I finally finished my write-up of how the day transpired. I wanted something detailed to show my kids one day after my memory fades, so I apologize for how long it is. I'd like to think there's some interesting information and cute anecdotes in there though
November 22, 2014. 6:00 AM EST.
In my jet-lagged grogginess I answered the phone. It was Olaf the snowman, calling to wish us luck in our endeavor. Well, it was actually the Disney All-Star Resort wake-up call, but I'm sure if he was aware of what we were about to embark on -- a quest to ride every ride at all 4 Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in a single operating day-- he would've wished us luck. We needed it.
I am not in the least bit a morning person, but I bound immediately out of bed. This was like my Christmas morning. Most of our critical items (park tickets, magic bands, camera, food, etc) were strategically packed the night before to make sure we didn't forget anything. My then-fiancee Paula and I got dressed, packed up our few last minute things and headed out to the car.
As soon as we stepped outside we saw what we had been dreading: rain. It could help us by lightening crowds or it could end our run by closing rides. At the very least it would annoy us by keeping us wet. We had ponchos, but we really only wanted to use those to stay dry on the wet rides. The previous day's weather report predicted rain at night, not in the morning, but that forecast changed. We hoped that the rain just came early, but only time would tell.
After gathering up my parents -- our chauffeurs for part of our trip -- we headed to pick up my brother Scott, the final member of our trio. He and his wife have a baby who was only 7 months old at the time and chose to stay at another hotel the night before so they wouldn't have to worry about moving all of her belongings, but we still had the All-Star hotel booked in 2 rooms for a total of 6 people to ensure everyone had access to Extra Magic Hours.
We arrived at Hollywood Studios in the rain at about 7:15. It was a little bit later than hoped, but we still got a decent spot in line. My research showed that the best place to get in line at Rope Drop for Hollywood was in the rightmost lane and that research paid off. By 7:55 the rain had stopped and the entrances to the far right, which were normally reserved for Cast Members, opened up. They waved us over from our line and we were among the first line of people through the gate, excited about the day ahead and relieved that our Magic Bands, which had taken several hours to get properly linked to our rooms the night before, worked and allowed us through the gate during the AM Extra Magic Hour.
As soon as we each passed through the turnstile we started racing for Toy Story Mania. There are several rides that have long lines all day long and we needed a strategy for each; the strategy for Toy Story Mania was to hit it first thing before the crowds. As we ran we'd get yelled at by Cast Members to walk. And we obliged... until we were out of sight of that CM. We arrived at TSM (ride #1) as the first guests of the day to find a piece of Disney trivia that I had never heard of in all of our years going to the parks or in all of my research for this day -- the first people on the ride for the day get a paper Fast Pass good for ANY ride at that park for the next several days. We debated throughout the day about if we should use them or whether that was "cheating." Ultimately, we didn't end up using them and gave them to family who would be in the parks for the next several days.
Running through DHS and into TSM was a surreal experience. There was literally nobody in front of us. Nobody was in the streets of Hollywood Blvd or
Pixar Place. No one was in the queue for TSM. Cast Members were standing around waiting to let us onto the ride. We arrived so quickly that there was nobody visibly behind us in line either. It was like we had the park to ourselves.
Trying to eliminate the other big lines at DHS, we quickly jogged to Rock 'N Roller Coaster (#2) to a find a short line, then to Tower of Terror (#3). While these short lines would've been a dream to most guests, they were actually longer than I expected -- nothing unmanageable, but after walking onto TSM I guess you come to expect things like that.
Having 3 rides and the biggest lines at DHS out of the way, we bolted to the parking lot. Our parents were following along on Twitter and we gave them the heads-up that we were coming and in need of a ride. To shave off a minute or two, we ran out to the car rather than taking the tram. Every second counted, but it was obvious early that the extra running would take its toll.
We drove over to the Magic Kingdom to knock off some of the early-closing rides -- Main Street Vehicles, Riverboat, and Tom Sawyer. Instead of parking at the Transportation and Ticket Center and taking the monorail to MK, we were dropped off in front of the Contemporary Resort and ran past the bus area to the front entrance. We developed a hatred of that 1/4 mile path of endless wall shrubs.
We split up as we entered the front gate to each get through just slightly faster. Scott always had first priority. We agreed that he would have the most difficulty running for that long throughout the day, so any opportunity to let him get a couple steps ahead he took. We lost sight of him just past the gate and decided to see if he was already on Main Street. Luckily we caught up with him as he was on a horse-drawn carriage (Main Street Vehicles, ride #4) just as it started to pull away. We ran up as Scott asked them to wait and they stopped for us. Luck was on our side... so far.
Still worried about the rain, we decided to change our plans a little and focus on outdoor rides. After getting off the carriage in the middle of the hub, we headed for Astro Orbiter (#5), then backtracked to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin (#6).
Despite the cynicism of Disney's focus on the almighty dollar, they still do so many little things to create an unforgettable experience for kids of all ages. While we were in line we saw Aladdin and Jasmine taking pictures near the ride -- appropriate. Then they came through the exit and got in the back of a flying carpet behind a thrilled little girl. I'm sure she will not soon forget the time she got to ride a magic carpet with Aladdin and Princess Jasmine!
After racing to Big Thunder (#7) the timing worked out perfectly to head over to get on the first voyage of the Liberty Belle Riverboat, but we encountered our first major problem of the day -- Riverboat was temporarily closed! We ran over to ride the raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island (#8), all the while trying to figure out what to do.
The first thing we did was scrap our biggest time-killer "skill shot." We had an idea to up the ante and not just ride every ride at WDW, but do something else that would be the icing on the cake. The hour or so that it would've taken was too much for us to waste. Because of that extra time, I miscalculated when we should be back at MK. I thought we would have enough time to get on the Riverboat before it closed, but I was wrong. Because of that, we decided to take the WDW Railroad (#9) and head out of the park (via the dreaded wall shrub path) rather than wait around to see if it would reopen. Still, it was only 10:30 am and we had already been on more rides than the average guest goes on in a day.
The middle of the day obviously has the biggest crowds at any of the parks, so we were sure to avoid the most popular parks at midday. Our next stop: Animal Kingdom.
Pressure does funny things to people. My parents had taken us to Disney World several times a year since we were toddlers and my brother and his wife go to the parks about once a month. Roads in and around Disney property are peppered with signs so tourists don't get lost. Somehow, we still managed to get stuck on some one-way road at a gas station near one of the golf courses and missed the exit heading to DAK and briefly left Disney property. That set us back about 10-15 minutes, but at least we had a chance to eat.
We knew food intake would be vital to keeping up our energy. We brought fruit leather, apple sauce pouches, anything we could find that would taste good and give us easy, stomach-friendly energy. During the car rides we had opportunities to consume what would appear closer to a meal, in this case: sandwiches. Not wanting the bread to get soggy by applying the mayo the night before, we chose to make the sandwiches in the car mid-transit. Of all the planning we did, we never thought about how difficult (and awkward looking) it would be for three 30-somethings crunched in the back of a Camry to make simple sandwiches. We had an assembly line going, but Henry Ford would be disappointed in our inefficiency due to the remaining back seat space being taken up by bags of ingredients and a cooler. Not the smartest approach.
Our two biggest concerns at DAK were Kali River Rapids and the Kilimanjaro Safari. Knowing how long safaris could last, we decided to hit Kali (#10) first so we'd at least be in line for both before the afternoon. We walked right on and immediately donned our ponchos and put newspaper bags around our shoes to keep them dry. We really hadn't counted on the rain keeping people away. In hind sight, it might have been better to do Kali later.
Our next stop was the Safari (#11). We met our parents out front and were able to stand in line and ride with them, which was very nice and relaxing for us, although it would've been nicer if it wasn't a 40 minute wait -- by far our longest of the day. This also gave us a chance to check up on other rides' statuses on our phones. The Riverboat opened sometime around noon, which might have been early enough that we could have waited around for it, but there's no way we could have known. Other rides closed for short periods throughout the day, which we made note of.
After a laid back trip on the Wildlife Express Train (#12) we bolted for the single rider line at Everest (#13). By this time our bodies were starting to revolt. Scott twisted/tweaked his ankle and my knee was starting to get a little painful. We'd try to use the longer lines and any opportunity we had to stretch and do whatever we could to help our bodies out.
Everest was one of a surprisingly large number of rides (8 or 9) that I went on for the first time that day. I was excited, but a little nervous for Paula, who is not at all a roller coaster junkie. It already took a great amount of will for her to get on Rock 'N Roller Coaster immediately followed by Tower of Terror. Now she was going on a brand new one without me sitting next to her. We had asked my family how bad it was in relation to other rides and we were told it wasn't as bad as Big Thunder, which she doesn't have a problem with. As we were on the ride I remember thinking "this is way worse than Big Thunder." She quite forcefully made the same observation after we got off the ride.
But, at least we were done with almost all of the big thrills. We headed to Dino Land and yet another Astro Orbiter/Dumbo/Aladdin ride -- Triceratop Spin (#14). We glanced over at the 30 minute posted wait for Primeval Whirl and discussed whether we should go to Dinsaur next, but thankfully the ride operator mentioned in passing that PW just opened up the second side. 30 minutes listed, 5 minute wait! Primeval Whirl (#15) done.
After a moderate line at Dinosaur (#16) we were done with our first park!
While working our way through Animal Kingdom, it became obvious that we wouldn't make it back to MK before the Riverboat closed, so we had to decide whether we would go to Magic Kingdom before finishing up DHS, after DHS, or during some "break" while working through Epcot. We decided to go to DHS first, then do the Riverboat so we could take the monorail between MK and Epcot.
We headed to Star Tours (#17) first and debated using the "good on any ride" FastPass we had received at the beginning of the day, but decided against it. We had about a 15 minute wait, which felt like much longer. By splitting up we managed to get onto a slightly earlier flight and sat on opposite ends of the ship. Star Wars junkie Scott was excited because this was his first flight to Naboo, but his excitement was short-lived, replaced by jealousy because I was the Rebel spy.
The rain had picked up a bit as we waited outside for Great Movie Ride (#18). In a lot of ways, the rain hurt us more than it helped us. It was not enough to keep people home and likely light enough that a lot of locals thought they'd be the only people there, and the indoor rides became a lot more crowded than expected. This was not good news for our schedule, but after about 10 minutes we were inside to the point where they start pulling groups of 2 to their express lane. I asked if a group of 1 could also go and they allowed it (I assume they only mention groups of two because very few people would ride GMR by themselves).
We were done with our second park of the day but knew we'd be cutting it close for the 7:00 closings at Epcot after having to run to MK just to ride the Riverboat (#19). On the bright side, that was our last trip past the dreaded shrub wall.
We headed up the monorail ramp and watched as the monorail pulled away from the station ahead of us. When we got to TTC there was a monorail waiting... which left as we ran up. Those 6 minute waits proved costly for our team.
On the monorail we discussed our game plan for getting past the rides that closed at 7:00 (Sum of All Thrills, Imagination, Living with the Land, and Ellen's Energy Adventure). We knew we would be cutting it close -- about an hour and a half to get through those rides (and Soarin', which we had a FastPass that expired during that time). We got in line for Sum of All Thrills (#20) with Scott's wife and each pair created the simplest bobsled track possible, one with the fewest number of clicks to make sure we would be next in line to actually ride our creation. They went first and we followed behind.
There was a mix-up between the two pairings (the details of which we're not sharing) and we ended up getting split up. We didn't reunite until the end of the night after Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Scott will post his own story of how the rest of the night went, and here is ours. He ended up completing everything except Ellen's Energy Adventure and Pirate of the Caribbean.
We ran over to Imagination (#21), which just made me miss the original ride. Paula never went on the original ride, so I explained it again to her (even though I've shown her the videos online quite a few times before). From there we walked onto Livin' with the Land (#22) and then had a very short wait for Soarin' (#23). We managed to get onto the last showing of Ellen's
Nap Energy Adventure (#24) and tried to snooze a bit.
After riding the Green version of Mission: Space (#25), we walked over to Mexico, the first walking we did all day. The entire day had taken its toll on me - my knees were killing me and after everything that happened with my brother, I questioned whether I wanted to continue. We went on the Gran Fiesta (#26), which I had never seen in its current form, and I don't remember a thing about it. I was spent. Paula convinced me to take it a ride at a time and to keep going. We ran from there to the Seas (#27) and my knee was killing me. My mom called and tried to talk me into quitting because she could hear the pain in my voice over the phone and didn't want to risk permanent damage, but I pushed on. One ride at a time.
Spaceship Earth (#28) gave us a little more time to relax, talk, and stay as positive as we could. The funny photo story at the end of the ride was able to bring a smile to my face for the first time in several hours. After a single-rider trip through Test Track (#29) we were done with Epcot and decided to continue on to the Magic Kingdom. One ride at a time.
The monorail schedule was a little bit nicer this time. We still had to wait each leg, but at least we didn't watch the last monorail leave the station.
We ran down Main Street and headed to the two gimmes in Tomorrowland - Peoplemover and Carousel of Progress. I started to second-guess myself and started going to Peoplemover before crossing over to CoP (#30). Unfortunately, I had promised Paula to get food before going on any rides, making my decision bad for domestic tranquility. The worst part was that CoP stopped for a little while and we had to sit through one of the eras twice when the theater didn't move. At least we had time to check the Disney app to find food still open at that time. We grabbed a bag of chips (that tore open in my pocket later in the night, which didn't stop my starving self from eating chips directly out of my pants pocket) and a pretzel to stuff in pockets for the ride around Tomorrowland on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (Peoplemover, #31)
By this point, there a few rides I was worried about in the near term. Jingle/Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Splash could leave us stranded on one side of the parade without an easy way to escape. JC and Splash were our highest priorities since they weren't open for EMH. We decided to do Jingle/Jungle Cruise (#32) before crossing the parade path towards Fantasyland, punting on the others.
While the parade was setting up and working its way through, we knocked off Small World (#33), Prince Charming's Carousel (#34) and the Teacups (#35), all the while keeping an eye on the parade so we could head back for Splash before it closed.
Unfortunately, we were a little early and got stuck behind the parade as it headed backstage in Frontierland. When we got to Splash (#36), Paula wasn't looking all that great. She looked like she was close to getting sick and was having a bit of a panic attack. She insisted that she could keep going on, but at one point conceded that she thought she'd either throw up on the ride or in line. She needed time sitting on something that wasn't moving. I convinced her that her sitting that ride out wouldn't disappoint me and she relented. That all really put a spring back in my step; I mean, how many men can say "my wife would vomit in public for me?" I dried a couple of her tears as I got off the ride and she was good to go, feeling much better and able to finish the rest of the night.
To finish off that side of the park we hit Pirates (#37) next. No big deal, 5 minute listed wait... and then we got to the line that was outside the building. It was at least 10 minutes by the time we got towards the front of the line and discovered they were only loading one boat on one side of the docks. After finally getting into our boat and chilling with Captain Jack for a little while, we cruised through the last scene.... and were stopped. The boats were backed up from the exits past Captain Jack's booty room, past the jail and several boats deep into the Caribbean. Ridiculous. What should have been a quick on-and-off ride set us back and started to worry us about the rest of the night.
After having finished off Frontierland and Adventureland, we worked through Liberty Square to Haunted Mansion (#38), a nice and uneventful ride not much wait and no delays at all on the ride (which is unusual, in my experience).
We headed through Fantasyland towards the Dumbo/Barnstormer area, but at this point of the night we started to second-guess ourselves. Pooh had a 10 minute wait, but had been temporarily closed earlier in the night, which scared us a little bit. We decided to wait on it until our planned time right before Peter Pan and kept on running.... then stopped... then ran.... then went back to Pooh (#39). The second guessing didn't end up wasting a lot of time, but it did shake our confidence a little bit, which wasn't helped by the legitimate 5-10 minute wait at Pooh.
Through a few more rides (#40 Dumbo, #41 Barnstormer, and #42 Little Mermaid) we felt like we were making up some time but taking major ego hits by being 30-somethings on kiddie rides without kids. The whole thing was becoming feasible again -- 45 minutes and 5 rides.
And then we hit Indy Speedway (#43).
I guess it should be expected at 1:15 at night, but they only had one lane going and were so backed up that they were loading people by walking them on the roadway back to the cars. Another easy ride, another 10 minutes we weren't expecting. We were in all-out sprint mode at this time, at least as close as we could get to "sprinting" after having already run over 12 miles by this point.
One of our focuses was to enjoy rides as much as we could -- that's the point, right? When we've watched others make these crazy attempts, they were either too tired or too busy making other plans to actually play the game at Buzz Lightyear (#44). While we didn't get the highest scores, we were still trying to beat each other the entire time. Neither of us wanted to lose that game, but someone had to. I won. Just sayin'.
We made the short trip over to Space Mountain and started noticing exactly how empty the park was. Very few people actually take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours that it starts to look like a ghost town. Space Mountain (#45), usually bustling with guests, was nearly empty. There was a woman with a small child ahead of us in line and the kid decided that he wanted to push every button at every panel on his way to the front of the line. While I normally wouldn't mind this, we were on a tight schedule and my passive aggressive suggestions that they hurry up were a little too passive and not enough aggressive. Then, after we finally made it onto our space ship we got to the launch point before the lift and waited there for a full minute (based on the video I took). It doesn't sound like much, but it felt like forever.
Still in sprint mode, we hustled over to Peter Pan (#46) with no line and about 6 minutes to go. This would be close.
As we ran as fast as our exhausted legs could take us, I made a very disturbing realization - this was my first time in the new Tomorrowland and I didn't exactly know where Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was, at least not enough to be completely confident that I wasn't running down a wrong path in nearly pitch dark. I came very close to running down a very long path towards what turned out to be a character meet-and-greet. Our energy was about spent and we had just a couple minutes to make it to the start of the line, not enough time for wrong turns. Luckily, I was able to choose the right direction and we made it to Seven Dwarfs with 3 minutes to spare.
As we stepped into line I heard a slow clap from the line ahead of me. It was my brother, applauding the accomplishment but obviously disappointed in how the night turned out for him. He'll be back to try it again, either in the next few months or with me after Frozen opens.
I was so exhausted -- physically and mentally -- that I really don't remember much about the Mine Train. It was my first time on and I should have been taking it all in but by that time I was just ready to have some substantial food and go to sleep.
We took some group "after" pictures before we left and took the ferry over to TTC, so exhausted that none of us even had the energy to walk up the stairs to the benches so we either sat/lay on the ground or on the stairs. The rain that had been very light became heavier and we froze on the tram back to the car as the rain rolled off the roof into our faces, but our day was done.
We did it! Every ride at Disney World. 47 rides, one day! Although Guiness has no such record (and I'm sure there's insufficient documentation to prove this), I now own the record for most unique Disney rides in a single day, which can only be beaten once a new ride opens. Paula is tied for 2nd with 46 rides and Scott can still claim to be one of only 5 people to ride 45 in one day.
We will be back for even more crazy WDW adventures. @disneyinaday will return!
