Four Parks in One Day - WE DID IT!

[bcactus]

So are there actually some "rules" (or are they more like what you'd call guidelines - see what I did there?) to this or can you pretty much just wing it and just do one attraction per park? Is there a version that includes the water parks too?

Seems like something you can set your own guidelines for to me!

 

[1GoldenSun]

Unless you want to use Uber I don't think it's really necessary. We've done all four parks without EMH, didn't RD, and used Disney transportation except for we walked from Epcot to HS.

At minimum in each park we rode one ride, saw one show, ate one food item, visited one shop, and used one restroom. We considered that enough to constitute "doing" each park.

It's a lot of fun!

 

[OB1]

I have done this twice, without express transport. I did use the monorail to go from EPCOT to MK. Otherwise probably faster to drive every other place.

My big question is Electric Umbrella?? REALLY ?? With all the quick places to eat at EPCOT and that is the choice!!!

 

[1GoldenSun]

I have done this twice, without express transport. I did use the monorail to go from EPCOT to MK. Otherwise probably faster to drive every other place.

My big question is Electric Umbrella?? REALLY ?? With all the quick places to eat at EPCOT and that is the choice!!!

Haha! I agree about the food at Electric Unbrella but we'll sometimes eat there on hot days just for the refillable beverages! A lot of Coke Zero on a hot day really hits the spot for me!

 

[mesaboy2]

I did 6 parks in the Orlando area (4 WDW, 2 UO) as a single many years ago. My initial goal was one headliner in each park, but it was apparent early on that was too easy. Transportation wasn't difficult, and I used a combination of my own car, monorail, and even the Epcot/DHS boat to get around. I had accomplished all by early evening. I doubt Uber is truly necessary for getting your goals done.

 

[tnmom25]

Love it... it's on my bucket list too. Next trip we plan to hit DW AND DL and to make it even more interesting.... my BIL has suggested we try to be in both. Parks on the same day. We will see. We have done three parks in one day, easy Peasy but was just a little time in MK after a late dinner. I would Uber to your first park and take the boat to Epcot. I would grab lunch at a CS in the WS. Board Walk is going to mean gettin off the boat and maybe having to wait a bit for a boat when you are ready to re-board.

Excellent point about getting off the boat!! I was thinking we'd stop if we walked, though.

The 2nd key was driving ourselves. It saved a ton of time.....
By the end of the day, we had done 17 rides, 2 parades, 2 fireworks shows and 1 Dole Whip.

We won't have a car this time, so that's kinda why I figured Uber would be faster than using buses. And, that's an impressive list of what you accomplished!

.... The now extinct Express Bus made this so doable.

Yeah, I'm really disappointed that they're stopping that just five days before our 4 Parks day!!

...... At minimum in each park we rode one ride, saw one show, ate one food item, visited one shop, and used one restroom. We considered that enough to constitute "doing" each park.

It's a lot of fun!

I love your list! I'm going to talk to my husband and come up with a definitive list of something to do in each park.

... My big question is Electric Umbrella?? REALLY ?? With all the quick places to eat at EPCOT and that is the choice!!!

We don't plan to go into World Showcase on that day and I get a 20% AP discount at Electric Umbrella If we get a snack in each park, we'll really only go in to take a break from the heat and get something small and a refillable beverage.

 

[tnmom25]

So are there actually some "rules" (or are they more like what you'd call guidelines - see what I did there?) to this or can you pretty much just wing it and just do one attraction per park? Is there a version that includes the water parks too?

I see and LOVE what you did there!!

There are several bloggers and groups that have their own version. But, you can do anything you want

 

[mustinjourney]

Haha! I agree about the food at Electric Unbrella but we'll sometimes eat there on hot days just for the refillable beverages! A lot of Coke Zero on a hot day really hits the spot for me!

Yeah -- I would totally hit up the france QS for a ham and cheese croissant. They are so good. And the lines aren't too bad there.

 

[kagmypts]

We're doing the 4-Park Challenge during our December visit so no FOP for me, as the challenge states you need one roller-coaster type ride and one picture with Mickey in each of the parks.

My plan so far is:

Animal Kingdom 9:00am-11:00am
Everest
Safari
Picture with Mickey at Outpost

Bus to HS

Hollywood Studios 11:30am-2:30pm
FP+ RnRC
FP+ ToT
Picture with Mickey at Mickey and Minnie Red Carpet Dreams

Bus to Poly and walk to TTC so we can Ferry to MK (must use boat at some point during the challenge)

Magic Kingdom 3:15pm-6:00pm
BTMRR
HM
See the Movie Shake it, Celebrate parade (must see it from the hub)
Picture with Mickey at the theater.

Monorail to EPCOT

Epcot 6:30pm-11:30pm (EPCOT has EMH on 12/12)
Spaceship Earth
FP+ Soarin' (hopefully)
Picture with Mickey at Character Spot.
Watch the fireworks
Soarin' (if there's no FP left)

The Character Spot at Epcot closes at 7:00. You will likely need to move your picture with Mickey to right after your Epcot arrival. Have fun!

 

[fairygagamother]

I just did all four parks last Tuesday! I hadn't really planned on doing it, but realized it would be possible with the use of express transportation. I think the main reason I did it was because I had paid for the Express Trans & hadn't gotten my money's worth yet! By golly, I was going to use the heck out of that sucker!
My family left early that morning so I was the only person I had to worry about.
I took the boat from The Poly, where I had been staying, over to MK & saw Mickeys Philharmagic. I thought I might do one more ride but there were waits, so I took ET to AK. It was very crowded & the one show I had planned to see, Bug's Life was down. I wandered around looking for another option, but ended up leaving. It still counts! I was there!! I then took the regular bus back to The Poly , had lunch in the lounge & then drove over to check in at Boardwalk Inn. From BWI I walked over to Epcot & rode Three Caballeros in Mexico. Then I took the E T to The Studios, which is basically about 5 minutes away. That ride took about 20 minutes. The bus driver said because of construction they had to go a roundabout way. I had a fast pass for TSM & Frozen Sing Along, but only went to TSM. I had a drink & dinner at Brown Derby outside bar. That was very relaxing. Then I took the ET back to Epcot, which did take about 10 minutes. Much faster getting back than going. I spent the rest of the evening walking around WS & watched the fireworks as I walked back to Boardwalk. And I slept really well that night!!

 

[tnmom25]

Yeah -- I would totally hit up the france QS for a ham and cheese croissant. They are so good. And the lines aren't too bad there.

If we take the boat from DHS to Epcot, it will take us to International Gateway, correct? If so, then France is totally doable!!

 

[loves to dive]

If we take the boat from DHS to Epcot, it will take us to International Gateway, correct? If so, then France is totally doable!!

Yes, it stops at Swan/Dolphin, YC/BC, BW then Epcot. You can get off on any of the stops along the way to grab something to eat and walk the rest of the way. We have found walking from HS to Epcot takes less time and we actually enjoy it more than standing and waiting for the boat then waiting through each stop.

 

[tnmom25]

Now, I'm rethinking our lunch. Maybe we should eat at DHS after riding Tower, and R&R so that will give our food some time to settle before we head to Epcot for Test Track. We could eat at ABC Commissary, cool off and rest our feet before walking to Epcot.

 

[pbb&j]

I did a 4 park day on Tuesday, August 15 with my teen daughter. It was SUPER fun! We had the benefit of using the express transportation (super bummer that it is ending), so that helped us out timewise. We really didn't have a set goal for the parks, except it was our only morning at HS and my daughter wanted to see the Beauty and the Beast show, so we worked around that.

Park #1 - MK - We started with 8:00 BOG breakfast. Even though it was EMM, we got on 7 dwarves a little early. Our ride photo was at 8:59. After that we rode Winnie the Pooh, People Mover, and Space Mountain standby. We left on the Express bus to Studios at 10:20

Park #2 - DS - We grabbed some popcorn and watched the 11:00 Beauty and the Beast show. We quickly made it to our fastpasses at RnRC, followed by ToT. Our timing worked our perfectly here, as I had booked our RnRC fastpass time to expire right after Beauty and the Beast ended, so that we could head right to ToT. At 12:10, we boarded the express bus to Animal Kingdom

Park #3 - AK - We were able to pick up a fastpass for Everest for 1:00, so after grabbing some falafel at Mr. Kamal's (so tasty), we rode Everest once, and then checked and another fastpass was immediately available, and then another! We also rode single rider twice. So, we rode Everest at 1:00, 1:12, 1:20, 1:28, and 1:42! It was SO fun. We grabbed a couple Dole Whips while we waited for the 2:20 express bus to Epcot.

Park #4 - Epcot - We picked up a fastpass for Soarin after our Everest rides, and rode that at 3:00. Had lunch at Sunshine Seasons, and had our picture taken at Spaceship Earth at 4:20 and headed back to our hotel and collapsed in our room by 5:00.

It was a great day!

 

[goodeats]

When I did a 4 park day (way back in 2005!), I did AK, HS, EP, and MK in that order as well. It worked out well. I don't even think we got to AK all that early either. We were back to WL by 8:00 too!

We def rode at least one attraction in each park and got ice cream on the Boardwalk. Of course this was before electronic FP so less planning was required and it was a pretty slow time of year (a Wed in early December).

 

[tnmom25]

Opinions on making a reservation for 50s PTC at 11:20am? We could do Star Tours and R&R with our FP+, then eat and rest before doing Tower of Terror.

Edited to add: I've decided against this, since dh isn't a fan of 50sPTC. So, quick service it is!

 

[OB1]

Yeah -- I would totally hit up the france QS for a ham and cheese croissant. They are so good. And the lines aren't too bad there.

Exactly what I did on my visit last weekend. YUMMMMMMM

 

[LucyBC80]

So are there actually some "rules" (or are they more like what you'd call guidelines - see what I did there?) to this or can you pretty much just wing it and just do one attraction per park? Is there a version that includes the water parks too?

I got my rules from a blog I follow, but they aren't set in stone, you can build your own set of rules. All that matters is that you have fun while doing it.

 

[mustinjourney]

why only do a marathon when you can go for the Ironman?

Take the four park challenge to the max -- all 49 operating rides in all 4 parks in one day!

http://www.parkeology.com/wdw49-all-disney-world-rides-in-one-day

 

[tnmom25]

why only do a marathon when you can go for the Ironman?

Take the four park challenge to the max -- all 49 operating rides in all 4 parks in one day!

Good one!!

Actually, I would absolutely do this if I was by myself. But, dh is not as big of a Disney fan as I am