4th of July week strategy-help

[lisamarie12]

We are headed to Disney for the week of July 1-5. I am now second guessing my plan. I know that will be a busy busy week and there is no way around that, but I don’t want to make it worse. We arrive early on Monday July 1 and leave early Saturday. So we basically have 4.5 days. I have 3 day tickets (no hopper). My original plan was no park on Arrival day or July 3 with MK on the 4th of July. But is that crazy? Should I switch to MK on 3rd and make the 4th a resort day? Or will the crowds be the same on 3rd and 4th? Or all week for that matter?

 

[Tdubswife]

Following. We arrive next Friday and plan on being at the parks starting next Sunday. I know the crowds will be high, but we are going with the attitude that we know the crowds are going to be insane and just try to enjoy it. We are planning on going to MK on 7/3 and then a visit to Epcot on 7/4. We decided to attend the Star Wars dessert party the night of 7/4.

 

[krybandt]

We will be there for the 4th too. MK does their 4th of July fireworks on the 3rd too, and EP does a special show with fireworks on the 4th. If you’re choosing between the 3rd and 4th, July 4th might be a better no-park day? I’m expecting it to be very crowded and hoping crowds drop some after the holiday. No matter what, we’re super excited to be spending our first 4th of July at Disney.

 

[Wreckem]

We are at Universal June 29-July 1 and Disney July 1-5. This is the first non Christmas/New Years week trip we have taken. We have always successfully managed those crowds. Our worry is the crowds + heat. Although its forecast to be the same as Dallas next week so we should be fine.

Like others are planning we to are planning to do MK on the evening of the 3rd for its fireworks show and Epcots firework show on the 4th.We plan to be in the parks from open to 12pm and then take a break back at the resorts. WE will then go back to the parks in the PM after dinner and stay late. We were able to get all the hard fast passes except slinky dog so we originally opted to do Early Morning Magic on the 3rd. We were going to upgrade our tickets to Annual Passes on July 1, but with the 25% price increases not really making it worthwhile we decided to use the money we budgeted for Villians After Hours and Animal Kingdom After Hours.

 

[Wreckem]

Based on your question, if you were planning to do Animal Kingdom, July 4th would be the best day to do that park. It should have the lowest crowds of all parks that day. If you did Animal Kingdom on the 4th I would definately do Magic Kingdom on the 3rd. July 1 is Villains after Hours at MK so I WOULD NOT DO MK on July 1. MK is opening till 12am on July 3(2am with EMH)

Honestly I would do if I only had 3 day non park hoppers:
July 2 - Hollywood Studios
July 3 - Magic Kingdom
July 4 - Animal Kingdom

This is what our plans are, but we have 5 day park hoppers.
July 1 - Magic Kingdom 6pm to 1am (Villains After Hours)
July 2 - Animal Kingdom 3:30pm(show at 4, dinner at 5) to 12am(AK After Hours)
July 3 - Hollywood Studios 7:00am to 11:00am(Hollywood Studios Early Morning Magic)
July 3 - Magic Kingdom 6pm to 10pm
July 4 - Animal Kingdom rope drop till about 12:00pm
July 4 - Epcot 6pm to close
July 5 - MK or Hollywood Studios - rope drop till noon