4 Parks, 1 Day

[goldie09]

I've done this before! I think as long as you go in with reasonable expectations, you'll have a BLAST! As in, don't expect to be able to cover a ton in each park. You really just need to choose what you REALLY want to do, because you won't have time for everything! I say go for it!

 

[Lucius Best]

I am trying to gather a game plan of wanting to do all 4 parks in one day!! In my mind it all works out but I hit a roadbump... When leaving HS to get to AK will we have to go to a resort and then catch an AK bus from the resort or do they have buses that go park to park....? Then the same thing with AK to EPCOT. I managed to get the times worked out but now trying to figure in transportation.

We have done four parks in one day a few times, it was always the last day of a long trip during low crowd times. Our goal was to hit at least one or two headliners/favorites at each park. That was easier with paper FP, we could grab a FP as soon as we entered the park, then hop in a standby line for something else.

To answer your question, yes, there are buses between HS/AK/Epcot parks. The problem is that at 9:30am, there isn't much demand to hop between HS to AK, and the resort buses seem to run more frequently than park-to-park buses, so you could be waiting a looooong time for a bus. First time we started at AK at 8am EMH, rode Everest and Safari a bunch of times, then headed out to hop to HS. We were all alone at the bus stop, I mean totally alone, there was no one else leaving AK to go anywhere. Eventually a CM wandered over to ask us where we were going, he got on the radio and 10 minutes later we had a private bus ride to HS.

The next time we attempted four parks in one day, we started at HS, then to hop to AK we took a bus to AKL first and then AK. Another trick we used that time, hopping from AK to MK, a bus to the Contemporary came first and we just walked over.

And yes, there is a walkway between HS and Epcot, but it is not a short walk, it is probably at least a mile, something to think about if it the middle of the day and hot. The boat is an option but it makes a lot of stops and is slow. If I was attempting four parks in one day again, I would drive. It is remarkably quick to drive between AK/HS/Epcot.

 

[mrzrich]

I did all 4 parks in one day for the very first 24 hour event Leap year 2012.

 

[ellie05]

We did 3 parks on our arrival day last trip and it was really easy. We could easily added AK. We started at the MK at RD went to BTMRR rode it 4 times in the back in a row without having to get off. Went to splash and SM. Then we were hungry so we stopped at BOG to see if they could fit is in which was no problem. We ate breakfast and then left the MK. We drove our car to CS to drop our luggage and rest for a few hours then we took the bus to Epcot we did our 3 FP+ in Epcot and walked through the WS as we snacked at the kiosk of Food and garden. We could have easily gone to AK and then to Epcot we had time to spare. After we were full we rode 3 caballeros before we left Epcot and took the boat to HS. We arrived at HS and used our 4th FP for ToT and then walked around look at the shops since we had 30 min before our BD reservations. We ate dinner and came out just in time to see the Star Wars fireworks! And yes there are busses from AK from HS and every other park.

 

[geenerbell]

I am trying to gather a game plan of wanting to do all 4 parks in one day!! In my mind it all works out but I hit a roadbump... When leaving HS to get to AK will we have to go to a resort and then catch an AK bus from the resort or do they have buses that go park to park....? Then the same thing with AK to EPCOT. I managed to get the times worked out but now trying to figure in transportation.

There are Park to Park busses! We are doing 4 Parks in One Day on June 18th. Woo Hooo!

 

[loves to dive]

I accidently did 3 on my last solo trip last Sept. and could have easily added a 4th. No plan, I started out at AK at rope drop, I didn't plan on doing rope drop but I was up and already finished my early morning jog so I just hopped on the first bus to appear at the bus stop. I did the safari, EE, walked through the Pangini trail and the other trail (can't remember the name) and sort of walked around and looked at things it was around 10ish by then, hopped on the next first bus to come, which was HS. Did ToT (because I must), GMR and saw Raiders, I then walked over to Epcot (it takes me about 20 minutes and it's a pleasant walk for me) since F&W was why I was there to start with. I went to a cooking demo and a wine seminar, rode Living with the Land and SE, then walked over to WS and grazed for awhile. I was actually back in my room by around 8:30 that night. I could have easily headed over to MK instead of grazing or even grazed a little and still headed over to MK and hit a couple of rides. None of it was planned, there were no FPs used, it was all just spur of the moment and I really enjoyed it. I grabbed a muffin in AK for breakfast before Safari, a snack in HS and like I said, grazed at WS plus the cooking demo you get a sample from that. I wasn't in a hurry during any of it, no running or even fast walking and no plan what so ever, just going with the flow (which also proves you can still do that at WDW and enjoy yourself).

 

[ariane37]

DH and I did all 4 parks, unplanned, on our kid-free trip in January. Loved it! One of our most relaxing days, actually (may have had something to do with the "kid-free" thing......). Got to AK right after RD, did the safari and FOTLK; grabbed Starbucks. Bus to HS and had FP's for ToT and RnRc. Rode GMR and grabbed lunch/snack, watched streetmosphere performers. Walked to Epcot right to WS: watched Voices of Liberty and British Revolution, shopped, had a couple drinks. Back to resort to change for dinner at Citricos and then monorail to MK where we did Peoplemover, Stitch (for the first AND LAST time), Space, BTMRR x2, mine train, watched MSEP, shopped. Space and one Big Thunder were with 4th and 5th FP's.

Obviously we didn't do any rides in Epcot and I didn't even check wait times, but I'm sure we could have done TT single rider and then we would have hit a headliner in each park. We didn't rush to any park nor did we rush once we were at any park, and we left MK around 11. I know it would've been harder and not as relaxed if there were more than 2 of us, but the day most definitely wasn't wasted. I say go for it if it's something you want to try

 

[lynn_s]

We've done 4 in one day, & had a blast - would do it again. We go to the parks a lot though.

We've also done "coast to coast", 6 parks in 1 day. A bucket list item, don't think we'll do that again though (has lots of FF points so airfare wasn't a cost).

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

So far I have come up with a rough draft of HS(EMH)-AK-EP-MK(EMH) obviously we are chasing the EMH that day and figured it would give us a little more time to accomplish the task. I have planned to use the bus HS-AK-EP then monorail to MK.

We did this last year with the exact same EMH. It was an absolute blast. We had to do 3 rides/attractions at each park, eat in each park, and had to take a boat, bus, monorail, and walk. What we ended up doing was hitting DHS first for their EMH. We rode Tower of Terror and then Star Tours. When then grabbed breakfast at Starring Rolls before going on Great Movie Ride (wasn't open for EMH). From there, we took a boat to Beach Club and then walked to Epcot. We had fast passes for Spaceship Earth and Soarin' at 9:30 and 10:30 respectively. We were able to do both with absolutely no problem. We grabbed a snack at Sunshine Seasons and then we had fast passes for Turtle Talk with Crush but decided to do Gran Fiesta Tour instead. We then took a bus to Animal Kingdom which was the most recommended park that day. We headed straight to Expedition Everest and rode standby and then went to Dinoland to do TriceraTop Spin. From there, we actually did the table service Yak and Yeti. We then did the safari, which got held up because, as they kept announcing, animals were on the roads so the cars couldn't go. We were in line for an hour for that one. We then took a bus to Grand Floridian (or Polynesian, I can't remember for sure) and monorailed over to Magic Kingdom. We hopped on the train and rode it around to Storybook Circus, did Peoplemover and Carousel of Progress before grabbing something at Gaston's Tavern. We watched Philharmagic, took the train back to the front entrance, got on our boat for our hotel (Wilderness Lodge) and were back in our room by 8:00pm (didn't even need the extra magic hours). Loved that we did it and would absolutely do it again! Have a great time and good luck!

 

[karly05]

It's just a bucket list item to all the parks in one day we will be there for 9 days and figured we might be able to pull it off.

DO IT! I did it as a solo in 2015 and it was fun! I had enough days and had been enough times that I didn't mind the "wasted" time. I'm sure you've been told multiple times by now that there is direct transportation between the 4 theme parks. I built my day around eating and being able to do some favorite things at each park, as well as get my photo with Mickey & Minnie at each park!.

Started at DHS so I could ride TSM at rope drop (I wanted my FPs for MK at the end of the day). Rode TSM & Star Tours, had an awesome meet with Phineas & Ferb (I was wearing my "Phineas outfit" and they loved it), got my photo with both Mickey and Minnie in the old Animation Bldg.
Boat to Epcot for lunch at Tangierine Cafe, went to Character Spot for photos with Mickey, Minnie & Goofy, walked around and took some pics of F&G topiaries.
Bus to AK, did the Safari and Maharajah Jungle Trek, got my pic with Mickey & Minnie (together).
Bus to MK, got pics with Mickey at Town Square and Minnie and Daisy at Pete's. Rode 7DMT (why I wanted the FPs there), Buzz, some other things I don't remember, got flatbread from Pinocchio's - it was an altogether fun day and I'm really glad I did it.

 

[Moonwolf]

My brother and I unintentionally did 3 parks (HS, EPCOT, MK) and Disney Springs in one day on our last trip. (And we went into AK first thing the next day just to say we hit all the parks within 24hrs). It was our last full day of our trip so what we were really trying to do was just hit everything that we missed though we ended up re-riding a lot of favorite things as well.

First we hit HS for EMH rope drop. We had missed watching the Little Mermaid show on our original HS day so we knew we wanted to see that. We ended up doing TSM, One Man's Dream, RnR (FP), Star Tours (FP), and Little Mermaid (FP but not really needed) before leaving.

Next stop was Disney Springs since we didn't have the chance to check it out before. We wandered around for a few hours checking the shops, buying souvenirs and accidentally getting into Pin Trading. Right before we left we grab some food from Earl of Sandwich to go to make our next must do attraction.

With a quick stop over at our hotel to drop our souvenirs off and switch buses we were on our way to MK to catch the Festival of Fantasy Parade. (It had rained on our original MK day so they only did the short rain day parade then) We showed up at about 10 to 3 and got a curbside spot in Town Square to sit and eat our sandwiches as we waited for the parade. After the parade we wandered around main street, finished out Sorcerer Mickey game, and bought more pins. Then since we still had time we took a trip on the train around the full park before leaving.

Next stop was EPCOT for our dinner reservation at Biergarten, so we took the monorail over. We got there with plenty of time to spare so after stopping by for a quick drink at Cool Club and a stop by a kiosk to buy even more pins we decided to do an Agent P quest for one country. Ended up doing China since it was the closest country to Germany that was available at the kiosk we went to. After dinner we went to poke around Italy since it was the last country we didn't get to explore on our original EPCOT day.

By then it was getting dark so I asked my brother which fireworks show did he want to see for our last night. He chose the Frozen fireworks so back to HS we went. To finish off our originally unintentional use of everything in one day we chose to use the Friendship boats to get to HS. We got there just in time to get a decent spot to watch the fireworks go off. Then as soon as they ended we booked it to catch one last ride on Star Tours. Leaving the park I swung into another store to get more pins before we caught the bus to go to our last park, MK for evening EMH.

At MK we wandered around a bit more did Stitch, 7DMT, and visited both sides of Princess Fairy Tale Hall before doing a little more shopping... and buying a few more pins and finally calling it a night.

Overall it was a great time and we hit every major thing we missed on our original full day at each park (aside from Tom Sawyer's island - we are both determined to get over there one day) and we got to re-ride some of our favorites. We probably spent a bit more time traveling than we would have had we been able to streamline the day (but wanting to see the parade would have messed with that anyway). And considering it was a the 2nd Sat in Aug and we changed up our FP schedule just the day before we got a whole lot more done than I was expecting.

It was a double EMH day (morning HS and evening MK) so that really helped extend the park hours. And the fact that it was only the 2 of us (DB19 and me26) meant that we were able to move quickly from one thing to another.

 

[dkrauss]

I'm actually working on our 4 parks/1 day plan for November. Our first park is scheduled to be AK. Since we're staying at AKV its pretty much a no brainer (for us). The real issues are how to mix the other 3 parks. What I'd prefer is to end the day at HS for the Star Wars fireworks, but the schedule for November right now doesn't have that even in it . Also on the day we're going to do this the MK has evening EMH (till 10pm.........its November I guess ).......that is on the schedule but we all know how schizophrenic can be about this kind of thing (although this may stay given during this week were at WDW 4 of the 5 week days have MVMCP scheduled........the EMH day..........Wednesday is the open day). So the issue is MK or HS being park 2. Epcot will stay park 3 no matter what we do. That way we monorail in from MK......or........we boat in from HS.

The other issue I'm having is where to make our FP selections. I'm thinking Epcot but I'm not sure yet. Only thing I know for sure is we won't have any at AK...........no need.

Doug

 

[kdisser]

We are pretty hard set in the lineup for our parks. HS (morning EMH) we have 5 things we want to do there including lunch at sci-fi, then BUS over to AK no later then 3 to ride any 2 rides (AK is closing at 5 that day)... Next up is BUS to EPCOT once again anything goes catch 2 rides and maybe a drink from F&WF. Finally Monorail to MK 2 rides and have dinner either here or at EPCOT.

As far as our FP selections we are still contemplating that but right now it looks like maybe TSMM and GMR at HS, then when we get into other parks look and see what we could get or just wing it. Possibly get the last bit of FP via the app for MK at night.

 

[DC to Disney]

I've done it before. It's not difficult to do if you go during a slow time. I'd suggest doing AK either first or last, because it's the farthest away. You can take the monorail between MK and Epcot, and either walk or take a boat between Epcot and HS. So I'd do MK-EP-HS-AK or the reverse, AK-HS-EP-MK, depending on how long each park is open.

 

[madjohn]

I will be attempting this on June 20. My plan (so far) is to do AK, HS, EC and MK. I got three FP for MK at 5 pm. My total idea is not done but I am thinking about two or three headliners at each park. AK doing Everest and rapids, HS RR single rider line and then TT , EC TT single rider line and something else and then I got the 3 FP for MK. I will through in one food item at each. It will be myself and two teenagers.

 

[jensen]

I am trying to gather a game plan of wanting to do all 4 parks in one day!! In my mind it all works out but I hit a roadbump... When leaving HS to get to AK will we have to go to a resort and then catch an AK bus from the resort or do they have buses that go park to park....? Then the same thing with AK to EPCOT. I managed to get the times worked out but now trying to figure in transportation.

We've done multiple parks on several occasions, but found on our most recent trip that it was no longer an enjoyable experience... too much running around. That said, I'll share our schedule. We like to start the day at AK, getting an early safari and doing EE using the single rider line. Then we either head to MK for a lunch reservation or over to Epcot for eating around the world. After lunch, we head back to the resort for some R&R by the pool. In the evening, we'll go to DHS where we've got FP+ for TOT, Star Tours and RnRC. After we've ridden our favorite rides, we'll hop the bus to MK in time to watch Wishes. Then scramble out of that park to catch the monorail to Epcot in time to watch Illuminations. After Illuminations, we'll visit the boardwalk, then catch a bus to Downtown Disney for a (very) late dinner.

As you can see, we don't do a lot of rides on these days... but, we hit our favorites.

 

[Dreamport]

I'm planning on doing this on my solo trip in September. I agree with previous posters that it's not going to be an efficient strategy for spending your time in the parks, but I don't care! Total Disney Bucket List item for me. My plan is to meet Mickey in all 4 parks, as well as ride my favorite headliner and eat a favorite snack in each park. I'm ending the evening with a solo Be Our Guest reservation... I'm gonna need a glass of wine after a day like that!

And already answered, but YES. Park-to-park buses is a thing.

Have a blast!

This is now on my Bucket List (if I can borrow it?). To the OP -- Park to Park buses are your friend, but don't forget you can walk or take a boat through the Boardwalk from HS to the WS gate at Epcot for probably the same amount of time it takes to catch the bus and walk the front gate.

 

[KTSMOM]

On our trip we started at HS at rope drop and rode RR. Then we left and took a bus and went to AK and rode safari and Everest (also did one of the animal walks as both of those were FP as we had some free time in between). We also snacked at AK. Then went back to the hotel (POR) and had lunch and sat by the pool for a bit. Then we went to Epcot where we walked around the countries and ate/drank. We took the monorail to MK where we rode the People Mover (I needed a break), Haunted Mansion, and Pirates. We left when fireworks were going off. It was during spring break so it was a bit busy, but so worth it. Now if only there was a tee shirt for that!

 

[gap2368]

I am trying to gather a game plan of wanting to do all 4 parks in one day!! In my mind it all works out but I hit a roadbump... When leaving HS to get to AK will we have to go to a resort and then catch an AK bus from the resort or do they have buses that go park to park....? Then the same thing with AK to EPCOT. I managed to get the times worked out but now trying to figure in transportation.

I just did 4 parks in one day plush walked around the world here is what I did

started out at AK road everest 3 times then dianasor there from 9am park oping to 10

HS
FP TT
FP TSMMA
I used my DAS pass for RR but stand by line was 15 minutes here from 10;45 about 2;30

EPCOT

I got an extra FP because GR had a hard time selling me the disney after dark ticket ( took about an hour and no I am not kidding)
so I fast pass TT ( single rider line was 30 minutes walked around the word and took a quick picture got my pass port stamps at 3 countries then did figment and space ship earth and got my AP photo EPCOT from about 3;15 talent there about 6;00

MK I got a FP for buzz pooh and space

as fair as transportation

MK to EPCOT you can only take the monerrool

EPCOT to HS you can take the boat or the buss

between other a buss

so MK to HS buss
HS to AK buss

 

[joanchris]

We are planning on doing this for our upcoming trip. Teen daughter wants to do all coaster/thrill rides in one day. Starting at AK (EMH) to do Everest and Kali, Then to HS to do RnRC and TOT, boat/walk to Epcot to do Test Track and Mission Space. Take a break at our resort (Bay Lake Towers), then head out to MK for our fastpasses for Space Mtn, 7DMT, and BTMRR (and splash Mtn w/o fp). We'll fit meals in there somewhere, Lunch at EP and dinner at MK probably. I know it's not an efficient use of time, but it sounds like fun, and it's just the two of us.
From reading some of the replies above, it seems like AK to HS might be difficult--I just signed up for Uber, haven't ever used it, but have a free first trip for signing up.