This 4th of July we headed to Wild Adventures in Valdosta for the 4th to watch some fireworks. Last year we did the same at Dollywood and honestly I think we’ll make the 4th of July and a theme park a tradition going forward. It is such an easy way to take in a great display in that you spend a great day having fun and around 9pm you wander over to the correct area and look up. Theme parks also usually have great sound and music to complete the atmosphere as well. Most of the time the display you’ll see will be equal or better to local fireworks too.

For us it was economics in that our home fireworks display would typically run $300-$500 which could pay for theme park season passes for our family (and a couple of nights hotel if we traveled). It just seemed the better bargain of still letting us see great fireworks on the 4th while having the upside of a whole season at a park too.

This year’s fireworks at Wild Adventures were great. It was about a 20 minute display and a constant barrage of multiple shells in the air at once that reflected beautifully off the park’s central lake. Last year’s display at Dollywood featured an awesome drone show while being lighter on fireworks. The drones were amazing and no one seemed to mind and they formed words, drawings and animations in the sky. This may be an emerging trend and some places completely replaced fireworks with drones this year. Disney Springs in Orlando also has a drone show which has been getting rave reviews.

Many parks like Disney offer nightly fireworks while some chains are weekends only during the summer, but almost every park from Busch Gardens to Fun Spot is going to have something on the 4th of July. Whether it’s drones or fireworks, a theme park is a great place to see fireworks. For your next July 4th you may want to see what your local park is offering. Some also shoot “4th of July” fireworks on multiple days surrounding the actual 4th, so you can have the best of all worlds in seeing a city display or setting off a home display in addition to seeing those at a them park.