4th of July Weekend... LOW crowds!

[marciemouse]

So we went to the parks on July 3-5. The crowds were almost nonexistent. I have Main Street pictures (July 3rd morning) with NO ONE in them! Our 2 year old daughter rode the teacups, carousel and Dumbo over a dozen times in a row with no waiting. Space Mountain was a 5 minute wait until about 10:00 AM. I can't speak for the evenings, as we left around 7 each night, since we have a small child who is afraid of fireworks, but the days were not crowded at all. It was WAY less crowded than when we went on the Friday before Memorial Day. I was so pleased, and it made for a great trip! I'm glad I ignored the "it will be hideous" posts and just went anyways!

Oh, and it was also extremely mild weather. Low 70's, cloudy mornings and sunny afternoons! A nice change for us Phoenix residents!

 

[carolinamama]

We had a similar experience in the days prior to the weekend!! We, too, had heard all these horror stories about going right before APs end, summer crowds, etc., and it wasn't bad at all! Glad you also had a great trip!

 

[barefootmomma]

So glad it was a great experience! I had wondered how the crowds were. The weather in the area has definitely been a lot cooler than usual lately, it's a welcome change for us locals too! (At least this one! )

 

[Albort]

uhh, July 4th night was massively crowded. Crowd control was out and about around 7:30pm.

but other than that, July 3rd was super slow...

 

[kikiq]

uhh, July 4th night was massively crowded. Crowd control was out and about around 7:30pm.

but other than that, July 3rd was super slow...

We walked down Main Street on July 4th around 7ish and commented that it didn't seem that crowded with people waiting for fireworks. Well, after listening to 2 sets of Doc Anello, we decided to leave and go to the 9 pm WOC. OMG 8:40 pm and Main Street was packed with people all the back to the train station!

 

[PHXscuba]

Drat, drat, drat.

I had seriously thought about going and using our GAD tickets July 3 or maybe July 5. It didn't work as well with our vacation schedule as going later this month, and I had consoled myself by saying that the crowds and heat would have been miserable. Guess the joke's on me!

Fingers crossed for good weather and low crowds in a couple weeks! I feel like I have a good plan but it's so much more fun without wall-to-wall people and oven-like heat -- I can get that here in Phoenix!

PHXscuba

 

[cats mom]

uhh, July 4th night was massively crowded. Crowd control was out and about around 7:30pm.

We were there on the 4th and I was a little surprised by the OP's post too, until I read this part:

I can't speak for the evenings, as we left around 7 each night, since we have a small child who is afraid of fireworks, but the days were not crowded at all.

We didn't find ride lines to be bad either, but that might have been because so many people were busy staking out spots for the evening entertainment.

We didn't venture back near the Fantasmic area, so I don't know how that was, but Main Street was packed pretty solid when we were trying to make the trek from Space Mountain to Town Square at about 9pm (not a fun experience - trust me) and I thought some of the food cart lines the night of the 4th were insane.

I've definitely been at DL when it was more crowded; but our experience on the 4th, especially that evening, was definitely not one of low or non existent crowds. In fact, even at midnight there was a pretty significant line waiting for bus service back to the Toy Story parking lot.

I'm glad you had a great time OP, we did too.

 

[marciemouse]

Yep, like I said, we didn't stick around for the evenings, and I'm not surprised to hear that it was terribly crowded for WOC and the fireworks. Still, it was great for us!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I agree ~ the mornings were DEAD - it was great ~ DD's Birthday *7/3* was fantastic ~ the evening of the 4th was busy but tolerable. We got so much done during the 1st few hours of the day *PP 1st followed by Dumbo on Sat, Sun & Mon* collected FPs to use later in the day. We saw WOC twice, F! 2 and 3/4 times *our 1st show on the 4th stopped a little more than 1/2 way through. We took our mid day breaks and made sure to get there early for park opening - no sleeping in for us!

We're gonna visit again for DD's B-day next year!

 

[Barbday62]

On July 3rd My grand daughter rode California Screaming 7 times in about an hour and half, never using fast pass. We also rode Big thunder 4 times in just over a half hour earlier that morning. July 4th was not bad in the morning but fireworks time was crowded!!

 

[Shakthi]

Crowds were way worse today than any other day this week.

 

[sacteach]

We arrived around 9:15am on the 4th, checked in at GCH and were on Soarin' around 9:40 and Tower of Terror as soon as it opened at 10am. We spent all day at DCA and went to the first WOC show. After it ended, we started walking to the entrance just as the fireworks were starting. We were going to stand in between the parks, but just stayed at DCA with a crowd gathered by the GG bridge. We did Glowfest for a while and then went over to DL around 10:30pm and walked on to about 4 rides. We did DL on the 5th and the crowds were surprisingly small. We again were able to walk on to most rides or wait no more than 15 minutes. There were similar crowds on Tuesday morning (we did early entry), but we left around 10am to check out. When we went back around noon, it was definitely much more crowded and the lines for rides were around 45minutes+ and the FP return times were for 6pm or later.

Overall, we were prepared for the worst and were pleasantly surprised by the crowds. We were at DCA on the 4th, so we didn't experience the fireworks crowds at DL, but we could still see/enjoy the show.