Parks on New Years

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

Hey there
We are arrivigg Dec 31 to wDW

Is it fair to say parks hit capacity on New Years day?? O

 

[supersnoop]

They haven't hit phase 4 in the last 10 years.

 

[CAS239]

Full capacity, no. A park hitting full capacity has only happened a few times since WDW has been opened.

NYE will start seeing phased closures but if you're an AP or staying on site, you really don't have anything to worry about. The ones that should be worried would be those with like single day tickets.

 

[MaleficentRN]

All four parks? No. MK is the only one that has had any type of restrictions in the past years and it was for those with a one day ticket. Have a solid plan, then have a plan B. Pace yourself, go with the flow and be ready for a worst case scenario.
The only thing I'd worry about if I were you is traffic when I arrive. What time are you arriving and where?

 

[kniquy]

We went NYE 2 years ago (arrived like you on the 31st). Once we arrived we hung at the resort for a little bit and the headed to Epcot around 3-4pm. It was busy, but we still felt that we were able to move around -- we did our fast pass rides and whatever shorter waits we could. Unfortunately or fortunately we decided to leave just at 11:45pm to head back to the resort because we had been up since 4am. We did not want to get stuck in the mob of people trying to head back the the resorts. We were traveling with 2 9 yo -- so with such a long day we wanted to get some rest before we became park commandos the next day. Epcot, because it is more spread out doesn't feel as crowded. MK might be the place that does close at some point during the day. Don't plan to park hop because you could find yourself trying to get into the next park and end up being turned away. If you have the opportunity to arrive on the 30th -- I know they do fireworks that night too -- I am guessing at all the parks. If i had known that i would have probably tried to arrive the day before.

The only thing I'd worry about if I were you is traffic when I arrive

I have to mention that we did stay on property and used ME from the airport -- we arrived around 10am -- we did not encounter any traffic. This might be a time when it is worth it to use resort transportation so that you don't have to worry about parking/driving anywhere.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

All four parks? No. MK is the only one that has had any type of restrictions in the past years and it was for those with a one day ticket. Have a solid plan, then have a plan B. Pace yourself, go with the flow and be ready for a worst case scenario.
The only thing I'd worry about if I were you is traffic when I arrive. What time are you arriving and where?

Hello
We are looking at flying in on the 31st, and was wondering if it was worth planning to go to a park on the 1st or not.
Not sure of the flight times yet for Dec 31, but this year had directs arriving at 9p and connecting arriving early afternoon. So we would attempt to go to MK late afternoon/before dinner. But not if it is full

We will be staying on site, 6 of the 12 of us are at Contemporary, and the other 6 of us are right now at POFQ but willing to change if any discounts become available.

I was also considering...arriving on the 31st, and staying at the airport. Then hopefully still getting Magical Express the morning of the 1st, then checking in to our Moderate (whichever has a discount on the 1st as I assume we won't have one on the 31st) and then hitting a park.

of course other option is: arrive 31st. check in to Pop/All Stars/ etc for how ever many nights until discount starts for Mod. lol. then split stay over to the mod.

but split stay means our passes don't start until we check in to the moderate.

lots to think about

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

To clarify:
me and my group, plus my dad and step mom are all staying Moderate. If no discounts, I am going to POFQ as I have yet to go to that property. if discounts, we will switch to whichever gets us a discount. This year the Gift of Magic started on January 1st.

and so, staying at the airport the 31st, and checking in 1st thing in the morning on the 1st, and then going right to a park is a definite possibility esp if we can get in later than rope drop. and it's cheaper for us as well, especially if we don't arrive until later in the evening.

If we arrive at lunch time on the 31st, then we need to decide if we want to stay on property. if we CAN get into the parks, then that is a great possibility. however, if it means we miss a promo by 1 day, to me it is not worth it. Knowing that we most likely CAN get into a park, is now making it harder for me to do the "cheap " way. because if we are not checked in we can't start our passes....

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We arrived in Orlando on 12/31 and went to Epcot at about 9 pm and had no problem getting in. MK had been at Stage 1 closure earlier in the day but was open as well. We spent NYE at MK last year, so we wanted to be at Epcot this year. The countdown and fireworks were AMAZING! It was wall to wall people, but they did an efficient job of keeping the crowd moving and clearing out the park when the fireworks were over. We took our time getting to our car in the parking lot, and we waited some before even trying to exit the parking lot, and it still took us quite awhile to get out of the parking lot, but we were so glad we went.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Hello
We are looking at flying in on the 31st, and was wondering if it was worth planning to go to a park on the 1st or not.
Not sure of the flight times yet for Dec 31, but this year had directs arriving at 9p and connecting arriving early afternoon. So we would attempt to go to MK late afternoon/before dinner. But not if it is full

We will be staying on site, 6 of the 12 of us are at Contemporary, and the other 6 of us are right now at POFQ but willing to change if any discounts become available.

I was also considering...arriving on the 31st, and staying at the airport. Then hopefully still getting Magical Express the morning of the 1st, then checking in to our Moderate (whichever has a discount on the 1st as I assume we won't have one on the 31st) and then hitting a park.

of course other option is: arrive 31st. check in to Pop/All Stars/ etc for how ever many nights until discount starts for Mod. lol. then split stay over to the mod.

but split stay means our passes don't start until we check in to the moderate.

lots to think about

I wouldn't attempt going to MK for NYE if you are arriving on the afternoon of the 31st and staying at POFQ. #1 The traffic getting to the park will be terrible. #2 The lines to get in at that point will be terrible. It was about 1pm they started restrictions at MK this past NYE.
If I were you, and I'm no expert, this was my first NYE there, I would stay at WDW, whatever resort you pick, on the 31st. Go to EPCOT or HS or even stay at your resort and ring in the new year there so you can be well rested for rope drop at MK on the 1st. Even if this means you have to stay at All Stars and then move to another resort, it's worth it for the early start. I told my kids, this will not be a "sleep in and get up whenever" vacation. With the exception of the 30th and 31st, we were in the parks before opening. This really worked out well as we did everything we wanted to do.
We did MK on the 1st as it had the lowest predicted attendance. We had PPO at BOG for 8am. We did 10 rides by 1pm and left as it started to get crowded.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We arrived on 31 December this year at 10:30 am. We had 2 separate reservations at Wilderness Lodge, taking the hit on the 31st to be able to get there and settle in. We were almost (99.9% was the actual term used) guaranteed that we would not be asked to change rooms and we were not. For us the convenience of not having to move and the ability to quickly get to MK on the 31st was worth the one day non-discounted room cost. There was no traffic getting to WL and thankfully we were the first DME drop off arriving about noon. Checked in, purchase park hopper express bus passes for the group, and headed to our room which was already available. The CM checking me in said the room was ours for the entire 7 night stay but to check back in to the new reservation before noon the next day.

Strolled into MK before 1:30 for a Space Mountain FP+. We did our 3 FP+'s at MK managing the crowds then returned to WL to make sure our bags had arrived and unpacked.

We then took the bus to Epcot and enjoyed dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh around 8:30 before enjoying the NYE fireworks.

I would do it again as the few dollars we would have saved for one night by staying somewhere else would not have outweighed the time and trouble of moving on New Years' Day in my opinion.

We go every New Years' and plan to this again for 2018!

 

[soniam]

The 1st should be perfectly fine. It's the 31st when you "might" have a chance of park closing. A lot of people seem to head home on the 1st or stay out of the parks. It had the lowest crowd levels of our entire trip, 12/27/16-1/2/16. The 2nd was busier than the 1st. You shouldn't have a problem. I bet the parks are relatively, for the time, dead in the morning on the 1st. I know we slept in, when we almost always do rope drop.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

I wouldn't attempt going to MK for NYE if you are arriving on the afternoon of the 31st and staying at POFQ. #1 The traffic getting to the park will be terrible. #2 The lines to get in at that point will be terrible. It was about 1pm they started restrictions at MK this past NYE.
If I were you, and I'm no expert, this was my first NYE there, I would stay at WDW, whatever resort you pick, on the 31st. Go to EPCOT or HS or even stay at your resort and ring in the new year there so you can be well rested for rope drop at MK on the 1st. Even if this means you have to stay at All Stars and then move to another resort, it's worth it for the early start. I told my kids, this will not be a "sleep in and get up whenever" vacation. With the exception of the 30th and 31st, we were in the parks before opening. This really worked out well as we did everything we wanted to do.
We did MK on the 1st as it had the lowest predicted attendance. We had PPO at BOG for 8am. We did 10 rides by 1pm and left as it started to get crowded.

Thank you great info! Sounds like MK was the right choice for the 1st!

The other option i guess is a split stay at same resort. Ie if we get a discount as of the 1st perhaps we do a 1 night room only then a package at same resort
Early morning on the 1st since everyone was up late the night before. Makes sense to me!!

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

We arrived on 31 December this year at 10:30 am. We had 2 separate reservations at Wilderness Lodge, taking the hit on the 31st to be able to get there and settle in. We were almost (99.9% was the actual term used) guaranteed that we would not be asked to change rooms and we were not. For us the convenience of not having to move and the ability to quickly get to MK on the 31st was worth the one day non-discounted room cost. There was no traffic getting to WL and thankfully we were the first DME drop off arriving about noon. Checked in, purchase park hopper express bus passes for the group, and headed to our room which was already available. The CM checking me in said the room was ours for the entire 7 night stay but to check back in to the new reservation before noon the next day.

Strolled into MK before 1:30 for a Space Mountain FP+. We did our 3 FP+'s at MK managing the crowds then returned to WL to make sure our bags had arrived and unpacked.

We then took the bus to Epcot and enjoyed dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh around 8:30 before enjoying the NYE fireworks.

I would do it again as the few dollars we would have saved for one night by staying somewhere else would not have outweighed the time and trouble of moving on New Years' Day in my opinion.

We go every New Years' and plan to this again for 2018!

Great info thank you! Since your package only started on the 1st,were you able to use your passes on the 31st? Or is it not allowed?

 

[Gehrig1B]

Great info thank you! Since your package only started on the 1st,were you able to use your passes on the 31st? Or is it not allowed?

Our package (8 day park hopper) was actually tied to our one night stay on the 31st allowing park entry on that day. The resort only stay was the 1st through the 7th.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

Our package (8 day park hopper) was actually tied to our one night stay on the 31st allowing park entry on that day. The resort only stay was the 1st through the 7th.

Great thank you. Didnt realize we could do that!!! You just opened up my options in a positive way!!

 

[supersnoop]

Great info thank you! Since your package only started on the 1st,were you able to use your passes on the 31st? Or is it not allowed?

Tickets purchased as part of a package can be activated up to 10 days prior to the resort reservation.

If you can get to the parks early in the morning on the 1st, you'll have the parks to yourself. All this early kids who stayed up until midnight are going through be sleeping late on the 1st.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

Tickets purchased as part of a package can be activated up to 10 days prior to the resort reservation.

If you can get to the parks early in the morning on the 1st, you'll have the parks to yourself. All this early kids who stayed up until midnight are going through be sleeping late on the 1st.

you made my day. I was hoping we could activate the tickets early. this is awesome news

 

[TweedleDum]

Hey there
We are arrivigg Dec 31 to wDW

Is it fair to say parks hit capacity on New Years day?? O

We arrived on NYE this year and went to bed early. Woke up and went to MK on the 1st and probably had the best day of our week long trip. It was the least busy park of the whole week.

 

[mco65]

We have been at WDW on New Years day the last 2 years.. Get there early and you will have a lot of walk on rides. We were at AK this year on the 1st and the kids rode Everest at least 3 times in a row.. i was only good for 1. Some time around noon, it picked up and got fairly busy but nothing compared to MK on New Years eve.. ugh.