what to do on 4th July

[Scottish_Maleficent]

Next year our trip takes in 4th July. Now I know that the parks are usually much busier on that day, but what I want to know is, how busy do they really get? What are q's like and stuff?
Is there anything special happens in the parks? Which park would be best to go to if any??
Is it worthwhile putting up with the extra crowds just to 'be there', or should we skip it and hit the 4th July sales instead??

We will be a party of 9 - 4 adults 5 kids aged 4 - 11.

By the way, are the sales 4th July really as good as I've been hearing???

Thanx in advance

 

[MKDEBS]

Hi,

I can't answer your question about the parks from experience but I was in Orlando July 4th last year and had heard the parks were very busy because the locals like to go there to celebrate.
So we made it one of our rest days, Pool in the morning and shopping in the afternoon.

You could brave one of the parks but it depends if you can cope with the crowds or not.

Hope this helps. Oh and also your question about the sales to be honest I didn't notice about the prices because evrythings cheaper anyway. I shopped for England while I was there.

im sure you'll have fun whatever you decide to do.

Debs

 

[brigadoon]

Hi

We were there for the 4th July two years ago and have chosen to go again at the same time next year. MK was closed to new visitors in the afternoon, but everything else seemed OK. We went to Epcot and stayed for the fireworks, and will probably do that next time as the show was so good and there are probably more decent viewing areas there than in the other parks.

My plan this time is to book a decent restaurant in the park for the evening to break up the day, as the queues in the fast food joints were diabolical and seats were very hard to find.

I can't remember much about big queues on the rides, other than having to wait an hour for TT with a Fastpass, but I don't think that was on the 4th. One tip is to keep away from any school parties, as that slows things right down.

I wouldn't bother queuing to get the bus back to the car after the fireworks, as the queues on the 4th really were shocking and slow, and they weren't helped by people walking towards the car park and then jumping on to returning empty buses for a lift. After a while though, they got so much abuse from the crowds that only the bravest or stupidest stayed on.

We thought that time of year was great, despite some crowds, as everything was open late, everything was working and the waterparks need as much heat as possible anyway. Friends who have been outside the main season say that many things seemed to be restricted, so we'd rather take the heat and occasional queuing.

My wife shopped every day but one, including the 4th, and doesn't report the 4th as being anything special. We definitely overdid the shopping last time, but don't intend to bother much at all this time.

 

[tyke]

We were in Orlando for July 4th a couple of years ago and went to Universal for the day - we park hopped between the Studios and IOA and although it was busy we did not really notice a difference in the crowd levels from any of the other days during our trip as the parks at that time of year tend to be crowded anyway !

We returned to Universal Citywalk at night to attend the July 4th celebrations and it was fantastic - aswell as the usual citywalk entertainment there was a huge stage erected on the lake with live bands performing - the highlight of the evening was a fireworks display set over both parks - it was totally amazing !

Citywalk was very crowded at night but I think this added to the whole atmosphere and made it even more enjoyable !

Tyke