lawgator
Pixie Dust Catcher
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
We own at OKW and booked a studio near the HH (20 points) for NYE. Since we only live a couple of hours north we drove down early afternoon on NYE, checked our dog into the Disney Best Friends kennel and then checked ourselves into OKW around 3pm. I was surprised that our ground level room was already ready when we checked in at 3pm and conveniently located right across the street from the Hospitality House in bldg 14. We unloaded the little bit of luggage, had a we had, had a nice cup of tea on the balcony and took the relaxing OKW ferry (not crowded) to Downtown Disney where we had a reservation for Raglan Road at 6 pm. We made this reservation through an "Open Table" app rather than Disney in case we missed it (there would be no charge). When we arrived at Raglan Road we actually found 2 seats right at the bar with a great view of the stage, so we sat there and enjoyed the fun Irish dancing and music with a Guinness and split an order of delicious fish and chips. Just before 7 pm (midnight in Ireland) they passed out hats, 2015 glasses, and little cups of champagne to toast the New Year in Ireland which was really fun.
After toasting the Irish New Year in there, we took a bus to the Polynesian Resort for a Dole Whip and just to check out what was new. We had a 9:45 pm ressie at the Kona Cafe where I had some delicious Kona coffee before we boarded the monorail and headed over to the Contemporary Resort to stake out a place to watch the fireworks. We decided to climb up pretty high on the outside west staircase at the Contemporary which gave us a magnificent view of the MK castle, but was also a somewhat sheltered area from the cool breeze. We also brought 2 small collapsible stools in our backpack so we would have a comfortable place to sit and wait and that turned out to be a good idea as we waited about 45 minutes or so.
Those fireworks were incredible! I've seen Disney fireworks plenty of times, including the Halloween and Christmas ones, and these were just spectacular. It was so worth the wait! When they finished we hurried all the way down the stairs and over to the MK buses for a bus back to OKW. I thought we would have to wait awhile when we saw the masses of folks departing the MK, but one pulled up the same time we arrived and we hopped right on. It was just a little after 12:30 am when we pulled into OKW which was also a pleasant surprise. All in all it was another magical short but sweet Disney trip! Happy New Year to you all!
After toasting the Irish New Year in there, we took a bus to the Polynesian Resort for a Dole Whip and just to check out what was new. We had a 9:45 pm ressie at the Kona Cafe where I had some delicious Kona coffee before we boarded the monorail and headed over to the Contemporary Resort to stake out a place to watch the fireworks. We decided to climb up pretty high on the outside west staircase at the Contemporary which gave us a magnificent view of the MK castle, but was also a somewhat sheltered area from the cool breeze. We also brought 2 small collapsible stools in our backpack so we would have a comfortable place to sit and wait and that turned out to be a good idea as we waited about 45 minutes or so.
Those fireworks were incredible! I've seen Disney fireworks plenty of times, including the Halloween and Christmas ones, and these were just spectacular. It was so worth the wait! When they finished we hurried all the way down the stairs and over to the MK buses for a bus back to OKW. I thought we would have to wait awhile when we saw the masses of folks departing the MK, but one pulled up the same time we arrived and we hopped right on. It was just a little after 12:30 am when we pulled into OKW which was also a pleasant surprise. All in all it was another magical short but sweet Disney trip! Happy New Year to you all!
