How Bad is the week of July 4th?

We have only been once, last year for the 4th. We thought it was crazy. After reading all the peoples response we must not know what crazy is!! The pic i tried to upload is the 4th at 3pm, hope it loads.
We are scheduled to go again this Thanksgiving. I am hopeing that its better than the 4th!
 
I'll echo what a lot of others have said about last year being manageable. We were there from like June 30th - July 8th and while it was crowded, we found it manageable and still had a great time. We are lucky enough to get to go fairly often so we didn't feel the need to wait in long times for rides and stuck mainly with our FastPasses and then would hope in a line every now and then if it seemed okay. Spent 2 half days at the waterparks, spent a half day at the resort pool (AKL), spent an evening at Disney Springs. Not spending all the time in the parks helped us feel like we weren't constantly surrounded by crowds. The most crowded times were definitely the 3rd and 4th. We watched MK fireworks on the 3rd and Epcot on the 4th. If you can get a FastPass for Illuminations on the 4th, it was totally worth it, and those were seriously the BEST fireworks I've ever seen in my entire life, the ground was literally shaking from the fireworks.

We went into the week thinking we were going to be hot & miserable with people all around us and it really wasn't quite a fun trip. Marathon Weekend this past January was WAY WAY WAY more crowded than 4th of July week last year. I would go again over that time and not hesitate.
 
We have only been once, last year for the 4th. We thought it was crazy. After reading all the peoples response we must not know what crazy is!! The pic i tried to upload is the 4th at 3pm, hope it loads.
We are scheduled to go again this Thanksgiving. I am hopeing that its better than the 4th!

Lol, I contributed to the “not the bad” chatter above, but I should caveat that yes, I found the 3rd and 4th quite stout crowd wise (we were in/around the MK both of those days and nights).

On the 3rd, I watched the fireworks from Poly, waited maybe 20-30 mins, then headed to the MK (they had EMH’s that night to midnight or 1, can’t quite remember). Wowsers - the sea of people heading out of the park while I was trying to get in was intense. At one point I was sort of stuck between Casey’s and the Plaza Ice Cream parlor and couldn’t really move. Just log jammed.

It quickly passed and was just a minor inconvenience overall. But an example of a ‘crazy’ / elbow-rubbing part of the day. :-)

I guess point being, anyone going on 7/3 and 7/4 should keep a very open mind and flexible plans, in my opinion.
 
Sorry @Klayfish, I will respect your opinion, but pictures and experiences of friends/relatives don't lie, and their saying 'never gonna do it again' :goodvibes

This past weekend there were long lines at some CS's and restrooms - the busiest we've been in personally! And this was just a F&G weekend! During the week now/last week is fine.
Just proves how different people's experiences can be at the same time because we have had great experiences and we are planning our next trip in 2020, you guessed it...the week of July 4th!

Also, this past weekend was more than 'just a F&G weekend'. This is April vacation week in some states. I live in MA and we know many families who went down for the week, several of whom took their children out of school last Friday to make sure they had that extra time.
 


We are going July 4th to 10th! We've never been at that time, but I'm not expecting outrageous crowds.

Based on dining reservations, its been much easier to get ADR's this time, than when we have gone the last week of November, beginning of December, August, last week of January and June!

It's shocking to still see CRT,BOG, 'Ohana breakfast, Chef Mickey's etc. still available! I have been moving my ADR's around with no issues at all. I even saw Victoria & Albert's yesterday! I've never seen that one available!

I was shocked to see all the open ADRs as well. We originally booked our July stay last fall and I made our ADRs in January, but we ended up switching resorts and I found it surprising that I was able to switch our ADRs. I just looked and every table service in MK except BOG and CRT still have openings for dinner on 7/4.

Any of you recent 4th of July week people recall how bad it was getting additional FPs? I see at least one person said they were able to get additional. Anyone else?

We have been many times during this week but not for a few years. Last bunch of years we spent the week between Christmas and New Years. Actually with FP all booked during the evening hours it was not bad at all. July was always workable and I would not defer from going.

Thx

We've been over the 4th every year for the past 4. We've always gotten additional FP. Usually never for the hard to get like TSMM, FoP, 7DMT, TT, Soarin', or PP, but sometimes there is availability for 1 or 2 guests. We are a party of 5 but will split up if the older kids or DH want to ride something. My DH is a little detailed and keeps notes in his phone for what we ride/do each day. On July 9 we got a late start and didn't have our first FP until after lunch at MK. As soon as we checked in for FP #3 I jumped on the MDE app. I think I was able to do this for FP 4, 5, 6, and maybe 7.
 
We were there last year and had a great time. This year is likely to be different because Toy Story Land. But we did not find it to be crazy crowded. We avoided MK on the 3rd and 4th, and watched the fireworks both of those nights from the Poly (where we were staying).

The one time we did think it was crazy was during HEA. The rest of MK did not seem too crowded that day, but if we had not had the dessert party reserved seating, i would not have been able to take it in that crowd. There's no way I would have tried to be in MK for the fireworks on the 3rd or 4th!

We went in 2016 also, arriving on the 5th, and were surprised by how "not crowded" it seemed.
 
We were there last year and had a great time. This year is likely to be different because Toy Story Land. But we did not find it to be crazy crowded. We avoided MK on the 3rd and 4th, and watched the fireworks both of those nights from the Poly (where we were staying).

The one time we did think it was crazy was during HEA. The rest of MK did not seem too crowded that day, but if we had not had the dessert party reserved seating, i would not have been able to take it in that crowd. There's no way I would have tried to be in MK for the fireworks on the 3rd or 4th!

We went in 2016 also, arriving on the 5th, and were surprised by how "not crowded" it seemed.

3 pages and the first mention of Toy Story Land. I don’t know, if it was me, I’d expect huge crowds and hope I’m wrong.
 


My job gave us a 6 day weekend for the 4th so we are going July 1st - 14th. We are planning HS on the 2nd, MK on the 3rd, and AK on the 4th. We are going early and are staying CL and doing the extra FPs. We are not staying for the fireworks on the 3rd or 4th and will be chillin' at the resort those evenings. I expect crowds but we were there over Christmas and Spring Break so I think we are prepared and i don't believe the whole week will be as crowded as those times and even if they are we will still have a fabulous time.
 
3 pages and the first mention of Toy Story Land. I don’t know, if it was me, I’d expect huge crowds and hope I’m wrong.
Yep. We went to Hollywood Studios on the 4th last year and it was great--used our initial FP+ and did everything except RRC and ToT before lunch. Then got FP for RRC while we were at lunch, then were able to get immediate FP+ for RRC, ToT, TSM, each more than once. Left mid-afternoon, so maybe it got more crowded as the evening went on, but we were pleased. Feel pretty certain that would not be the case this year.
 
Being a guest at WDW during any holiday period, Spring Breaks or summer time is not something I would do.
 
Being a guest at WDW during any holiday period, Spring Breaks or summer time is not something I would do.
I said the same thing for years. Then I somehow ended up with a middle-school-aged kid and missing more than a day of school here and there doesn't work for us anymore. So it's either wait the 10 years until my kids get through high school, or go at a holiday!

It seems in the past few years, Disney has gotten to where the cut capacity and hours in the less crowded times, so wait times are high even when it's not crowded.
 
Being a guest at WDW during any holiday period, Spring Breaks or summer time is not something I would do.
I always said the same thing, but two years ago that’s exactly where I was....but I didn’t go to any park on the 4th of July. For 2019, the plan is to go after the 4th of July. DD graduates that year and we can’t go the last two weeks in August.
 
I said the same thing for years. Then I somehow ended up with a middle-school-aged kid and missing more than a day of school here and there doesn't work for us anymore. So it's either wait the 10 years until my kids get through high school, or go at a holiday!
I understand, but if that were my only choice, I'd pass and do something else on my vacation. There are so many other good alternatives.
It seems in the past few years, Disney has gotten to where the cut capacity and hours in the less crowded times, so wait times are high even when it's not crowded.
I've read that, mostly on here, but I haven't seen it firsthand.
 
I got a PPO BOG for July 3 this morning. I'm starting to think that maybe the 3rd might turn out to be reasonable after all.

Now if they'd just open the desert parties ...
 
We made our first trip to DW arriving on the 4th of July. Planned the trip in 2 weeks and boom we were there. Crowds were much more reasonable than what we dealt with during the Christmas/New Year season. Since we arrived on the 4th we didn't enter the parks and instead had dinner at HDDR and watched the fireworks from the beach at Poly.

This year we'll arrive on the 3rd and I still haven't decided if we'll enter the parks on the 4th. We'll be staying at Contemporary for the start of our trip so will have a good view of the fireworks from the hotel.
 
I got a PPO BOG for July 3 this morning. I'm starting to think that maybe the 3rd might turn out to be reasonable after all.

Now if they'd just open the desert parties ...

You probably know this so just ignore this post, but I'd say there's a somewhat decent chance that the current 9AM opening on 7/3 will be changed to 8AM at some point, making your breakfast ADR not PPO. I did a quick check of Touringplans for historical hours and it looks like that day has been an 8AM opening 4 out of the last 5 years. Of course, anything is possible. Just FYI!
 
Yeah, I figured. I think that because HS should be pulling more people, they're more likely to open earlier there. But the family wants to do it, and it's still early. Not a jump on RD, but early to maybe steal one of the mountains without too much wait.

Maybe :)

I just checked, and DHS is having both an 8 AM opening and EMH on July 3. So maybe.
 
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Between working there for 2 years and a birthday weekend (July 2nd, the fireworks were always for my bday as a kid!), I've been at WDW for the last 3 July 4th weeks. It is very crowded, though last year I noticed it wasn't as bad as previous years, with the exception of course of Pandora. Certainly better than Christmas and New Year crowds. I would expect Toy Story and thus HS to be a total mess, having just opened. Might help draw the crowds from the other parks, though last year HS didn't have its usual 4th fireworks, which would mean more people at Epcot and MK.

Overall, I'd expect high crowds, mostly concentrated on the new land. Find ways to build heat and crowd breaks into your day (I'm sure you know this, but I've found it's really good to make those breaks a priority to prevent being overwhelmed by crowds). Also, MK runs it's special 4th fireworks on the 3rd as well, and that tends to be a little less crowded than the actual 4th, and then you can spend the actual 4th at Epcot or AK, both big parks that dissipate crowds well.
 
Thank you for all the replies. We are going!!! We’ve booked our first ever stay at Fort Wilderness, which was free because of credit card signup bonuses. We’ll use our annual passes and drive from Michigan with 4 kids. We will adjust our expectations and just be happy to be at Disney. I was surprised we were able to get Mickeys Backyard BBQ reservations for July 4th. We are going to do early mornings, skip the fireworks, and enjoy some resort time on the 4th. A crowded week at Disney will be better than a week in Michigan.
 

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