***Official December 2022 Thread***

Bumping my post - anyone have experience on preferred parking and if it’s worth it during a very busy time? Could this section get filled up if we are park hopping?
 
JJ2017 said:
Bumping my post - anyone have experience on preferred parking and if it’s worth it during a very busy time? Could this section get filled up if we are park hopping?
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This might help:

https://www.justjared.com/2019/12/3...orld-on-new-years-eve-is-an-actual-nightmare/

https://themeparkcenter.com/blogs/m...k-center-blog/magic-kingdom-preferred-parking

https://plandisney.disney.go.com/qu...stand-benefit-preferred-parking-magic-481903/

An old answer is that yes the preferred parking does fill up. I would park in preferred in the am (based on which park you will be leaving from at night) and then take Disney transportation

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowT...parking_does_it_fuill_up-Orlando_Florida.html
 
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The last time I was there for NYE 3 years ago, I read a lot and got very concerned about pinch points and crowding. We prepared carefully and things went way smoother than I expected! Here are some of my posts from that time (to jog my memory lol). Even better than I remembered actually!

elaine amj said:
Really impressed with how smooth Epcot has been. We drove over from the Fort at 3pm with smooth traffic - less than 15 mins. (I had checked at noon and it was about the same). Pixar short films was a walkon. Could get Figment, Living with the Land, Nemo as SDFP with constant refresh. I lucked into a 9pm Test Track. All same day as I was supposed to go to AK this morning.

Walking around World Showcase from 5:30pm onwards (it is almost 8pm now) has been easy and smooth flowing. We got food at Kringla Bakery and only waited 5+ mins in line.
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elaine amj said:
At about 8ishpm we made it to France. My dH only had a 10-15 min wait for food at the Boulengerie while my DD and I walked out to the bathrooms outside the Intl Gateway to no wait. Inside the Boulangerie, there were at least 20ppl in a long snaking line for the bathroom. I saw similarly long lines everywhere else.

It is 9:30pm and made it to Silent Groove. Waited about 10-15 mins for headphones and it was worth the wait - awesome music and so much fun switching between two different DJs.
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elaine amj said:
The NYE tag was loads of fun! We decided to leave the park immediately from our location at China after the fireworks. So we followed the crowd at a slow stroll with a couple of bottlenecks. Did not use any bypass (never figured out where they were even when we asked) and just followed the masses. After a 30min slow stroll, we were finally at the D parking lot (Epcot is BIG!).

We hopped in our rental, had zero issues leaving the parking lot and it was a smooth drive back to Fort Wilderness - we were at our campsite before 1am. No backed up traffic whatsoever despite my months of worries and agonizing.

My mom and my friends spent NYE in Disney Springs. They took the bus from Fort Wilderness at around 7pm and it was smooth traffic. Got a walkup to Rainforest Cafe where they had a GREAT meal and enjoyed themselves strolling around. Then a smooth and easy bus ride back to the Fort about 11pm. They watched the fireworks from our campsite at midnight :)

Overall, we all had a great NYE. Epcot was easy to navigate with no overcrowding issues. We got food from the Kringla bakery in Norway (10 mins wait at 6:15pm) and got a table pretty quick with a nice view of the 6:30pm fireworks.

Then strolled around World Showcase. Super easy to walk with plenty of space on the walkways in most parts (only a few short bottlenecks).

Really enjoyed the party in China. The dragon and the fire was amazing! My teens loved the music. We also checked out the Rave in Italy but didn't like the music so much. The band at America Gardens was fun to me, but did not appeal to DS17. We skipped the UK. There was also another party near Test Track but my DS said it was more for younger kids lol. The music was louder and the lights wilder at Epcot than the parties at the Magic Kingdom the night before.

Got another meal from the Boulangerie in France with less than 15 min wait. Got a table for 4 with only a few mins wait. Used the bathrooms outside International Gateway with no wait.

Only a 10-15 min wait for headphones at the Silent Groove Disco. Line looked long but whole experience was fun.

Got a spot to watch the 11:40 fireworks at 11:35pm close to the Australian outpost (past China). We stood with the fence at our backs and had a pretty good view with not much obstruction from trees. We did walk a bit to find a spot with no trees by the water.

Surprisingly easy experience. All that worry about overcrowding was for nothing. The only problem was we were tired out after MK on dec 30 (stayed till 2:30am) so didn't last as long as we would have liked. I wanted to stay and dance until 1am but we were all wiped out.

We also managed Soarin' with FPs and Test Track with a same day FP. Walked onto Pixar Short Film Festival (wow....surprise hit with us. we LOVED it and the whole audience clapped after every short).

Really glad we did this :)
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This was after the early fireworks (which we watched from a table at the Kringla bakery):
elaine amj said:
You know, we didn't find it so bad. But we hung out for 10 mins at a table at the Kringla bakery and then set off for the dance party in China. Hung out there for half an hour and then set off for the party in Italy. Very clear walkways at the back of the park. The CMs do a fabulous job in keeping those walkways open and moving. But yes, there is always some crowding immediately after the fireworks as the masses move out.

I have spent the last year reading reports of intense crowds and honestly, found it no big deal. Especially since we were not focused on rides. I was worried about taking my mother in a wheelchair as reports were that the crowds were so thick it would be hard to navigate the walkways. I found the walkways easy to navigate and other than post fireworks at a couple of bottlenecks, it would have been easy to manage a wheelchair as there was generally enough space in the walkways. (My mother ultimately decided not to go and worry about crowds was a factor).

The construction walls were a pain though. Very disorienting. Oh well.
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elaine amj said:
The last time I was there for NYE 3 years ago, I read a lot and got very concerned about pinch points and crowding. We prepared carefully and things went way smoother than I expected! Here are some of my posts from that time (to jog my memory lol). Even better than I remembered actually!







This was after the early fireworks (which we watched from a table at the Kringla bakery):
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I’m getting anxious (can you tell). First time at Mk on NYE.

Can you detail getting out of MK. Last Nov (Jersey week) when we exited a few mins before fireworks ended it took us over 45 mins to get to the Poly on the monorail. Hopefully it didn’t take you 2.5 hours to go back to Wilderness lodge.

All the videos I’m seeing don’t show any strollers and the crowds can barely inch forward going from Adventureland to Tomorrowland for instance. Any experience with little ones (our kids are 14, 6 and 3).
 
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Does anyone know if Epcot has a tunnel or safe area if a tornado touches down? A friend is there right now at Pop and changed Mk to Epcot for today. I know Mk has tunnels that people could potentially shelter in. There is a tornado watch until 4
 
dancergirlsmom said:
After rescheduling twice due to unexpected surgery, the plan is Dec 29-Jan 3 at Pop. First time during Christmas break. Know it will be crowded but really just heading down to visit my CM daughter and to see the decorations. Hopefully, this one happens.
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We will be there Dec 28-Jan 3. I’m getting a bit nervous. No one else cares about details.
 
Disturbia said:
This might help:

https://www.justjared.com/2019/12/3...orld-on-new-years-eve-is-an-actual-nightmare/

https://themeparkcenter.com/blogs/m...k-center-blog/magic-kingdom-preferred-parking

https://plandisney.disney.go.com/qu...stand-benefit-preferred-parking-magic-481903/

An old answer is that yes the preferred parking does fill up. I would park in preferred in the am (based on which park you will be leaving from at night) and then take Disney transportation

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowT...parking_does_it_fuill_up-Orlando_Florida.html
Click to expand...
That’s a great point. Maybe we will park in TTC and start and end at Epcot or MK. We can monorail to Epcot from TTC, right?
 
Disturbia said:
I’m getting anxious (can you tell). First time at Mk on NYE.

Can you detail getting out of MK. Last Nov (Jersey week) when we exited a few mins before fireworks ended it took us over 45 mins to get to the Poly on the monorail. Hopefully it didn’t take you 2.5 hours to go back to Wilderness lodge.

All the videos I’m seeing don’t show any strollers and the crowds can barely inch forward going from Adventureland to Tomorrowland for instance. Any experience with little ones (our kids are 14, 6 and 3).
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I was the same - researching every tidbit of data I could find.

We did MK on Dec 30 so not quite as crazy as Dec 31.

We stayed until 2am riding everything in the park. We stayed at Fort Wilderness and I *believe* we took the boat back. Which would have meant taking the internal bus after that to our campsite. I honestly can’t remember as we also had a car and free parking at the parks. Don’t see any notes I made about that. I do have a note that we crashed about 2:30/3am so it obviously didn’t take us that long to get back.

Don’t forget videos of crowds aim for drama. So they video the pinchpoints and the really crazy times after a show/parade/fireworks when you just can’t move.

I have a video timestamped 11:40pm on Dec 30 in the hub area directly in front of the Castle stage with DH eating a brownie sundae. My FB post says I waited 15 mins in line at the Plaza to get it.

The walkways were obviously clear enough for me to walk back down Main St, get the sundae, and get back to our spot shortly before the fireworks.

My next video is of the amazing fireworks at midnight :)

My notes say we danced at the Castle stage for another hour, then spent 1-2am running all over Fantasyland riding everything. We did skip 7 Dwarves (or maybe we rode it?) in favor of BTMR and then RAN across the park to get into Space about 2:03am where they were kind enough to let us in.

Note that we did not attempt standby lines for most rides until 1am. We arrived at DHS at 5:45am and then crashed back at the campsite for the afternoon. I don’t think we went to MK until 7/8pm. People trying to do rides are likely to feel the park was significantly more crowded.

I was particularly worried about traffic on the roads on NYE and agonized over bus vs car. Finally drove over at 3pm (totally smooth - and I had checked at noon and Google Maps didn’t report any slowdowns). Left Epcot just 30 mins after fireworks (that’s how long it took to walk to the car - be aware no trams were running) and was back at Fort Wilderness 15 short mins later.
 
Hey, does anyone know if they are selling the Mickey lightbulb string necklaces in the parks? The big, bulky ones? Any idea how much they are? Thinking it will be fun and festive to buy them for the whole family.
 
elaine amj said:
Hey, does anyone know if they are selling the Mickey lightbulb string necklaces in the parks? The big, bulky ones? Any idea how much they are? Thinking it will be fun and festive to buy them for the whole family.
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I am here now they are selling them. It’s a big bulb then a Mickey head then a big bulb. They were either $20 or $25. I only saw them in a few stores.
 
LoveDaisy said:
I am here now they are selling them. It’s a big bulb then a Mickey head then a big bulb. They were either $20 or $25. I only saw them in a few stores.
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Ouch. That’s a lot when something similar is only a $1-4 at a dollar store/5 Below. But I would really like a Mickey head one. At least I get a 30% AP discount!

Do let me know which stores you spot them in.
 
We leave tomorrow!!! So today I am plotting out our gas stops for the long 18+ hr drive down I-75. I prefer truck stops so we have easy bathroom access and gas. Especially for the first stop as it will be in the middle of the night.

I decided leaving at 10pm is the optimal time so we hit Atlanta around 9/10ish to avoid rush hour.
 
Riding rides during fireworks can be risky. We were there when SDMT caught fire. They do spray the tops of all of the houses with water beforehand

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