Disneyland v. California Adventure on July 4th?

[robert_j]

I am planning our California trip for July, and the way that things are working out it looks like we will be visiting Disneyland on July 3rd (M), 4th (T), and the morning of the 5th (W) before driving up to Sequoia National Park. Not an ideal time, I know.

To minimize crowds, I was thinking of spending Monday evening (July 3rd) in Disneyland, and probably having dinner there, and then seeing the fireworks that night. My understanding is that Disneyland might be doing the 4th of July fireworks on the night of the 3rd as well? Is that correct?

Then I was thinking about spending the night of Tuesday, July 4th at California Adventure. Are the crowds generally lighter at California Adventure than at Disneyland on the 4th of July, or am I overthinking this?

For context, I have seen crowds at Disneyland before. The last time I went, it was for the 24-hour event for the 60th (a total accident in terms of planning), and it was madness. Disneyland ended up closing for capacity that day, and when we left that evening there were lines and lines of people at security trying to get in. Fortunately things were much lighter the day before (and the day after), so we got to see everything we wanted, but after the first hour it was very difficult to get much done at Disneyland. I am not sure how the 4th of July compares. My understanding is that last year was relatively light?

 

[SMD]

Most people will park hop throughout the day. DCA might be slightly better before the fireworks, but I think many people will choose WOC that night trying to avoid DL. I was in DL on that 24 hour day and I've been over the 4th of July weekend before. Other than the crowd on Main St for the PTN premiere, the inside of the park wasn't anywhere near as crowded as what you're going to see on the 4th. And since then, the railroad and the walkway between FL and the west part of the park has closed.

 

[danceanddisney2010]

I've never been on the 4th of July but I have a friend that went with her family on that day about 2 years ago and she said it was the most crowded she'd ever seen it! For me when Disneyland gets too crowded I like to head over to DCA bc even when that too is crowded it still feels much more spacious. Bigger walkways

 

[robert_j]

For the 24-hour event, we managed the crowds by being very strategic with the fast pass system because after the first hour or so (with a 6AM opening, mind you), the standby lines were ridiculous. The problem was that they ended up closing the park for reentry because they had reached capacity, so we were "stuck" in Disneyland, without the ability to hop back and forth and make better use of the fastpass system. By evening, it was so crowded that we left before the fireworks. It was not worth it, especially since we knew we would have the opportunity to return the next day (which was much, much better).

So this year if it reaches that point (i.e., capacity crowds), we will probably just retreat to California Adventure for the evening, and maybe book a dinner over there. Our town fireworks are the week before, so we will have had plenty of fireworks!