Conflicted about coming for New Year's Eve

[FSU Girl]

I'm conflicted whether or not I should keep my reservation for New Year's Eve. It's a lot of money and I have expensive cruises planned for 2019 to celebrate my honeymoon. The crowds are going to be horrible and my fiance doesn't do well with a lot of people around. On the other hand, I've never been for New Year's and would love to see the fireworks in person. I booked club level at Poly, which are both new to me and if the extra fast pass for club level program is still going we can get more fast passes and prime firework viewing, which would be amazing.

I've been cancelling a couple weekend trips I had planned this year to save money for the Disney cruise I have booked for January and cancelling this trip would save a couple thousand dollars. But it could potentially be the only time we could go for New Year's for a very long time.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I would go.
You would love to see the fireworks in person. For that reason, you should go once for New Year’s. No matter what year you do it, your fiance won’t like the crowds.

I actually think it’s good because then you also have the more relaxing cruise the same year.

 

[pitpat]

That amount of money + the crowds would outweigh special fireworks for me.

 

[gap2368]

I went last new year eve and I do not do well in crowded at all. Yes it was very hard (like had a few meltdowns hard ) but I am glade I did I would not have done it if I did not have a dessert party to see the fireworks I was also able to walk to the contperary for the MK. do not expect to do a lot of rides but what you can do before 11 as even the FP lines were long. I gave up a Disney cruse and a few trips to Disney to go for NYE. it sounds like money is tight and I really would cancel and go in a few years. When you have the money as it sounds like this could case a lot of stress between you two.

 

[Klayfish]

No doubt, it's as crowded as WDW gets. We were there this year, and it was very crowded. However, that wouldn't stop me from doing it again...in a heartbeat. Use FP+, have some patience, enjoy. We watched fireworks from the Poly beach on Dec 30th, and it was fabulous. We weren't packed in like sardines, plenty of space, incredible view of all the fireworks. It was awesome.

I'd suggest going.

 

[hakepb]

The NYE fireworks are that cool

But the crowds are crazy. It’s great if you love a huge party with DJ’s playing all around MK (on the 30th and 31st) and Epcot on the 31st.

But Epcot almost made food and wine weekends seem like a relaxing experience with extended queues at snack/drink locations and restrooms.

I’m not sure how busy the grassy areas (they open them up for fireworks viewing) in Epcot got, they might stay a bit more calm than WS.

I’d imagine you will have a bunch of trips ahead of you. I’ve been going to WDW for 20 years, and this year was my 1st NYE trip.

 

[Gehrig1B]

You can no longer Fastpass fireworks locations so you would need to do the Fireworks Dessert party which we have done and is brilliant, no fighting the crowds and lotsa fun party favors.

We also buy hopper tickets so we can start the day at one of the less crowded parks then hop over after dinner to avoid a crazy day. With a Dessert Party reservation and staying at Poly you will have no trouble entering the park so don't allow anyone to tell you you have to get there really early because the park will close...that is nonsense for on-site guests with reservations.

We have been to NYE at Disney 3 years in a row. This last year was the best plan as we started at HS, returned to Wilderness Lodge to change into more appropriate NYE party attire, headed to Ohana for a 5:00 dinner then eventually made our way to MK for the dessert party. We went to Epcot on the 30th and hopped to MK after Illuminations and saw midnight fireworks on the 30th at MK as well...

One advantage will be staying at Poly, you can let the crowds dissipate and then easily catch a launch back. The boats do not run immediately after the fireworks as there are fireworks barges that need to me cleared from the lake after the midnight display. Beats trying to get to a bus or the monorail as those lines are massive!

 

[FSU Girl]

You can no longer Fastpass fireworks locations so you would need to do the Fireworks Dessert party which we have done and is brilliant, no fighting the crowds and lotsa fun party favors.

The new club level paid fast passes give access to firework viewing. I was going to take advantage of this for New Year's Eve.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

I'm conflicted whether or not I should keep my reservation for New Year's Eve. It's a lot of money and I have expensive cruises planned for 2019 to celebrate my honeymoon. The crowds are going to be horrible and my fiance doesn't do well with a lot of people around. On the other hand, I've never been for New Year's and would love to see the fireworks in person. I booked club level at Poly, which are both new to me and if the extra fast pass for club level program is still going we can get more fast passes and prime firework viewing, which would be amazing.

I've been cancelling a couple weekend trips I had planned this year to save money for the Disney cruise I have booked for January and cancelling this trip would save a couple thousand dollars. But it could potentially be the only time we could go for New Year's for a very long time.

Why do you need such an expensive resort stay? I would (and just did) go but stayed POFQ. We left the too crowded park had dinner at GF and then sat and watched the fireworks from there. It was perfect and saved the budget.
(My family stayed at Contemporary. I have not one regret about how we did it)

 

[FSU Girl]

Why do you need such an expensive resort stay? I would (and just did) go but stayed POFQ. We left the too crowded park had dinner at GF and then sat and watched the fireworks from there. It was perfect and saved the budget.
(My family stayed at Contemporary. I have not one regret about how we did it)

The purpose of staying Poly club level was the convenience of not having to deal with the crazy traffic, we could watch from the beach or take advantage of the club level fast pass service and get a good firework view inside the park. If they discontinue this I'd probably rethink staying club.

 

[TwinkleKS]

I'd stick with staying on a monorail resort or one of the Epcot resorts where you can walk to the World Showcase if you are going to be there for NYE. The traffic, which the resort buses can get stuck in, is crazy. Even if you cancel the club level I'd still keep the resort.

We went this year and saw the fireworks in the MK on the 30th and Epcot on the 31st. It was awesome!

 

[AngiTN]

Having done both MK and Epcot New Years fireworks I have to say, if you are going to do either, do Epcot. We loved the ones in MK, don't get me wrong. But Epcot's were more special, more unique, more one of a kind. MK has special, blow me away fireworks often. NYE is bigger, with the 360 stuff but still, Epcot's was more special.
So I suggest, skip Poly CL, go to an Epcot resort instead. Or do like we did, 1 night at CR, 1 night at BW (or do YC/BC, whichever you can get). CR Garden room is a lot less than Poly CL. BW, YC, BC are all pretty close in price, last I checked. Just pick one. Doing that will give you the 30th to see MK and 31st to see Epcot. No traffic to deal with. Crowds in the parks were not that bad. Truthfully, they add to the atmosphere of the night. The CM make sure there are walking lanes. We never got in to "sardine like" situations, and we stayed through fireworks at midnight both nights. It was very easy to do without being immersed in the middle of the crowds.
I loved it and want to make it a yearly trip for DH and I

 

[Ciao Mickey]

I'm conflicted whether or not I should keep my reservation for New Year's Eve. It's a lot of money and I have expensive cruises planned for 2019 to celebrate my honeymoon. The crowds are going to be horrible and my fiance doesn't do well with a lot of people around. On the other hand, I've never been for New Year's and would love to see the fireworks in person. I booked club level at Poly, which are both new to me and if the extra fast pass for club level program is still going we can get more fast passes and prime firework viewing, which would be amazing.

I've been cancelling a couple weekend trips I had planned this year to save money for the Disney cruise I have booked for January and cancelling this trip would save a couple thousand dollars. But it could potentially be the only time we could go for New Year's for a very long time.

I resisted going for NYE for years because I didn’t want to deal with those crowds (and I’m use to crowds because the only times we could go would be during Christmas and summer due to kids/husband’s schedule).

I finally broke down and we went for 2015 and it wasn’t bad at all. In fact, we had a ball! There were 16 of us and we stayed at the Swan because we wanted to be in an Epcot resort.

We watched the MK fireworks the night before (they have the full show) so we could be at Epcot for NYE. We wanted to be able to walk back to our resort and not have to deal with transportation.

At the end of the night the adults walked back to the resort while the younger adults went to HS which had a late opening.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

The purpose of staying Poly club level was the convenience of not having to deal with the crazy traffic, we could watch from the beach or take advantage of the club level fast pass service and get a good firework view inside the park. If they discontinue this I'd probably rethink staying club.

When we would go for Christmas I would book rooms at the Contemporary because we could walk back from the MK and not deal with traffic or the monorail.

The crowds on the resort monorail can be bad too. Especially at the end of the night when you’re tired and want to get out of there.

 

[supersnoop]

In my opinion, the level 10 crowds felt more like a level 8 because CM’s are actively managing the walkways and making people walk on the right side and preventing people from stopping in the middle.

I’ve been over NYE twice, and I’ve done both Epcot and Magic Kingdom on the 30th and 31st. We did Epcot on the 30th this year because that’s when we arrived and we wanted to visit the holiday food booths on their last day.

Magic Kingdom on the 30th was manageable, but we were staying at BLT, so we could walk back afterwards. The mass exodus at midnight didn’t seem to bad. On the 31st, the crowds were much worse. We hung out and rode a few rides, including walking on to PotC. We headed to the exit just past 1AM and the crowds were still backed up for the monorail and ferry. I bet those folks still had to wait and hour or two to get to their car. This time, we were staying at the Grand Floridian, so we made it to a breaking point in the crowd where we could head to the small boats. Once there, we got on the second boat and we’re back in our room quickly.

Plan ahead, expect the worst, and roll with it.

 

[Gehrig1B]

The new club level paid fast passes give access to firework viewing. I was going to take advantage of this for New Year's Eve.

Ah yes, I did forget about that.

Wouldn't purchasing the Dessert Party be much less expensive than club level room price plus $50/ticket for extra fastpasses though? I do disagree with AngiTN about the fireworks... We have done both Epcot and MK on NYE and found MK to be more impressive. A matter of opinion methinks. You can do both, of course!

 

[FSU Girl]

Ah yes, I did forget about that.

Wouldn't purchasing the Dessert Party be much less expensive than club level room price plus $50/ticket for extra fastpasses though? I do disagree with AngiTN about the fireworks... We have done both Epcot and MK on NYE and found MK to be more impressive. A matter of opinion methinks. You can do both, of course!

It might be a little cheaper, but I do like for three nights we'd have great views of fireworks instead of just one. And the extra fast passes would come in handy during a time I feel like 4th fast passes are hard to come by.

 

[gap2368]

I've been cancelling a couple weekend trips I had planned this year to save money for the Disney cruise I have booked for January and cancelling this trip would save a couple thousand dollars. But it could potentially be the only time we could go for New Year's for a very long time.

So, you have canceled a few weekend trips to pay for a cruise? So money is already tight this year? and now you are adding another very pricey trip on this year. I am leaning more and more towards canceling your trip. It sounds like you love Disney, and you will be ing back to Disney why not wait a few years ( 2 or 3) get your AP after next year ( since it sounds like you will not be going that much) and then in 2 or 3 years do what your doing this year and skip your weekend trips and take one big trip for NYE ( or cut back on weekend trips). Like I siad it is crowded and if people do not have a problemwith crowds then it would seem doable but even when the CM had the walk way moving it was crowded there were people all around, the dessertparty was doable but still crowded ( do not get me started on leaving and I waited a good amount of time) I just have a feeling you are streaching your money way too thin ( from reading your other post) and if your soon to be DH does not do well in crowdes I think the last thing I would want is to take him to dinsey on the busest day of the year streach our budgit thin and want him to be happy with it. to me, this is just screaming problems and you will be newlyweds. I would really sit down both of you and really talk about this. I know I waiting 3 years to go on NYE and I am glad I did. Just a few thing to think about.

 

[FSU Girl]

So, you have canceled a few weekend trips to pay for a cruise? So money is already tight this year? and now you are adding another very pricey trip on this year. I am leaning more and more towards canceling your trip. It sounds like you love Disney, and you will be ing back to Disney why not wait a few years ( 2 or 3) get your AP after next year ( since it sounds like you will not be going that much) and then in 2 or 3 years do what your doing this year and skip your weekend trips and take one big trip for NYE ( or cut back on weekend trips). Like I siad it is crowded and if people do not have a problemwith crowds then it would seem doable but even when the CM had the walk way moving it was crowded there were people all around, the dessertparty was doable but still crowded ( do not get me started on leaving and I waited a good amount of time) I just have a feeling you are streaching your money way too thin ( from reading your other post) and if your soon to be DH does not do well in crowdes I think the last thing I would want is to take him to dinsey on the busest day of the year streach our budgit thin and want him to be happy with it. to me, this is just screaming problems and you will be newlyweds. I would really sit down both of you and really talk about this. I know I waiting 3 years to go on NYE and I am glad I did. Just a few thing to think about.

Cancelling the NYE trip is definitely on the table. I talked about it with him and he's okay with it either way. Money isn't exactly tight, but we are planning two expensive cruises in 2019, one in January on a Disney cruise and the other in Europe for our main honeymoon. We don't want to do too much crazy spending because we want to save up so when I get pregnant I can quit my job and be a stay at home mom to the baby. It'll be a lot harder to do that if we don't save up.

The weekend trips were just easier because we didn't have to take off time from work since it's an easy drive up for us. We wouldn't be able to make the NYE a long trip since I'm using my days for my wedding this year.

 

[BarbieGal457]

I think it really depends. I did MK over NYE 2014 and LOVED IT. Was it a very long day? Yes...but we did a TON. When we saw crowds go one way, we turned and went the other. What helped was we made great use of the FP system and we were totally flexible in what we did. No ride was off-limits or "too boring" for that day, and by doing that, we had an awesome time. We made a dinner ADR so we had somewhere to sit, but the rest of the day we did quick service or counter service, and were very flexible with eating - if we saw a line was short and we were nibbly, we took advantage for a snack or quick meal. Heck, we even escaped a lot of the crowds by staying away/off Main Street for almost the entire night after about 7pm. We watched the fireworks from the bridge in New Fantasyland and it was wonderful. The CMs were also fantastic with crowd flow and control, and darn do they deserve a lot of credit! So while NYE crowds can definitely seem intimidating, we found this really saved us a lot of crowd stress (we don't mind crowds much, but we were shocked at what success we had really avoiding many of them just with a little planning and flexibility).

We stayed at Coronado Springs and yes the bus going home was a bit crowded but nothing unusual. Personally, I don't think spending several thousands of dollars is worth it just for a club room over NYE, but that is just me. We were able to do it pretty economically. Also remember that the monorail lines can be WILDLY long, as we saw exiting the park that night, or rather morning of Jan 1st. If you really want to do it, I think there are much more economical ways you can achieve it.

That said, I think if you're questioning it enough to make a post about it, your gut is telling you to cancel. That's how it always is for me at least. If I really am torn and flip-flopping and asking my friends what to do, especially financially, I feel like that's the universe telling me it's not the right choice to go ahead. I have found this intuition has always been right for me personally.