Category — p. News and Changes

See below for your choices for 4th of July fireworks at Walt Disney World–including July 3rd!

(See this for more on July 2010 at Walt Disney World.)

Disney World 4th of July Fireworks on Friday, July 3:

• Magic Kingdom:  “Celebrate America Fireworks” at 9p. Park open until 11p, with Extra Magic Hours until 2a

Disney World 4th of July Fireworks on Saturday July 4:

• Magic Kingdom:  “Celebrate America Fireworks” at 9p.  Park open until 1a.
• Epcot: “Illuminations” at 10p, with a special holiday ending. Park open until 10p, with Extra Magic Hours until 1a
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: special fireworks show at 9.50p.  Park open until 10p
• For events other than fireworks, see this

Suggestions for Disney World Fireworks

As Mark Goldhaber at Mouseplanet.com notes here, “crowd levels will be extremely high, as this is one of the busiest days of the year at Walt Disney World (especially with the holiday occurring on a Saturday this year). Parks may close their gates early due to capacity. ”

Those following this site’s summer itinerary for Walt Disney World will be at either Epcot or the Magic Kingdom (depending on whether July 4 is the first or last Saturday of their itinerary.

Those at Epcot should have no problem.

Those trying to see the Magic Kingdom may find the park closed, in which case Epcot is their best alternative. 

Epcot is less likely to be closed than the Studios, and, with its Extra Magic Hours, will not put you in the spot of having to leave with the massive crowd when the fireworks are over.

A SMALL LANDMARK

Sometime yesterday, this site crossed 150,000 visitors; sometime today, it will cross one million page views.

These are minor blips in the cosmic scheme of the Internet. Lady Gaga must do that every five minutes…but even so, considering that when I started a couple of years ago, all I knew was that I thought this site had something to contribute, and that my mom would probably read it…I am kind of astonished.

Thanks to all of you for coming and looking around! And more importantly, I hope the site has helped!

To celebrate, I am going to Walt Disney World this weekend—to see and review a few changes, re-test a couple of elements of my Disney World summer itinerary for first time visitors, and see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

WHAT’S NEXT

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SUMMER DISNEY WORLD AIR TRAVEL

The airlines have reduced capacity over the course of the recession.  This means higher fares, and more planes that are full, or almost full.

Full planes are a tough problem in the summer.

This is because summer thunderstorms historically lead to a spike in cancelled flights. When flights are already full, it’s very hard to get re-booked onto another flight if yours is cancelled—because so few seats are available on other flights.

MAKING AIR TRAVEL TOUGHER

New this summer are new federal rules on airport delays.  These may have a good long term effect on air travel.  In the short term—that is, this summer—they will lead to even more cancellations.

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DISNEY MILITARY DEALS 2010

Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com notes here that Walt Disney World has extended the booking window for its 2010 Disney Armed Forces Salute from July 31st to August 31st.

As Steve notes, the other limits of this program–such as that tickets must be used by September 30, and activated by September 26th–remain.

See this for more on this Disney military promotion.

LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

• Military Families at Walt Disney World
• Deals and Discounts
  • Military Discounts and Deals
  • Other Walt Disney World Discounts and Deals
• Shades of Green
  • Review of Shades of Green
  • Splitting Your Stay Between Shades of Green and Another Resort
  • Overflow Rates at Shades of Green
  • Shades of Green website
• Other Resources for Military Families
  • DisneyMilitarySales.com
  • Disneyworld.com/military
  • MilitaryDisneyTips.com

MADE YOUR PLANS FOR YOUR FIRST VISIT TO DISNEY WORLD YET?

This site recommends that first time family visitors arrive at Walt Disney World the Saturday a week after Thanksgiving—in 2010, that’s December 4th.

It also recommends that your Walt Disney World plans be firm more than 180 days in advance, because with that timing you can reserve the best—and most quick to book solid—Disney dining venues.

Well, 180 days before December 4 is tomorrow…so have you made your plans for your first trip to Disney World yet?

WHY IS THAT WEEK THE TARGET DATE?

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LIKING/SHARING YOURFIRSTVISIT.NET

If you are a Facebook user, you can give a thumbs up to this site in two ways (and don’t forget to vote early and often…):

• You can like the whole darn site by clicking the “like” button on the upper right side——->
• You can like an individual page by clicking the “f share” button at the bottom of that page.

PRIVACY IMPLICATIONS OF LIKING OR SHARING THIS SITE ON FACEBOOK

Update June 2010: it looks as though Facebook’s recent privacy mess has led it to stop showing you if your friends like this site.

You seem to see only your own name after you like it (and then only if your computer is signed in to Facebook), and not any others.    That means I don’t see your name, even if we are Facebook Friends.

And what’s not to like?

If you are seeing something other than this–other people besides you–let me know via the comment form below.

By the way, there are a few sites that get, or have access to, extensive data from Facebook about you, when you like or share.  This one is not one of them!!!  I get nothing!  Nothing!

MY PRIVACY POLICY

For the privacy policy of this site, see this.