Four Parks One Day Solo tips?

[jessicar82]

I would like to try and attempt to do all 4 parks next month while I am there solo. Has anyone done this before? How many rides/shows do you attempt in each park?

 

[princessnikitaa]

Being on a solo trip is actually the perfect time to try to hit all 4 parks! It is definitely possible! You just have to wake up super early, and obviously you are going to bed really late. It's perfect because you get to go at the pace that you like, go to the attractions that you want to do. You aren't really waiting around for anyone. When I go to each park, I make sure that I decided what it is that I want to accomplish for that day. Usually, if I want to ride the bigger attractions, I wake up just in time for rope drop, head straight to the rides, and ride them. I save the Fast Passes for the afternoon when the parks tend to be busiest. At night, rides are starting to die down, depending which park it is (I usually ride the rides when everyone is watching the fireworks.) And for eating, I actually try to fit in as many snacks/quick service meals as I can. There are no rules to dining in Disney, so I like to fill up on all the amazing, unique snacks in WDW.

Hope this helped a little bit!

 

[JustCor]

I've done this a few times. What I've ended up doing is putting the parks that require the least time from me (AK and DHS) first and saving MK for last to hit the fireworks and night time fun. It's also the park that tends to stay open the latest. I save my FPs for MK and wing it at the other parks. Starting early is definitely a good idea, but not necessarily required. I've managed to hit all four parks while starting after noon and still had plenty of time, though you'll deal with more lines. AK, DHS, and Epcot each have a high volume ride with a single rider line that lets you bypass some of the madness. My four park plan has settled into going to AK first and riding Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest (single rider line), along with some walking around and maybe a smaller ride or three. If the single rider line for Expedition Everest isn't horrible, I'll try to jump on one or two more times. I also like to start at DHS to get the buses out of the way. After a bus ride to DHS, I stay off of them if possible. At DHS, I hit up Tower of Terror and then Rockin' Rollercoaster (single rider line). If the single rider line isn't too bad, I'll hop back on and go again. DHS isn't my favorite park at the moment, so that usually does it for me. From there, I take a nice relaxing boat ride over to Epcot. In Epcot, I'll do Test Track (single rider line), Nemo, Living with the Land, and every now and then the line for Mission: Space is manageable. I also tend to make an ADR somewhere in the World Showcase since Epcot has the best selection of food. After wrapping up Epcot, I'll hop on the mono to MK and use my FPs. Once the initial FPs are used up, I'll keep adding as I feel the need to. Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain all get FPs. Haunted Mansion and Buzz Lightyear are usually fairly quick for walk ons (20 - 30 minutes). I try to always stop and get a picture with Tinkerbell (always 10 minutes or less). If you can ride out the night until closing, you can get a lot done in MK, especially on an EMH night. The crowds start to thin out a bit later in the night. While I enjoy the fireworks and have seen them quite a few times now, that's a good time to try and get on to some of the harder to get stuff. In the slower times, I've managed to hop on 7DMT with a 45 minute standby time. Big Thunder Mountain can drop to 30 minutes. I'll grab a snack or a quick counter service dinner to get me through the evening (Pot Roast Mac and Cheese at Friar's Nook) and hit up the shops if the lines are long for something I want to ride.

Four parks is definitely doable. Just be flexible and try not to get hung up at one place for too long if nothing is happening. You may end up missing out on some of the busier rides (Soarin', Toy Story Midway Mania, 7DMT), but that's not a big thing overall. FPs are easy enough to shift times on, so if you're running ahead or behind, you can most likely adjust the times accordingly. You'll kind of quickly figure out which parks will take more of your time and which parks you can kind of move through. Some people may spend more time at DHS than I usually do, or less time at Epcot. Try not to be too regimented and doing four parks will be a breeze.

 

[com_op_2000]

DW and I have done all 4 parks in one day multiple times. We do not do that anymore as we find ourselves too rushed to enjoy the day. We now prefer to go to the parks at a slower pace. For a single and go getter - go for it.

 

[ludari]

I too had done this earlier this month. I started off later in the morning than I had preferred and I used all three of my fastpass+ rides at one park and then got in line for a several more rides. I repeated this at the other parks during my five day trip to WDW. To be honest I didn't get to any of the parks first thing in the morning, I wasn't attempting to get a bunch a rides in and I didn't use any of my magic hours. My main goal was to visit the rides or shows I was interested in or that I hadn't been on yet since my last visit.

 

[kwdw]

This is definitely doable solo - more so than with others, IMO!

I haven't done four in one day, but I have done three.

The day I did three - I started with the MORNING EMH (happened to be MK that day) - and I was there at rope drop (I think it was 8 am that day). Left there about 10:30-11 am after hitting several rides in Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and HM. Took bus to AK - ate at Pizzafari for lunch and rode the Safari, saw Mickey and Minne at Adventurer's Outpost, walked an animal trail, and went to FOTLK. Then - off to EPCOT. Did the right side of Future World - Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, and Figment. Stopped by Club Cool and headed towards Canada/France. I really just walked WS, looking at shops. I didn't see any of the movies. Ate QS in China for dinner. I did ride the boat in Mexico. Had a FP for Test Track (my timing wasn't perfect - so it's the only FP I used all day - I "missed" the times I had for Character Spot and SE). And ended by watching Illuminations.

For me - I easily could have thrown in DHS, but then I probably either would have started there so I didn't need a FP for Toy Story - or that would have been my "key" FP and I would have gone single rider at TT instead. And to get that in - I probably would have had to either skip walking the animal trail at AK or maybe only walked part of WS.

It also depends on the time of year and park hours. I don't go in summer - so I'm usually working with an 8 am to 9pm time frame. Or maybe 9-midnight. But if you had a 8 am to midnight day - you could do ALOT.

Solo - it all goes faster because it's only YOUR restroom breaks, meals go faster, no browsing not related to your interests, etc.

 

[loves to dive]

Like PP I've done 3 and it wasn't on purpose it just happened. I go solo a lot and certainly it is doable. MK is not a big draw for me (I know sue me) so I tend to get everything I want done there by 10 if I do rope drop. The day I did 3 I did rope drop at MK, I didn't plan on it, I was up, I was ready so I just did it. I rode BTMR, HM, Peter Pan, POC, Jungle Cruise and the people mover. I left around 10:30 and went to Epcot, I did Soarin (had a FP) SSE, Living with the Land, walked through the seas (didn't do the ride I hate it), single rider test track and ate at some of the booths at F&W. I wanted to see Fantasmic so I walked over to BC and hopped the boat to HS. I did ToT, GMR and walked around the back lot (I'm not ride centric at the studios I don't do RRRC cause it hurts my neck, have never done star wars and TSMM is just MEH for me), hopped in stand by for Fantasmic which was actually just a fast walk through to the seats, said on the right side about 5 rows down next to the left hand isle (In all fairness it had rained pretty hard most of the day and I think most people gave up). I could easily have skipped walking around F&W and gone over to AK and done single rider for EE and the safari. I always do at least two parks a day every time I go.

 

[karly05]

I did it this year and had fun! My tip is, set some goals and priorities and build your day around that. I wanted to be at Epcot and MK at mealtimes, wanted my prebooked FPs at MK but wanted to ride TSM at DHS. My basic goals were to do some favorite things at each park, and get my picture with Mickey and Minnie at each park to document my progress.

I started at DHS at rope drop so I could ride TSM standby with minimal wait. Rode Star Tours, stopped by to see Phineas & Ferb, met Mickey and Minnie at the old Animation building..
Boat to Epcot Lamb shawarma lunch in Morocco, pics with Mickey, Minnie & Goofy at Character Spot, then mostly walked around Epcot taking pics of topiaries at Flower & Garden.
Bus to AK, was lucky enough to do the Safari standby with a fairly short wait, did the Maharajah Jungle Trek and got pics with Mickey & Minnie at Adventurer's Outpost.
Bus to MK, had FPs to meet Mickey at Town Square, 7DMT and Buzz, saw Move It Shake It, met Minnie and Daisy at Pete's Silly Sideshow, did some other things including Monsters Inc and Small World, got dinner at Pinocchio's, hung around for MSEP and Wishes. I agree with JustCor above, I'm a big proponent of ending at MK/spending the most time there, and prebooking your FPs there.

One other thing I did: I followed Josh's Crowd Calendar at Easy WDW and chose a day (mine was a Tuesday) when MK, HS and AK were all "green" parks and only Epcot was "red" - and he explained in his details that Epcot wouldn't be awful, but the days before and after would be better. Epcot was fine, and was my least "line-sensitive" park anyway, so that worked out great. MK was still a madhouse, but I'm convinced it always is any more, and I'm sure Tuesday was better than a lot of other days.

 

[xDisneyAngelx]

I never attempted this but it can be done. First you should check out the EMH and see which is open early and which one is open later. Then look at the crowd calendar and see which park will be the heaviest and which one will be least crowded. I actually was able to do all the rides in Epcot in about 5 hrs. I went on November 1, 2015 and got into the park around 3:30pm. And by 9pm I did all rides without any fastpasses. That is all the advice I can give, can't wait to see how it turns out Have a magical time!

 

[poison ivy]

I would like to try and attempt to do all 4 parks next month while I am there solo. Has anyone done this before? How many rides/shows do you attempt in each park?

We did this a few years ago (June 2012) - before FP+. We were staying at the boardwalk which made it a little easier.
Our goal was 4 attractions but must incl. 3 headliners (e-ticket rides) + 1 different character photo per park.

I. Bus to AK at rope drop: no FP's needed
EE - Safari - Dinosaur - Primevil Whirl
(photo w/tigger @ pooh and friends pavillion)

II. AK bus to Hollywood Studios - (this is where I would consider FP+ if doing this today):
Toy Story - ToT - RnRC (single rider) - American Idol Experience
(photo w/Bob the Builder in Animation Courtyard)
grabbed a QS lunch at starring rolls

III. HS bus to Epcot - (photo w/Daisy at park entrance)
back when you could still secure FP's at the park - we did for Soarin & Mission Space.
Also rode Finding Nemo and Sum of All Thrills (Test Track was under refurbishment)

IV. Epcot bus to Grand Floridian - dinner at the Grand Floridian Café.
(monorail to MK would be more efficient but we had dinner plans)

V. GF Monorail to Magic Kingdom which was hosting EMH night. (photo w/Mickey and Minnie at entrance)
Space Mtn - Winnie the Pooh - Small World - Haunted Mansion - Pirates

It was a full day but a lot of fun and we had a great time.

Good Luck with your plans.

 

[dauser]

I was solo for part of my trip in May 2015. As a frequent visitor to WDW, I had often thought of trying to do all 4 parks in 1 day, but had never done it. On my last of 3 days of solo touring, I decided that I would try it. My only criteria was that I would do 3 "major" attractions at each park. I started at Animal Kingdom at 9 am and finished at Hollywood Studios at 4:30 PM. I was surprised that I was able to do it in less than 8 hours, but wouldn't necessarily recommend it to other people as I felt a bit rushed and concentrated on trying to get it done rather than on enjoying myself.

I did it again a few weeks ago with my partner. It was a short trip, and we tried to squeeze a lot in. On our only full day together we started at Animal Kingdom at 9 am and finished at Magic Kingdom at 10:30 pm. It was a much more enjoyable experience than my first attempt. Part of it was that I did it over 13.5 hours rather than 7.5 hours, and part of it was that I wasn't doing in by myself. In any case, I wouldn't recommend it for first time visitors, but for more frequent visitors who want to try it, I think that it's fairly reasonable to do.

 

[lustergirl]

I have never done it but good luck. Come back and report to us how it went.

 

[Dezandthebeast]

I did all 4 parks in one day last year. I cant say I would do it again lol. I didn't feel it than but by the time I finished the 4th park I was exhausted cool experience though