What to Know Before Spending New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World

New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World is a different beast!

Even as someone who has been going since I was young, I didn’t know quite what to expect. I tried my best to prepare. I read other blog posts, watched videos, talked to others who had gone, but there are some things you just have to experience to really understand them.

My husband, Ethan, and I got married in September of 2022. Since he had never been to Disney before, we decided to make our family trip to Disney the following year our honeymoon. He (thankfully) enjoyed it and agreed to be my ride partner for the long haul.

After three years of being married, we realized that we had not been on a trip, just the two of us. So what better place to go than back to Disney? And what better time to go than over New Year’s?

Like I said, I did a ton of research trying to decide which park to go to, how long we needed to be there, what to do, on and on and on. If you can’t tell by that sentence alone, I like to be prepared.

After experiencing it for ourselves, here are a few things I learned and feel the need to share.

• Go In With a Plan (But Hold It Loosely)
• Expect the Crowds and Choose Patience
• Prepare for a Lot of Steps
• If You See a Bathroom Without a Line, Use It
• Watch Fireworks From a Country Pavillion
• Let Yourself Be Carefree
• Slow Down and Take It All In

Go In With a Plan (But Hold It Loosely)

This sounds so contradictory, but let me explain a little. I don’t care how much you prepare, most likely, you are not going to get everything done that you want to. This is true at Disney any time you go, but especially not during holidays.

We knew that we wanted a sit down restaurant during the day to give ourselves a break. I ended up oversleeping on the day we were able to book our restaurant (I know, rookie mistake). I didn’t get the reservation we wanted. Instead of getting upset, I just continued to check back several times in the following weeks and a reservation opened up!

We love the rides at Disney, but had both agreed that neither of us wanted to pay for lightning lanes or wait any longer than an hour in lines for a ride. So we didn’t. This meant we only rode 3 rides in the 12+ hours we were at the park. But we were prepared to not ride any so we counted it as a win!

Have an idea of things you have to do, then be adaptable with everything else. Trust me, it makes Disney (and life) so much easier.

Expect the Crowds and Choose Patience

Crowds at Disney are daunting. During a holiday, crowds are downright overwhelming.

Everyone is a little tired, a little overstimulated, and trying to make the most of a big night. Sometimes the most magical thing you can do is give the people around you a little grace.

This is one of the main reasons we chose to go to Epcot over Magic Kingdom. Epcot is more spread out than Magic Kingdom, so the crowds didn’t feel quite as overwhelming as what they could have.

On a night this busy, choosing patience can make the whole experience better for you and everyone around you.

Prepare for a Lot of Steps

You might already know this, but Disney is huge, which means you will be walking a lot.
Rope dropping the park, nearly closing it down and traveling around world showcase at least 4 times, we ended up having around 23,000 steps by the time we made it back to our room for the night.

Here’s what worked best for us to make sure we were ready to go the next day.

1. Have a good pair of shoes.
   • We prefer Brooks or Hoka’s, but find what works for you!
2. Find a place to sit down for a while.
   • You don’t have to be in a rush and sometimes it’s fun to just people watch.
3. Prop your feet up when you get back to your room.
   • Grab the extra pillows in your room or your carry-on and prop your feet up for a few minutes. Trust me, your feet will thank you.
4. Use Dr. Scholl’s Tired, Achy Feet Foot Mask before bed
   • I don’t know if this one actually did something or if it just distracted us from the soreness long enough to go to sleep, either way, this is getting put in my bag for every Disney trip going forward.

If You See Bathroom Without a Line, Use It

Bathroom lines get so long. So if you see one with just a few people in it, you better just try to go. I guarantee the next one will not be that short. And if you are wanting to have a good spot for fireworks, make sure you go at least 30-45 minutes before they are set to start so you don’t lose your spot.

Watch Fireworks From a Country Pavilion

Speaking of fireworks, most people are going to want to watch from the front of the park or close to the Canada pavilion to be able to leave as soon as the fireworks are done. But if you want to avoid a lot of the crowds, I suggest watching from one of the other country pavilions. It is slightly less crowded with still great angles to see the fireworks.

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I’ve included a link at the end of this post with some really good suggestions on finding a good spot, so check it out!

Let Yourself Be Carefree

One of the cool things that Disney offers at Epcot on New Year’s Eve is all of the dance parties happening around World Showcase with live DJ’s. Everyone is there to have fun, so let yourself have some do the same and dance like no one is watching, because even if they are, who cares?!

Slow Down and Take It All In

With everything going on in the park, it is easy to rush through and try to get in as much in as possible. But remember to take a breath and see the magic that is right in front of you.

This was our first time doing New Year’s Eve at Disney World, and we had so much fun. There’s still a lot for us to learn, but hopefully these tips will help you plan your celebration of New Year’s Eve at EPCOT.

If you want more resources, check out these amazing posts that helped me plan our trip!

Have you ever done New Year’s Eve at Disney? Thinking about a future trip to EPCOT or Magic Kingdom over New Year’s Eve? Let me know in the comments below!