A Magical New Year's Eve

I have spent the past 13 New Year’s Eves at Walt Disney World.  You might think that I am crazy for subjecting myself to the crowds and the general insanity of the Disney Parks on such a busy day, but I wouldn’t spend my New Year’s anywhere else.  The trick to having a successful Disney New Year’s is to enter into the day with realistic expectations of what you plan to accomplish in the park of your choice.  You should not go to the Magic Kingdom expecting to get onto every E ticket attraction with reasonable wait times.  You should not expect to be unencumbered by huge crowds.  Finally, you should not expect to walk up to a restaurant that requires reservations and just be seated; you must make advanced dining reservations if you plan to eat at a table service restaurant on such a crowded holiday.  With all of this information in mind, I will share our game plan for enjoying New Year’s Eve without becoming too stressed out or overwhelmed.

In order to begin the process of planning our most recent trip, we took the time to figure out where we wanted to be on New Year’s Eve.  From previous experience, we know that the Magic Kingdom has New Year’s fireworks on December 30 as well as December 31^st. These are the exact same fireworks; the show is the same, and there is even a countdown to midnight.  The crowds are far more manageable, and you can actually enjoy the park without being crushed by fellow guests.  We made dining reservations for the Plaza that night, so we were able to sit down and escape the crowds for a little while as we waited for the countdown and fireworks to begin.  I think that we planned very well, and we really enjoyed the pre-New Year’s celebration at the Magic Kingdom.  However, one thing that always irritates me is the non-park music that is blasted throughout the park.  I could hear Everybody Dance Now and other crowd dance party favorites as I was trying to enjoy the Carousel of Progress.  That really took away from my experience in the Magic Kingdom.  That music does not belong there; maybe I am a purist, but there it is.  Other than the music, the Magic Kingdom experience did not disappoint.  The fireworks were fantastic, and the perimeter fireworks were especially impressive.  The Fantasy in the Sky fireworks show is one of my favorite nighttime shows at Disney World.  

Now, for New Year’s Eve, we visited the Magic Kingdom during the first half of the day and went on a few attractions as well as ate lunch.  As we were leaving Magic Kingdom, we saw the entrance line extend from the welcome sign for at least a half a mile.  I was glad that we were headed elsewhere at that point.  From what we could gather, Magic Kingdom was experiencing a Phase 3 closure, which means that Annual Passholders and resort guests as well as people with reservations can enter the park, but everyone else was being turned away.  After this, we returned to our hotel room for some sleep time in order to prepare for the New Year’s Eve festivities at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  Again, we had dining reservations at the Studios, so we were covered.  We dined at the Sci-Fi Dine In, and we had a wonderful meal.  Then, it was off to Fantasmic.  We waited in quite a lengthy line for the 10 pm show, but we made it in, and we even had pretty good seats.  The weather was good, and we loved the show (we always do!).  Then, we had to decide what to do next, and neither my husband nor I thought that we would make it till midnight, so we exited the park and headed back to the Pop Century.  We were sad to leave before the fireworks, but we faced a ten hour drive the next day, and we had to rest up.  All in all, we had a wonderful New Year’s in Disney, and I will be ready to do it again next year.  I know that many people think that spending this holiday in Disney is crazy due to the crowds, but if you plan out your trip, you really can have a positive experience.  Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!