and stuff like Star Tours, Muppet*Vision 3D, and the Great Movie Ride had wait times that were only around 10-20 minutes. Crowds picked up later in the night though, as RNRC had a 100-110 minute wait for most of the night after 6pm, but it still wasn't as bad as the waits for the Epcot/MK attractions, and my family was easily able to get in the park at 9pm.
Horizons1
Well-Known Member
basas said:
MGM was not as bad as Epcot in park, but outside the park it was a mess, the lines for busses and the line just to get your car into the parking lot were backed up so far. In park was not that bad at all, it wasn't like Epcot. There were not even that many people on the Streets of America when they lit the Osborne lights, it did fill up as it started to get dark. They had the stage for new years in front of the hat and about 6:30 they started to play the music and get everyone dancing and stuff.
I have a few pics of that, I'll upload them later tonight.
stitchcastle
Well-Known Member
all the crowds were terrible on NYE. The MK cast was obviously frustrated and having a really tough time controlling the crowd.
The Soarin' standby line was ridiculous, had to wait for 3 hours! (and yet it was so worth it [my first time riding it, was a single rider, cm's were awesome and let me ride it a second time, luv ya Caryn!])
secret place to park I believe is AK. You can leave your car there, bus your way to any of the parks and when you're done, take yourself on the resort line to AK Lodge where the bus driver'll take you to AK after the lodge.
The Soarin' standby line was ridiculous, had to wait for 3 hours! (and yet it was so worth it [my first time riding it, was a single rider, cm's were awesome and let me ride it a second time, luv ya Caryn!])
secret place to park I believe is AK. You can leave your car there, bus your way to any of the parks and when you're done, take yourself on the resort line to AK Lodge where the bus driver'll take you to AK after the lodge.
Thanks for all the pictures and reports. Those are huge crowds! I have never seen the SSE line so long.