MK and New Years Eve crowds and other ?'s

[Tinkermom]

Our oldest son will be marching in the MK parade with his high school marching band on New Years Eve! :party::party: He is a senior this next year and made drum major so he will be leading the marching band down main street! Being the huge Disney family we are this is just soooo exciting for all of us (I will be packing extra tissues!).:cloud9:

We are currently booked at Old Key West for the week and wait listed at Bay Lake Towers. My hope was to get in at BLT for the first few days of our trip so that we could just walk over to MK on NYE. My question is how early do we need to be at the MK gates to be sure we get in as I hear they close the park fairly early due to reaching capacity? Assuming we will be at OKW...We will have a car so should we drive and park at the TTC or is it faster/easier to use Disney transporation? Also, should we just plan on staying all day as I assume if we leave we might not be able to get back in?? Are there special fireworks at midnight on NYE? Anything else special for NYE?

I do NOT want to risk not getting in and seeing our son and marching band so just trying to be sure we have a good plan. Thanks!

[mymickeymouse]

As a point of reference, we were at the studios for new years eve several years ago, and it closed at around 10 a m. As i gather, MK is probably even more popular for new years eve, so i am thinking getting there for opening would be your best bet. It would be horrible to miss such a momentous occasion!:party:

[Pirate Granny]

Ok, it's been 10 years, but we got there by 9am...stood in line for 1 hour to get a locker to store stuff for later in the day...crazy, crazy, crazy...we had ADR for cindy's table for dinner, so missed the first set of fireworks at 9pm...found a table at 10pm by space mountain, and someone stayed with the table while the rest rode some rides. Truly a wonderful expeRience. Now a days they stay open till 3am. We had a car parked at the Contemporary...bad,bad,bad...and were at POFQ so we took the back roads home and were in bed by 1am. Next year we were at EPCOT....ran like crazy when illuminations were over (we stood in front facing the lake of SSE), were on the second bus for Pop, and it took 1 hour for the bus to make it through the traffic, which by the way goes one way that night.

So, you will have a wonderful time, great memories...get ther no later than 10am and plan to stay the entire day. OH YEAH! Stay off the bridge by frontier land during the parades (stand still for 90 minutes...it was SCARY)..and stay at MK as late as possible to avoid the stampede outta there.

[Kairi_7378]

I can't offer help on the logistical issues... but as a former drum major, I wanted to offer congratulations to your son! What an incredible memory for your family!

[#1donaldfan]

We were there NYE several years ago and MK did not reach capacity.....seriously !!! It was so crowded, shoulder to shoulder, CRAZY, INSANE BUSY, but it never did close. We got there at 7 AM and didn't leave till after midnight....it was a long, hard day for sure !!!:thumbsup:

[Tinkermom]

Thanks Kairi_7378! And thanks to the rest of you also. So I gather we need to prepare for craziness, lol! Really hope we get BLT mainly to avoid the crowds when leaving MK. No matter what it will be a blast!

I have read that MK actually has the same "party" and fireworks on 12/30 as a sort of run through. Anyone experience this? Are the crowds lighter that night? Considering going on the 30th for the festivities and then after watching the parade on NYE heading to Epcot. :mickey:

[dnickels]

Considering going on the 30th for the festivities and then after watching the parade on NYE heading to Epcot. :mickey:

If you get in at BLT I would probably do the opposite, Epcot on the 30th and MK on NYE. The reason being that driving anywhere or taking transportation anywhere that night is a very long, slow process. If you have a resort within walking distance to one of the parks that's the park I'd go to so you can walk back afterwards.

[Main Street Jim]

Considering going on the 30th for the festivities and then after watching the parade on NYE heading to Epcot. :mickey:


If you get in at BLT I would probably do the opposite, Epcot on the 30th and MK on NYE. The reason being that driving anywhere or taking transportation anywhere that night is a very long, slow process. If you have a resort within walking distance to one of the parks that's the park I'd go to so you can walk back afterwards.Problem with that is, EPCOT only does their NYE thing *ON* NYE.

My suggestion? MK on the 30th - gonna be just as crowded *all week* long. Christmas/New Year's week sees more guests at the parks in that one week than the entire three months of summer vacation (June/July/August) :) You'll see all of the Christmas activities - two day parades (usually at 12:00 and 4:00pm), which is actually the Christmas Party parades; and two night parades (MSEP, or, if it's back by then, Spectro). Usually on the 30th and the 31st at MK, there's two fireworks shows - the usual Wishes at 9:00 or so; then the later fireworks is the NYE Countdown. All of that, I would do on the 30th.

On NYE (the 31st), head over to EPCOT to spend the day, and see the NYE Illuminations at just before midnight :thumbsup:

As far as crowds go at MK that week...yes, it *does* tend to get, uhhh, PRETTY full. Most days - especially Christmas and NYE - the park usually reaches capacity fairly early in the day. It clears out a bit in early afternoon, but by early evening, it fills back up with guests coming in from the other parks. Trust me - I worked Parades and Attractions for almost ten years at MK :)

If you do get into BLT (I still have a hard time with that acronym...LOL...), Monorails shouldn't be a problem. Just plan on some decent (i.e., longer) wait times, and if they're *not* that long at all, then you're good :)

I just saw that you will have your own vehicle. I would suggest taking that route; that way, you won't have to wait on transportation (bus/Monorail). You'll be able to leave at your leisure.

[Tigerinvestigator]

We went for New Years eve for the first time this past December. My DD15 had a high school basketball tourney in Daytona starting the day after Christmas, so when we left there we stayed at WDW for a week including the New Years weekend. We had been on Christmas, Fourth of July, Presidents day etc..but never New Years. For months I read about how bad it would be. We decided to go anyway and were shocked that the crowds were very manageably with the exception of New Years Eve which was unbelievably crowded...but very fun. We didn't really mind the crowd because it was so festive. Almost like it was more fun because of the huge crowds. We did catch MK fireworks on Dec. 30th and it was awesome and the crowds were not that bad. Spent time at Epcot up until 11pm on New Years Eve and then spent the countdown at Hollywood Studios. We had a very high viewpoint from our room atop the Dolphin hotel as well, and saw fireworks all over central Florida. I guess my point would be don't let the crowds deter you at all as it was a great time to be at WDW!:thumbsup: