Quick review of 4th of July week

[missiloveslouie]

I traveled during the dreaded holiday week, July 2nd-July 10th with my husband and DD (11). We planned well in advance and read this forum but we were still a little scared about the crowds. I'm pleased to report that we had a wonderful week with good weather (hot, yes, but little rain) and perfectly manageable crowds! We utilized our fastpasses and made dining reservations as soon as our window opened. We were still able to change some fastpasses the same day.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and went to the parks at rope drop, ate lunch at a sit-down restaurant, went back to POR for a nap around 3pm, and then went back to the parks around 6pm. This worked perfectly. Epcot, HS, and AK were a lot less crowded in the evening - especially during EHM.

For the fireworks shows, we went to MK on the 3rd. They have the same fireworks over the lagoon as in the park so instead of entering the park we watched from the benches by the ferry docks as people packed in. On the 4th, we went to AK during the day and Epcot at night for the special Illuminations. There were still spots around the world showcase all night, even during the show! It was so unexpected.

MK was the most crowded as always, but I could tell that attendance was lower than our last trip in August of 2014. The exception was Disney Springs - that place was a madhouse! Good thing that we were not interested in spending too much time there. I'm sure all of the new shops are great for the locals, but personally I don't go to Disney to see the same stores that I see at every outlet and strip mall in the Cleveland suburbs.

I truly hope that this trend continues for our next trip!

 

[famy27]

We were there the 2-4 and had the same experience. MK was crowded, but everything else was very manageable, and much less crowded than our last trip the first week of March. We watched the fireworks on the 3rd from Contemporary at the DVC dessert party. I didn't want to be stuck in the MK crowd either. We did go to MK after 10:00 to hit EMH, and by the end of the night, we were just riding BTMRR over and over. At EP on the 4th, we walked right up to Belle for her M&G in France. There was nobody else around. So weird but fantastic.