Closures/Park Capacity 7/3-7/4

[pjpoppins]

Just curious how I should plan these days. I want to do MK on 7/3 at least for the fireworks (like a must-do, Disney bucket-lister). I want to do Epcot on the 4th for characters in colonial garb and probably see Illuminations. We will be staying at FW with another party. My party of 3 will hopefully have AP for the 16 night trip (AP, another bucket-list checked off!).

How should we plan our days? I don't want to do rope-drop to closing if I don't have to, I just think it may be too hot and crowded that I won't even enjoy the festivities. Can we plan on going back to the campground or going to a meal say at one of the resorts? Or will there be a chance we won't be allowed re-admittance? I forget how the closures work (luckily I've never been there for one). Thanks.

 

[jaysmom4285]

See this link for information about park closures, what the procedures are, and how often it has happened in which parks and when: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/capacity-closures. If you're staying at a WDW resort and are using resort transportation, you'll be able to get into MK as long as they haven't gone to Phase 4, which almost never happens.

 

[Oswin]

You won't need to do open-close either day. I was there for both days in 2015 and did your exact plan. We did get to MK early on the morning of the 3rd because we had a 8:00 am Be Our Guest breakfast. The park opened at 8:00 am that day, but we were let in at about 7:30 and we got to walk down an empty Main street at a leisurely pace instead of contend with the masses who were let in at rope drop. We stayed in the park until about noon, headed back to the Poly for a swim and a nap, and then headed back up to MK at 6:30 pm. We had dinner at LTT and headed to find a spot to watch the fireworks after. It was raining that night and the lightning was really bad, so fireworks were delayed about 2 hours or so. Which, luckily, cleared out the park a lot. We made our way back behind the castle to stand by Gaston's tavern and we had an amazing 360 view of the fireworks. It was awesome. There were magic hours that night, which I imagine there probably will be again this year, and thanks to the rain we were able to ride every single thing that was open for EMH without long waits.

The 4th felt more crowded at Epcot than the 3rd did at MK, but we didn't roll out of bed until about noon and we didn't get to Epcot until about 4:00 pm. We didn't have to wait in a long line to get in once we got off the monorail, we just walked right up and in. The crowds walking world showcase were heavy, but we were only there that day to the American pavilion plus our dinner at Biergarten. We found a spot for fireworks about 3 hours early though, and that seemed to be the norm. About 2 hours prior to fireworks starting, you could see there wasn't much of any standing room at the railing all along world showcase. It rained again on the fourth, but people stuck it out and the fireworks started on time that night. They had EMH at Epcot on the night of the 4th, so we stayed until those were over since we had such a very late start that day.

I would say the crowds feel heavy, but you most definitely can get a ton done on those days and you shouldn't need to worry about not being let in to either park on either day. You definitely don't need to go rope drop to close, plan a break or a late start and take things at your own pace!