New Year's Eve Celebrations

13 best parties to ring in New Year's Eve in Dallas-Fort Worth

Fireworks at Reunion Tower

Photo courtesy of Reunion Tower

Dallas-Fort Worth has no shortage of ways to celebrate on New Year's Eve, with dozens of parties and soirees. Some are centered on dining out: If you're in search of New Year's Eve dinner, that list is here, while New Year's Day brunch options are here.

But this list is about the parties and fun: Noisemakers, games, music, confetti, and fireworks taking place on December 31 to properly ring in 2024.

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History presents Noon Year's Eve
Noon Year’s Eve at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will feature a slate of New Year-themed activities at a kid-friendly time. Guests can make their own confetti popper and noise maker, decorate party wear with a Noon Year's Eve hat, write New Year’s resolutions on ribbon and add it to the confetti pile, explore New Year’s Eve-inspired items and animals from the History and Science Collections, and more.

Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark presents Epic Family New Year
The crew at Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark in Grand Prairie will be sending off 2023 and ringing in 2024 with a New Year’s Eve celebration featuring circus and aerial performances, hula dancing, interactive games, an option for dinner, and more. There will be duck drops at 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm, and midnight.

Lights All Night
The two-day music festival Lights All Night will wrap up on New Year's Eve with some of the top EDM acts from around the world, including Acraze, Barely Alive, Champagne Drip, Integrate, Local Singles, Peekaboo, Sully, Westend, and more. They'll perform at Dallas Market Hall.

The Statler presents Royal Masquerade Ball
The Statler hotel’s Grand Ballroom will transform into a Royal Masquerade Ball, complete with extravagant decorations, live DJ, an open bar, full casino, and party favors. General admission tickets include access to an open bar and an evening of celebration. The Statler’s restaurant, LVI, will host an exclusive four-course dinner at 8 pm featuring premium wine and beer and a chef-curated menu.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents New Year's Eve
Before the ball drops, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will kick off New Year’s celebrations with an evening of music. Selections will include three of Brahms' Hungarian Dance compositions, five compositions by Strauss, Henry Mancini's "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's, and more. The concert takes place at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Meow Wolf Grapevine presents New Year’s Eve Adultiverse
This edition of Adultiverse at Meow Wolf in Grapevine will give guests the chance to welcome 2024 within the multiverse. As the clock strikes midnight, guests can embark on a unique journey through the cosmos, celebrating not just the turning of a calendar but the inception of a new era across dimensions. The event will include drinks, a performances by Night Shade Burlesque, and more. At the stroke of midnight, the peculiar Earthly tradition of a "toast" will be conducted, a multiversal communion transcending time and space.

Four Day Weekend present New Year's Eve Celebration
Comedy troupe Four Day Weekend celebrates New Year’s Eve in a big way with their annual New Year’s Eve Dinner Show. The package includes admission to the interactive comedy show, a cocktail-style dinner catered by Reata (including tenderloin steak sandwiches, bacon-wrapped shrimp, grilled chicken skewers with tomatoes, and more), a champagne toast, and party favors. The celebration will take place at both their Dallas and Fort Worth locations.

Fowling Warehouse DFW presents New Year's Eve Party
The second annual New Year's Eve Party at Fowling Warehouse DFW in Plano gives guests the opportunity to play the unique sport - which combines football and bowling - while welcoming 2024. The event includes a champagne toast, balloon drop, giveaways, party favors, casino, photo booth, DJ, fowling play, cash bar, breakfast tacos at midnight, and specially priced appetizers.

Refinery 714 presents New Year's Eve Celebration
The New Year's Eve celebration at Refinery 714, which sits atop the Kimpton Harper Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, will highlight the spirit of the West with a Western Chic-themed party featuring drink specials, gourmet food, live music, and great views.

Thompson Dallas presents New Year's Eve at Catbird
Another rooftop event will take place at Thompson Dallas' Catbird, where guests can toast to the New Year while overlooking downtown Dallas. Deejay Sean Doe will start the evening’s set, while the Grammy-nominated duo Goodboys take centerstage later in the evening. General admission includes passed hors d'oeuvres, party favors, and a Champagne toast at midnight.

NYE at W Dallas Victory Hotel
The W Hotel in Victory Park will host not one but two separate New Year's Eve parties. The Posh New Year's Eve Party will feature five hours of prepaid drinks, top Dallas DJs, and LED Countdown experience in the hotel's massive 2nd Floor. At the NYElectric W Dallas Rooftop New Year's Eve Party, 33 floors up at rooftop bar Altitude, guests can enjoy views of downtown while sipping champagne and dancing the night away to music from a variety of DJs. There will be complimentary NYE party favors and a countdown to midnight.

Cowtown Countdown to 2024 in Sundance Square
New Year’s Eve public celebration will feature live music, cashless food trucks/beverage bars, and street performers including a Western trick roper, mimes, jugglers, aerialists, and stilt walkers. The midnight countdown will also feature a spectacular fireworks show. Live music performances will run throughout the night including Quimikoz (from 6-8:45 pm), Ice House (9:15-11:15 pm), and DJ Danny West (11:15 pm-1 am). Plus a new photo-selfie "Cowboy Hat" will be unveiled. Last year's event drew more than 15,000; attendees are encouraged to arrive in advance of the midnight countdown.

Lone Star NYE at Reunion Tower
The ultimate celebration takes place at Reunion Tower where they'll present the eighth edition of the Lone Star NYE at Reunion Tower fireworks show. The downtown Dallas sky will come alive with a display of over 5,000 pyrotechnic special effects, a 259 LED light display, and nearly 300 drones. There is no viewing allowed near the tower, but you can watch from nearby parties or city streets, or stay home to see the broadcast on NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth / KXAS.

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Movie Review

Spider-Man: Brand New Day sets a new standard for comic book movies

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Ever since Spider-Man became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character’s stand-alone movies have been notable for maintaining their own vision despite having to service the larger MCU storyline. The emotionality of the series reached its high point in No Way Home by bringing back two former Spider-Mans - Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield - to assist Tom Holland in a multiversal storyline.

The heart displayed in that film is superseded by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in which Peter Parker (Holland) is now alone in the world following the events of the previous film. For years, he has done his best to stay busy by stopping in-progress crimes and checking in with Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), but the twin traumas of losing Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and forcing girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batolon) to forget him still weigh heavily on him.

Almost simultaneously, Peter starts experiencing a change in his physiology and is challenged by a new threat who has a power he does not know how to defeat. As he struggles with both of those things, he asks for help from a variety of sources, including Professor Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), and - despite not knowing who he is - MJ and Ned, who are now roommates in New York following their college years at MIT.

Directed by Dustin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (who have written each of the Holland Spider-Man films), the movie has a near-perfect blend of comic book spectacle and small-scale intimacy. Spider-Man’s ability to swing through New York’s urban landscape with ease provides plenty of opportunities for great action sequences, but the character’s focus on keeping the streets safe and finding a way back to his friends makes the story still feel manageable.

This is aided by the decision to not go overboard with the MCU connections. Bruce Banner/Hulk and a member of the New Avengers show up, but in relatively small roles. The Punisher makes the leap from TV to the movies, and the interaction between him and Spider-Man feels organic. So too does the super-secret villain, whose impact is felt well before they ever show up on screen thanks to a power that is as mysterious as it is effective.

While the action is abundant in the film, the filmmakers lean on emotion much more than most other comic book movies. Peter’s journey back to a semblance of a normal life is well-earned, with his reconnection with MJ and Ned slow-walked in an admirably subtle way. And in the final act, when CGI battles typically take over, the interior lives of Peter and other characters play as much a role in what happens as anything they do physically.

Holland, who tends to take criticism for non-Spider-Man roles, remains the ideal actor for the role. His open-heartedness makes him relatable, his athleticism makes him believable, and he crushes the heavier moments. He and Zendaya, who are now married in real life, work tremendously well together, and Batalon is a fun third wheel. Other standouts include Bernthal, Colón-Zayas, Trammell Tillman, and Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink.

From beginning to end, Spider-Man: Brand New Day now owns the title as best movie in the current Spider-Man universe. By maintaining connections to past movies, solidly incorporating new characters, and pointing to the future without making it the whole story, it demonstrates a model for how comic book movies should be done.

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Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in theaters on July 31.

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