4 Parks 1 Day- MK or EP Extended Evening Hours?

[ECCMama812]

Our next trip to Disney in August is going to be more of a resort vacation with only one day in the parks. We're planning on getting 1 Day Park Hopper tickets and attempting all 4 parks in one day. We're staying at AKL, so can take advantage of early entry and extended evening hours. Would you pick MK or EP extended evening hours for a 4 parks day? We will purchase Genie+ and ILL if needed. We're a family of 5- 3 kids ages 9, 14, and 14. The rest of the days are low key relaxing days. Rides listed are ones we'd really like to do. We're hoping to do more than these, but also trying to be realistic. HS has the most extra rides we'd like to get in, plus we've never seen Fantasmic. We'd like to do Slinky Dog Dash, but I know that might tie up LLs if we have to get it first thing in the morning and not use it until later in the day (so can't get another LL until 2 hours after HS opens). Our ADR day is coming up in a few days, and we want to make a few resort dining reservations that depend on which day we pick for our park day.

Here's what I'm thinking if we choose the EP extended evening hours- I'm thinking the plus to this is we can use LLs for AK, HS and MK. But I'm not sure we'd be able to see Fantasmic or MK fireworks with this day.

AK- early entry
Flight of Passage
Expedition Everest
Safari
Festival of Lion King?

HS- 11am??
Rise of Resistance (purchase ILL)
Millennium Falcon
Toy Story Mania
Oga's Cantina possibly?
Quick Service Lunch

MK- 6pm??
Tron- VQ or ILL (thinking we'll need to do ILL to make sure we get a later return time)
Big Thunder
Buzz Lightyear
Tomorrowland Speedway
maybe fireworks? Or maybe more rides and plan to watch fireworks from outside the park on a different day?
Quick Service Dinner

EP- 9pm for Extended Hours
Guardians- VQ
Soarin'

Here's what I'm thinking if we choose MK extended evening hours. The positive to this might be lower lines at MK. But is it enough time to see Fantasmic and get to MK? Will we be rushed at MK if we don't get there until 10pm or after? It looks like there's an After Hours event at HS this night. If we need to skip Fantasmic to not feel rushed in the evening, we'd skip it.
AK- early entry
Flight of Passage
Expedition Everest
Safari
Festival of Lion King?

EP- 11am??
Guardians- VQ
Soarin'
Quick Service Lunch

HS- 2pm?
Rise of Resistance (purchase ILL)
Millennium Falcon
Toy Story Mania
Oga's Cantina possibly?
Fantasmic
Quick Service Dinner

MK- 10pm
Tron- VQ
Big Thunder
Tomorrowland Speedway
Buzz Lightyear

 

[Smrtalec33]

Our next trip to Disney in August is going to be more of a resort vacation with only one day in the parks. We're planning on getting 1 Day Park Hopper tickets and attempting all 4 parks in one day. We're staying at AKL, so can take advantage of early entry and extended evening hours. Would you pick MK or EP extended evening hours for a 4 parks day? We will purchase Genie+ and ILL if needed. We're a family of 5- 3 kids ages 9, 14, and 14. The rest of the days are low key relaxing days. Rides listed are ones we'd really like to do. We're hoping to do more than these, but also trying to be realistic. HS has the most extra rides we'd like to get in, plus we've never seen Fantasmic. We'd like to do Slinky Dog Dash, but I know that might tie up LLs if we have to get it first thing in the morning and not use it until later in the day (so can't get another LL until 2 hours after HS opens). Our ADR day is coming up in a few days, and we want to make a few resort dining reservations that depend on which day we pick for our park day.

Here's what I'm thinking if we choose the EP extended evening hours- I'm thinking the plus to this is we can use LLs for AK, HS and MK. But I'm not sure we'd be able to see Fantasmic or MK fireworks with this day.

AK- early entry
Flight of Passage
Expedition Everest
Safari
Festival of Lion King?

HS- 11am??
Rise of Resistance (purchase ILL)
Millennium Falcon
Toy Story Mania
Oga's Cantina possibly?
Quick Service Lunch

MK- 6pm??
Tron- VQ or ILL (thinking we'll need to do ILL to make sure we get a later return time)
Big Thunder
Buzz Lightyear
Tomorrowland Speedway
maybe fireworks? Or maybe more rides and plan to watch fireworks from outside the park on a different day?
Quick Service Dinner

EP- 9pm for Extended Hours
Guardians- VQ
Soarin'

Here's what I'm thinking if we choose MK extended evening hours. The positive to this might be lower lines at MK. But is it enough time to see Fantasmic and get to MK? Will we be rushed at MK if we don't get there until 10pm or after? It looks like there's an After Hours event at HS this night. If we need to skip Fantasmic to not feel rushed in the evening, we'd skip it.
AK- early entry
Flight of Passage
Expedition Everest
Safari
Festival of Lion King?

EP- 11am??
Guardians- VQ
Soarin'
Quick Service Lunch

HS- 2pm?
Rise of Resistance (purchase ILL)
Millennium Falcon
Toy Story Mania
Oga's Cantina possibly?
Fantasmic
Quick Service Dinner

MK- 10pm
Tron- VQ
Big Thunder
Tomorrowland Speedway
Buzz Lightyear

Have you thought about doing magic kingdom evening hours, but getting there early enough to see the fireworks first, instead of Fantasmic?

If AK is an 8 AM open, that itinerary is very doable. If it’s 9 (830 EE), it’s tougher - you’ll need to be done with everything in time for Lion King at 10. If it’s 8, you could also get ILL for Flight of Passage and start with Everest, and do that probably 3 times before the Safari and FoP.

If it’s not a crazy busy day, you might be ok getting Slinky at 7 and nothing else until 11. Personally I’d prioritize Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster over Toy Story and Speedway, but you seem to know what you want.

Anyway, I don’t think it’s terribly unrealistic if you don’t do Fantasmic - that said, of course you’ll feel rushed - you’re trying to hit all 4 parks with tons of specific priorities!

 

[mlayton14]

Personally I think your plan is asking for trouble - 3-4 parks in one day in the sweltering heat and rain in August? I would much much much rather spend a few hours in each park over several days , just a thought

 

[Juventus]

In Feb I did AK from 8-10 no EE: FoP, EE, Dino.
EPCOT 10:30 - 2:00; GOTG, SOARN, SPACEship earth, lunch at via Napoli.
DHS 2:30 -7:00: Rotr, MF, star tours, Olga's, ate at docking Bay 7.
MK 7:30 - 11:00: tron, Pirates, HM, Space, Beers at plaza.

This was solo and just hitting my highlight attractions, and having a few drinks. Was not rushed at all, but well planned. And this was without early entry or extended evening. I was in line at AK at 7:10 and off FoP at 8:45.

 

[neverlandsky]

I would move DHS to EE. I've been watching wait times for weeks on all parks at all different times and the only park that hasn't dropped in wait times consistently is DHS. It's worse there when RoTR/SDD/TSM go down. Which they tend to be down often at all times. I would go DHS, EP, AK, MK for EEH.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

When we did the 4 park challenge a few years back, we found that being in as many parks at closing time as possible will minimize your wait times as that’s when the lines are the shortest.

We started at noon at DHS for a Star Wars parade with Mark Hamill then hit AK, Epcot then finally MK until closing time at each park. Got a ton of stuff done that day.

 

[ECCMama812]

Have you thought about doing magic kingdom evening hours, but getting there early enough to see the fireworks first, instead of Fantasmic?

If AK is an 8 AM open, that itinerary is very doable. If it’s 9 (830 EE), it’s tougher - you’ll need to be done with everything in time for Lion King at 10. If it’s 8, you could also get ILL for Flight of Passage and start with Everest, and do that probably 3 times before the Safari and FoP.

If it’s not a crazy busy day, you might be ok getting Slinky at 7 and nothing else until 11. Personally I’d prioritize Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster over Toy Story and Speedway, but you seem to know what you want.

Anyway, I don’t think it’s terribly unrealistic if you don’t do Fantasmic - that said, of course you’ll feel rushed - you’re trying to hit all 4 parks with tons of specific priorities!

Yea, realistically I think we need to skip Fantasmic to make the day go smoother. My kids don't like Tower of Terror, but love interactive rides like Toy Story Mania and are big Star Wars fans and like roller coasters. I forgot about Rock n Roller Coaster since it's closed right now. HS definitely has the most rides we'd want to attempt if possible.

We're going to try and catch MK fireworks outside the park on one of our pool days, but if we can get to MK around the fireworks time, maybe we can get another ride or two in or watch the fireworks from behind the castle. We did the crowds in front of the castle on our last trip, so don't mind skipping that element this time.

Personally I think your plan is asking for trouble - 3-4 parks in one day in the sweltering heat and rain in August? I would much much much rather spend a few hours in each park over several days , just a thought

We're trying something different this time. We've gone twice in August before, so have managed the heat and rain in the past. We'll go with the flow as needed.

In Feb I did AK from 8-10 no EE: FoP, EE, Dino.
EPCOT 10:30 - 2:00; GOTG, SOARN, SPACEship earth, lunch at via Napoli.
DHS 2:30 -7:00: Rotr, MF, star tours, Olga's, ate at docking Bay 7.
MK 7:30 - 11:00: tron, Pirates, HM, Space, Beers at plaza.

This was solo and just hitting my highlight attractions, and having a few drinks. Was not rushed at all, but well planned. And this was without early entry or extended evening. I was in line at AK at 7:10 and off FoP at 8:45.

I think a good plan is going to be the key! Did you get a VQ or ILL for GOTG? I'd prefer to try for the VQ for that, but would be crossing my fingers for a later return time.

I would move DHS to EE. I've been watching wait times for weeks on all parks at all different times and the only park that hasn't dropped in wait times consistently is DHS. It's worse there when RoTR/SDD/TSM go down. Which they tend to be down often at all times. I would go DHS, EP, AK, MK for EEH.

I hadn't thought about DHS for EE. I need to pay attention to LL return times in the morning time frame. DHS has the most rides we want to attempt, so that may be huge help to get more done.

When we did the 4 park challenge a few years back, we found that being in as many parks at closing time as possible will minimize your wait times as that’s when the lines are the shortest.

We started at noon at DHS for a Star Wars parade with Mark Hamill then hit AK, Epcot then finally MK until closing time at each park. Got a ton of stuff done that day.

Good point! When my daughter and I went in November, I was really surprised at how the wait times dropped in each park later in the evening.


It sounds like MK Extended Hours is the better idea! I think we don't worry about Fantasimic or worrying about a LL for SDD and that will help make the day go smoother. I'm thinking AK, HS, EP, and MK and that will help make transportation easier. Bus to AK, bus to HS, Skyliner to EP, and then monorail to MK.

This may be a question for a different thread. I've read that you can be late to the Guardians VQ and still able to ride. How late is late? If we suprisingly get an early return time/boarding group (say 12pm), but don't go to EP until 7pm, will we still be able to use our VQ?

 

[Juventus]

They do not enforce return time on gotg vq. Just get it and go whenever you want.