New Year's Eve at Disney World (December 31, 2026): Fireworks Times, Park Hours and Where You Can Still Eat

Three Walt Disney World parks stay open to midnight or later on Thursday, December 31, 2026, each with its own countdown fireworks. That part is simple. Dinner is not: of the 19 restaurants we track inside EPCOT, the park that stays open latest, exactly one had a dinner time left when we checked availability on November 10.

Across the whole resort, 62 restaurants had a New Year's Eve dinner time, against 91 on an ordinary Thursday in December. Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios still had tables seating until nearly midnight. The schedule comes first below, then dinner one park at a time.

Contents

• New Year's Eve fireworks times and park hours
• Can you still get New Year's Eve dinner at Disney World?
• Which park on New Year's Eve: dinner side by side
• Restaurants with no New Year's Eve dinner left
• Where you can still eat late on December 31
• The easiest tables on New Year's Eve
• Why December 30 may be the better night
• New Year's Day
• Special New Year's Eve dinners for 2026
• Booking New Year's Eve dinner now

New Year's Eve fireworks times and park hours

Read from Disney's calendar on November 10, 2026. No separate ticket is needed for any of it.

Some older guides still show a 7:30 PM early show at Magic Kingdom. That was last year's time; this year's is 6:30 PM.

Can you still get New Year's Eve dinner at Disney World?

Yes, but the night is far tighter than Christmas.

Against the same weekday two weeks earlier, New Year's Eve had 31% fewer dinner times for a party of four and 19% fewer for two. A third of the restaurants that normally have dinner open had none.

Two things in that table are worth a second look. The night before, December 30, is close to normal. And New Year's Day has more room than an ordinary Friday.

New Year's Eve became bookable for everyone on November 1, when Disney's 60-day window reached it. Guests staying at a Disney hotel over the holiday could book it earlier, along with the rest of their stay.

Which park on New Year's Eve: dinner side by side

Restaurants that take reservations and had at least one dinner time open on December 31, for a party of two or four.

EPCOT New Year's Eve dinner

EPCOT is open until 1:00 AM on New Year's Eve, with fireworks at 6:30 PM and again at 11:54 PM. Dinner there is all but gone.

• La Creperie de Paris was the only restaurant with a dinner time: 6 for a party of two and 4 for four, running as late as 11:50 PM.
• Eighteen others had none: Akershus, Biergarten, Chefs de France, Coral Reef, Garden Grill, La Hacienda de San Angel, Le Cellier, Monsieur Paul, Nine Dragons, Rose & Crown, San Angel Inn, Shiki-Sai, Space 220, Spice Road Table, Takumi-Tei, Teppan Edo, Tutto Italia and Via Napoli.
• Times do appear, and go. In the past week 30 new New Year's Eve times showed up at Chefs de France and 19 at La Hacienda de San Angel. Not one was still open when we checked.
• Lunch is nearly as bad. Garden Grill had three breakfast times for four and Nine Dragons one afternoon time for two. That was all, outside La Creperie.

The nearest tables that were open are at the EPCOT-area hotels. For New Year's Eve dinner they had:

• Cape May Cafe, Beach Club: 15 times for two, 16 for four
• Trattoria al Forno, BoardWalk: 14 for two, 2 for four
• Ale & Compass, Yacht Club: 12 for two, 1 for four
• Todd English's bluezoo, Dolphin: 18 for two, 14 for four
• Flying Fish and Yachtsman Steakhouse: two or three early times for two, none for four

If your night is at EPCOT, eat at one of those first, or set a watch on the EPCOT restaurant you want. You can do both: a watch is a one-time pass from $4.99.

Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve

Magic Kingdom is open until midnight, with Fantasy in the Sky fireworks at 6:30 PM and 11:50 PM. It is the surprise of the night: seven of its eight restaurants still had dinner.

Liberty Tree Tavern stands out. It had nothing at all on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, and on New Year's Eve it had six dinner times at each party size.

Hollywood Studios on New Year's Eve

Hollywood Studios is open until midnight, with New Year Countdown Fireworks at 11:57 PM. Because the park is open three hours later than usual, its restaurants had more dinner times than on a normal Thursday.

For a sit-down dinner inside a park with midnight fireworks, this is the easiest of the three.

Animal Kingdom on December 31

Animal Kingdom closes at 6:00 PM and has no fireworks. Tusker House, Tiffins, Yak & Yeti and Rainforest Cafe all had times, the last of them at 6:15 PM. It works for an early dinner before you move to another park.

Restaurants with no New Year's Eve dinner left

Dinner times open for a party of four on a normal Thursday, December 17, and on New Year's Eve.

Not all of these zeros mean the same thing.

• Most had times that are now gone. New Year's Eve times were offered at Citricos, Topolino's Terrace, Cinderella's Royal Table and most of the EPCOT restaurants, and none of them was still open.
• California Grill and Narcoossee's showed no December 31 time at any point in the past week, for a party of two or four. That is as far back as our record of withdrawn times reaches. Neither had a dinner time for four on December 30 either. California Grill is holding the night for a special New Year's Eve event that Disney has not opened for booking yet. For Narcoossee's we can't tell whether the night sold out before we saw it or is being held back. Both are covered below.
• At the Swan and Dolphin, Il Mulino, Bourbon Steak, Amare and Rosa Mexicano all showed nothing, against 22 to 24 dinner times each on a normal Thursday. Todd English's bluezoo still had 18 dinner times for two and 14 for four.
• A few have only an early slot. 'Ohana had 11 times for two, all before 3:35 PM. Flying Fish and Yachtsman Steakhouse each had two or three times for two, none later than 4:55 PM.

Where you can still eat late on December 31

If the plan is dinner and then fireworks, these had the latest open times.

A 10:45 PM table at Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios puts you inside the park, fed, about an hour before the midnight fireworks.

The easiest tables on New Year's Eve

Disney Springs is close to a normal night. All 22 restaurants we track there had dinner, and Frontera Cocina, House of Blues, Terralina, Jaleo and Paddlefish each had 24 or more dinner times at both party sizes.

The resorts are the other safety net:

Cape May Cafe is the one near EPCOT. It is at the Beach Club, and it had dinner times at both party sizes until 8:55 PM.

Why December 30 may be the better night

Magic Kingdom runs the same Fantasy in the Sky fireworks on December 30, at 6:30 PM and 11:50 PM, and stays open until midnight. Dinner that night looks like any other.

December 30 is also the last night of the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT, and its dining packages had 21 times open for a party of four that night.

The signature restaurants are tight on both nights. California Grill, Narcoossee's and Cinderella's Royal Table had no dinner for four on December 30, and Citricos and Topolino's Terrace had three times each.

New Year's Day

January 1 is the easy day. Ninety-three restaurants had dinner open, more than on an ordinary Friday, and the hard tables were bookable:

• Be Our Guest: 43 times for four across the day
• The Crystal Palace: 46
• Garden Grill: 38
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: 22
• Chef Mickey's: 21
• Le Cellier Steakhouse: 18

If the celebration meal matters more than the date, a New Year's Day table is the one you can actually choose.

Special New Year's Eve dinners for 2026: what is confirmed

There is no separately ticketed New Year's Eve party inside the parks. Disney's calendar lists none, and the fireworks are part of a normal park day. The ticketed evenings are dinners, and as of November 10 only a few have been announced.

What to know about this list:

• California Grill explains itself. It has shown us no December 31 time, and now we know why: the night is a special event, and Disney has not opened booking for it. Last year the event ran on both December 30 and 31, was booked by phone only, and cost $229 on December 30 and $299 or $349 on New Year's Eve depending on the seating. None of that is confirmed for this year. We will update this page when Disney posts the details.
• Narcoossee's has nothing on its Disney page. A Disney planning panelist said in August that it has offered a fixed-price New Year's Eve menu in past years and that this year's details were not final.
• The Bull & Bear price is $375 on the resort's own holiday page. Hilton's main site lists the same gala at $395, so confirm the price when you call.
• The hotel dinners have hard cancellation dates, weeks before the night, with fees of $85 to $150 per person. Disney's own restaurants let you cancel up to 2 hours ahead.
• The Swan and Dolphin specials are odd. Three of those four restaurants showed no New Year's Eve times at all when we checked. Only bluezoo had tables. Call the resort if one of the others is the one you want.
• Disney Springs: no restaurant there had posted a New Year's Eve offer for 2026 on its own site by November 10. Last year Raglan Road held two countdowns, at 7:00 PM and at midnight, and House of Blues ran a courtyard party for ages 21 and up.

Fireworks dessert parties on New Year's Eve

The Christmas party dessert parties end with the last party on December 22. Magic Kingdom's regular fireworks dessert parties are a separate thing, and Disney's booking calendar lets you pick December 30 and 31 for them. In our data all three versions showed December 31 times earlier and none was open when we checked. The seated version starts at $129 per adult and $74 per child, and prices vary by date. They are on our fireworks dining page, where you can set an alert.

Booking New Year's Eve dinner now

1. Take a table you can cancel. Disney Springs and the resort restaurants above had room. Disney's usual terms are no charge if you cancel 2 hours ahead and $10 per person otherwise, with Cinderella's Royal Table charging the full meal. The full list of exceptions is in our cancellation policy guide.
2. Space your reservations. Two bookings inside the same 2 hours are not allowed on one account.
3. Remember the park gate. A dinner inside a park needs valid park admission, and Disney's restaurant pages say a dining reservation does not guarantee entry to the park. Disney's planning panel says the parks can reach capacity before the fireworks on New Year's Eve, so arrive early.
4. Price up December 30 if what you want is the Magic Kingdom fireworks or dinner inside EPCOT.
5. Expect returns at Magic Kingdom. In the past week new New Year's Eve times appeared at Be Our Guest (24), The Crystal Palace (21), Tony's Town Square (17) and The Plaza Restaurant (15), counting parties of two and four.
6. Watch the one you want. A PixieWire alert on a restaurant's page sends you a message when a December 31 time opens there; the booking is made by you, on Disney's site. We sell those alerts (from $4.99, paid once), and we publish these counts free.

The rest of the holiday season is in our Christmas at Disney World 2026 guide, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tables are in the Christmas dinner guide. For how booking works, see the dining reservations guide.

Sources, and when they were read

• Park hours and fireworks times: Disney's daily calendar for December 31 and December 30, read November 10, 2026.
• California Grill's event: Disney's New Year's Eve at California Grill page, which on November 10 said booking details would follow on November 11.
• Hotel galas and dinners: the Waldorf Astoria Orlando holiday dining page, the Four Seasons Orlando festive announcement, and the Swan and Dolphin's New Year's Eve specials menu.
• Every count of open tables: PixieWire's availability tracking, parties of two and four, taken November 10 at 2:07 PM Eastern, compared with December 17, December 30 and January 1. Our record of times that have since disappeared goes back seven days. Method: how we measure availability.

This page is re-run weekly and twice a week from December 15.