Independence Day in Kenny's World

July 4th, 1999: Three Sets of Fireworks

Call me insane. But I *like* to go to Walt Disney World on the most crowded days of the year: Independence Day, New Year's Eve, final performance of the *first* round of the Main Street Electrical Parade. So, it was time again . . . another July 4th was rolling around.

Last July 4th, I couldn't do the fireworks tour for two very similar reasons relating to the wildfires of Florida. Last July 4th, the fireworks were canceled basically every where in Central Florida because of the fires. And for me personally, I was not at home during last July 4th, because, I live in Flagler County now, the county that last year was totally evacuated because of the fires in the Palm Coast area. Last year, it was a rather unique July 4th. Didn't know where I was going to be nor what I was going to be doing . . . but didn't have to worry about trying to see the fireworks at Walt Disney World.

So, this year, July 4th was going to be close to the beginning of my new annual passport. Each year, I take between three and four weeks off in between my renewals of my annual passports. So, July 4th was going to be something I was going to be ready for. I would be refreshed and raring to go again . . . energy level up. :)

So, on one of my prior visits the week before (I finally did renew my annual passport and was in the Studios at the time), I checked with Guest Relations to verify the times of the fireworks. Usually on July 4th, the Magic Kingdom kicks of the fireworks at 9:00 p.m., then the Studios at 9:50 p.m. and then Epcot at 10:00 p.m.. Well, I had two of the three correct. Because of Fantasmic!, the Studios' fireworks would be at 10:30 p.m. . . . hmm . . . *that* COULD work I said to myself . . . we *will* have to try *that*.

Walt Disney World fireworks photos by Karl Buiter

So . . . off I started telling folks my plan . . . and asked Rob Olsan if he was doing anything on July 4th. Found out he wasn't . . . and he decided he was in for the tour. I told my brother what I was doing . . . and he decided to tag along too. And then Rachel . . . well . . . she had nothing better to do while in the US during some cockeyed US holiday . . . so she decided she would give it a try too. 

Now, the plans were getting serious. I knew the Magic Kingdom to Epcot trip could be done easily using the monorails and not having to worrying about timing . . . the 45 minutes to make that trip is plenty of time with no worries there. 

My worries were in the 12-15 minutes we had to get from Epcot to Disney-MGM Studios. It just can't be done . . . and of course if it *could* be done . . . it could only be done in perfect driving conditions . . . no one else on the road. :) But this was going to be July 4th . . . one of the busiest days at Walt Disney World.

Quickest driving was definitely going to be from an Epcot Resort to the Disney-MGM Studios. So the plan was to valet park the car at the Beach Club and use the car to get from Epcot to the Disney-MGM Studios.

The plans are set . . . now just the meeting times of getting all four of us together. So the day begins. 

Walt Disney World fireworks photos by Karl Buiter

My brother and I were to meet Rob at the Fountainview Cafe at 3 p.m. That was the easy part . . . and worked out great . . . now we just had to waste some time until the next parts of the plans. My brother wanted to be able to watch the Semifinal game of the US in the Women's World Cup soccer match . . . and that was to start at 4:30 p.m.. And Rob had told Rachel that he would meet her at the Magic Kingdom flagpole at 4:30 p.m. So we had some time to kill . . . well . . . it *was* Independence Day . . . so off to the American Adventure. We got the American Adventure in, and left my brother at the International Gateway to find his way to the ESPN Sports Club to watch the soccer match. And Rob and I went off to the Magic Kingdom to find Rachel . . . well we *thought* we were off to the Magic Kingdom to find Rachel. The Magic Kingdom parking lot was full, and they weren't letting folks in. We weren't expecting this, because the signs didn't say the MK parking lot was full. So plans B, C and D came into play . . . and out of play just as quickly.

Well, poor old Rachel, turned out to be one of the *least* important parts of our plan. So we worked on the car positioning first . . . got the car where we needed it to be as the highest priority . . . we could *easily* find Rachel later . . . but if the car wasn't in the right place . . . we weren't going to make it. 

Turns out that Rachel was late to the flagpole . . . so it didn't really matter that Rob was late too . . . but Rachel *did* make it to the flagpole before Rob made it to the Magic Kingdom. Timing was getting crazy . . . so I left Rob, off he went to the Magic Kingdom, off I went to get my brother at the ESPN Sports Club. Rob and I had made *three* different meeting arrangements just in case we couldn't catch up with each other.

Walt Disney World fireworks photos by Karl Buiter

Rob made it to the flagpole well after the designated time . . . and after the time Rachel was willing to wait (even though *she* was late too. :)). Rob, then wanted to check out the Tomorrowland tip board . . . cause that was the first meeting place he and I were going to try to catch up at. He thought he knew what I was talking about . . . but wanted to be sure. He found it where he expected to be, and then realized that Rachel *loved* the Buzz Lightyear ride . . . lo and behold . . . as he looked up, who else but Rachel was in the queue for Buzz Lightyear . . . so now we are back to two groups of two trying to find each other.

There was still some time left before the first meeting time, so Rachel and Rob also rode the Haunted Mansion. Well . . . they thought there was some time left. My brother and I made it to the first meeting spot ahead of time . . . we took turns heading to the restroom . . . but Rob and Rachel were still no where to be found. Finally we decided to ride Buzz Lightyear since it was only a 30 minute line. And lo and behold when we made it to the part of the queue near the tip board . . . guess who we found. I got out of line . . . and left my brother to ride the attraction. So we finally were all together again. 

We walked around the long way to Main Street to see how crowded it was . . . everyone else definitely thought it was crowded . . . I still remembered it with more people in it . . . so I still didn't think it was *that* bad *yet*. :)

Rachel wanted to do another attraction *any* attraction, but I wouldn't let her. I knew it wasn't a part of the plan. We were too close to the beginning of the fireworks (less than an hour away), and we weren't quite in the right spot. We finally made our way down to the Town Square portion of Main Street . . . had a potty break (we would want to take them when we could now . . . because, we might not have time in the future). Then we wanted to find a Coke, as we were judging the lines for Cokes, Rachel showed us the sensors in the road for the parades. Although, I knew they existed, I never had looked for them . . . but I knew where they *should* be. I know where the zones are, but have never looked for the sensors. So we ran up MS for the second set of sensors. I blew it. I was heading for the *front* of the float changing zones . . . instead of heading for the *back* of the float changing zones. But that took us up to Center Street . . . and to another Coke stand. So we bought our Cokes . . . and then headed out to Main Street . . . and the fireworks began. Dueling Fireworks.

The Magic Kingdom Fantasy in the Sky presentation for Independence Day is completely different from the normal Fantasy in the Sky presentation (though, the last time I saw the July 4th version, I don't think they had it *completely* different.). A part of the Independence Day version has always been dueling fireworks throughout the display and then they have fireworks around the perimeter at certain points, including the finale.

The finale was beginning . . . so we went off to the monorail station to beat the crowd. Almost perfect timing . . . we were loaded and off in no time . . . and were wondering where Steve was going to be by the time we made it to the TTC . . . Rachel and Rob were checking the other side of the platform . . . while lo and behold . . . Steve showed up in my face, on my side of the platform . . . we all told Steve to tell them to 'Hold that train!' ...But they didn't . . . so we had to wait for a train to Epcot. No problem . . . gave us time to harass Steve anyway . . . by the way . . . Rachel did *almost* prove *why* they need the emergency remote cutoffs . . . don't cross that yellow line, Rachel. :)

Off to Epcot . . . we had plenty of time . . . and we worked our way to the International Gateway to watch IllumiNations. The first part is the normal IllumiNations . . . as the special Independence Day portion of the show began . . . off we went . . . walking toward the car . . . this was the tricky part . . . and we didn't think we could make it. While we were waiting for the car at the Valet, we saw the final part of the IllumiNations fireworks.

We sped off to cross the street to the Studios. As we pulled into the parking lot, Sorcery in the Sky started at the Disney-MGM Studios. Some folks were in the parking lot watching the fireworks . . . not a bad place to watch, I might add . . . ' ...But, could we make it *into* the Studios before the finale of Sorcery in the Sky. By the time we made it into the Studios, they had just begun the special Fourth of July portion of the show. We had done it . . . in and hour and forty-five minutes, we had managed to see three Walt Disney World Independence Day fireworks displays.

Rob, Peter, Kenny and Rachel, you have just seen all three Walt Disney World Fourth of July fireworks displays . . . what are you going to do now? "We're going to ride Rock-n-Roller Coaster." So off we went. The ending of a great time. :)

July 4th, 1998

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