Help me plan a 4 park, 1 day bonanza!

[godders]

Hey everyone,

So I'm heading back to WDW in September and thought this would be a fun challenge for me as a solo traveller.

No idea where to start with the planning though.

Which park order would you all recommend and do you have any tips or tricks that would make it successful?

Any ideas would be awesome and greatly appreciated!

 

[taythecray]

We did 3 in one day back in December. Could have done 4 but we wanted to go back to MK instead of heading to EP.
Biggest tip is start with the park that opens earliest and end with the park that closes last (if they are the same park then start with the next earliest)
We drove ourselves and it seemed to save a lot of time. Longest wait for a parking tram was about 5min? Our day was MK 8-11:30, AK 12:30-3:30, HS 4:30-7:30 then back to MK 8-midnight. I have a trip report of all the things we did, it was awesome! We took about an hour for lunch and then packed of bunch of snacks/light foods for dinner. We saved our fastpasses for MK after 8 and so thankful we did, lines were all an hour+ by that point. Longest wait was 40min for Rock n Roller Coaster, everything else was 5-15min

Edit: Here's my short trip report 12/17

 

[Canuck16]

Start in the park that opens the earliest and end in MK if it is open the latest.

If you can do a day when MK has EMH until 2am that would give you that extra time if need be to get those last rides in.

Good luck!!!

 

[hakepb]

It really depends on what rides you want to get done. TSMM and Soarin require a lot more planning. (TT , ER and RnR have single rider, 7DMT could be a potential 2am ride)

Or you could go all crazy like these guys today

@WDWMountaineers: Ride #9 The Seas with Nemo #WDW46 http://t.co/0uLKOyY7hl @Parkeology http://t.co/vezVujNf1p

 

[seus-mouse]

We have done this a few times over the years. We had a blast. The last time our oldest daughter could only make one day with us so we did Animal kingdom at rope drop, headed to Kilimanjaro Safari's then Did Kali River several times, got some great counter service chow at Yak and Yeti-the lo mein and sweet and sour chicken were big portions, close bathroom and dry sock change after Kali!
off to Magic Kingdom to take the train up around to get to the Little Mermaid meet n greet for pics, then over to Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise, back out to get to Disney Studios to Rock n Rollercoaster and Indianna Jones show, out to the boat to Epcot, over to Germany for some beers and sausage...meander around Morocco and wherever you like until Illuminations at 9 then boat back for Fantasmic at 10...
That's from memory, I hope I remembered correctly. Good luck and have fun.


Hol

 

[C-CMom]

We have enjoyed doing this - fun to see the parks in general but the "game" of trying to fit it all in adds extra excitement. Rope drop early EMH park if you have access - ride all you can quickly. Might even arrive at 2nd park for some of that early morning lower crowd time, too. Single rider lines are very helpful in the parks that have them (Expedition Everest AK, Rockin Roller Coaster DHS, Test Track Epcot - maybe more, those are just what came to mind). Saving the advance FP for your 3rd or 4th park makes sense. Don't count too much on headliners for the later parks without FP. MK is a nice end for us because we like the atmosphere best and seeing final shows and fireworks feels enough like an attraction so if we don't get to "ride" as much, we still feel like we've succeeded. Plus, we're love TTA ,so can almost always ride at least that! Boat from DHS to/from Epcot (International Gateway) possible, but seemed to take a bit longer that we expected (at this point a few minutes of rest on a boat was good ,though). Monorail Epcot to/from MK quick and easy. Counter service food also quick and easy, and can be delicious and nutritious if you choose wisely.

Have fun!

 

[karly05]

I am attempting this on my trip next month, so we'll see how I do. I understand other people's approaches based on EMH, or a logical order of travel, but my approach is, what attractions do I want to try to do and where do I want to eat? I want to do TSM and 7DMT, and I want to be at Epcot for a meal. MK is open latest on my day (although I am not a night owl and don't intend to stay till closing). I wanted to do the Nemo show for my primary activity at AK, but I've pretty well given up on that because I won't make the 1:00 show and the 3:00 show will have me leaving AK later than I'd like. Overall goal is to do some favorite things at each park (not necessarily "headliners") and get my photo with Mickey at each park. Here's what I'm planning:

RD at DHS, straight to TSM for standby, over to ride Star Tours and say hi to my fave boys Phineas & Ferb (order depending on whether P&F are out yet when I get to that side of the park), back to the Animation Building for a photo with Mickey.
Boat to Epcot.
Epcot - Lunch at Tangierine Cafe (lamb shawarma platter is my fave CS meal in WDW), photo with Mickey. If I'm making good time, I might try to hit single rider on Test Track.
Bus to AK.
AK - Photo with Mickey. I think I may opt to do Tough to Be a Bug and Maharajah Jungle Trek - On my first WDW trip in 1999, we went to AK for like 2 hours because I HAD to see ITTBAB (big Bug's Life/Hopper fan), and we did that and Maharajah. I always love visiting the bats and big kitty cats.
Bus to MK.
I booked my FP+ here, 7DMT (will be my first time!), Meet Mickey (just to be sure I get that last photo!), and Buzz. I'm hoping to get to MK early enough to beat the crowd to Columbia Harbor House for dinner then make the 5:40 Move It Shake It. Plan to see MSEP and Wishes.

This is just one day out of a longer trip, and I will have other "primary"/RD days at each park, so I'm really just doing this for fun, but I'm excited to see what happens!

 

[livingthedream]

If you want to challenge yourself to do EVERY ride, then (if memory serves) there is something on TouringPlans.com that outlines a good plan to get you on to everything. It was written prior to introduction of FP+, and perhaps they have updated it, but I always thought it would be a cool thing to do! That's the only advice I have. Good luck!

 

[DonaldDuck77]

We are hoping to try this in October. Definitely not doing every ride, just what we can. Going EP, HS (FP+ here), AK, MK.