Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel, Kevin!
If there is one piece of advice I can give about celebrating
New Year's Eve at a Walt Disney World® Resort theme park, it is to plan on not Park Hopping. New Year's Eve is the busiest day of the year with most of the parks experiencing some sort of phased closures throughout the day, and capacity closures by mid-evening, especially Magic Kingdom. In addition, many guests, even fellow Panelists, report taking 2+ hours to travel within Walt Disney World on this special day - even if you are able to head to Epcot, which has a high capacity level, I worry about the traffic trying to get there from Animal Kingdom.
Kevin, if your priority is to be inside a theme park at the stroke of midnight, I suggest arriving early in the morning to one of the three parks offering extended hours and plan to enjoy that park for the entire day. If you have your heart set on visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom, plan to head back to your Walt Disney World® Resort hotel for any festivities they may be offering for guests. Many Resort hotels have fun activities and guest parties planned! I'll be there for the New Year's Holiday as well and have opted to enjoy my Resort hotel's festivities.
I hope this is helpful in your planning, Kevin. If you should have any additional question as you continue planning, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Happy New yEAR!
Faith