Disneyland on July 4th? Too crowded?

[janatmovies]

Ok, so with all this talking about Disney land the last couple of days and trying to plan a trip for 2013, I decided to wing it and go on a short trip in just a week! I found flights within my budget plus a hotel room and I already have some tickets. But I'm a little scared about crowds the first week of July, especially on July 4. I will have three full days in the park. Do you think I will have enough time to see and do many things without being too frustrated by overcrowding? The last time I was in Disneyland was over 10 years ago, so I have no idea about strategy or what to do first. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[CamoMama]

It's going to be insane. Be prepared to not get to do everything that you want, but pick out a few things that you must do and prioritize. If you can just relax and not worry about keeping a tight schedule you should be fine, after all, you'll be in the happiest place on earth. I'll be there too, so I'm giving you the advice that I'm also giving myself and my family.

 

[JamesF408]

Any major holiday will be a little chaotic at Disney Parks. The ride lines would be long and the park will indeed be congested. With that said, with a little planning, you can get through a few major rides and if you use fast passes, it will help.

Typically how my wife and I plan our day at DL is to head straight for Space Mountain and Star Tours when the gates open. After that, get fast passes for the rides you want to go on later in the day. Time it every hour to grab more fast passes to other rides you would like to ride. Fast passes are definitely your friend during holidays, but they sell out fast.

So choose a ride during the opening at DL and head straight there, then plan to try and get to the rides in the area you're in. It can be done.

Just know, most likely the rides or attractions you are looking forward to, others are too.

Basically here is how my wife and I run through:
1. head to space mountain and star tours, grab a fast pass to space mountain before you ride it, since they sell out fast. (If you like the ride)
2. Head over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Winnie the Pooh, and if it's hot already, Splash Mountain. If it's hot, there will already be a long line for Splash Mountain. My wife and I usually skip it because it's a long line. But fast passes are available for it as well.
3. Head to Haunted Mansion then to Indiana Jones or Jungle Cruise
4. Lunch time
5. by this time the park is full and we just try to find rides we don't mind waiting for. We might go to some of the more traditional rides in Fantasy Land
6. After watching Fantasmic head to Pirates of the Caribbean (if the line isn't long), it's a great way to relax and skip the crowds migrating from Fantasmic. You might have to choose to watch Fantasmic or Fireworks show since I'm sure it will be packed.

That's basically one day. If we were going multiple days, we would follow the same routine, but switch up the rides. Same for DCA, but being that Cars Land just opened and the rest of DCA was updated, I'm sure it will be crazy.

Good luck!

 

[Malin]

I'm also going to be in town during that first week of July. From my understanding the park won't start getting full until late afternoon time on the 4th of July. So try and do the main things in the morning. If it helps Disneyland is staging the Independance Day Fireworks on the 2nd and 3rd. So try and catch it on one of those nights instead. While big crowds will be expected to show up. Keep in mind that the Resort has a much larger overall capacity now with both Parks being able to handle and attract huge crowds. Attractions like Pirates, Mansion and Small World rarely ever have too much of a long wait. So these will be worth checking out once the park starts getting busy. The Disneyland Resort has a very impressive line up of attractions which really do help move and balance out the crowds. So I think its safe to assume the longest waits are going to be between 45-60 minutes. But Fast Pass can save you time. Obviously Radiator Springs Racers and Luigi's Flying Tires may be the exception.