New Year's Eve at Disney's Magic Kingdom

I’m one week away from attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration (#DisneySMMC) at Walt Disney World. Leading up to the event, I’m sharing details about Walt Disney World adventures I haven’t shared yet on Born Just Right. I’ve shared Jordan’s 9th birthday at Magic Kingdom Park, our Wild Africa Trek experience, tips for doing Disney with one hand and fun with the Frozen premium package at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Thanks to the Citrus Bowl picking the University of Missouri to play in the January 1st football game, our plans to leave Florida on December 30th extended until January 2nd. And when I talked to the kids about our options for New Year’s Eve, they both let me know they were interested in experiencing the last day of 2014 and the first morning of 2015 at the Magic Kingdom. I know, that sounds a bit extreme. But we did it.

We had moved to the Citrus Bowl media hotel so Randy dropped us off at the Transportation Center at 7:20am. (Randy had to work for the tv station in advance of the football game.) We did not end up getting back to our hotel room until 3am. That, my friends, is a long, long day. But it was a long and fun day.

The kids and I hit as many rides as we could early in the day… The crowds started to get extreme around dinner time. We had decided to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom to have fun but avoid long lines. Even with the massive crowds, we had super fun experiences.

We met the Mayor of Main Street, U.S.A.! The Honorable Christopher George Weaver happened to be around Main Street the morning of New Year’s Eve. I had to take a picture with him. Mayor Weaver was wonderful to pose for pictures with us.
Disney magic is real! The kids had moments of real kindness toward each other. As the night went longer, their moods would turn from time to time. But honestly, they can be very sweet. I’m really glad I caught this moment.
Fun hats can make the day. Each kid got to pick out a super awesome Mickey hat. Actually, Cameron picked an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit hat. Jordan found a Frozen themed Mickey hat that has Anna decorations on one side and Elsa on the other.
Dance parties in Frontierland can revive you to keep going for the rest of the night. The kids were starting to get tired and we had a couple of late night Fast Passes on rides. So while we waited, we snagged all kinds of candy and danced it up during a New Year’s dance party. We had so much silly fun. There were many, many people who enjoyed the dance party with us.
It’s totally worth staying up for the New Year’s fireworks. Oh my gosh, you guys. It was amazing. We stood on the bridge that takes you to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. I shot video of the big countdown and the fireworks celebration. The shaky party was when I was hugging the kids. But the second time I spin to show the fireworks, you can really see what it feels like to be there. The fireworks were all encompassing. It was remarkable – and experience we’ll never forget.