I'm new and have ?'s about a trip for July 4th week

[Jenny-momof3]

Good morning all. I'm new here and look forward to getting to know this site better. I am in the works of planning my very first trip with my 3 kids ( 11,7 and 1) to WDW. We are currently looking at the 4th of July week for '07. Anything you can tell me about going this time of year would be great.

Thanks~
Jenny

 

[magicaldisney]

Have not been to WDW in July, but I wanted to say

 

[jimmiej]

My wife & I were at WDW July 2-9, 2006. We stayed away from the parks on the morning of July 4th due to anticipated large crowds. We instead went to Downtown Disney around the lunch hour & crowds were not a problem. On the evening of July 4th, we went to Epcot, specifically World Showcase. Pure gridlock! I've never seen it like that. We ate dinner at Rose & Crown. Thank goodness we had an ADR. They were turning people without a reservation away.

Other than that, the crowds weren't a problem. We did see a noticeable drop-off in the crowds after July 4th. We went to the Magic Kingdom on the morning of Saturday, July 8th, & it was deserted. We did 8-10 attractions with virtually no wait.

Of course, the weather will predictably be hot & humid with an afternoon shower pretty much every day.

Have fun planning!

 

[Indianadisneyfan]

Ive never been to WDW in July, but I was there in June of 04. All I can say is HOTand humid , and Hi welocme to the DIS

 

[INdisneyfamily]

My family went for the 4th back in 2000. We were in the MK on that day and it was extremely crowded. A friend had told me that it usually reaches capacity around mid morning and they stop letting people in. We decided to be there when it opened and stay till the fireworks without our usual midday break so we wouldn't risk getting turned away. Made for a very long day!

 

[jenseib]

I went on July 1or 2 about 10 years ago. We waited in 3 hour lines for popular things. That was the norm. A short line was 45 minutes. It was VERY hot then too. I also went in Aug one year and it was pretty much the same. I avoid summers now completely. I will give you a tip. I have taken my kids out of school in early to mid may and gone and the crowds were very small. We would wait 15 minutes max for stuff and the weather was decent too.

 

[INdisneyfamily]

It will definitely be hot but the Fast Pass does help with waits. If your kids get out of school late May/early June, you may want to consider going then if your dates are flexible. Sometimes you can beat some of the crowds if your school gets out earlier than other parts of the country. We are planning on leaving the day after my kids get out although we have to be flexible in case they add snow days on to the end of the year. If you need to go in July, as long as you go knowing what to expect you will have fun....after all it is Disney World!

 

[bahogg]

We have been in July before. It can be very hot but what we like to do is go swimming in the afternoon at the resorts pool and also rent the pontoon and speed boats on bay lake. You can get a package deal (believe it is called the captains plan) which gives you unlimited use of all the boats for the length of your stay. It runs about $225 which isn't bad considering the pontoon boats run about $50 hr if I recall correctly. We like to pack a lunch and take the pontoon boat out for 2 hours and ride around Bay Lake.
We then go to the parks at night when it is cooler (if you can call it that) but at least the sun isn't so intense. Just hit the parks that have the extra magic hours when you can and you can still get about 5-7 hours a day at the parks. If you don't have a reservation yet and would like to stay onsite, I have a rental available at Old Key West 6/30-7/7. If interested just pm me or email me (in my signature) and I will give you the webiste to look at the rental information. I can't post it here (board rules).

 

[Sunny Soph]

 

[Minniespal]

 

[Jenny-momof3]

After talking to several reps from the resorts and seeing your responses as well I think we will avoid that week. My youngest has asthma and does not do well in extreme heat. Maybe late fall would be a better time for us.

Thanks so muchf or the warm welcome. I have a list of questions a mile long. I am now realizing that I really need to do my research on all of this so we can have the best trip for my family.