4th of July at the parks?

[DisneyFan1979]

I would love to hear others' experiences with being in Disney around 4th of July? How do the crowds compare to Christmas and New Years Eve?

I heard that sometimes MK closes to capacity on the 4th, does anyone recall that happening with Epcot? I am an AP holder, so I only plan to venture to the parks in the evenings--I'd like to see the Epcot fireworks on the 4th.

With having a vacation home in FL since 2017 and being a 2 trips/year visitor for about 10 years previous--funnily enough I've never been in July!!!

[Disney4]

Forget the MK if you are there on the 4th. It was crowded. Scary crowded. We grabbed a spot to watch the fireworks and the crowd started pushing so hard, people wound up having to jump the fencing and crawled into the landscaping. Never again.

Epcot was not as crowded. That park just handles crowd flow better. There are far more options to get away from the masses IMO. I would definitely stick to Epcot.

[DisneyFan1979]

Forget the MK if you are there on the 4th. It was crowded. Scary crowded. We grabbed a spot to watch the fireworks and the crowd started pushing so hard, people wound up having to jump the fencing and crawled into the landscaping. Never again.

Epcot was not as crowded. That park just handles crowd flow better. There are far more options to get away from the masses IMO. I would definitely stick to Epcot.

Thanks! Your comments confirm my thought to avoid MK! The MK does the same fireworks on the 3rd, so we may watch those from the Poly or the Grand Floridian. Family members did that for the NYE fireworks on 12/30 and it worked well.

[minnie-mouse]

Are the fireworks at Epcot and MK totally 4th of July themed on the 4th or will it still be the happily ever after show? Will their be patriot music instead?

[DisneyFan1979]

Are the fireworks at Epcot and MK totally 4th of July themed on the 4th or will it still be the happily ever after show? Will their be patriot music instead?

I wanted to update this thread with a trip report:

The MK fireworks on 7/3 and 7/4 are special fireworks with patriotic music. I watched them from the Poly beach on 7/3. There was a crowd, but it was very manageable. People were sitting on the beach as early as 2 hours beforehand, but I got a space about 20 minutes beforehand and it was fine. Cast members kept the sidewalk clear at all times. This is definitely a great fireworks viewing spot for those who don't like the overcrowded feeling at MK. There were barriers piled on the beach that I believe they put up on the 4th to make a reserved area for Poly guests. The resort was quite busy overall, but it had the fun, festive feeling generally.

I watched the Epcot fireworks on 7/4. I would describe the park as busy, but manageable as well. A Saturday night during Food & Wine is much busier in my opinion. One challenge is that they light up extra fireworks over the USA pavilion, so the large restrooms there are blocked starting at about 8:00. This made the other restrooms in the area very crowded. This may change in the future, since this was the last 4th of July fireworks combined with Illuminations.

[Figment!]

Thanks for sharing your trip report. :thumbsup:

I'm sure it will help others plan for next year.