July 4 Park Hopping Question

[wintergreen]

On July 4, my touring and dining plans for our July trip have us visiting Epcot in the morning, with lunch at the Garden Grill, and MGM in the afternoon, with Fantasmic dinner package reservations. We will be staying on-site. I know that on July 4 the parks are likely to reach capacity, so my question is whether we will be allowed into MGM in the afternoon with dining reservations, and since we are staying on-site, even if the park reaches capacity earlier in the day. Any advice anyone can offer would be quite welcome!

 

[GoldenOldie]

The short version:

Dining reservations will not get you entrance into a closed park. There are several levels of park closings, most of which will allow on site guests priority over off site guests. But if a park has reached its full capacity, no one gets in - on site guest or not - until the park managers decide to reopen the park.

 

[wintergreen]

That's what I was afraid of. Now I'm wondering whether we should just do one park for early that day, and scrap evening plans. Does anyone know whether all of the parks are likely to reach capacity on July 4?

 

[AJKMOM]

Can't say with 100% certainty, but most likely Magic Kingdom will close, it has a lot in the past. I think the second best chance to close early is EPCOT because people want to be there for the fireworks.

Try allearsnet.com and see what she has about attendance.

 

[smjj]

Good luck. It was sooooo very crowded for us we had to take turns breathing. We swore to never again go this day, never...smjj

 

[emmabelle]

We were in Disney for July 4th both in 2002 and 2003 (I know it was awhile ago now) but we were able to get into MGM at night both years without a problem. We even got into MK at 5:00pm in 2003, but left and hopped over to MGM because it was so overly crowded in MK. I do remember hearing that MK closed in 2002 on July 4th at least at some point during the day.

 

[wintergreen]

I know that it will be crowded that week, but unfortunately, that's the only time that we will be able to go. Just trying to set expectations.