What Park for NYE?

[DisneyMissy]

I was wondering what park to do on New Year's Eve. It will just be two adults and we don't need to stay up late and see the fireworks. I know MK and Epcot are jammed. Never been there this time of year so what would you do?

 

[wdwmagic]

Being at the park that day is really all about the fireworks. They are so busy you cant really ride anything without 2 or 3 hour waits on the big stuff. If I wasnt planning on starying till the end to see the fireworks I would not go into the parks that day. Maybe go for a nice dinner somewhere?

 

[DisneyMissy]

I don't want to waste a day there not going to a park. Maybe I will just save that day for AK and totally skip MK and Epcot and have a table service meal at a resort.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

NYE at Disney and not wanting to celebrate the New Year with a fireworks show :shrug:

We did our first Disney Christmas / New Year this last December - yes it was packed but the fireworks at EPCOT for the 23:40 Illuminations show were beyond description and well worth waiting for.

 

[DisneyMissy]

Were you able to move around with the crowds at Epcot or was it bumper to bumper people? My concern is that I am taking my Mom. It will just be the two of us and this is her first trip. Not too sure how well she will bel able to deal with the crowds at MK or Epcot that night or stay up that late to wait for them that is why I was thinking no fireworks. If it was myself and my husband I would be watching them.

I will have to think about it some more and maybe stick with my first plan to go to MK or Epcot for the day and see the fireworks and just deal with the crowds and have a nice table service meal.

Do the fireworks go off at midnight?

 

[wdwmagic]

Were you able to move around with the crowds at Epcot or was it bumper to bumper people? My concern is that I am taking my Mom. It will just be the two of us and this is her first trip. Not too sure how well she will bel able to deal with the crowds at MK or Epcot that night or stay up that late to wait for them that is why I was thinking no fireworks. If it was myself and my husband I would be watching them.

I will have to think about it some more and maybe stick with my first plan to go to MK or Epcot for the day and see the fireworks and just deal with the crowds and have a nice table service meal.

Do the fireworks go off at midnight?

Yes it is absoutely jam packed solid at both MK and Epcot on New Year's Eve.

The firework shows are at midnight.

 

[durangojim]

I know I'm in the minority, but we've spent 2 NYE at MGM, I mean DHS, and one at EPCOT. I preferred DHS because we were able to arrive at the park in the afternoon, have a nice meal at Brown Derby, go on a couple of rides and still enjoy a great fireworks and adult beverages. Epcot was cool too, but packed and you had to be there all day which wasn't very relaxing.

 

[DisneyMissy]

durangojim:

Thank you for that. That is what I keep going between do I want to battle really really bad crowds at those two parks to see fireworks or just go to HS or AK instead and have a more relaxing day.

 

[timeman]

All the parks will be busy on New Year's Eve. I was at Epcot this past New Year's and it was crowded, but they never closed the gates. You could go early get fastpasses for the big rides and when your mother gets tired go back to the resort. You could then come back later after she is rested and bring in the New Year in the park. I saw people arriving at Epcot even at 11pm and in Future World there was plenty of elbow room. There were a lot of people of all ages at Epcot.

I do know that they did have phased closings at the Magic Kingdom that day, but not at Epcot and the capacity of Epcot is a lot bigger. When they have phased closings at the Magic Kingdom people do head to the other parks.

I would definitely avoid the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve because of the crowds.

 

[DisneyMissy]

Thank you very much. The responses from everyone who has been there on that day are very helpful for me!
The rest during the days we were most likely going to do anyway but I was worried about getting back into the park again. Maybe Epcot might be the way to go instead of the MK.

 

[rock_doctor]

We never go into the parks on NYE because the parks are an absolute nightmare. The last time (2-yr ago) we went to EPCOT and you could not move. The entire park was walk one direction only and was so tightly packed that people were having to hold their kids on their shoulders so they would not get trampled. It was absolutely horrible! Now we just chill on NYE and generally just play at the pool at our resort. Check but last year 2 days before NYE they do a dry run-through of the Magic Kingdom NYE fireworks. So if you go to the Poly beach you can catch the Water Electric Parade, the dry run of the NYE fireworks and the normal magic kingdom fireworks. We watched over an hour of fireworks... Was really cool. Also if you don't go into the parks you can get up early and use the early morning magic hours New Years day. This last year NYday it was the AK and we quite litterly walked on to each ride w/o a wait. By the time we hit 1pm we had done the whole park and were ready to leave.

 

[Eyekimore]

NYE is the best at WDW. We've been going at that time of year for at least 12+ years. EPCOT has my favorite fireworks by far. They do their regular Illuminations before midnight. Then they have a section where the celebrate the different time zones as they hit midnight. Then the grand finale. It will be a MOB scene in EPCOT. Remember the alcohol options are here- so are all the heavy party people.

Just a thought- we were too tired to be "in the park" at midnight and fight the crazy crowd. We sat on the sandy beach in front of the BEach Club. We could see EPCOT's fireworks on one side- and DHS on the other. It was amazing. Then we beat the crowds back to our room.

Magic Kingdom is cool- but we did that the day before like an earlier poster suggested. AK will probably be the most tame option for your day. ENJOY! We'll be there, too!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

All the parks will be busy on New Year's Eve. I was at Epcot this past New Year's and it was crowded, but they never closed the gates. You could go early get fastpasses for the big rides and when your mother gets tired go back to the resort. You could then come back later after she is rested and bring in the New Year in the park. I saw people arriving at Epcot even at 11pm and in Future World there was plenty of elbow room. There were a lot of people of all ages at Epcot.

I do know that they did have phased closings at the Magic Kingdom that day, but not at Epcot and the capacity of Epcot is a lot bigger. When they have phased closings at the Magic Kingdom people do head to the other parks.

I would definitely avoid the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve because of the crowds.

Which bit of EPCOT were you in - cos it wasn't the same bit I was in.

EPCOT closed mid morning on Dec 31st as the park reached capacity (MK closed earlier) - granted it may have reopened again later.

FP had all gone by mid morning and by early afternoon Soarin' had a stand by line of over 3 1/2 hours.

World Showcase was packed - we found a spot to watch the first Illuminations and didn't budge till after the second showing gone midnight. Its not pleasant with all those people but we were prepared for chaos and ready for what we encountered.

If hitting MK or EPCOT on NYE get there early (before mid morning), have your ADRs booked at the 90 day window and be prepared to stay in the park all day or miss out on the best fireworks show ever

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

The rest during the days we were most likely going to do anyway but I was worried about getting back into the park again. Maybe Epcot might be the way to go instead of the MK.

That is the biggest gamble - if you leave the park you may not get back in.

We decided on EPCOT for NYE for 2 reasons. Firstly as EPCOT is larger than MK there is more room to disperse the crowds over during the day - it just gets busy as Illuminations time approaches. Secondly, we prefer Illuminations to Wishes (that said, you can watch the NYE fireworks show at MK on Dec 30th and so get the best of both worlds)