MrKnight
Former WDWCM & Proud DIS Member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2014
I had the opportunity to spend this NYE at Epcot and couldn't have thought of a better place to ring in 2015 than my favorite WDW park! I stayed off-property so I will focus on my Epcot in-park experience on NYE broken down into sections, here goes:
Arrival Madness and NYE Times Guide Confusion
We arrived to the park around noon and I must say this was by far the MOST crowded I have ever seen the Epcot FW maingate, as expected for NYE but still shocking, EVERY single ticket window was open and yet the lines extended far beyond the queues and out into the walkways, despite having purchased my ticket in advance I still had to wait for will-call pickup, thankfully when I was halfway through waiting in line a friendly cast member walked over with an ipad and created my ticket on the spot, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the CM and Management for trying their best to expedite the long lines through this innovative method. Despite another long line to enter the park, the line seemed to move fairly quickly thanks to the new MDE ticketing system, most of the guests in line appeared to quickly understand how the system worked and quickly zoomed by the MDE posts.
Upon entry into the park I immediately headed over to the map kiosk in hopes of grabbing a Times Guide with specific NYE info as I have in previous years, to my surprise this was missing from the Times Guide which instead was a generic summarized "Weekly Times Guide" for a span of several days versus specifically that day as I have seen in the past. There was no information whatsoever in regards to NYE entertainment information, hat and horn distribution, etc.. I even asked a maingate CM and he seemed rather confused and stated that they did not have such thing. Hmm..
FP+ at Seas with Nemo & Friends
We immediately headed over to the Seas for my first ever FP+ experience, upon arriving at the attraction entrance it immediately became apparent that the FP+ line was causing some major confusion as it was literally OUTSIDE the building and CMs were telling people to use the Standby line instead!!! No one abided by the CMs request as they wanted to use their FP+ despite the FP+ line being longer than the Standby line!! It dawned on me rather quickly that this new FP+ system may not work very well.. Oh well, thankfully we only waited about 30 minutes in the FP+ line versus the posted "80 minutes" for the standby line which is questionable..
Living with the Land and FW West Backstage
We waited in standby for Living with the Land which we did not mind (yes, we waited 40 minutes for this lol) this was actually our preferred attraction the Land and frankly our only choice as we did not have FP+ for Soarin.. As usual we enjoyed it and I was pleasantly surprised to see some new additions to the horticulture tour area..
We exited The Land pavilion backstage over by Soarin which had been opened as an overflow exit due to heavy crowds, it was rather interesting seeing the exterior of the Soarin theaters which are normally not visible from inside the park, the backstage path brought us out behind the Figment restroom area which was relatively quiet and a pleasant surprise for those if us who needed to use the restroom and opted not to wait in lines for the Soarin restrooms.
Ellens Energy Adventure (Missing Animatronics?/)
Ellens Energy Adventure was a no brainer considering that it has the largest capacity and hence shorter wait times, despite the old age of the attraction it is always a favorite and everyone in my party enjoyed themselves.. The only shocking moment to me was the missing animatronic of Ellen fighting the Dinosaur, I assume this may be a temporary rehab..
Test Track
This was my first experience at TT after the rehab, I must say while I miss the large queue area with the TT props, I was also happy to see new updates that are more reflective of the direction that the auto industry is actually going.. This still remains one of my favorite thrill rides at WDW even post-rehab!
Mexico Pavilion and ADR at San Angel Inn
After spending a few hours in FW we headed over to Mexico to check-in early for our ADR at San Angel Inn, I requested a waterside table which I knew would be rather difficult on NYE and the hostess was yet very accommodating and stated that if we were willing to wait a few extra minutes beyond our scheduled time they could make it happen! I gladly accepted and we enjoyed The Gran Fiesta Tour while we waited, sure enough our table was ready just as we were exiting the Gran Fiesta Tour and to our surprise we were seated at a corner table right on the water as requested!!!!! We had a fantastic time at San Angel Inn and were also pleasantly surprised by the service and food quality, despite the restaurant being extremely busy our server was on point until the very end! I have officially added San Angel Inn to my list of preferred Epcot restaurants! (PS: The Tortilla Soup served tableside was fantastic!!)
NYE Dance Parties and Entertainment
One of my favorite parts of NYE at Epcot is the amazing DJ dance parties complete with cool lighting effects and powerful sound systems. We walked around WC and got to visit the DJ parties at China, Italy, American Gardens, Japan, and FW Fountain Stage.. I must say, China was HANDS DOWN the best DJ and overall party atmosphere! Most fellow guests seemed to agree as well.. I was slightly disappointed with Italy this year, while the DJ was the same as previous years, the sound volume seemed to be on its lowest setting, my party could barely hear the music, we had to walk into the crowd and right up against the fence in front of the DJ stage to actually hear the music as it should sound for a large outdoor event, the music mix was also not the best, at several moments I noticed many guest leaving the area as they were not satisfied with the DJ, I have been to NYE at Epcot before and have never seen this issue happen before. I am not sure if it was the DJ himself or perhaps WDW management asked him to tone it down this year, if so, this was a very bad call! I also noticed that a new "DJ" was added to Japan this year which was also a pleasant surprise, to our disappointment though this turned out to be a '"Silent DJ" which would have been interesting if WDW provided ear pieces to hear the music, this was not provided and instead a sign directed guests to tune into to a podcast station on their mobile phones, why would I bring headphones to a WDW theme park on NYE?
Otherwise, as usual, we had a great time, Epcot always puts on the best NYE party and I will continue to come back!
Late Night Dining at Electric Umbrella
After having had our fair share of alcoholic beverages at WC we found ourselves very hungry, it was a pleasant surprise to see Electric Umbrella still open and serving at 1:30am after the park had already officially closed. I always enjoy experiencing WDW areas late at night that normally would not be open that late, the ambient music was still playing and there was a decent amount of CMs and guests dining there.. This was a great bonus considering that even at 1:30am there was still heavy traffic and extremely long cab lines to get out of the park, we waited it out at Electric Umbrella and enjoyed ourselves without feeling rushed to leave..
Final Words
Overall, this was a FANTASTIC visit, as stated before, I cannot think of a better place to spend NYE than Epcot!!! Memories were made and good times spent with my significant other and good friends.. Way to go WDW!!
Arrival Madness and NYE Times Guide Confusion
We arrived to the park around noon and I must say this was by far the MOST crowded I have ever seen the Epcot FW maingate, as expected for NYE but still shocking, EVERY single ticket window was open and yet the lines extended far beyond the queues and out into the walkways, despite having purchased my ticket in advance I still had to wait for will-call pickup, thankfully when I was halfway through waiting in line a friendly cast member walked over with an ipad and created my ticket on the spot, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the CM and Management for trying their best to expedite the long lines through this innovative method. Despite another long line to enter the park, the line seemed to move fairly quickly thanks to the new MDE ticketing system, most of the guests in line appeared to quickly understand how the system worked and quickly zoomed by the MDE posts.
Upon entry into the park I immediately headed over to the map kiosk in hopes of grabbing a Times Guide with specific NYE info as I have in previous years, to my surprise this was missing from the Times Guide which instead was a generic summarized "Weekly Times Guide" for a span of several days versus specifically that day as I have seen in the past. There was no information whatsoever in regards to NYE entertainment information, hat and horn distribution, etc.. I even asked a maingate CM and he seemed rather confused and stated that they did not have such thing. Hmm..
FP+ at Seas with Nemo & Friends
We immediately headed over to the Seas for my first ever FP+ experience, upon arriving at the attraction entrance it immediately became apparent that the FP+ line was causing some major confusion as it was literally OUTSIDE the building and CMs were telling people to use the Standby line instead!!! No one abided by the CMs request as they wanted to use their FP+ despite the FP+ line being longer than the Standby line!! It dawned on me rather quickly that this new FP+ system may not work very well.. Oh well, thankfully we only waited about 30 minutes in the FP+ line versus the posted "80 minutes" for the standby line which is questionable..
Living with the Land and FW West Backstage
We waited in standby for Living with the Land which we did not mind (yes, we waited 40 minutes for this lol) this was actually our preferred attraction the Land and frankly our only choice as we did not have FP+ for Soarin.. As usual we enjoyed it and I was pleasantly surprised to see some new additions to the horticulture tour area..
We exited The Land pavilion backstage over by Soarin which had been opened as an overflow exit due to heavy crowds, it was rather interesting seeing the exterior of the Soarin theaters which are normally not visible from inside the park, the backstage path brought us out behind the Figment restroom area which was relatively quiet and a pleasant surprise for those if us who needed to use the restroom and opted not to wait in lines for the Soarin restrooms.
Ellens Energy Adventure (Missing Animatronics?/)
Ellens Energy Adventure was a no brainer considering that it has the largest capacity and hence shorter wait times, despite the old age of the attraction it is always a favorite and everyone in my party enjoyed themselves.. The only shocking moment to me was the missing animatronic of Ellen fighting the Dinosaur, I assume this may be a temporary rehab..
Test Track
This was my first experience at TT after the rehab, I must say while I miss the large queue area with the TT props, I was also happy to see new updates that are more reflective of the direction that the auto industry is actually going.. This still remains one of my favorite thrill rides at WDW even post-rehab!
Mexico Pavilion and ADR at San Angel Inn
After spending a few hours in FW we headed over to Mexico to check-in early for our ADR at San Angel Inn, I requested a waterside table which I knew would be rather difficult on NYE and the hostess was yet very accommodating and stated that if we were willing to wait a few extra minutes beyond our scheduled time they could make it happen! I gladly accepted and we enjoyed The Gran Fiesta Tour while we waited, sure enough our table was ready just as we were exiting the Gran Fiesta Tour and to our surprise we were seated at a corner table right on the water as requested!!!!!
We had a fantastic time at San Angel Inn and were also pleasantly surprised by the service and food quality, despite the restaurant being extremely busy our server was on point until the very end! I have officially added San Angel Inn to my list of preferred Epcot restaurants! (PS: The Tortilla Soup served tableside was fantastic!!)NYE Dance Parties and Entertainment
One of my favorite parts of NYE at Epcot is the amazing DJ dance parties complete with cool lighting effects and powerful sound systems. We walked around WC and got to visit the DJ parties at China, Italy, American Gardens, Japan, and FW Fountain Stage.. I must say, China was HANDS DOWN the best DJ and overall party atmosphere! Most fellow guests seemed to agree as well.. I was slightly disappointed with Italy this year, while the DJ was the same as previous years, the sound volume seemed to be on its lowest setting, my party could barely hear the music, we had to walk into the crowd and right up against the fence in front of the DJ stage to actually hear the music as it should sound for a large outdoor event, the music mix was also not the best, at several moments I noticed many guest leaving the area as they were not satisfied with the DJ, I have been to NYE at Epcot before and have never seen this issue happen before. I am not sure if it was the DJ himself or perhaps WDW management asked him to tone it down this year, if so, this was a very bad call! I also noticed that a new "DJ" was added to Japan this year which was also a pleasant surprise, to our disappointment though this turned out to be a '"Silent DJ" which would have been interesting if WDW provided ear pieces to hear the music, this was not provided and instead a sign directed guests to tune into to a podcast station on their mobile phones, why would I bring headphones to a WDW theme park on NYE?
Otherwise, as usual, we had a great time, Epcot always puts on the best NYE party and I will continue to come back!
Late Night Dining at Electric Umbrella
After having had our fair share of alcoholic beverages at WC we found ourselves very hungry, it was a pleasant surprise to see Electric Umbrella still open and serving at 1:30am after the park had already officially closed. I always enjoy experiencing WDW areas late at night that normally would not be open that late, the ambient music was still playing and there was a decent amount of CMs and guests dining there.. This was a great bonus considering that even at 1:30am there was still heavy traffic and extremely long cab lines to get out of the park, we waited it out at Electric Umbrella and enjoyed ourselves without feeling rushed to leave..
Final Words
Overall, this was a FANTASTIC visit, as stated before, I cannot think of a better place to spend NYE than Epcot!!! Memories were made and good times spent with my significant other and good friends.. Way to go WDW!!
