EPCOT on New Years Eve.....

Any of you Disney fanatics out there know if EPCOT typically closes for capacity on NYE? I know that MK often will.

I may be taking a last minute trip to Florida and really want to do NYE in EPCOT. However I have no desire getting there at 9am and spending 15 hours there.

So...if I arrive at the EPCOT entrance around 4pm, do you think I will be safe for entry?

Any inside info will be appreciated, specific to EPCOT on NYE. Yes....I know it will be packed beyond belief...

You should be ok, EPCOT has the highest capacity of all 4 parks and I don't recall hearing about it reaching capacity on New Years even in recent years or during Christmas week (compared to December 2006 when I was there when Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom all were at capacity at the same time one day and Magic Kingdom was at capacity almost every day of the trip starting with Christmas).

You probably won't get a chance to ride many attractions though. A year or two ago someone posted pictures of the standby waits on 12/31 and Soarin was 4 hours, Test Track was 2 1/2, even Journey into Imagination was 45 minutes.

Here is a thread about EPCOT last year on NYE:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=676464

Thanks for the info Yoshi. Not going to ride rides....got my fix. Looking to drink lots of $10 beers and have a great experience.

Soarin is perhaps the best attraction at WDW....but I aint' waiting two+ hours to ride it!!! :)

I never understood why Soarin was so popular. I rode it in Cali and skipped it in Florida.

Fun fact about EPCOT; while it does technically have a maximum capacity, it is so high that they don't usually have to worry about hitting it, even with approx. 90,000+ people in the park. The attractions will be unbearable, and you will be packed tighter than sardines, but the gates won't close. It is the park that they direct everyone to when any of the other parks reach capacity. I was lucky that my shift ended around 6pm last NYE, and as I was walking out it took me about 10 min. to get from Germany to Norway, and I was walking sideways basically the entire time.

As for enjoying some drinks, there will be plenty of extra beer carts and beverage stands around the World Showcase. I believe they had a NYE specific stand about every other country. I hear that the DJ in Italy is usually very good and plays the typical Euro trance/techno/electronica stuff, but I did not get to experience that (I watched fireworks from Ft. Wilderness beach). The setup in China last year looked really cool as well (although Italy was the tallest setup), and the DJ stage at the fountain in Future World was basically the same as you would find in Tomorrowland at the MK or the stage in front of the hat at Studios.

I wish I was going to be in EPCOT Center for NYE. I haven't been to my happy place in a few years, but we're looking into a vacation coming up in the spring. This might be the first time we stay of property in a LONG time - but it's only because we'll be going with the whole family, and doing a 3 bedroom villa at a Marriot property.

You should have your head examined LOL!

You will be fine. I don't think they even closed it in 1999.

P.S. I love Soarin...weak they did not change the film for Florida...but still a fun attraction.

Raven-Phile said:
I wish I was going to be in EPCOT Center for NYE. I haven't been to my happy place in a few years, but we're looking into a vacation coming up in the spring. This might be the first time we stay of property in a LONG time - but it's only because we'll be going with the whole family, and doing a 3 bedroom villa at a Marriot property.

I figured your happy place was wherever your new beer machine was.

EPCOT also has beer, you know. :-P

...and hand-made margaritas!

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2009/08/28/epcots-la-cava-del-tequila/

Midnight Blue Margarita FTW!

Josh, I thought *we* were going to do a Disney weekend? ;-)

We are. Nothing wrong with going twice in a year :)

I wanna go!

If you're going, you're getting your own room, T-Rex! ;)

In park New Years Eve Update? Anybody? Damn I wish I was there.

I'm at work. :-|

The only park that closed to capacity was Magic Kingdom at stage 3 (only people staying at Disney resorts, annual passholders and people with reservations allowed in). I heard around the middle of the day Test Track had a 4 hour standby wait and Soarin was 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Why would you want to be there, even if you could?

The fireworks are ridiculously awesome, and the entertainment they have is really, really good as well. They had some stuff that was arena-concert worthy with the setups (really cool watching them put the stages together the two nights before). I can't even begin to guess how much pyro they had stocked behind the countries, it blew my mind. I've seen some big pyro stocks, but this was crazy.

Honestly, if you can put up with the crowds and don't mind not riding an attraction, it is really cool. Entertainment was starting to wind up around the countries, and if I could have convinced my girlfriend (and her family) to come to the park instead of watching fireworks from Ft. Wilderness, I would have stayed for the show last year.