Anyone been to wdw during the 4th of July?

[angbuesing]

I am wondering which park to be at on that day? Do they have special fireworks at any park or anything?

 

[Mousema]

We were there several years ago. MK has special fireworks, but they used to be for the whole week. MK will be extremely crowded. I think we did Epcot on the actual 4th.

 

[angbuesing]

Is it extremely crowded the entire week of the fourth or just that day?

 

[BCVBRUCE]

Is it extremely crowded the entire week of the fourth or just that day?

Check THIS SITE out. It should help.

Sorry, it appears that the site I am trying to refer you to is censoredl. So, the link will not work. I can not even mention their name.

I did try to PM you, but that appears to be censored as well. I checked my sent messages and it was ***** out. So I expect you will see the same.

It is a great site. It lists the day, recommended parks to attend, recommended parks to avoid, crowd levels on a scale of 1-10.

However, the entire week of the 4th of July will be 9's out of 10.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

We were there for the fourth of July in 1998 and due to the forest fire threat, all of the fireworks on property were not running. The funniest thing was that when the fireworks were supposed to start, it was pouring. They made an announcement about "due to the dry conditions" the fireworks wouldn't be performed as scheduled and it was pouring on Main Street! The fires were really bad that year, so I'm glad that they didn't do it.

As far as crowds were concerned, it was busy but we got there when the park opened and did a bunch of things before it got full. The rest of the day we enjoyed things that we don't normally do at WDW...just taking in the atmosphere.

 

[MagikMom]

My advise, do not go NEAR the parks on the 4th!! The parks are so crowded that they close them as early as 11:00am due to full capacity. When we were there over the 4th, we went to MK for fireworks on the 3rd. We stayed at our resort on the 4th and relaxed by the pool. We will never go on the 4th of July again. Waaayyyy too crowded for us.

 

[candykisses]

Well, out of our experience a few years back, all of the parks were full by noon. We went to MK on the 4th and EVERYTHING was packed.
Shops, rides, food stands, just plain everything in general was swamped. But my family was able to find a table outside the Plaza Restaurant. That was one of the best places to watch the fireworks.

-Ryan

 

[princessblueeyzes]

My advise, do not go NEAR the parks on the 4th!! The parks are so crowded that they close them as early as 11:00am due to full capacity. When we were there over the 4th, we went to MK for fireworks on the 3rd. We stayed at our resort on the 4th and relaxed by the pool. We will never go on the 4th of July again. Waaayyyy too crowded for us.

I would have to agree with you on that one. We went on the 4th in 2003 and it was too crowded, however the fireworks were awesome. They closed down the MK due to it being at the capacity. We ended up watching the fireworks by the fairys that take you to TTC. I would say around the 6th things started to quiet down a bit. It was a good expierence, but I would not do it again as for me it was too crowded.

 

[taylor91]

im going to one of the parks on the 4th... but luckly our family are early risers lol out of bed and ready to go. I hope it is good...even though there will be crowds

 

[disney6family]

Unlike everyone else on the DIS, we love the parks on the highest crowd days. We always try to be in the MK for the 4th, NYE, Thanksgiving Day, etc. We like the atmosphere, shows and characters tha tpop out of nowhere to keep the masses entertained, people watching and of course on the 4th the double fireworks. There is nothing to compare to that (except maybe for the NYE main street madness).
Having said this - I will say that those days are not our Mk riding days, we always schedule another day at the MK to get our rides in. So, if you only have one day at the MK this is not the day to go. However, if you have hopping then I would do AK then hop to MK in the evening so you are there for the fireworks, and the park does clear out some after them so you can get a few rides in as well.
The rest of the week is still crowded but if you use your FP right you will still get in all of the rides you want.

 

[Tony Toon]

Im going to have to agree with disney6family,it has turned into a bit of a tradition that we start our vacation on the fourth of july with breakfast at Crystal Palace and also dinner there so we are able to come out straight into the fireworks, we've always been fortunate enough to get a fairly central spot for the fireworks.
As you can expect its absolutely mobbed from very early on in the day and you will not manage half as much as what you would like to but its really the atmposphere that makes the day
TT jnr

 

[lpizzuro123]

Count us in also for liking the crowds. This is our first July 4th but we have done Easter, NYE, Thanksgiving and Christmas many times.

We are planning on MK on July 3rd and have lunch reservations at Crystal Palace and staying to catch the fireworks. I believe the special July 4th fireworks will be shown on July 3rd and 4th.

We are planning on Epcot on July 4th and have late lunch reservations (4:00) at Alfredos. I have book the 8:30am Segway tour for this day so we will be getting into the parks early. We are really looking forward to IllumiNations on that night.

As we go down to WDW quite often I know the parks will be very crowded those days and we will not push ourselves to ride certain rides or see certain shows. It is the whole experience of being there at that time of year.

Linda

 

[soccerEAGLE09]

We are staying at the Polynesian over the Fourth of July week..will we be able to see MK's fireworks from the beach?

 

[lpizzuro123]

You can definately see the MK fireworks from the beach at the Poly. This is our favorite view outside the park. You can view them from The Contemporary and the GF but we like the view from the Poly the best. From this view it looks like the fireworks are going off right behind the castle. From the other resorts the fireworks are to the side of the castle and it is not as nice a few.

Try to get near a speaker at the Poly so you can also hear the music that goes along with the show.

Linda

 

[CA/RA2000]

I had heard that on the Fourth of July, at MK they are going to have a Naturalization Ceremony for 1,000 immigrants and then after the ceremony, they are going over to Epcot for a party/celebration. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[lpizzuro123]

I heard about the MK part but not the Epcot part. I was hoping they would stay at the MK. We will be in the MK on the 3rd and Epcot on the 4th. I hope 1,000 additional will not be added. Although they might be taking them to the special section they have for parties. Not sure what it is called now but it where they do the Mothers Day brunch and parties during the F&W festival.

Linda

 

[CA/RA2000]

Yeah I think I am just going to stay away from both MK and Epcot on the 4th. We'll probably do AK or MGM and then maybe go to MK that night for the fireworks. I just want to avoid those ceremonies.

 

[dfularz]

We will be there for the 4th, and plan to go to MK for the 3rd for the fireworks then Epcot on the 4th for the special patriotic version of Illuminations. I have read that the naturalization ceremony will be about 12 at MK, but then later on in the day they are heading to the American Pavilion in Epcot for a special ceremony of sorts. Just my 2 cents, we went this same time last year, and despite the crowds, it was amazing! I really expected it to be more crowded, but it was very managable.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Thanks for the info. If we want to do the American Pavilion that day I will make sure to do it early. We should do this pavilion that day as July 4 is the reason for the pavilon. We have 4:00 late lunch reservations at Alfredos so at least we will be out of the crowds for at least two hours. I guess it being July 4th we should have hamburgers and hotdogs but I really want to eat at Alfredos before they close. I ate there about 15 years ago. We have done Epcot on NYE at least 3 times so I am used to the crowds and do not mind them that much. I figure we will just do what we can do. I am looking forward to IllumiNations and the special firworks most of all.

Linda

 

[wdw71]

Oh so crowded on that day. I have a picture (not digital or I would post) from the end of main street toward the castle after the fireworks that night and it is a sea of people.