Just back - 4th of July

[jaguar9748]

Had a great 6-night stay at the world! Stayed at Riverside the first 3 nights in the alligator bayou and then switched to a 1-bedroom villa at Old Key West the last 3 nights. The world was very crowded and humid, but we had a really great time!! Any questions, ask away!!

 

[tinawv]

Glad you had a great time in spite of the hot and humid weather. What was the wait time like on the rides an attractions? Our trips have always been in September and early December, and I have always wondered what the average wait times are during peak season. Thanks.

 

[cocoswife]

Welcome back!!

- Did you do any of the evening EMH? if you did were they extremely crowded?? Were the fast pass machines running?

-Would you return on 4th of July week??

 

[jaguar9748]

I would say that the 4th of July week is beyond peak. It was very, very crowded. We had been to the world the past 4 Christmas's and this week was much, much busier. Average wait times for the popular rides were 60 - 90 minutes. Fast passes were available but many times the fast pass line had a long wait too.

We will not go again the week of the 4th of July! We always wanted to see the fireworks on the 4th and we're so glad we did, but once is enough!!

Magic Kingdom on the 4th was busy, busy, busy!!!

Surprisingly on the 6th we headed back to Magic Kingdom for Wishes and Spectro and the crowds were very, very light so we took advantage of that. Magic Kingdom was not the late park this night and there had been a few rain showers.

We did not do extra morning hours because we had a puppy at the Ft. Wilderness kennel that had to be walked. The kennel opened at 7:30 AM. We have done extra morning hours in the past and they are great!!

My young adult children did the EMH at Magic Kingdom the last night (July 7th). This was the official opening of the Pirates of the Caribbean and the day the movie opened. In the morning, the line for Pirates was 90 minutes long at 9:40!!! It was still 30 minutes long at 11 PM. They got to ride almost everything they wanted at the EMH (11 PM - 2 AM) but Peter Pan which apparently had an incredible wait. Their longest waits were Pirates and Space Mountain. They loved the EMH and definitely want to do it again!!

 

[wdwnut61]

Welcome back jaguar9748

Enjoyed reading your post. We've also been to Disney between Christmas and New Years but never over the July 4th holiday. It's hard to imagine bigger crowds than right after Xmas. Glad to hear the crowds thinned out some after the 4th.

 

[mickey0930]

was this your first stay at OKW? How would you rate this resort?

 

[jaguar9748]

This was our 2nd stay at OKW. The first time we had a studio. This time we had a 1-bedroom villa. The villa was spectacular! Full kitchen, queen sofa bed, loveseat, easy chair, huge TV, dining room table, full-size washer and dryer, king bed, huge bathroom. Very relaxing! We were in building 11 across from the hospitality house so it was very convenient! We saved a ton of money on food by preparing our own. OKW was very nice. It is very true that you don't feel like you're in Disney at OKW - it is very laid back. My DD thought it was too laid back - she likes to be more in the action!

The main pool is great. The slide was lots of fun according to other family members. We've eaten at Olivia's in the past and it is very good.

I would definitely recommend a car at OKW. The bus transportation is a little slower than other resorts (in my opinion). There are also 5 bus stops in the resort so it takes the buses time to make the loop. We drove to all of the parks except MK (we thought the buses more convenient getting to MK).

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

Glad you had a great time!

 

[Dis31]

We jsut got back from the 4th at Riverside also!!!! We actually didn't find the crowds to be too bad. The 4th was busy , but after that we were fine. Mk was great on the 5th we had very little waits. We hit all the major rides Space mountain, Splash mountain, Thunder mountain,indy raceway and more. Maybe we were jsut at the right parks at the right time?

 

[Goofy_4_WDW]

Glad to hear you had a great trip! How did you like POR? What building did you get? We will be staying there in August, requested building # 14 to be close to food court. I don't know how lucky we will be in getting it.
Thanks!

 

[Dis31]

Goofy- We also requested building 14 , but didn't get it. We got one of the mansion building # 95 the last one. We really didn't like it as much as AB section so we changed to building 28 in AB the next day. I asked at check in about building 14 and the lady wasn't the nicest she snaped at me when I poliety mentioned we had made a request, and said she sorry this is the only room available and that was it lol.

 

[roryc]

Not to steal your thread, but we were there from 7/1-7/4 and we found that MK on 7/3 opened from 8AM thru 1AM regular hours for Everyone and then until 4AM with EMH for Resort Guests to be awesome in the morning and truly hellacious at night.

I don't think that most people realized that MK was open on 7/3 at 8AM. Our bus driver at SOG had no idea and they had to add the MK passengers to the 7:30 Blizzard Beach bus. By 9AM, we had done the carousel twice, Dumbo twice, the teacups, the Indy cars, Buzz Lightyear and Stitch. Everything we went to had a 5min wait posted I would have been thrilled with this timing during Value Season, let alone July 4th weekend. By 2 PM we had done everything we wanted to do except for Splash Mountain.

We decided to swim, then nap. Then we had an 8:30 PM Fourth of July Fireworks cruise--Awesome (they did the special 4th of July fireworks display on both the 3rd and the 4th); dined at the Concourse Steakhouse and then got in the park around 11PM.

By 11PM, it was truly a mob scene. Horrible. All we did was head straight for Splash Mountain and then took the train back to Main Street and we didn't get out until about 1:10 AM. I mean we didn't stop for souvenirs, snacks or anything. And it was amazing how hot and humid it still was. My sister stayed with her boys until 4AM and she said it was still quite crowded until 3AM. Unbelievable!

I just wanted to post because we found that both days we were in the parks in the mornings were awesome for those of you who might be thinking about going next year. Stay clear of parks late in the day though.

 

[cocoswife]

Thanks!

 

[jaguar9748]

We were in alligator bayou 39. We were told we got the last AB room. It was fine. We don't spend time at the food court and drive to all of the resorts but MK. The room was quiet and had a beautiful woods view. We love Riverside in total, but love the AB much better over the mansions.

It is so interesting to hear others stories of crowds. I really think it depends on what you choose to do each day. The line for Pirates of the Caribbean Friday morning 7/7 at 9:40 AM was 90 minutes long! Wow - I've never seen that!

Glad everyone had a good time! It was a wonderful, wonderful vacation for us!!!