July 4 crowd?

[sedelen]

Was thinking about going to Disney next July 4th for the week. Was wondering how crowded it would be? Any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks.

 

[mac3013]

We go all the time for the 4th of July week. It is very crowded but if you work it right there won't be any problems. The longest line we stood on was for Peter Pan and that was about a half hour. Use fast passes, if you aren't worried about seeing the parades go on the rides at those time.

It is very hot there at that time so plan on hitting the resort pool during the hottest part of the day, between 12 and 4. Wear comfortable shoes and drink plenty of water. We carried the Crystal Light on the go packs and used them to get all the fluids in.

Enjoy yourself and maybe we will see you then.

 

[dvcgirl]

July 4th is one of the busiest days of the year at WDW. Think...insanely crowded and you'll have an idea. If you plan on staying off-site you'd need to arrive very early and plan on staying all day. If you leave you probably won't be allowed back in due to the crowd levels.

 

[GoN2WDW]

We were at WDW this past 4th of July weekend. The crowds weren't too bad during the day, but were heavy in the MK on July 3 in the evening. MK was running their Fantasy in the Sky fireworks that night as well as on the 4th. Fireworks time was mobbed! We had gotten a curb seat early in the evening and sat it out. Unfortunately, they did not close off the "street" and after all of the waiting, those just walking in just stopped in front of us and stood in the "street". At least we had the height of the curb to our advantage. But we took off immediately after the fireworks and swam through the crowds to the buses and grabbed the first bus back to POR. As for the 4th, our DD was sick all day and wanted to go to the fireworks in the evening. We left POR for MGM at 6pm, got a table in front of H&V right by the lake. We ate a lite meal and waited for the Sorcery in the Sky fireworks. They were fantastic! Again, because DD wasn't feeling well, we left right away and got on the 2nd bus back to POR. I really expected crowds to be unbearable during that time period (6/29-7/6) but they seemed to be average summer level crowds. The HEAT however, was horrible! We've been there in summer before, but it seemed much worse this year. We didn't accomplish nearly as much as we normally do. Many water & shade breaks! Fireworks were fantastic, but I'll stick to the fall & winter from now on!

 

[rosemary4126]

We were in Orlando the first 2 weeks of July 2005. The heat was insane, the crowds were insane. Mornings were not really that bad but by 5pm at MK you could barely move and wait times were up to 180 min on the most popular rides. Soarin went up to 2 hrs wait. Sometimes the fastpasses were all gone by 1pm. It rained at some point every single day. The Orlando TV news reported MK reached capacity at 1pm (no new entries) on July 4. I have to say though, Disney did their absolute best to keep the crowd under control beyond what I expected and made sure the bathrooms were clean, all the air conditioners worked, and the concessions were stocked. They definately had the staffing on hand to handle the crowd. I expected hot grumpy cast members but never met a single one (was I just lucky?). If you really have no choice but to go at that time period just go prepared. We stayed off site and did not leave the park during the day, but throughout the day we made sure to get some air conditioned comfort when we needed it. Suncreen, raingear, water bottles are a must.