mickey'sbud
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2001
- Messages
- 668
To let you know "That Day" was the Fourth of July. I had asked here on the boards for several weeks before the 4th, where was the best place to see the fireworks. Well several suggestions came from many of you, but it only left me confused as to where to risk time and effort and have the possibility of missing the fireworks all together. So here's the story of our day...
We stayed at the CSR and decided not to go to the parks on the 4th. We had heard MK was the place to see the fireworks, so upon checkin (7/3), I inquired where did the CM recommend we should we go to see the fireworks. Her 2 recommendations were (1) from the bridge of Buena Vista Dr. where it crosses World Dr. She said, that is if the police will let you park there. (2) There's a new apartment complex going up behind Magic Kingdom and maybe we could see the fireworks from the parking lot! I thought, "Oh, what a nightmare! We shouldn't have come here for the 4th. It's going to be too busy and crowded to see anything and we'll be stuck in horrible traffic, etc......" Where we come from, Marietta, GA, people park blocks and blocks away from the downtown fireworks every year and the traffic is horrible! I multiplied that 50-100 times in my mind! So, what to do? I told my husband we would have to leave CSR by 4:00 to be able to see the 9:00 fireworks. He said whatever.
The 4th morning: we got up and went to the Dig Site to swim. It was very hot and VERY crowded. I thought if the pool is this crowded, what would the parks be like.....the crowds for the fireworks, oh dear! We came in around 2:30 to shower and get dress for the "fireworks" adventure. My family was dragging around, enjoying watching Mickey Mouse cartoons which they could not tear themselves away from.......I'm in the hurried state and agitated that they didn't understand that time was precious for finding "our spot" for viewing. I packed a backpack w/ 4 beach towels, ponchos, sunglasses, drinks, bugspray, and we wore our coolest clothes and best walking shoes.
We decided to take a bus over to MK and hunt for a viewing area from there. The bus was not crowded. Good. When we got to MK gate, it didn't appear crowded there or anywhere. We decided that perhaps we could get something to eat and then scope out a place. We jumped on a ferry rode to FW. I heard of a buffet over there. It was a nice little ride and then we found the buffet. We really enjoyed it. The kids loved the ribs and everything else. I especially liked the boiled shrimp (unusually good). Afterward we still had plenty of time. We headed back to MK so we could find a spot to watch the fireworks. My DD had spranged her ankle in May and was still having some pain w/ it. She wasn't wanting to walk. We didn't know where to go and we were discussing whether to stay near the entrance of MK, go to the CR, go to the Poly, or over to the Wedding Chapel. What to do? DD was begging let's stay here. That wasn't in my plan! I didn't want to stay where we were. She said well go ask someone where to go. I saw a transportation booth near the big Ferry. I asked them and they said to watch the fireworks from the top of the Ferry on the TTC side. At this time it was about 8:00. Well we hopped aboard the Ferry and believe me, no one was leaving MK at this time. Instead they were bringing over huge crowds. We got on the top deck on the side facing GF and MK. They told us that they would make a total of 3 crossings of the lake by 9:00 and that we should be on the TTC side when they would stop the ferry for the fireworks. We asked if we should get off on the first trip and then board just in time for the fireworks. They told us to just get a good spot and stay there or we might miss being on the ferry at the right time. Well that's what we did. We crossed over to the TTC and then crossed back to MK side. The beach area near the Poly was fairly crowded, but not as much as I would have thought. I was watching my watch the whole time. It was 20 minutes till 9:00 when we were approaching MK. It was just enough time to make it back to the TTC side. We arrive. They load the ferry. Hold up. What's the hold up? Oh no, they are NOT going back to the TTC side. We are going to have to watch from where we were. Ok, it's ok, it's not as I have planned, but it's ok, I can't see Cindy's Castle....Oh well, I told myself. Not really sure.......However, the lights went dim. The music went up. BOOM, BoomBOOM. We had fireworks going up on both sides of us at the same time. It was almost like watching a tennis match in that we kept looking from side to side as fast as we could. WE WERE Right in the MIDDLE OF IT!!!!! It was Great!!!!! But we hadn't seen anything yet!!! All of a sudden, the other firework locations started firing off all around the lake and we were in the middle of that too!!! We had fireworks going off behind us, beside us, in front of us and all in between. We were so in the middle that the ashes were falling on us. We were amazed as if we had never seen fireworks in all of our lives. And truely I have never seen anything like it ever before. Since we were out at the end of the dock we were also near the water parade boats. And that was a cool finish too. We saw little boats out in the lake, so I'm sure they felt they had as good a view as we did. We
were so WoWWed by it and it was by the grace of God that we were so lucky to be where we were. There were only a few other people there w/ us.
But that's not all. Since the fireworks were over the ferry pulled off to cross over to the TCC. We got to see the water parade on the other side of the island too. We could see fireworks off in the distance also. I talked my family into jumping the Monorail to Epcot to what else, see the 10:00 fireworks. Again, it wasn't crowded. We got there about 15 minutes early. We watched them ( a little harder to see) from the exit ramp of the monorail. People saw us waiting there and I guess they figured we knew what we were doing so they stayed too. lol! They were pretty good from what we could see, but nothing, nothing compares to the MK and 7 Seas fireworks on the 4th.
We jumped back on the monorail to TTC and then TTC back to MK and then the bus to CBR. It was a very memorable 4th of July.
We stayed at the CSR and decided not to go to the parks on the 4th. We had heard MK was the place to see the fireworks, so upon checkin (7/3), I inquired where did the CM recommend we should we go to see the fireworks. Her 2 recommendations were (1) from the bridge of Buena Vista Dr. where it crosses World Dr. She said, that is if the police will let you park there. (2) There's a new apartment complex going up behind Magic Kingdom and maybe we could see the fireworks from the parking lot! I thought, "Oh, what a nightmare! We shouldn't have come here for the 4th. It's going to be too busy and crowded to see anything and we'll be stuck in horrible traffic, etc......" Where we come from, Marietta, GA, people park blocks and blocks away from the downtown fireworks every year and the traffic is horrible! I multiplied that 50-100 times in my mind! So, what to do? I told my husband we would have to leave CSR by 4:00 to be able to see the 9:00 fireworks. He said whatever.
The 4th morning: we got up and went to the Dig Site to swim. It was very hot and VERY crowded. I thought if the pool is this crowded, what would the parks be like.....the crowds for the fireworks, oh dear! We came in around 2:30 to shower and get dress for the "fireworks" adventure. My family was dragging around, enjoying watching Mickey Mouse cartoons which they could not tear themselves away from.......I'm in the hurried state and agitated that they didn't understand that time was precious for finding "our spot" for viewing. I packed a backpack w/ 4 beach towels, ponchos, sunglasses, drinks, bugspray, and we wore our coolest clothes and best walking shoes.
We decided to take a bus over to MK and hunt for a viewing area from there. The bus was not crowded. Good. When we got to MK gate, it didn't appear crowded there or anywhere. We decided that perhaps we could get something to eat and then scope out a place. We jumped on a ferry rode to FW. I heard of a buffet over there. It was a nice little ride and then we found the buffet. We really enjoyed it. The kids loved the ribs and everything else. I especially liked the boiled shrimp (unusually good). Afterward we still had plenty of time. We headed back to MK so we could find a spot to watch the fireworks. My DD had spranged her ankle in May and was still having some pain w/ it. She wasn't wanting to walk. We didn't know where to go and we were discussing whether to stay near the entrance of MK, go to the CR, go to the Poly, or over to the Wedding Chapel. What to do? DD was begging let's stay here. That wasn't in my plan! I didn't want to stay where we were. She said well go ask someone where to go. I saw a transportation booth near the big Ferry. I asked them and they said to watch the fireworks from the top of the Ferry on the TTC side. At this time it was about 8:00. Well we hopped aboard the Ferry and believe me, no one was leaving MK at this time. Instead they were bringing over huge crowds. We got on the top deck on the side facing GF and MK. They told us that they would make a total of 3 crossings of the lake by 9:00 and that we should be on the TTC side when they would stop the ferry for the fireworks. We asked if we should get off on the first trip and then board just in time for the fireworks. They told us to just get a good spot and stay there or we might miss being on the ferry at the right time. Well that's what we did. We crossed over to the TTC and then crossed back to MK side. The beach area near the Poly was fairly crowded, but not as much as I would have thought. I was watching my watch the whole time. It was 20 minutes till 9:00 when we were approaching MK. It was just enough time to make it back to the TTC side. We arrive. They load the ferry. Hold up. What's the hold up? Oh no, they are NOT going back to the TTC side. We are going to have to watch from where we were. Ok, it's ok, it's not as I have planned, but it's ok, I can't see Cindy's Castle....Oh well, I told myself. Not really sure.......However, the lights went dim. The music went up. BOOM, BoomBOOM. We had fireworks going up on both sides of us at the same time. It was almost like watching a tennis match in that we kept looking from side to side as fast as we could. WE WERE Right in the MIDDLE OF IT!!!!! It was Great!!!!! But we hadn't seen anything yet!!! All of a sudden, the other firework locations started firing off all around the lake and we were in the middle of that too!!! We had fireworks going off behind us, beside us, in front of us and all in between. We were so in the middle that the ashes were falling on us. We were amazed as if we had never seen fireworks in all of our lives. And truely I have never seen anything like it ever before. Since we were out at the end of the dock we were also near the water parade boats. And that was a cool finish too. We saw little boats out in the lake, so I'm sure they felt they had as good a view as we did. We
were so WoWWed by it and it was by the grace of God that we were so lucky to be where we were. There were only a few other people there w/ us.But that's not all. Since the fireworks were over the ferry pulled off to cross over to the TCC. We got to see the water parade on the other side of the island too. We could see fireworks off in the distance also. I talked my family into jumping the Monorail to Epcot to what else, see the 10:00 fireworks. Again, it wasn't crowded. We got there about 15 minutes early. We watched them ( a little harder to see) from the exit ramp of the monorail. People saw us waiting there and I guess they figured we knew what we were doing so they stayed too. lol! They were pretty good from what we could see, but nothing, nothing compares to the MK and 7 Seas fireworks on the 4th.
We jumped back on the monorail to TTC and then TTC back to MK and then the bus to CBR. It was a very memorable 4th of July.
