July 4th fireworks- anyone else disappointed?

[safetymom]

I am another that thought the Epcot fireworks were awesome!!!! Illuminations seemed shorter but it could have just been me but it took my breath away with all the flashes and booms of the finale. Then the projections on Spaceship Earth were great. I got some wonderful photos.

 

[FOTM_Ring_Bearer]

We watched the MK fireworks from the Poly beach. We all really enjoyed them. It was like a panoramic picture. This was our first 4th of July visit, so we have nothing to compare it to, but to us it was great.

 

[thesoldtrain]

Okay, maybe I have some sort of answer to the MK issue? We just got back from our July 1-11 trip. We had originally planned on Epcot for the 4th, but ended up over at MK instead after almost everyone we talked with said those fireworks were not to be missed. So we headed there about 6ish, and settled in to the same spot we had viewed Wishes from a few nights prior. It was to the left of the castle by that fenced grassy area in front of the Crystal Palace. We loved that little area where the fence curved, allowing us more room for our dbl. stroller and 5 and 1 year olds to stretch. We missed some of the low stuff, but saw most of it just perfectly. So, we settled in about 7:00 or so right there and enjoyed duck and people watching while the place just got JAM PACKED. I was soooo glad that I had planned to get there a bit early to get a spot. Anyway, about 8:35 or so, it was VERY CROWDED and we watched a family of about 12 people climb over the fence at the grassy area next to the castle and tromp over to our area. This caused a HUGE, HUGE procession of people to follow suit and pretty soon, that entire HUGE grassy area was FULLLLLLL of tons of people. Now, some were trying to get to the other side, but there just wasn't room and then they started trying to climb the fence right in our area and I was doing my darndest to try to keep my babes from being squished by people's feet coming over...it was REALLY DARK and there was only one cast member in the area and people were just not listening to him. Anyway, we are talking LOADS and LOADS of people started trompling the fenced in bushes and plants and others were just standing there about 10 deep in front of us, which of course blocked the view entirely and people who had been waiting started getting REALLY angry, with cussing and threats going on from both sides (I tried to stay out of all of this, but when some teenager who had crossed he fence started telling people to F--- off REALLY loudly in front of my kids, I told him to shut his trap, he was in front of children). At about 10 till 9 it was CHAOS over there you guys! Was anyone else privy to this experience?!??! It got really scary for a while and then the cops came and were screaming and people were trying to scatter...it was scary because people were NOT watching where they were stepping and there was just no place to move. So, I THINK that may have been the delay because at 9:02 the cops were still out in front of us trying to get the mob under control. Ended up, I swear, probably 500+ people came through that one area we sat in and when the show started, the cops just told the people to sit down. The cast members (by now about 3-4) just were helpless...I felt really bad for them (and the poor plants and bushes that were left there trampled). My take on this...I KNOW it was crowded, by golly, but geez, Louise, it is the 4th of July and it doesn't take too much to know you need to find a place early and sit it, buddy . Fences are fences, keep out and stay put for 5 minutes like the rest of us. I don't know if this whole parade of people started out for some reason, but for sure it was a case of monkey see, monkey do for many of the rest of them and it just made it a really unpleasant experience in our area. The show itself was nice, I thought, but I too though they would stick it on the end of Wishes and honestly, by the time that whole fiasco occured, I was just happy to have safe kids and to get back to my hotel room....anyone else have any perspective on this if you were there?

 

[Chim Chiminy]

We were at Epcot on the 4th.

Nabbed a spot under the pagoda in Japan around 8:30. We had watched Illuminations from the same spot two years ago and thought it would provide a good view.

So glad I videoed the fireworks, they were spectacular.
First Illuminations was great, then they went right into the salute to America's men and women in uniform.
The booms were sooo loud, it felt like we were shaking. My son commented that he thought the pagoda was going to fall down on top of us!
I have never seen so many shots going off at one time, it was blinding!
Our group of eight adults declared it the best fireworks display any had ever seen. The two kids declared it loud.
Then to top it off, they projected images onto Spaceship Earth! Wonderful!!! So glad we chose Epcot for the fourth.

From our spot we were even able to see the fireworks at MGM.....got that on video too.

 

[DisKim]

Thesoldtrain - What a horrible experience! Were you at least able to see the fireworks ok once they started? I think my kids would have gotten so upset! We went to Epcot which was wonderful, as people have said. One drawback was the bus situation afterwards. I stayed at POFQ. When we saw the line for the bus we nearly died. It would have taken 10 buses to get all the people out of there. It was the worst bus line, by far. We decided to take the monorail to MK which worked out well. MK is the only park that has good transportation to PO. The rest were terrible.

 

[puffkin]

Dbond-

Thank you so much for clearing things up. I am glad that that isn't the normal 4th of July show, because I felt really ripped off. I was expecting at least 20 minutes, not 10 minutes. The whole ordeal was such a hassle and I wish I would have gone over to Epcot instead. I was starting to get worried because everyone else seemed to think the fireworks were great so thank you for explaining things (the fireworks were good for the short time they were going off) but I had been expecting so much more.

Thesoldtrain-

Wow, what an ordeal. I can imagine because it took me 20 minutes just to get to a vendor for a bottle of water. The whole area was just gridlocked.

 

[dbond]

thesoldtrain...That's terrible, I'm sure you were frightened by that experience. We weren't very far from you, but not aware of that going on at all. Who knows, that may have been the cause of the delay, if so, they may not have been able to get the original music track cued again and they skipped to the finale. I don't think the lightening had anything to do with it, it was very far away. TB's flight was probably scratched because of the weather, but we've stood there and made attempts to watch fireworks in much worse weather before, they have launched fireworks in pouring rain before when you couldn't even see them for all of the steam they were producing. If there was a potential dangerous crowd issue, I can see that becoming a concern and now that you mention it, I also noticed that they didn't dim the lights like usual. Hmmmm. That also explains all of the suits lining the Frontierland bridge afterwards and DH tried to casually ask one of them about the shortened show and he gave him a very stern reply. Which is unlike a Disney CM in the park. He must have been somewhat stressed. So glad you and your family are all OK.

 

[thesoldtrain]

dbond---That would make a lot of sense and sounds probable. As 1st timers there, of course ANY Disney show was great, but I did leave kind of thinking that maybe there would have been more, but like I said, I was just GLAD to be out of there after that. VERY EASY to see how crowd problems and riots happen...those people just were NOT listening at all...they had their own agenda, by golly. Even AFTER the show, a CM named Bobby and a few "suits" as you say were telling the people to just stay seated in that grassy area for their own safety until some of the crowd cleared. DO you think they listened? NOPE....even after those warnings, they crawled right on over the fence into crowds and crowds of people. VERY UN-Magical of them, methinks.
On a positive note....this was only 30-45 minutes of our 10 day trip and the rest was FANTASTIC!

Jeanette

 

[ducklite]

I was also disappointed by the MK fireworks. I expected them to last for 20+ minutes, and they were shorter than WISHES usually is.

Anne

 

[Ron G]

We viewed the 4th fireworks from the 4th floor Contemp. & there was no music piped in at all. Others did comment about the program being relatively short this year. They did launch fireworks from all around the lagoon on 2003 as well , so this year's program did not change at all from last years.

Ron

 

[tzvdmd]

We always go to EOCOT for the 4th. I was impressed again this year but I think this year was the last. To many "non-Disney" people ruining the day for uscompaired with past years. Sounds as though some of you ran into the same thing.
One more thing, ducklite needs to stop putting pictures of her house in the posts. It's making me very jealous!

 

[ILoveDiz]

We watched the fireworks from the Rose and Crown. Only disappointment was the private viewing area for the R and C was small and crowded and poor view of Illuminations but an awesome view of the fireworks. Never seen such a great show