New Year’s Eve 2014 at Epcot

As any Disney fan knows the last place to go on New Year's Eve is one of the theme parks...well I have to say after this New Year's Eve I have a different perspective on that! I have spent New Year's Eve in the past in Disneyland, DCA, and even in Las Vegas but I have to say Epcot was by far one of the most fun evenings I have had waiting for the big countdown!

But we are getting far ahead of ourselves, this is more of the story of the journey to midnight than the pyro. This story started around 11:45am on Dec. 31st when I left my house which is approx. 18 miles or 35 minutes on any normal day to head to Disney's Boardwalk to park because a friend was staying their and would be a faster walk after midnight.

Well as the line goes "the best laid schemes of mice and men" when I pulled up to the Boardwalk Hotel parking, about 45 minutes after leaving my house, I was told I would have to get a parking pass from my friend who was already in Epcot. So onto plan B, actually park in Epcot. Now they say a picture is worth a thousand words, this one is worth 2,015...

Yes that's right to travel 2.5 miles it would take me 26 minutes which in reality turned into nearly an hour with everyone cutting in to traffic because Magic Kingdom parking was closed and they were directing guest back to Epcot parking.

So after nearly 2 hours from leaving my house to parking I was finally at Epcot ready to ring in the new year! As I parked my car in Create 42 (don't think I will ever forget that one) I gathered up my backpack with jacket and back up battery for my phone along with any other things I thought I might have needed and started my trek toward the gate.

As I made it through the bag check in record time I had some high hopes...till I saw these two sights! First we have the monorail station which normally you can walk right up for a nice ride to the TTC without any problem being maned by Guest Relations Cast Members "sorting" guest to keep the ones not able to enter Magic Kingdom, which had already started the phased closing at 9:40am, from boarding the monorail.

Then we had the main gate of Epcot, while I have seen worse at opening this was nearly 2:00 pm in the afternoon with more MyMagic+ touch points open than I have seen ever.

Once inside the park the real fun began! I have been a life long Epcot fan and have waited in queues that I don't think many ever would for silly things...but 120 minutes for Spaceship Earth takes the cake! With the FastPass+  queue growing and the standby line reaching all the way to the exit of the attraction I just had to giggle.

Now that I am in the park my goal was to find my friend and go about having a great day! I knew going into this attractions/shows/bathroom/eating would be very optional depending on the amount of time we were willing to commit. First stop was The Land to meet my friend and maybe get something to eat, walking in I saw that Living with the Land had a 50 minute wait, which is not unheard of, but looked much more imposing as I also had to deal with the "10 minute" wait just to get down the stairs to the lower level.

After finally making it down stairs headed over to Soarin' to see what a 240 minute wait looked like and as I approached it didn't look bad at all till they told me I had to go outside...

After tracking down my friend and grabbing some food at Sunshine Seasons, the next challenge was finding seating. Well that came in the form of the floor next to a trash can on the upper level near the elevator. While not the most comfortable it did give us a great view of the ECV parade to the elevator!

Checking out the rest of Future World gave us a great chance to see how long people will really wait for attraction that 50 weeks out of the year hardly have any wait!

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While those wait times for the attraction are very understandable, the one thing in Future World that made my jaw drop had to be a 75 Minute Wait for the Character Spot...and to think when E.P.C.O.T. Center first opened in 1982 they didn't think the characters should be there.

With Future World to our backs, we headed toward World Showcase where we knew the rest of our day would be spent. But one last thing caught our eye as we left the Test Track area the Grassy Knoll seating area, as someone who spent years wishing he could be at Epcot for NYE I had heard about this but seeing it in person is something very different!

Heading into World Showcase this was the view that welcomed us, people laying next to the railing of World Showcase Lagoon 8 hours (thats 2 rides on Soarin') before midnight, and this was just one photo there were people all the way around already camping out!

Moving toward Canada this sight made me pause and just think these people are waiting at least 20 minutes for a Friendship to take them across the lagoon that can take about 10 minutes to walk.

Heading into Canada we saw two sights that I have never seen, a line out the door for O'Canada and a HUGE crowd for the Canadian Lumberjacks!

U.K. Pavilion not having any attractions had set up a DJ area in the back.

Moving into France this was the Sea of Humanity that would be common place for the rest of the night. Also a sight almost as mind blowing as the line for O'Canada was a line outside Impressions De France.

After escaping France it started to turn a little cold so Morocco has one of the hidden gems that almost no one goes into, the Gallery of Art and History which I have gone into during the busiest of Food & Wine days and sat for an hour without anyone opening the door..well that was not the case this day![gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="28369,28370,28371"]

After hiding out for a few minutes it was time to head on to Japan to see, what I think was one of the coolest things of the night, the info on the Silent DJ. The Silent DJ would start playing at 7pm when the evening events really started and they gave us the link to go to on your smartphone and passed out free earbuds to listen to him live.

Oh this was also one of the longest lines for the ladies room for the smallest restroom which took a friend 15 minutes to get through!

After a brief restroom stop it was on to America for the one of two attractions experienced on this day. But first we noticed the American Gardens Stage had a pretty fun DJ already going.

Heading into the American Adventure this was the crowd already gathered for the Voices of Liberty.

The most surprising thing is after the performance not only did everyone stick around for the American Adventure show more came in! This theater holds over a thousand guests and it was very close to full!

After what may have been a brief nap, but I do love that attraction, it was time to pick up our hats and horns. You can tell from my face how much I was done with the horns by the time we headed back into Japan to get our free earbuds for the Silent DJ

One of the best ideas of the night had to be the 6pm IllumiNations to help everyone feel that they saw some fireworks and could be home early (and help clear out some of the guests)[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="28379,28380,28381,28382,28383,28384"]

Now that 7pm had hit it was time to pick up our earbuds and enjoy one of the most unique things of the night dancing with a group of people that could hear music while everyone else just looked at us.[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="28385,28386,28387"]

After a brief silent dance party it was time for a break and what better place than the 2nd most quite place behind the Gallery in Morocco, the Gallery in Japan...well I saw this and gave up!

Now that we had a brief recharge it was time to move on and see the other Pavilions and what they had in store for the night. As we crossed back through America we noticed the DJ had change to a more Latin based DJ and guest were allowed up on the stage.

Something else had changed, Spaceship Earth had become a giant countdown clock with lasers coming for the upper level of the American Adventure.

Moving into Italy we found one of the most amazing sights of the night, this dance party had more lasers than I have ever seen in a small area![gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="28392,28393,28394"]

Poor Germany was left out of all the fun on this evening, but plenty of people trying to get a few steins of beer!

China has to win for the most exciting dance party with the "dragon DJ' as I called him. Besides some great dance fun the added fire effects really made that area alive!

Of course with the closure of Maelstrom a few months ago Norway really was just a decompression zone with a secret path to Future World behind the pavilion.

Mexico while normally one of the more crowded pavilions between the shops, attraction, and tequila bar this evening you had no clue if you were in line for Gran Fiesta Tour or La Cava del Tequila.[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="28400,28401,28402"]

Now that a full loop had been done, after about 6 hours, it was time to check out the parties we had missed and get ready to find our spot for the big countdown. First we had to stop by the Fountain Stage in Future World to enjoy that dance party.

As we headed back to World Showcase we saw that indeed guests were taking advantage of the Grassy Knoll area for the midnight fireworks!

First stop was a more relaxed dance party in U.K. with the DJ mostly playing British bands.

Next stop was my favorite part of the evening, the Silent DJ in Japan which again had more people just looking at us like we were strange than actually finding out what was going on, but it was NYE's so who cared!

After a short silent dance party we headed back to Italy for the laser dance party!

Now with about 2 hours before midnight we decided it was time to find our spot for the big event! This was my view for the next two hours, which was not bad at all!

As 11:40pm hit the main event of the night started! First with a normal showing of IllumiNations followed by one of the most spectacular pyro displays I have ever seen with a great bit of story telling thrown in!

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And after the big moment was rung in 2 things happened, first the crowds moving toward the exit.

And second and most important, I got with the 2015 style as set forth by Back To The Future 2!(yup I am putting that on the internet for all to see forever!)

I hope you all enjoyed my "How I spent my New Year's Eve" and look forward to bringing you more in 2015!