"4 parks in 1" day during the less crowed Christmas Season

[dkrauss]

I'm looking for perspective on doing the "4 Parks in 1 day" challenge during the Christmas season. Always wanted to try this.......and given that my sweetie and I aren't getting any younger we need to do it soon.

The plan would be to try it during a slower time in late November or early December. The plan is to stay at an Epcot resort so thats the starting point. So given the time of year and the shorter days...........

1. Has anyone done this at this time of year?
2. How would you order the parks, given the parameters I laid out?
3. How exhausting will it be?

Doug

 

[puffkin]

Well, I wouldn't say this is a slower time of year, but it should be pretty easy to do. What are your goals for each park? Do you want to do rides/eat in each park? I would do it this way (throwing in a few rides/meals) and not assuming EMH:

1. Start at AK. Get there at 9, ride Safari and then see the 10 am Lion King.
2. Go to MK. I would my FP here and eat lunch here since there are a ton of options counterservice.
3. Head to DHS. Should be able to catch a show or two. Large capacity, so FP won't be as big an issue.
4. Head over to Epcot, have dinner in a country, visit some countries, watch Illuminations (9:30 in the Christmas months).

I think the hardest part would be if you wanted to do a sitdown dinner in Epcot since the restaurants get pretty booked for the Candelight Processional package. You could always do one of those, but I don't know that I would want to lock myself into something like that in case we got tired or held up elsewhere.

 

[PSUGuy]

We did this once or twice back in the early 00s as a last day thing and found it to be a total waste of time with transportation between the parks eating major minutes.

Bill From PA

 

[johde]

Agreeing with the Previous poster, goals are everything. I'm planning a 1 day/4 park whirlwind tour for January 4th 2015 to see Christmas Decorations and do "Quintessential Disney" attraction. I'm after Christmas so Candlelight Processional is out. My plan is:

8 A.M EMH DAK Safari, EE and Possibly Dinosaur.
DHS - FP, TSMM,TOT and Star Tours + GMR
Boat to EPCOT
EPCOT - Imagination, Nemo, Spaceship Earth & Possibly Mission Space
Monorail to MK
Magic Kingdom - Tour until Midnight picking up Same day FP+ as available 7DMT at closing.
I'm going primarily for attractions though. In your case, I think Puffkin has the right ideas except. I'd eat Dinner at DHS and stay through the start of Osbourn Lights before Making a Mad Dash Over to EPCOT for the Candle Light Processional.

We did this once or twice back in the early 00s as a last day thing and found it to be a total waste of time with transportation between the parks eating major minutes.

Bill From PA

I will say planning on transportation is a must. If I'm using Disney Transportation, I try to use the Monorail because it almost qualifies as an attraction in itself to someone who doesn't stay at the one of the monorail resorts regularly.

 

[Laketravis]

We did it a couple of times over the last two weeks. Didn't do much in any of the parks but found the park-to-park buses helped shave some transport time off the endeavor.

Like others said, start with AK. We would at least do EE and Safari. Then we would go to HS where we had FP's for RnRC, ToT, and Star Tours. Then we'd take the boat to Epcot, do Test Track single rider line and Mission Space, then finish out with MK for parade and fireworks.

It wasn't too hard at all, especially on the days when MK was open until 2am with EMH.

 

[jar]

DS and I are doing 3 parks next week - 7am EMH at MK, switch to EP just after noon and then a couple of rides and Fantasmic at DHS at night.

 

[dkrauss]

Well, I wouldn't say this is a slower time of year, but it should be pretty easy to do. What are your goals for each park? Do you want to do rides/eat in each park? I would do it this way (throwing in a few rides/meals) and not assuming EMH:

1. Start at AK. Get there at 9, ride Safari and then see the 10 am Lion King.
2. Go to MK. I would my FP here and eat lunch here since there are a ton of options counterservice.
3. Head to DHS. Should be able to catch a show or two. Large capacity, so FP won't be as big an issue.
4. Head over to Epcot, have dinner in a country, visit some countries, watch Illuminations (9:30 in the Christmas months).

I think the hardest part would be if you wanted to do a sitdown dinner in Epcot since the restaurants get pretty booked for the Candelight Processional package. You could always do one of those, but I don't know that I would want to lock myself into something like that in case we got tired or held up elsewhere.

My first thought is it will be tough to do the main rides other than the park you select your first 3 FP's for and the first park (with no FP's)........that's where this progression has merit. We could get to AK at RD(for what that's worth there.) and walk on EE and KaliRR without much trouble...........grab a quick breakfast and then off to the Magic Kingdom......where we'd use our FP's for the late morning....have lunch somewhere quick there and then off to HS.....where we might be able to FP RnR or TofT..............snack...........then finish the day in Epcot........with a "nice" dinner......but probably no shot at Test Track or Soaring............

The particular day to do this will also be important...........don't want to do on a weekend.......or party night (well.....maybe???).

Thoughts????

Doug

 

[dancin Disney style]

We did 3 in a day last summer. We are not big AK lovers so we didn't visit that one. We decided to drive to DHS for RD stay until noonish, then drive to MK and ride the monorail to Epcot, stayed there until 5ish and then monorail back to MK and stayed there until we couldn't take it any longer which was about 10. The whole thing was my DD's idea but in the end she felt like she didn't get to do much. I doubt she would want to do it again. Could we have fit in a 4th....no. IMO, to do all 4 you would probably ride 1 or 2 rides walk around a little and then have to move on to the next park.

 

[tinkerbells mum]

My DD and I did this last Easter it was a great day but really tiring. We started at AK for rope drop did Safari and EE. We had funnel cake while waiting at Camp Minnie Mickey which was "breakfast". We got the bus to DHS and went on TSMM and GMR. We then got the boat to Epcot and spent quite a bit of time there. It was flower and garden festival so we got a few snacks there which were lovley. I can't remember what rides we did but I know we did a few. We then got the monorail to MK. We had an evening ADR at Tonys. We stayed there until we were ready to go back to the hotel. I'm not sure if we'll do it again but it was good fun. Being Easter it was really busy but with a bit of planning we managed to do everything we wanted. Working out the right order of parks is really important for transport and where you want to eat. If you do it hope you have a great day xx

 

[stinkpickle]

I would be more inclined to hit AK later, like during its last few park hours, and use rope drop at a park where wait times build faster.

 

[jsmla]

I did this in late January back in 2010 just for the challenge of it. I've been to WDW dozens of times, wouldn't recommend it for a first timer!

Hollywood Studios
Toy Story
Rock-n-Rollercoaster (Single Rider)
Tower of Terror
(Finished 10:15ish)

Bus to Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest (Single Rider)
Dinosaur
Kilimanjaro Safaris (FastPass)
(Finished around 12:30)

Bus to Epcot

Epcot
Mission Space
Test Track (Single Rider)
Lunch in the World Showcase
Soarin' (FastPass)
(Think it was around 5:00 when I left)

Monorail to Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom (Evening Extra Magic Hours)
Mickey's Philharmagic
Tomorrowland Transit Authority
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain (FastPass)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain (FastPass)
SpectroMagic Parade and Wishes

It was a looooong, fairly exhausting day. The only thing I'd planned on and wasn't able to do was Peter Pan. Of course this was before FastPass+ came into being and it was a chilly, drizzly (sometimes sleety!) day during one of WDW's slower seasons. It probably didn't hurt that I was solo that day. (DH would rather mow our 8 acre lawn with a push mower on a Louisiana August afternoon before attempting it!) I was also very lucky with the buses and never had to wait long. I would have finished earlier but I really wanted to include Soarin' and my FP return window was fairly late.

 

[raddisneyfan]

I agree with a PP that the times you are suggesting aren't necessarily slow periods--especially the end of November--definitely not slow time. 1st week of December might work, but I've heard that now they have a lot of deals on DVC for that period so not as slow a period as in years past. I could definitely have done 4 parks in 1 day when I was younger and possibly now if I was by myself.

Some thoughts regarding the actual plan, I think if you could go on a day when MK is open to 12AM or 2AM (though I doubt 2AM if you do in fact go at a slow time of year), that would be ideal and you could save it for last. I also think the plan would have been easier before FP+. Yes you can use your FP+ at MK, but then MK has the most rides worth riding, so if you miss one, no big deal. The problem under FP+ comes at both EPCOT and HS under the "STUPID" tier system--I absolutely hate this, especially since the only rides worth doing at either park are under Tier 1--IN MY OPINION (don't want haters slamming me for saying this). I have other issues with FP+, but I won't go into them here. That said, you will probably not be able to get on any Tier 1 rides at both EPCOT and HS if you use your FP+ at MK. AK would be a good park to start in especially if it's a day when touringplans indicates it should be a slower day. Go right to EE and then do Safari or Rapids if possible. I would probably use my FP+ at HS and go there next, then EPCOT and do single rider Testtrack because no way you're getting on Soarin' without a FP+, then monorail to MK. Good luck with planning this hectic day--hope neither of you have heart problems--you may after this one day!

 

[dkrauss]

I agree with a PP that the times you are suggesting aren't necessarily slow periods--especially the end of November--definitely not slow time. 1st week of December might work, but I've heard that now they have a lot of deals on DVC for that period so not as slow a period as in years past. I could definitely have done 4 parks in 1 day when I was younger and possibly now if I was by myself.

Some thoughts regarding the actual plan, I think if you could go on a day when MK is open to 12AM or 2AM (though I doubt 2AM if you do in fact go at a slow time of year), that would be ideal and you could save it for last. I also think the plan would have been easier before FP+. Yes you can use your FP+ at MK, but then MK has the most rides worth riding, so if you miss one, no big deal. The problem under FP+ comes at both EPCOT and HS under the "STUPID" tier system--I absolutely hate this, especially since the only rides worth doing at either park are under Tier 1--IN MY OPINION (don't want haters slamming me for saying this). I have other issues with FP+, but I won't go into them here. That said, you will probably not be able to get on any Tier 1 rides at both EPCOT and HS if you use your FP+ at MK. AK would be a good park to start in especially if it's a day when touringplans indicates it should be a slower day. Go right to EE and then do Safari or Rapids if possible. I would probably use my FP+ at HS and go there next, then EPCOT and do single rider Testtrack because no way you're getting on Soarin' without a FP+, then monorail to MK. Good luck with planning this hectic day--hope neither of you have heart problems--you may after this one day!

Good points above Haven't looked beyond just doing "4 parks in 1 day" as the only goal of this..............would like to do at least 1 "Tier 1" ride per park..........but as stated above that will be a challenge. But then again................this is a challenge!!!

Doug