Strategy for doing 4 parks in one day

[princessesintraining]

We are going In August and it will be my girls four trip. My oldest(11) would like to do four parks in one day. Our last trip we managed 3. We are staying at the Poly, so I was thinking about starting at AK, moving on to Hollywood studios, boating or walking to Epcot and then monorail to MK.

Do you do a ride in every park, maybe just eat at one park? Thoughts? Can I do fast passes in multiple parks?

 

[Happy_Haunt999]

Good luck.

 

[AL_Girl]

Your 3 fast passes have to be at a single park.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We like to hit as many parks as possible close to closing time when the lines are their shortest. When we did 4 parks in 1 day, we started at DHS at noon with our 3 FP+ and got to see Mark Hamill in the Star Wars parade. We then hit AK, Epcot and MK in that order, each a couple of hours before closing time.

We rode 19 rides that day which is way below our average. Another key is to have your own transportation in order to save time.

Have fun.

 

[csmith041177]

I have done it before, but it was really just hitting a ride in a park just to say we did and then moving to the next. You really lose so much time in travel it is hard to do anything substantive. But just to hit the parks, you could do breakfast in one park and a ride, jump to another for lunch, a third for dinner, then a nightcap and ride at whatever park has evening extra magic hours. Good luck!

 

[bcrook]

my daughter and I did this in October. We booked our Fastpasses early and then added bonus fastpasses in each park. We rode at least one ride in each park. And I ate at each park.

If you want maximum time end at the park with the latest hours. But MK is a nightmare at night, so I hit it first last time. Used my fastpasses there.

My route last time: MK, monorail to Epcot, bus to DAK, and bus back to DHS for evening.

My favorite route is bus dhs, boat to Epcot bus to DAK, bus to MK.

We managed to ride: splash, Peter Pan, haunted mansion, space mountain, little mermaid, eat at Coral Reef, ride Nemo, went DAK and rode Everest, watched Nemo, watched tough to be a bug, had cocktails at yak yeti, went to conservation station. Ended up at DHS and grabbed a bonus FP for RnRC, Toy Story, rode tower of terror and star tours and great movie ride. Ate at brown derby lounge.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm thinking AK and MK will have the greatest ride access in the absence of FP. So I would do Rope drop at EP or DHS and go from there.

So..... maybe monorail to EP. Keep it short so you can still get to DHS in time to ride something before lines back up, then on to AK and end at MK.

 

[jpeden]

My wife and I did this in November. We also stayed at the Poly. We left my parent's house the day after Thanksgiving around 4AM and got to the Polynesian around 9AM. We went to Animal Kingdom, rode a few things, ate lunch, and did a few meet and greets. Then we went over to EPCOT, where we rode a few things, did meet and greets, and then ate dinner. We then walked from EPCOT to DHS to view the Osborne Lights (I don't think we rode anything at DHS). From DHS, we went to Magic Kingdom (arrived right before Wishes was shot at 9PM - MK closed at 12:00AM). We rode a ton at MK during that time. We got a picture with every one of the "big" Christmas trees (the two outside the parks at AK and DHS and the two in the parks at EPCOT and MK) to commemorate the accomplishment. We were so tired at the end of it but it was so much fun!

Transportation wise, we found it much easier to take a bus from the park to a resort that was near the park. From Animal Kingdom, we took a bus to the Yacht Club and walked to the International Gateway. From DHS, we took a bus to the Grand Floridian and took the monorail to the MK - these buses were less packed than the park-to-park buses. If you did your last two parks as EPCOT and then MK, you could take the monorail from EPCOT to MK.

We did our fast passes for MK because we knew we would end our night there. We didn't want to be locked down to a schedule for the other parks, so we just winged everything else. But it's well worth the effort to hit all four parks in one day - I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[johde]

Everyone else has given you pretty good advice. There are many ways to do it depending on your goals and expected crowd levels. I last did it a year ago. I plan my day around Disney's operating hours.

I started at DAK that had EMH and rode EE, KS, and Dinosaur. Hopped via bus over to DHS for TSMM, GMR, Star Tours, ToT, Muppet Vision, and ate lunch using my 3 prearranged FP+'s. From there I took the Boat to the back of EPCOT and rode Imagination, Nemo, and Spaceship Earth. Finally hopped the Monorail to MK in time for FoF parade. Rode most of the D/C attractions (skipped attractions like Space Mountain with long lines and no FP+ left). Finished the evening with Fireworks, MSEP, then rides like 7DMT and PP.

 

[DonaldDuck77]

What we did on 10/10/15:

Rope drop Epcot
Soarin'
Seas with Nemo
Aquarium
Figment
Boat to Hollywood Studios
Frozen sing a long (FP+)
Lunch (Min & Bill's/ABC Commissary)
RnRC (FP+ booked, but the ride was down...so that was the biggest downer of the day)
Tower of Terror (FP+)
Bus to Animal Kingdom
Booked FP+ for Safari (at the time, we didn't know that we wouldn't need it)
Snacks at Beastly Kiosk
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Rafiki's Planet Watch (for a family picture we have taken every time here by "Rafiki", didn't walk all the way)
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
Kilimanjaro Safaris
DINOSAUR
Bus to Magic Kingdom
Pick up Sorcerer cards
Play a few portals on main street
Wishes Fireworks Dessert Party
Splash Mountain
Main Street Electrical Parade
Bucket list item checked off

 

[princessesintraining]

Thank you all for your suggestions! We can't wait to give it a try.

 

[Oneanne]

WOW... hadn't ever thought of giving this a try, but now I'm inspired and will dedicate a day in my April trip to doing it.

 

[MARDUN]

MY DW and I have done his on at least 3 of our trips. We know what our favorites are in each park and plan a detailed itinerary. We usually travel at low crowd times and use extra magic hours and Disney transportation. We treat more as a challenge to complete our plan. Our circuit usually starts at rope drop at AK. Bus to DS, boat to EPCOT then monorail to MK. Good Luck

 

[princessesintraining]

Thanks Mardun for the plan! That's what I was planning on doing. We're going in mid August, so hopefully we can keep going despite the heat and humidity.

 

[Mark P.]

Sounds like a nice plan and would it help to find out which park has the EMH, and that'll get a nice jump, on both crowds and heat.
We went for 2 weeks last August, usually doing 2 parks, and we made out just fine with lots of water/breaks, etc.
Happy Planning!

 

[Drusilla99]

I did this with my girls 16 & 13 in June. We started at ak with our fp's at opening, so we got a couple extra Everest rides in before the crowds. We did dinosaur, the safari, & Kali as well as a couple little ones in dinoland. Left there & hit ds. My girls don't mind riding solo, so they hit single rider lines for rockin coaster & tower of terror. We waited for the movie ride, did little mermaid, & they did star tours. Stopped at McDonald's for a quick lunch. Headed out to Epcot. Did single rider test track. Did a few more things in future world including spaceship earth. Headed over to the countries. Hit most countries; Mexico, America, Canada, Italy, saw their shows & ate food. Headed out to mk. Did a few rides, went on on our dinne res at beast's castle. Ate, went on more rides. We had our own car, so no waiting for buses. We left our hotel at 7:30 am and got back at 12:30 am. Big day, but we did it!

 

[maux]

I usually do all four parks on my last full day at WDW. Last year, my plan was my picture with Donald Duck in every park, plus a snack. Did lunch between DHS and EPCOT. Since it's my last day, I don't have to hit any rides since I've already done them, I just walk and enjoy the parks.

 

[newdeal]

you better have a car if you are relying on Disney transportation you will only be able to get to the park, go through the bag check, and then go back to wait for the bus again

 

[anniemae]

I am so impressed with everyone who has done this! It's like an exclusive club!! However, I will never be a part of it, as much as I would love to. I just get too darn tired. 2 parks is my limit.

 

[hsmamato2]

start with whichever park has earliest opening,and end with the latest.... I was thinking about trying something similiar,and that's my plan. I was thinking If we did that, on my chosen date I would start at AK with EMH starting by 8, do a couple of things, then HS next to hit some faves (prob. FP+ there due to lines) then head to Epcot to eat/enjoy some stuff- then end at MK and close the place down..... if I were to do it, that's what I'd do.