Day 2 NYE at MK:
Let me say that spending the New Years at MK has always been a bucket list item of mine, I know it will be crazy and I know there will being millions of people but I am excited!! That being said I know what I am about to say will go against anything anyone has ever said about NYE at MK. “Go early and be prepared to stay” is the advice I had always heard but I had no interest in doing this because I knew my kids would not make it all day and we really wanted to stay until midnight. I had debated back and forth what time I wanted to to the MK, I really love the Christmas parade and the last showing was at 2:00 that day so I set all of our fast passes after 2:00 with the intent on getting there for the parade. We started off the morning sleeping in but something about Disney makes me the first riser which is not like that at home. I woke up around 8:30 that morning and my husband soon followed. He is a caffeine addict so we were off to buy a cup and get him some caffeine in him, we left the kids sleeping and headed down to the food court. One thing I have to say about the holidays at the resort is while the parks may be busy the resort was very quiet (It was the same way when we were there on Christmas Eve) we decided to split an omelet and buy our cup when we were standing in line and noticed the cup was cracked so when we went through the line we showed the cashier and the manager was talking to her, they thanked us for bringing it to them and gave us our cup for free as a courtesy for our trouble (no trouble for us but always nice to save $20.00!!) The All Star food court is not the best food in the world so we don’t usually eat here a lot but the omelette was $10.99 and came with potatoes it was good for a morning snack. We realized we had left our bag with the toiletries in it at home so off to spend that $20.00 in the gift shop on toothpaste and deodorant! It was a very pleasant morning and we went back to the room and my 9 year old was ready to swim. Lol it was in the 60’s so not quite warm. It was around 9:30 so I told him to wait until 11:00. They went off to play football on the football field which is one of their favorite things to do while the hubby and I rested in the room. Soon they wanted to swim so we all went off to the pool. It seemed to be a relaxed day at the resort with people hanging in their pjs either not planning on doing anything or getting a late start. The kids swam and then we went to feed them with the family pizza deal at the food court for lunch, $29.99 and comes with bread sticks and a salad. When we got back to the room the kids said they wanted to wait until later to go to the MK. I looked on the
MDE and tried to move around our fast passes but nothing we had was still available so I told them we needed to keep our plans and get ready to head to the park.
The whole time in planning this vacation I worried about how long we would have to sit and traffic and wait to get to the MK. I can’t remember exactly what time we made it to the bus stop but we waited a few minutes for a bus that was not crowded and then we were off, I did see the bus on a different road that was bypassing all the traffic lined up to get into the MK. It was definitely long but not miles like I had seen in photos. We got to the MK and basically walked right up to the scanners with less crowds than we would experience all week. I can hear the music from the parade going on and we make it in MK at 2:15 right as the parade is about to make it to the end of Main Street. We stop on the steps in front of Tony’s to watch and boy did we find the crowds!!
You hear about the crowds but I can honestly say I have NEVER seen the lines for all the attractions as long as they were. I have felt crowded at WDW and the crowd for the fireworks back in October a few years ago might have rivaled the crowdedness feeling but have never seen the lines for Pirates stretch out to the Tiki room and that is just one example. Our first fp was for the Jungle Cruise and the line for it with fast pass was out of the building. About that time we got a message on our phones that said they were not letting anyone else in MK. It said it came out at 1:00pm but we didn’t get it until around 3:00pm. I know this is why people say go early but I had also read the phase of closures and knew we would be among the last to not be let in because we were resort guests with multi day tickets, fast passes, and dining reservations. We waited about 20 minutes with our fp to ride Jungle Cruise and then we were off to our next one which was Splash Mountain. I think the wait time for Jungle Cruise, Splash and Pirates were all about 2 hours at this point. We walked around just kind of marveling at how many people were here but not too worried because this was just our fun day and we knew we had more time the rest of the trip to do rides. We waited about 10 minutes for Splash Mountain with the fp and the we saw Chip and Dale without a huge line so my oldest wanted to get in line for them. We probably waited 20 minutes or so no more than a usual day for characters all the while Face Timing family showing off the crowds. We started seeing a lot of people with their party hats and horns so we were off to find those and found them at the back end of Frontierland (I noticed on this day they open a lot of the backstage stuff which makes it a lot easier to navigate the crowds) we stopped to see the bears at Country Bear Jamboree with no wait. When we got out they were starting the music up in Frontierland and the park was definitely getting a festive vibe. We had dinner reservations at the Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:15 and it was about 4:50 by this time so we have never been to the Hall of Presidents so we decided to pop in there to kill a few minutes. We had no wait and in fact I wish I had more time to look in the lobby of this attraction because it is truly beautiful. I enjoyed this attraction a lot more than I expected to and even my kids liked it. We were finding ways to sit and entertain ourselves without having to wait on attractions we normally skip over. By this time it is exactly our reservation time so I check in at LTT and she said it is about a 20 minute wait with a reservation so we all head to the restroom. If you have been to this restaurant you realize that they only have a small bathroom so there was a wait nothing like the wait outside for the restrooms.
They end up calling our party before we all make it back but they seat them anyway. I did hear the “announcement” of your party and it is cute. We had ate here on one of our first trips but I didn’t remember a lot about it. It is family style and they bring you pork, turkey, and pot roast along with mashed potatoes, stuffing, Mac and cheese, and green beans. Dessert is ooey gooey cake with ice cream which is sort of like a blonde brownie imo. I felt like we sat for a few minutes before our waitress acknowledged us and the it took a few more minutes to get drinks and the first round of food. When I looked at the first platter of meat I though there is no way that will feed all these boys so I quickly asked her for more pot roast and pork so we wouldn’t be waiting for along time. That was probably a mistake because while we were waiting on the food they brought out rolls and salad and you don’t realize how full you get until you start eating a few bites. This was a good meal, it is not exotic and there are no characters but the food tasted good and you can eat as little or as much as you want. It was 188.00 for the 5 of us (39.00 per adult 21.00 for kids) considering it came with a drink and dessert it wasn’t outrageous by Disney standards. By the time we left it was 6:30 (I was still in the restaurant waiting on the bathroom) but the hubby and kids made it out on the steps in time for the fireworks, I made it by the end. I know everyone likes to stop and watch on Main Street but you could see them great from Liberty Square. This is where it gets hectic, they have stuff roped off and basically sending everyone in one direction ( still not sure which direction that is) but basically you can only go back around through Fantasy land not Frontierland or Adventureland. It is dark and shoulder to shoulder people. I thought to myself there is no way I could push a stroller or a
scooter through these crowds. We stop and do Mickeys Philharmagic with about a 15 -20 minute wait because they say they have to reopen the attraction after the fireworks (which I did not know). After that we head for our fast pass at Space Mountain. My husband does not do this ride so we send the kids off to ride because frankly I ride everything but Space Mountain I have to be in the mood for. The fast pass line was backed up to the speedway! I think they waited for about 40 minutes with the fp while my husband and I went over to do Carousel of Progress which we did actually wait maybe 5 minutes and then we went to relax and watch the dance party. It was about 9:30 and this was the part of the night I started dragging. Maybe because of the big meal or maybe because you are not going from attraction to attraction but I thought I am going to need some caffeine. The kids meet up with us and I drag them over to dance to a couple of songs. We sort of hang out watching people and enjoy the music before heading over to Monsters Laugh Floor. The line is definitely longer than we usually see and we wait maybe a couple of shows but not too bad maybe 20 minutes. We go to get in line for the people mover but after standing in line and it not moving we noticed the escalator is broke (again) so we get out of line and head to Buzz it says a 60 minute wait but we only waited 17 minutes. The people mover was up and going so we hoped back in line and a after about 10 minutes got to ride. About this time it was around 11:15 so I thought we should head to Main Street and check out if there was anywhere to stand my plan was the train station. They had the backstage area open and were sending you to Main Street via backstage behind Buzz which made things a lot easier and you bypassed all the crowd. We went to the bathroom on Main Street and for the first time there was no line. We headed over to the confectionary for snacks and the headed up to the train station. Well forget that plan they had it marked off for media and filming but we did have a great chat with a cast member from our home town that notices my sons football shirt and it was his alma mater also. So we sat on the curb outside of Tony’s listening to the music and dancing along. I was perfectly content to sit there but about 11:50 my son said he wanted to be on Main Street so we get up and squeeze into the back of the crowd by the Christmas tree where you can see the castle and wait. The fireworks are great and then the countdown and Auld Lang Syne (which always gets to me) with snow falling on Mainstreet with my kiddos is truly a moment I will always treasure. #NO REGRETS
After the song and all the fireworks are done we are at the end of Main Street so we quickly try to make it to the bus expecting the worst but the bus is there we are on it and back at the resort at 12:30!!
My advice to people about NYE at MK is go and have fun but don’t go to accomplish rides. The lines for everything including bathrooms and food are outrageous. One person shared their experience with me that they went at 5pm and had a dinner reservation and made their 3 fast passes and then enjoyed the atmosphere that is the exactly what I would do if I had to do it over again. But again you have to make sure if that is your plan that you are on-site with dining and fast passes so you don’t have to worry so much about the phase closures and honestly if they get to the last one you don’t want to be there.
* Although a note on that a lot of people we talked to that were there for NYE were not resort guest and had come for the day. We ran into a lot of locals.
Well there is traffic and I am watching the time and watching the miles and trying not to show fear to my family but secretly freaking out. But alas we make it to the airport and drop the car. Anyone ever notice how big Atlanta airport is? I get to the counter and drop the bag whew we made the first deadline the agent thanks me and tells me oh your flight is on time in fact they are going to start boarding early like in 15 minutes. I thank her and say great, it is great, everything is great, we’ve got this!! Cue me freaking out inside because there is a huge security line..why do I do this to myself, my parents always taught me to be early!! But we make it to our gate and we may or may not have been among the last 10 people to board the plane but we made and we are off! Our plane pulls into the gate at 4:15 and after bathroom breaks and dodging all the holiday crowds at the airport we make it to the Magical Express line at 4:40. There is only one other family there and no buses waiting outside, not sure if we just missed some depart but I think I was expecting there to be crowds lined up. It seemed like we waited longer for a bus this time but maybe were really lucky before. I know there is great debate on whether it is faster to Uber or Minnie Van from the airport but we bypassed the luggage and we loaded the bus by 4:50, we left the airport at 5:10and were walking into the resort at 5:35 after one stop at the Coronado Springs. To me the extra money is probably not worth it but I know that is a personal choice. I looked to see if our rooms was ready once on the bus and had gotten no notice so I checked in online again (I had done this days before) 5 minutes later I got a message our room was ready and we got the touchdown building which my kids love. We were on the backside which was really nice for the noise and right by the side next to the main building it was shaping up great. After a few moments of rest we were off to the parks.
