We are travelling to Orlando in late December this year (2004).
Do Disney or Universal have firework celebrations or something similar to bring in the New Year. If the answer is yes, do you have to purchase special tickets, where can you get them and how much do they cost ?

Any help will be much appreciated

I know Disney does in Pleasure Island and I don't believe special tickets are required-check their website-it will pull up special events for each time of year.

We spent NYE at Universal in 2001 and it was great!!! CityWalk had a news years eve party (they do every year), and you get admission is to the clubs, hot and cold buffet tables, live entertainment, party favors and champagne toasts...The fireworks were fantastic! The earlier you arrive the better, (the gates open at 8pm). We had a great time, and plan to go again this year. The tickets are usually available in late October... We purchased our tickets by phone (call Universal Studios direct) and prepaid the tickets, and they were shipped to us 3 weeks before our trip.

If you need more information, email me at [email protected]

Christmas and NEw Years are the busiest times of the year at Disney. It would not be my first choice for a time to go there.
Not only do they pull our all the stops for The holidays but they have fireworks every night in many of the parkson a regular basis. There is a new Years celebrationevery night at Pleasure Island .
Check some of the websites and you will get LOADS of info

We just spent New Years Eve in Orlando and had a great time. We were in the down town disney area and they had great foreworks, also had dinner at House of Blues ,walked in with no reservation. We had thought about pleasure Island and actually had tickets but looking at hte crowd we decided not to go ( we are 41 & 46 ) and the crowd was much younger. We actually sold our tickets to 2 guys from Canada who were dying to get in. Pleasure Island Sells out in advance for NYE and you need to get tickets via phone early. They were about 90 a piece versus the usual 21.20.
All the Parks at WDW were open late till about 1am and had fireworks and special events. Don;t let the Busiest time of the year discourage you. You know it;s busy so it's part of the fun. People are friendly and there is lot's of fun to be had.

Thank you all very much for the information provided.

My key questions have certainly been answered and I know that we do not have to do anything until much later in the year

If we were undecided before, there is no doubt we will be in the Orlando area for New Year's Eve - it is now just a case of where in particular.

Thank you all again

If you want to spend time at Universal, stay at one of their on site hotels. That way the crowds won't make a difference since on site guests get front of the line access on the attractions by showing their room key.

If you decide to stay on the property of WDW then you need to make reservations now. The sooner the better. They will sell out quickly.