I'd be most appreciative of a very rough itinerary of how to divide time over a week long sightseeing trip to Alaska July 2-8/9. 20th Anniversary trip for my husband and I (in our 40s), arriving from Cincinnati to maybe Anchorage around noon on Monday, July 2 and departing on Sunday, July 8 in the afternoon/evening to arrive home on the 9th. We like to hike some (nothing serious) and really enjoy beautiful scenery. Leaving the teens at home Does the following make sense or is it packing too much into one week?

July 2 - arrive, stay in Anchorage
July 3-4 - Stay in Seward (take Kenai Fjords National Park Tour, maybe stay at Seward Windsong Lodge)
July 5 - Make drive to Denali and stay there (?North Face Lodge)
July 6 - Explore Denali National Park, stay at same lodge
July 7- Drive to Anchorage in afternoon/evening
July 8 - Fly out of Anchorage

Reverse things. There's a big footrace in Seward on the 4th of July that draws thousands and thousands of people. Everything is jammed, including traffic on the Seward Highway. hotels and restaurants are packed, and I'd be concerned you won't enjoy yourselves very much at all.

So try this...

July 2 - Anchorage
July 3/4 - Denali
July 5 - Back to Anchorage. Denali to Seward is too far for one day.
July 6/7 Seward, return to Anchorage after the cruise on the 7th. The drive is around 2 1/2 hours but it will be light all night.
July 8 - Depart.

I agree with Gardyloo. I'm hoping that your flight into Anchorage isn't one of those after 11PM. Our flight landed in ANC about 10AM and we spent several hours walking around Anchorage before we headed out to Eagle River.
Getting out of Anchorage made the trip to Fairbanks easier the next day. We drove back from Fairbanks to the entrance of Denali early on day 3 for our 8 hour bus trip. Buy the bus ticket (shuttle or tour bus) before arriving in Alaska.
If Seward is still too busy, try staying in Homer.
Our red-eye flight out of Anchorage left a few minutes after midnight. I took a sunset picture from the big window at the airport at midnight.
If you can stretch the time in Alaska to 10 days, you can see a lot more of Alaska. You can click on my profile for the trip report of our trip to Alaska in 2016.

You do not want to be in Seward on July 4. Regardless of the crowds (and how thousands can jam into that town is a mystery - Seward is an oversized village), the local hoteliers and vacation rental agencies will double or triple their prices in that time period.

I think you're trying to pack too much in. Denali is basically two days travel (one to, one fro) and a day in the park on a bus.

This is our revised itinerary. I'd love some input on where to stay on the 4th of July evening between Denali and Seward. Prefer somewhere other than Anchorage since we'll be there Sat PM/Sunday until night flight.

July 2 - arrive 12:30pm (4 hour time difference for us), drive to Healy (Alpenhaus reservations)
July 3 - Explore Denali, remain in Healy (Alpenhaus)
July 4 - WOULD LIKE TO STAY SOMEWHERE BETWEEN Denali and Seward. Talkeetna? Alyeska (is the resort really worth $400/night??)?
July 5/6 - Seward area exploring - still need to find reservations somewhere
July 7 - Anchorage this night (a Hilton hotel booked on points)
July 8 - flight out at night

The annual Independence Day parade starts at 11AM in Wasilla followed by a picnic that features a hot dog eating contest. The fireworks begin at 11PM near Wonderland. You might even luck out and see Sarah Palin.
Don't spend a fortune on lodging. Find something in Wasilla.

Alyeska included some tickets for a ride up the mountain when we went last July and the resort was beautiful... only you can decide if it's worth the money...

also, try to fit in some flightseeing before you depart Anchorage. .. we did a 3 hour glacier tour that landed on a lake...

I just found the Alyeska Hideaway Glacier log cabin on airbnb! Might go for that.

I'm looking for similar itinerary suggestions before I purchase the plane tickets to ANC. I have a cruise booked departing from Whittier on June 18, 2019. I plan to fly to ANC for 7-9 days driving trip before the cruise. I will likely be arriving on a flight at non. On the day of the cruise I plan to take the bus to Whittier, take a glacier cruise before boarding the ship.

Should I drive out to Denali first for 3 days or so, drive back towards Anchorage, then head to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days, then back to Anchorage to drop off the car? or should I drive Kenai first then out to Denali?

susiesan: You would do better to start a new thread of your own . . .