(The Fourth of July weekend is also when we announce the results of our annual Theme Park Insider Awards, honoring the best theme park, new attraction, restaurant and hotel in the industry this year.)
So... are you going to go next weekend? As a theme park fan, do you want to be part of the biggest day of the year? Or... are you the type who visits only when others don't?
And the economy this year... can you afford the trip? Or are you doing something else for the Fourth this year?
Tell us, in the comments, your plans for the Fourth. And, if you are planning to visit a park, share with us your strategy for getting the most out of a very crowded day. Thanks, and have a great weekend!
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Busch Gardens is having a concert by Starship followed by a fireworks show in Gwazi Park that evening. My plans are the same as always, be there when the gates open at 9am. Pray it isn't brutally hot then ride Montu twice, take Sky Ride over to Sheikra, ride Sheikra twice then hit Kumba. Over to Gwazi then lunch at Colony House. We go from there. Great thing about Busch Tampa is that the Quick Queue is affordable if it becomes necessary to buy a couple. $25 for regular guests, $20 for passholders. 10 no wait rides to use any way you choose. That lessens crowd concerns considerably. I can't wait to go.
Speaking of crowds, especially a high capacity that makes the Magic Kingdom inaccessible to everyone due to a Phase 4 closure, my Seasonal Pass would not let me go to WDW that day, anyway.
For me it will be fireworks at my Mom & Dad's in Osage City, Kansas. It is usually a pretty cool deal. My Dad spends a fortune on fireworks and buys the big mortars, then puts on quite a show. My brother usually rigs up a huge collection of sparklers with one fuse then sets the whole driveway on fire. It looks like a miniature mushroom cloud! Crazy stuff...but a lot of fun, especially when you throw the grilled burgers and hot dogs (Johnsonville Stadium Style Beef Franks are THE BEST) into the mix!
I don't think you could pay myself or my wife enough to subject ourselves to the kinds of crowding and craziness typically found at US-based theme parks on the 4th.
No, we're going to continue with a practice we started a few years ago; that of going up to Canada for the weekend, mainly to escape the noise and nuttiness.
We have, amusingly enough and in times past, been accused of being "unpatriotic" by doing so. Those doing the accusing are not thinking it through.
Consider: One of the greatest things we gained when we declared independence from the British Empire was, in a word, freedom: Freedom to do what one wishes (within reason, given society's constraints, of course) and, more importantly, freedom to TRAVEL wherever one wishes for just about any reason, without hindrance.
Is not the exercise of that freedom in and of itself "patriotic?" ;-)
Happy 4th. May those who enjoy explosions, bright colors, and (in some cases) the resultant shell-shock have a wonderful weekend.
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