Writing the title today I have a feeling that these blogs aren’t actually in the right order anymore! It’s definitely tricky trying to remember what happened when once you are back home, but I’m hoping it doesn’t matter too much.
Anyway, today was the day I was most worried about in regards of crowd/ COVID. The crowds had been busy since we arrived, but from past experience I expected a whole new level of busy today. The last two visits, the park had closed on New Year’s Eve, and by the afternoon just moving from one place to another was almost impossible. We’d planned those trips to avoid crowds as much as possible with Bibbidi Bobbidi appointments, Be Our Guest breakfast, the parade dining package at Tony’s and the dessert party firework viewing. However, aside from the dessert party which we had booked, none of the other options were available this trip which meant I couldn’t have a solid plan. Now, if you know me you know I need to have a plan. And a backup plan, And a backup plan for the backup plan. It’s the only way I can keep a hold of my anxiety. Until I know that all eventualities within my control are covered, I cannot relax (and by relax, I mean one-step down from totally neurotic. I don’t think I’ve ever properly relaxed since around 1979!!) I’m quite happy to change plans or cancel them completely come the day, but I need something in place as a guide to get me there. So, as you can imagine, not being able to plan anything other than lunch and the dessert party had me pretty stressed. I almost cancelled the park day completely to opt for a safer option of resort day and tea at the Grand Floridian to view the fireworks from the harbour, but in the end, we decided to give the day a go, and if the crowds became too unmanageable, we would leave and head back to the hotel for the activities there (and yet another Mara flatbread!!)
We needn’t have worried though. We got the first bus at 7am which was busy but not overcrowded. On arrival to the park, crowds were lighter than in previous days. We thought maybe people would be coming later seeing as they were staying late (whereas we are firm believers in the ‘midnight in England’ rule on NYE which means we can head to bed any time after 7…you know how Steve needs his beauty sleep!!) We decided to make the most of it by getting on as many rides as possible during the first hour (obviously after Steve had his morning Starbucks fix!). We managed Mine Train, People Mover (not really an essential during the quietest time but the girls wanted to have it as a NYE morning memory!), Speedway (they really are trying to kill me off with this one. Never has anyone looked older and more decrepit than I do trying to get out of those cars!), Winnie the Pooh and the Carousel. It was now park opening so we headed straight for Haunted Mansion which had just opened, and hardly had to queue at all.
We were getting hungry by this point so grabbed a mobile order of funnel cake from Sleepy Hollow and perched outside the Christmas Shop to watch the first cavalcade of the day. We had great experiences with mobile ordering everywhere (aside from Mara constantly missing off one of the two side orders on every kids meal) except here. It was utter chaos, and even when your order came up on the app it still took forever to actually get it, by which time it was cold. It still tasted good, and they were completely rushed off their feet, so it didn’t matter too much.
We watched the cavalcade and Winnie loved interacting with Donald. The characters aren’t always in the same place on the cavalcades, and sometimes they aren’t all out (Daisy was missing on one) so if you have a specific character you want to wave to you can either watch it in Liberty Square and then quickly cut through to Main Street to get to the other side of the parade (we became experts at this!) or watch one of the later parades (we chose this option today as Daisy was missing from the first cavalcade and it is easy enough as they are frequent and times show in the MDE app).
We headed to Carousel of Progress next to tick off the girls’ 2nd NYE memory attraction. Afterwards we looked at the app and saw there was only a 5-minute queue to meet Mickey, so we headed down to the bottom of Main Street with a plan to go on Big Thunder Mountain afterwards if the queue wasn’t too bad.
As we got there Polly started to feel poorly. At first, we thought it was because of Big Thunder (they haven’t been on it for ages and hated the one in Paris because of the lengthy dark bit at the start), but she said it wasn’t that, and that it was just her tummy. She has tummy ache a lot and we’re currently going through checks for food intolerances/ allergies, so we decided to sit a while and see how she was before deciding whether to head home or not.
Luckily, after about half an hour she started to feel better. We decided to go and meet Mickey but leave Thunder Mountain until another day. The Mickey meet was very cute, but most people seemed very rushed. Fortunately for us, we were last in our group so could have had much longer with the main mouse if the girls didn’t turn into mutes whenever they get to a character meet, leaving me to spout incoherent nonsense in an awkward, embarrassing way that I only hope never makes it to video!
It was almost time for lunch by now, so we headed up to Be Our Guest. Crowds were still much lighter than previous days, never mind previous years, and it was lovely to have some space whilst walking through the park.
We’d decided on Be Our Guest as the girls love eating in the castle (they really didn’t enjoy Cinderella’s Table on either time we tried it) and really liked the food last time. We were seated by the loveliest lady, Nelly, who cried when the girls gave her a little thank you token which really brought it home how hard the Cast Members must have had it over this crazy period. She was so grateful for a tiny act of kindness, and it made me quite sad to imagine how awful some people must be to them.
Our server, Kurt, was incredible. He was funny and lovely with the girls. The food was absolutely delicious, and it was the perfect New Year’s Eve meal. I know it isn’t cheap, but for a special occasion we absolutely loved it. The Beast did make an appearance a few times during the meal, but was in the middle of the room, so if you were on an outer table like us, you only got a brief, distanced glimpse of him. It didn’t bother us at all as the girls were more interested in their rare steak and mac cheese than a furry monster, but if it is a big deal for you, it’s probably best to ask to be seated close to him.
We only had a few hours before the dessert party and decided to head back to our favourite spot under the train station to let our food settle and catch a few characters.
One of our favourite things about the parks is just chilling out and taking everything in, and whilst we did feel we missed out on this aspect whilst walking around this trip due to constantly trying to avoid crowds, we loved doing it in this spot. You could tell how quiet the park was as there were still loads of spaces to watch the parade on Main Street even though it was less than half an hour before it started.
It was lovely to watch the parade for one last time, and we then managed to see the 50th characters once more before heading to Tomorrowland to wait for our dessert party check in time. Last year we had to wait until 5pm, but we were there around 4.20pm and they let us in straight away, so we had a lovely long time to sit and relax.
Alcohol is now included in the adult package (which means it is more expensive, and that 10-year-olds are essentially paying for something they can’t have, but still!) so Steve enjoyed sampling the beer whilst Winnie made sure she got her money’s worth by drinking all the Appetize! We aren’t big sweet eaters, so didn’t eat a lot of the food which seems a bit wasteful, but it was worth it for us to know we had a guaranteed spot for the early fireworks (even if we still ended up with a man just outside of the gardens with 2 children on his shoulders right in front of us!)
When we’d had enough, we headed to the Plaza Gardens and sat down. The girls had loads of space to play which they enjoyed, and we ended up chatting to a Cast Member about football (does anyone else hate it when people automatically assume the man of the couple is the one who is into football. It really irritates me!).
It wasn’t long before the castle was turned into the Beacon of Light (which is beautiful), and the fireworks were shortly after that. This year, the early fireworks show was Enchantment (in the past they had special new year fireworks) but we were really glad as it meant we’d actually be awake to see it! We hadn’t watched any streams of it at all so had no idea what to expect. The girls were complete and utter Happily Ever After fans (the only show they really have a memory of) and were heartbroken that it was ending (I’m talking proper sobbing!) but I have to say that we loved Enchantment. Maybe it was the fact that it was such a special day, or that we were finally there that made us see it through slightly rose-tinted glasses, but it definitely got the Pearson nod of approval. The girls literally hugged each other throughout the whole show, and it made Polly cry happy tears.
After the fireworks we were thinking of staying to watch the Christmas stage show (because Clarabelle singing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ is the stuff of dreams) but decided that we’d never get close with the crowd, so we’d hold back for a few minutes to let the main part of the crowd leave before heading out. I checked on the Lyft app to see if any cars were nearby and we found one that would pick us up at the Contemporary in 25 minutes, so we decided to opt for that over waiting in a huge line for the bus as we had one 50% off ride voucher left. We left the park and started a gentle stroll to the Contemporary when I got a notification that the driver was actually only 5 minutes away. Honest to God, I’ve never run so fast in flip flops in my life. We all got into the car panting like Pluto, bright red and sweating which made mask wearing fun!! Still, we made it back to the hotel by 7.15pm which was amazing considering the fireworks didn’t finish until 6.45pm!
We got the girls settled quickly as my bd planning meant that tomorrow was a 7.30am rope drop at Hollywood Studios (meaning be there by 7 at the latest) but we have to be packed and leave the cases with bell services before that to move to our next room! Still, who needs a lie in on holiday?
It was such an amazing New Year’s Eve and I feel so glad and so incredibly lucky that I got to spend it at our favourite place with my absolute favourite people.
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 