4th of July?

[sunb75]

How are the crowds spread across all 4 parks on the 4th? According to the crowd calendars, AK seems to be fairly low crowd that day so we are planning on going there.

I was thinking of hopping to another park (not MK since we are using military tickets with blackout dates) so we can see fireworks/night show.

Is that a good idea or should we watch from the Shades' parking garage? Or Poly beach if that's an option?

 

[ehaley]

It's been awhile since we did 4th of July, but we also did AK that day - early start. Back to hotel late afternoon and then to dinner later on. I love the poly beach for watching fireworks show at MK. Plus we always eat at least 1-2 meals there at Kona each trip. I'd vote poly or maybe even downtown by the water and watch all the shows - at a distance of course.

 

[maxiesmom]

I wouldn't plan on getting into MK later on in the day. The 4th is one of the days the Magic Kingdom has capacity closures.

I wouldn't plan on going to the Poly beach either, as reports are with the construction going on they are going to limit the area to resort guests and people with ADRs.

Go to Epcot. It is large enough that it is very unlikely to have capacity problems. And they add extra oomph and and extra part to Illuminations. It is an awesome show!

 

[juliebug1997]

The evening of the 3rd and the whole day of the 4th can be packed to the gills. After going on the 4th in 2010 to see the fireworks, we decided to try MK on the 3rd and see the fireworks that night. It was insane!!!! People jokingly yelling out "fire", CMs laughing at it, people getting rammed in the ankles just trying to keep up with their kids or families! It was not anything I care to repeat. We actually changed our plans for the next day, didn't do a park, went to Typhoon Lagoon and kept our ADR at Garden Grill and saw Illuminations. We didn't get a very good spot to watch but I was okay with it--after the day before, I was pretty much done with crowds that trip.

 

[Wishes Count]

I think you need to think about what your expectations are. Do you want to just grab a spot for fireworks, get some snacks and people watch? Or do you want to go on rides? If you are hoping to ride attractions you will probably have a bad time.

I've been to both Epcot and DHS on 4th of July and NYE. Epcot will hold a lot more people but their fireworks are really just Illuminations with a 2 minute add on. DHS fireworks are better IMHO. At both parks it is going to be very crowded. You will need to stake out a spot early to view fireworks. As long as you are okay with just hanging around waiting with family/friends you will have a great time. But if you want to do other things you probably will be unable to do very much.

 

[kickash]

We were there on the 4th 2 years ago. I purposely picked DHS instead of MK and we had a lovely day! We started with breakfast at Hollywood and Vine (DS was 6 at the time and DD was 2 1/2) and there were about 4 families in the entire restaurant! I felt like we had it to ourselves! I asked a CM and they said that everyone goes to MK for the 4th! Of course it became crowded later in the day (it is Disney, after all!) but we wouldn't have changed a thing!