Thoughts on first NYE at Disney

[FSU Girl]

I wanted to share a few thoughts I had on my first NYE at Disney.

• The insanity and crowds I feared really were never bad. We never got stuck in crazy crowds where you couldn’t see the ground. The only way to know it wasn’t a normal day was almost every ride was over a 2 hour wait.
• I had so much fun! I was completely do this again. The excitement of spending NYE in Magic Kingdom was really great. I’d love to do Epcot another year.
• Staying at the Contemporary was a great decision. Being able to walk to the Magic Kingdom and rely on no transportation was great. We watched both the 6:30 and midnight fireworks from our balcony and had an amazing view
• You can hear the firework music from Magic Kingdom while out on the balcony. I was a bit worried about this since most said the tv didn’t play the music, but it wasn’t an issue at all.
• If you chose to stay at the Contemporary try and get a room away from Chef Mickey. I could hear them very early in the morning like my room was sitting in the middle of the restaurant. When I stayed on the lake view side and higher up I never heard anything.
• I think going on New Years is a great idea if it’s not a first trip. We did our three fast passes and could have gotten a fourth if we wanted to stay in the park longer, but we were definitely not getting on every ride and I don’t know how people can wait in a 3 1/2 hour line where you literally can finish the entire movie of Titanic while you’re waiting.
• Refreshing fast passes did work. We were able to modify two of our three fast passes.
• We waited 10 minutes in line to take a picture in front of Cinderella’s Carriage.
• I wish Disney was more clear about the phase closures. I feel bad people who could still get into the park didn’t try because of that message. We went to Magic Kingdom from 12pm until 5pm so we got in after it was closed and stayed through the heat of the day. Besides wait times it honestly felt like a normal park day.
• People seemed friendlier than ever before. We actually talked to our neighbors out on our balcony and talked to our neighboring tables at dinner too.
• We’re off to Magic Kingdom again this morning, excited to see how the first day of the new year will be.

So if you’re on the fence about going for NYE I highly recommend it. This was one of our favorite trips.

 

[Belia]

Thank you for sharing your impressions! I admit that when I saw some of the pics from yesterday my eyes bugged straight out of my head.

 

[Disneylover99]

CM’s do an excellent job directing people and keeping paths clear.
It’s my favourite time of year to go!

 

[3princesshome]

I agree with this too. This was our first trip at XMas/NewYears and yes it is more crowded than ever but manageable. And Disney does fireworks like nobody else! We went to MK on the 30th and watched the NYE fireworks there on the 30th then went to Epcot yesterday on NYE for those fireworks. The whole park was just electric with excitement. DJ dance parties all over the place. You don’t need to worry about riding rides (although in addition to our 3 fastpasses (Including Soarin and Spaceship Earth)we rode some like Nemo and Luving with the Land with 10-15 minute waits and waited only 10 minutes to meet Joy and Sadness - and we didn’t enter the park until 5pm) The fireworks were AMAZING. You could actually feel the ground shaking! Yes, the crowds were huge but I am amazed at how organized Disney is to ensure the crowds move. The have cast members everywhere directing traffic. I would do NYE at Disney again in a heartbeat.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Awesome and informative feedback! WDW NYE is definitely on my bucket list and it sounds like TPV at CR is a great way to go if you want to avoid the MK crowds! Thanks for posting!

 

[gap2368]

here is a picture from last year new year eve when there was wall to wall people. I am glad you did not have this much crowds but it was not everywhere and if you know where to go or did not care about getting somewhere then you could avoid the wall to wall crows.

it sounds like you left before the first fireworks and did not come back, I can remember waiting for the first parade when I got a text that said MK was closed due to capacity and think really this is not crowded at all. but a little before the first fireworks it got busy.


@DisneyWish14 If this is on your bucket list I would see the fireworks from inside the park. it is 1000X better inside the park than outside do the dessert party it is worth it on NYE, do not plan on doing a lot of rides enjoy that atmosphere and have fun I want to do it again one day.

 

[FSU Girl]

Thank you for sharing your impressions! I admit that when I saw some of the pics from yesterday my eyes bugged straight out of my head.

It was definitely crowded, but nothing insane. There were some parts that would get a bit crowded.

CM’s do an excellent job directing people and keeping paths clear.
It’s my favourite time of year to go!

They really do! I love how they would be out with signs telling people to keep right so that a cluster didn't happen.

I agree with this too. This was our first trip at XMas/NewYears and yes it is more crowded than ever but manageable. And Disney does fireworks like nobody else! We went to MK on the 30th and watched the NYE fireworks there on the 30th then went to Epcot yesterday on NYE for those fireworks. The whole park was just electric with excitement. DJ dance parties all over the place. You don’t need to worry about riding rides (although in addition to our 3 fastpasses (Including Soarin and Spaceship Earth)we rode some like Nemo and Luving with the Land with 10-15 minute waits and waited only 10 minutes to meet Joy and Sadness - and we didn’t enter the park until 5pm) The fireworks were AMAZING. You could actually feel the ground shaking! Yes, the crowds were huge but I am amazed at how organized Disney is to ensure the crowds move. The have cast members everywhere directing traffic. I would do NYE at Disney again in a heartbeat.

The fireworks were amazing! I would love to do NYE again and see how Epcot is. That's awesome some of those rides had such low wait times, I've seen those over an hour on a normal day lol.

Awesome and informative feedback! WDW NYE is definitely on my bucket list and it sounds like TPV at CR is a great way to go if you want to avoid the MK crowds! Thanks for posting!

Being able to watch the fireworks from the balcony was definitely my favorite part. We bought a little bottle of champagne from the gift shop to have and you could see everyone out on their balconies enjoying. I loved being able to go straight to bed and not fight any crowds.

here is a picture from last year new year eve when there was wall to wall people. I am glad you did not have this much crowds but it was not everywhere and if you know where to go or did not care about getting somewhere then you could avoid the wall to wall crows.

it sounds like you left before the first fireworks and did not come back, I can remember waiting for the first parade when I got a text that said MK was closed due to capacity and think really this is not crowded at all. but a little before the first fireworks it got busy.


@DisneyWish14 If this is on your bucket list I would see the fireworks from inside the park. it is 1000X better inside the park than outside do the dessert party it is worth it on NYE, do not plan on doing a lot of rides enjoy that atmosphere and have fun I want to do it again one day.

Ya we left around 5:30. I figure that the hub in front of the castle would be packed. We saw people already camping out there at 12pm it was crazy. If we had watched from inside the parks we either would have done a dessert party or watched from a different part. That area always gets crazy crowded for fireworks. We watched both fireworks and it was crowded, but definitely manageable. We were in the park the entire time it was closed for capacity, but it honestly felt like a normal day crowding. We did a bit more people watching than normal, which was fun.