New Year's Eve

Now that I have this blog started, I can get to writing about what I started this site for in the first place.


I wanted to start with telling you about New Year’s Eve. So here it went:

For New Year’s Eve, into New Year’s Day, I went to Epcot Center in Disneyworld Orlando, FL. It was a bit of a drive to get there, as usual, but the drive back is always the hardest.


I got there about 3:00 pm and, as predicted, Magic Kingdom was already full even though that park can host over 100,000 people. That’s why I bought tickets to Epcot, because it doesn’t fill up as fast. I have been to Epcot for New Year’s in 2012 but haven’t been for several years. This time, just like last, I could see that Magic Kingdom had a better fireworks show but I don’t want to spend 12-14 hours in Magic Kingdom plus drive time on each end for a better fireworks show. The show at Epcot is already good, and it is actually two fireworks shows, one at sunset and one at midnight.


Once in the park, I got a few obligatory photos to document me being there under the iconic globe, “giant golf ball”, whatever you want to call it. Since I was there for the experience, I didn’t go on any rides but that is not why people go to Epcot, they go for the attractions.

 

The first place I went was the gift shop and got some Christmas ornaments while they were still being sold. Two were of Pinocchio and the other was a poseable key chain of Mickey Mouse.

After the gift shop and some walking around, it was already time for dinner. The line for food in the Mexico village was ridiculous. Everyone loves Mexican food. Passing the German village, I knew I wanted to come back for the cookies and caramel popcorn. Once I got to the Japanese village, it was sunset and the beginning of the first fireworks show was about to start so this was a good time to get some food and actually get a table. There was a table open in the Japanese garden outside of the restaurant and it wasn’t too hot to eat outside which made for a pleasant atmosphere. I saw the fireworks over dinner and had plenty of time to eat before the post-fireworks show rush of customers came in.

After that, it was more walking but only for a little while. At 7:00 pm the live music started and nearly every village had some sort of DJ or band playing. In the American village, there was a Cuban band playing, in the Japanese village there was a house DJ playing a silent concert (yes the fad where no one can hear the music unless you have special headphones), the Chinese village had a top-40 mix, and Future World had another house DJ. I ended up going to Germany/Italy again this year and there was a house DJ from the northeast. It was an all-ages show of course and a lot of kids were dancing until the music drew all the adults in and forced the kids back to the sidelines. 

 

That was fun for a while but I went back to walking around. The glowing cosmopolitan was of particular interest to many people there which I walked all the way to the French village for. The seemingly obligatory purchase was made for $15 which included the fruity drink and glowing red plastic fake ice cube inside. Later on, I did get my cookies and caramel popcorn from the German village. At checkout, I told the cashier “Guten Rutsch”. Apparently I pronounced it correctly my first time so she gave me a big smile and thumbs up.  

 

After this, it was back towards the park entrance with a stop in Mexico for a break. There was another house DJ at Future World and I stayed there until the countdown ceremonies began.

 

The countdown ceremony seemed to be the same as a few years ago, but still good. The fireworks were better than any other New Year’s show and everyone in the park had a good view. Afterwards, it was back to the gift shop and some more time with the DJ at Future World before sitting in traffic to leave and enduring the long drive home.

 

So was this New Year’s experience better than last year seeing Pitbull’s New Year’s Eve Revolution 2015 in Miami? The answer would be yes. While a free Pitbull concert in downtown Miami was good last year, the consensus was that there were way too many drunks and not enough bathrooms. I’ll spare you the details of that.

Happy New Year 2016.