New Year’s Eve week

[Lizziekris]

This year our son doesn’t go back to school until 1/7 so we are thinking of going to Disney over New Years Eve for the first time. We have been Thanksgiving week and the week prior to Christmas, but never over New Year’s. How are the crowds? We are making dining reservations now and can’t get Crystal Palace at 10:30 or any Be Our Guest lunch, yet O’hana has been available every night for dinner lately at reasonable times.... I am going to try reservation finder on touring plans, but any other hints if we are staying off site? I’ve been logging in at 6:00 every morning.

 

[Disneylover99]

This year our son doesn’t go back to school until 1/7 so we are thinking of going to Disney over New Years Eve for the first time. We have been Thanksgiving week and the week prior to Christmas, but never over New Year’s. How are the crowds? We are making dining reservations now and can’t get Crystal Palace at 10:30 or any Be Our Guest lunch, yet O’hana has been available every night for dinner lately at reasonable times.... I am going to try reservation finder on touring plans, but any other hints if we are staying off site? I’ve been logging in at 6:00 every morning.

BOG breakfast and lunch ADR's for January haven't been loaded into the system yet. Keep checking!

 

[robinb]

It’s crazy. I’ve never been at Thanksgiving, but it’s worse than the week before Christmas. Many families are like your own and kids don’t go back to school until the 7th.

 

[gap2368]

New Year’s Eve is crazy busy at the MK and EPCOT but it is a lot of fun just know you will wait for every thing like bathroom FP lines can and will be over 30 minutes and walking in some places can be hard but like I said it is fun the fireworks are amazing

 

[brave321]

Keep checking for BOG, you can try touring plans reservation finder, that's always worked out great for me. It's crowded, but CMs are great at directing traffic and keeping things moving. When we went on 12/30 at MK and 12/31 at Epcot, we only planned to do our 3 FP's, some of the shows, and the fireworks. That way everything else we were able to do, which was actually a lot, was a bonus and we weren't stressed trying to cram stuff in. I don't know how much research you've done for it because you might have already heard this, but I recommend doing MK on 12/30 and Epcot or HS on 12/31 because MK does their show both days. Also, the dessert party is definitely worth the money if you can afford it so you don't have to worry about waiting for hours, being squished more than usual, and can relax before the show. I would also get at least one adr for NYE so you can take a break from crowds, waiting in line, and don't have to worry about finding a seat. In short, read last years posts about what it's like and different strategies/tips. Some people will say it's shoulder to shoulder, it's not except during fireworks or bottleneck passageways. It's a magical time and it will be a trip you never forget!

 

[robinb]

Keep checking for BOG, you can try touring plans reservation finder, that's always worked out great for me. It's crowded, but CMs are great at directing traffic and keeping things moving. When we went on 12/30 at MK and 12/31 at Epcot, we only planned to do our 3 FP's, some of the shows, and the fireworks. That way everything else we were able to do, which was actually a lot, was a bonus and we weren't stressed trying to cram stuff in. I don't know how much research you've done for it because you might have already heard this, but I recommend doing MK on 12/30 and Epcot or HS on 12/31 because MK does their show both days. Also, the dessert party is definitely worth the money if you can afford it so you don't have to worry about waiting for hours, being squished more than usual, and can relax before the show. I would also get at least one adr for NYE so you can take a break from crowds, waiting in line, and don't have to worry about finding a seat. In short, read last years posts about what it's like and different strategies/tips. Some people will say it's shoulder to shoulder, it's not except during fireworks or bottleneck passageways. It's a magical time and it will be a trip you never forget!

I've gone for NYE many, many years. I agree with all of your tips. I grabbed tickets to the late dessert party (Plaza viewing) last year and it was worth every single penny for me to not have to fight the crowds. The food was just "meh" but I was paying for the extra room, lol. There are some party tickets available now, so I would go and grab them if you don't mind tying up your money since you have to pay in full. You can cancel a few days ahead of the party (I think 5, maybe?) and get all your money back. I already grabbed mine!

 

[xlsm]

We went last year for NYE, just me and DH (I have a TR going, link in my signature if you're curious), and I SWORE I'd never do it again.

Fast forward to yesterday when I booked it again for this year, this time with the kids. We go back 1/8, which led to this choice for us as well.

We've been lucky with dining choices (I do have a touring plans alert set up for BOG b/c I want to try the new prix fixe dinner menu), but we use busy times as a chance to try new places. Ok, ok, I say that and the few reservations I've made so far are for places we have been before (or that I've been before, but the others haven't). Resort restaurants are often amazing and easier to get reservations for - a few of our favorites are Grand Floridian Cafe, Citricos, and Yachtsman

If you plan to be in Epcot or MK for NYE, make sure you have a dining reservation inside the park and make sure you know the levels of closure, especially if MK is your choice, since you'll be offsite.

We do not plan to be in a park in the evening of 12/31 this year, I just can't bring myself to do that again. But, it's an experience I'm glad we had!

We did MK on 12/30 and Epcot on 12/31. Epcot was a nightmare, and I feel like I am a park warrior. MK on 12/30 was manageable if you know what you're doing. We're staying at the Poly this time, so we can watch fireworks from the beach.

It was a fun trip, even with the crowds, and New Year's Day was amazing at MK rope drop b/c everyone was still sleeping off the night before!

 

[Lizziekris]

BOG breakfast and lunch ADR's for January haven't been loaded into the system yet. Keep checking!

Do you know when the Be Our Guest Lunch reservations will open? This morning I tried again for January 5th and saw a Be Our Guest Dinner for 7:55 at 6:00 a.m. but no lunch. I also found a Crystal Palace for 5:10 but no breakfast. I have never had a problem finding Crystal Palace breakfast in the past.

We are looking forward to going the week of December 29th - January 5th or 6th. We have a 6:25 dinner at Chef Mickey's on New Year's Eve. Will we be able to stay around the Contemporary Hotel and watch the fireworks from there? We are still trying to get our son to watch them in the park, but he does not like the noise so much. Every year he gets better around 4th of July, so we are hoping we can watch them in the park, but that rules out a dessert party this year.

Crowds don't bother us too much, so we will just use our fast passes and try for others. We have always gotten what we wanted with refreshing them. We have been going to Disney almost every year since our son was born and this is our 2nd time having an Annual Pass. 1st time was when he was 2. We got it this time because he was in love with the roller coasters finally. I love Mine Train, but Thunder Mountain was almost too much for me, so I am hoping I can handle Slinky Dog Dash. I know he will want to ride that when we are down. I hope we can get a fast pass for that the 2nd week in October when we are down for fall break.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll keep checking for our reservations.

 

[Disneylover99]

Do you know when the Be Our Guest Lunch reservations will open? This morning I tried again for January 5th and saw a Be Our Guest Dinner for 7:55 at 6:00 a.m. but no lunch. I also found a Crystal Palace for 5:10 but no breakfast. I have never had a problem finding Crystal Palace breakfast in the past.

I wish I knew. BOG dinners opened up no problem. I just keep checking.

 

[robinb]

Do you know when the Be Our Guest Lunch reservations will open? This morning I tried again for January 5th and saw a Be Our Guest Dinner for 7:55 at 6:00 a.m. but no lunch. I also found a Crystal Palace for 5:10 but no breakfast. I have never had a problem finding Crystal Palace breakfast in the past. .

Reservations are open for BOG for lunch on the 5th.

 

[nevergrowup826]

Do you know when the Be Our Guest Lunch reservations will open? This morning I tried again for January 5th and saw a Be Our Guest Dinner for 7:55 at 6:00 a.m. but no lunch. I also found a Crystal Palace for 5:10 but no breakfast. I have never had a problem finding Crystal Palace breakfast in the past.

We are looking forward to going the week of December 29th - January 5th or 6th. We have a 6:25 dinner at Chef Mickey's on New Year's Eve. Will we be able to stay around the Contemporary Hotel and watch the fireworks from there? We are still trying to get our son to watch them in the park, but he does not like the noise so much. Every year he gets better around 4th of July, so we are hoping we can watch them in the park, but that rules out a dessert party this year.

Crowds don't bother us too much, so we will just use our fast passes and try for others. We have always gotten what we wanted with refreshing them. We have been going to Disney almost every year since our son was born and this is our 2nd time having an Annual Pass. 1st time was when he was 2. We got it this time because he was in love with the roller coasters finally. I love Mine Train, but Thunder Mountain was almost too much for me, so I am hoping I can handle Slinky Dog Dash. I know he will want to ride that when we are down. I hope we can get a fast pass for that the 2nd week in October when we are down for fall break.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll keep checking for our reservations.

they just opened within the last 15 minutes

 

[Disneylover99]

they just opened within the last 15 minutes

Yep. I got my touring plans reservation finder notification right after I posted.

 

[Lizziekris]

Thanks to touring plans reservation finder sending me my notification I was able to grab lunch at Be Our Guest for the week we are there! I still can't seem to find Crystal Palace for 10:30 though, so I will have to wait until the reservation finder sends me a notification for that one I suppose.

Thanks for the help! We are looking forward to our many trips to Disney this year!

 

[brave321]

Will we be able to stay around the Contemporary Hotel and watch the fireworks from there?

There were several parties that you could buy tickets to at the Contemporary that had fireworks viewings. I’m not sure if they had any free events or activities going on or if there were other good places to watch the fireworks outside of the parties