Trip Report Pt. 2: Disney on New Year's Eve

One of the advantages of spending Christmas at Disney World is how easy it is to also include spending New Year's Eve there! We actually had originally planned to go down for just New Years, but that quickly changed to include Christmas since they are so close together. Last year I spent New Year's Eve in Times Square with a couple million people and was not able to leave my spot or use the washroom for 11 hours, so I figured if I can do that no problem then Disney will be a breeze! 

 New Year's Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at Disney World since it is one of the top places people visit on New Year's. As far as crowds go I found it much more crowded than even Christmas Day was. The park generally reaches capacity by 11am just like on Christmas Day. So once again staying onsite avoided the traffic getting into the Magic Kingdom parking lot. While there were a lot of people in the park, I still found we had no issues maneuvering from place to place.  But there were still a lot of people there and lines for everything were very very long; even for the restrooms (more so the women's). So once again our plan was simple. Go expecting the worst and only doing the attractions we had reserved with fastpass+!!

We arrived at the park around 9am. Since it was a bit chilly we had brought a bag with a sweater and some layers of clothing. We rented a locker for the day so that we didn't have to carry it around. This ended up being a very smart plan because we stopped by the locker a few times and the layers of clothing were needed later on in the day and evening. Since it was our last night we also couldn't ship any purchases made that day back to our resort so it was also very useful having the locker. This way we didn't have to carry those around with us or have them shipped to the front of the park; which avoided the long line at the end of the night picking them up. So this came in very handy. 

 

 Just like we had done on Christmas Day we first went to Starbucks on Main Street for some breakfast. There was of course a long line which was not a problem and it moved pretty quickly. The remainder of the day was spent just walking around, taking some pictures and sitting and watching some of the castle shows from beside the castle. We also killed some time in the afternoon playing Magic Kingdom's Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom game. This is an interactive card game that takes place around the park. I love collecting the cards you get at the fire station (one pack per day). I have played the game a couple of times previously on Main Street and Adventure land, so this time we chose to play in Fantasyland just behind the castle. Basically the game has a storyline where some Disney villains are working for Hades and you need to defeat each villain. Throughout the park there are "magic portals" that will display when you tap the key card you are given at the key hole. Once you complete each one it will show you which location to go to next. They are hidden well and most people walking around wouldn't even notice them until some has interacted with one. Usually they are located in various windows or on certain walls. At the portals you can use your spell cards to defeat the villains. It is actually pretty fun. We don't often get a chance to play the game but we had nothing but time. 

For dinner I had made us reservations at Tony's Town Square. Luckily I had because any walk-ins were being told they were full for the entire evening. Tony's is one of our favorite Disney restaurants as it is a special place for us (it is where my husband took me here for dinner the night he proposed), so we go back here quite frequently. This restaurant is based off of the restaurant in Lady in the Tramp where they have their famous spaghetti seen in the alley. This is meant to be the inside of that restaurant, and I just love the theming! Around the restaurant there are plenty of tributes to the movie including a fountain in the center of Lady and Tramp. There is also some artwork based on the movie around the restaurant as well as little touches like red checkered table clothes. My favorite detail is in the back right corner of the restaurant where it looks like there is a window and you can see the silhouette of Lady and Tramp sitting at their table in the back alley eating their spaghetti. Our waiter was fantastic and the food was as good as we remember. We got lucky and had a table in the front sunroom dining room area behind the patio, so we were able to watch the nighttime Main Street Electrical Parade out the window from our table. All in all we had a very nice meal and the server was fantastic! 

After we finished dinner we made our way up to the central hub to watch the Holiday Wishes fireworks for 7:30. Once they were over we noticed that everyone seemed to be staying where they were in order to have a spot for the New Year's Eve fireworks that start 10 minutes before midnight. We had a perfect spot in front of the castle which was also at the edge of a walkway the cast members had made in the middle of the street for people who need to get through so there was no one standing directly in front of me to block the view (seeing as I am quite short this is easily done).  We didn't have any other plans for the evening so this just gave us time to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. 

One great thing is that there is pretty much constant entertainment to keep you occupied. Just about every 30 minutes there would be something happening on the stage in front of the castle. We got to again watch the Frozen Holiday Wish castle lighting, Celebrate the Season Castle Stage Show and the Celebrate the Magic Castle projection show. Around 10pm or so there was a DJ that came out on the stage and basically the hub was a dance party to occupy everyone for the remainder of the evening until the fireworks. The atmosphere was great for New Year's Eve and everyone had special hats and blowers which had been handed out in the park for free in the afternoon. So we were ready for midnight!

If you ever spend New Year's Eve in Magic Kingdom and get your spot early for the fireworks (which I recommend), one thing I learned is be careful when leaving temporarily! I had decided after a couple of hours of waiting I was going to quickly go use the restroom. My husband stayed in our spot and just stretched out and took up the space I would have also occupied. This was not an easy task and I ended up needing to go through a walkway area in the backstage area behind Main Street that had been opened up to use the restrooms at the front of the park. This wasn't a big deal…however, when I finally got back up to the area that leads to the hub I was redirected around the side and on the other side of the bridges to Adventure Land and Liberty Square. When I reached the second bridge they were not allowing anyone else to go into the central hub!!  I spoke with a cast member and tried explaining to him that I had been in there for the past few hours and my husband was still in there. He would not let me through. I may have had a bit of a panic attack at this point. When I had left I had mentioned to the cast members there I was trying to get to the restroom and no one told me I wouldn't be able to get back in and I have never seen this happen in Disney so I just didn't know. Luckily when I went back to the Adventure Land Bridge and spoke to another cast member and explained what had happened she let me through. But I was very lucky because they are not supposed to. Overall, it took me about 45 minutes from the time I left until the time I got back to our spot. I completely understand the reason behind it. The hub was full and due to capacity they couldn't let any more people through due to safety reasons. So lesson learned and I did not leave the hub for the rest of the night! 

The evening waiting flew by and before we knew it the Fantasy in the Sky New Year's Eve fireworks show was starting at 11:50pm! I have to say this fireworks show is absolutely spectacular! It is completely worth dealing with the crowds. The fireworks are shot off over the castle as well as outside of the park over the lake in front of Magic Kingdom. So we had fireworks behind the castle and if we turned around they were also in the sky behind us. As with every Disney fireworks display it is choreographed to music. Then when it is time for the countdown to midnight this is even done in fireworks that form the actual numbers in the sky! Once midnight hits there is basically an explosion of fireworks for the remaining couple of minutes with fireworks literally surrounding the park in a 360 degree intense fireworks display! This fireworks display is absolutely amazing! In my opinion this is Disney's best fireworks show (at least that I have seen, and there are only a few which I have not). 

So overall we had an amazing time! I would consider this my best New Year's Eve so far (very closely followed by NYC). I definitely plan to spend New Year's in Disney again. Fantasy in the Sky alone makes me want to do it all over again! I would like to eventually experience each park on New Year's Eve and also do Magic Kingdom again. Disney is without question one of the best places to be for New Year's Eve and as long as you plan for it and you have the right attitude you can have a lot of fun regardless of the crowds.