Disney Crowds

There have been two times in my life that I can recall being at Walt Disney World during the Fourth of July.  The first time was when I was about eight years old.  I can remember staying at the Contemporary Resort.  We always stayed in a room that overlooked the castle.  At the time, Epcot was relatively new.  I know that the night of the Fourth of July my family of five was in the hotel room.  We watched the fireworks from the balcony.  There had been a number of thunderstorms that had passed through that day so the fact that the fireworks had been lit at all was remarkable.  I had wanted to be in the parks to see the fireworks but my parents had wanted to be in the room.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2006 that I really understood why my parents felt safer in the hotel room.  That summer we travelled as a group of 13 adults and an eighteen month old.  During the day, several of the parks had reached capacity.  After dinner we decided to watch the Illuminations show at the World Showcase in Epcot.  My mother decided to head back to the room with my young son.

I can never remember a time that I was more claustrophobic at the parks.  We had entered through the main gate at Epcot and headed to the World Showcase.  Everyone in the group was very familiar with the layout of the park.  As we rounded the corner to head toward the Canadian pavilion there was an overwhelming mass of humanity scurrying in what felt like a million directions.  Our group of ten adults held hands as we tried to wind our way through the people.  I was the second person in our connected line and even as an adult grew fearful as I lost the hand of the person in the lead. 

As we passed by the Refreshment Port the group had completely separated from one another.  We had picked a spot to meet between the Canadian and the United Kingdom pavilions.  The fireworks that night were spectacular and well worth the effort.  I was so happy that I had the chance to enjoy the Fourth of July in such a magical spot.  I will also be forever grateful that my mother took my son back to the hotel and that we did not have a carriage to push through the bottlenecked mess.     

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Independence Day!