INSANE solo trip doing all 9 Orlando theme parks in 3 days, including Disney After Hours

[Stitchland]

Hello fellow Disney fans and welcome to this report of my recent visit to Orlando. I’m from Europe and as you might know, we Europeans usually tend to come to Orlando for 2 weeks at a time to experience all the fun of the theme parks, Disney and otherwise. My first visit to WDW 10 years ago was a big family vacation exactly like that.


Since then I’ve been lucky to have visited all the different Disney parks around the world several times. My favorites are Tokyo Disney Resort and Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. Those I love, love, looooove, because in my opinion they offer the highest quality of Disney experiences and when I visit them for 4 days at a time, I am truly able to accomplish everything they have to offer without missing out on anything. It’s a complete Disney fix in a short period of time. It’s also super easy to just show up without any pre planned fastpasses or dining reservations weeks or months in advance. I love it!


I haven’t really been back to Orlando (with one brief exception) in 10 years for exactly those reasons. I felt like I would need at least a full week for WDW and then even more time to add the other amazing central Florida theme parks. Otherwise I’d be missing out on too much. And then there’s the craziness of dining reservations, fast passes, the decision whether or not to stay on property for Extra Magic Hours...So again, I was looking at a 2 week long and pretty costly vacation. As you can imagine, it never happened.


Instead of waiting another 10 years for that magical dream vacation that might never come, I decided to “Just do it!”. I decided on a short trip with a clear goal in mind: Do all the new rides that weren’t there the last time and ride as much as possible, especially the rides that are unique to Florida. That was my mission. Anything I would miss on this trip, I’d just have to do some other time.


With three days off work and the weekend, I would technically have 5 days. With long transatlantic flights it was more like 3 days though.

 

[Stitchland]

Day 0:

06:32am Leaving my apartment in Europe
This is local time. In Florida it was just 00:32am. It would be a looooong day.

06:42am Car sharing to the airport

07:03am Arriving at the airport
Making my way to the right terminal and through the passport check

07:27am Frequent Flyer lounge
Free breakfast is always good. Had I known I would make it here so smoothly I might have decided to leave home a little later.

08:25am Second lounge
Because why not?

08:55am Line up at security check
This would be a fully booked flight, the line was busy.

09:25am Boarding starts. Thankfully I had priority.

09:35am At the seat on the plane
I was travelling on American Airlines basic economy so I had a middle seat.

10:15am Take off
The flight was smooth an uneventful. Being stuck in the middle seat didn’t bother me too much because the person next to me was a nice young man flying solo to the US to attend a few sports games. Just like I’m a theme park nerd, he’s a sports nerd and we had a lot of fun conversations during the 9+ hour flight. I also watched a show called “Cake boss” which is probably not something i would watch at home but was entertaining enough on the plane.


I did a bad job writing down the times for a while. Landing was around 02:20pm though, now local time in America.Upon arrival in the USA I had to go through immigrations which was a breeze despite the government shutdown and then through security again which was also really fast. I ended up having a little over an hour before my connecting flight to Orlando which I spent inviting my “new friend” to the Admiral’s Club lounge. The second flight left around 04:30pm, getting to Orlando around 06:00pm. Thanks to online check-in I was ready to leave with my rental car around 06:30pm.


07:30pm Arrival at Animal Kingdom.
There was nobody in the parking lot directing me where to go so I accidentally ended up somewhere on the preferred lot but since the park was about to close anyway I decided to leave the car there. It turned out fine.

I hadn’t bought Disney After Hours in advance in case my flight would be delayed so I purchased it at the ticket window. When they let me in and gave me the wrist band they advised me not to go to Pandora until later because of crowds from day guests but I had a fast pass for Navi River Journey so went anyway.

07:44pm Navi River Journey (Fastpass)
My first Avatar ride and I have never watched the movie. I found the ride to be just okay. It’s pretty to look at and it’s relaxing. I also like the song and the one animatronic is really cool. I can see myself re-riding this in the future but I would probably never want to wait more than 20-30 minutes for it.

08:00pm It's tough to be a bug
Even though this was included in Disney After Hours I thought it would be smart to do it before because it would take up too much time later. I got into the queue exactly at the official park closing and thought that was pretty clever of me since After Hours wouldn’t start until half an hour later. It’s been a long time since I watched it so it was entertaining. In Fangte China (not Disney!) they have a similar show but with fish instead of bugs that’s called “Conch Bay” that I prefer but this is still nice. The tree of life is beautiful. The projections outside at night were extremely nice.

Because I heard that at the beginning of After Hours the line at Flight of Passage was expected to still be too long, I decided to start in Dinoland.

08:27pm Dinosaur (3x)
Maybe it wasn’t smart to be in It’s tough to be a bug after all, because when I got to Dinosaur a few minutes before After Hours was supposed to start, they were already open. I don’t know for how long though. We watched the pre show and then got on the ride. After the first ride there was nobody in the station so I asked to ride again which they allowed. Nobody else wanted to go again so on rides 2 and 3 I was the only person on the vehicle. That was an extremely cool VIP feeling. I love Dinosaur. 10 years ago I loved it a lot but then I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it as much anymore since I now know Indiana Jones. While Indy really is better, Dinosaur was still a great and different ride. I hope the rumors about them changing it are untrue.


08:50pm Ice cream sandwich and coke from kiosk in Dinoland
20 minutes into the event and I already did Dinosaur 3 times and “free” ice cream and coke. What an amazing night.

08:55pm Expedition Everest
After quickly finishing the ice cream and only 5 minutes before the night time show I thought what the heck, let’s try to squeeze in a ride on Everest. I could walk right on.

09:00pm Rivers of Light
I walked into the seating area just as the show was about to start. There were a few hundred people there but still a ton of empty benches to choose from. I had debated whether or not it was worth taking time for this show during After Hours but I do love nighttime shows and this was new for me. I had already heard it wasn’t the most amazing show ever and I agree, but it was still beautiful and I’m glad I saw it. I would go see it again next time. Just don’t expect it to be on par with the other Disney nighttime shows.

09:20pm Ice cream sandwich while walking over to Pandora
09:25pm Flight of Passage
People have already told me this is just a motion simulator which helped managing my expectations. I prefer real sets and animatronics over 3D projections and simulators. If I had to describe the ride I would say it’s like a thrill ride version of Soarin’ but through a computer animated Avatar world. I actually got a little bit of motion sickness which usually doesn't happen to me. Maybe it was the second ice cream sandwich, lol. I don’t want to sound too negative though, because I still think Flight of Passage is a very good ride. It’s just that some people say it’s the best ride in the world and I don’t think it even comes close to Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones, Pirate’s of the Caribbean Battle of the Sunken Treasure and others. But it’s a decent ride and a great addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom that didn’t have any ride like this before.


09:47pm Navi River Journey
Yes, do the math: It had taken me only 22 minutes from walking through the sign of Flight of Passage, through the queue, into the pre show room, watch the pre shows, ride Flight of Passage, walk all the way to the exit, through the shop, and through the entry sign of Navi River Journey. Disney After Hours is amazing! It was nice and relaxing to experience Navi River Journey again.

09:58pm Flight of Passage again
This time the entire experience only took 20 minutes. Amazing!

10:18pm Navi River journey again
10:28pm Flight of Passage (third time)
I know I said I didn’t think it’s one of the best rides in the world but it is still a good ride and I know full well that you don’t easily get the opportunity to ride it without waiting in line much so I just had to do it. Now I’ve done both Avatar rides three times each this night. Not bad. There was about a 5-10 minute wait before the pre show this time unfortunately.

10:56pm Ice cream sandwich and Sprite
Third ice cream sandwich for the night. Honestly, it’s not just the greed of getting “free” ice cream but the fact that I absolutely love those sandwiches and would have bought one or two even at full price anyway. We don’t have these in Disneyland Paris so I always jump at the chance of getting them.

11:05pm Expedition Everest
11:12pm Getting a bottled water to drink later in the car
11:15pm Dinosaur (2x)
Dinosaur is probably still my favorite ride at Animal Kingdom so I knew I had to end the night there.

After having experienced my first ever Disney After Hours I can say that I highly recommend it. It was more than worth the price for the ticket. If I was a local I wouldn’t do it all the time but as someone who will only be able to go to WDW every few years if at all, I would definitely do it again. It is so much better than the Extra Magic Hours for hotel guests that have gotten super crowded. I just really hope that if the After Hours get more popular they will not sell a lot more tickets per night. What they should do is either offer it on more nights or increase the price. The whole point is having the park to yourself with no waits and a VIP feeling.

I didn’t write down the times from here on but I drove to Kissimmee where I stopped at Wal Mart to pick up a few essentials and then checked into my motel a little after 01:00am. By this time I had been out and about for 25 hours so I needed a shower and some sleep.

 

[LeiaIsAPrincess2]

Wow, what a great first night at WDW. I agree that Flight of Passage is an amazing ride but I also prefer more physical rides than simulators. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your whirlwind trip!

 

[Stitchland]

Despite not getting to bed until around 01:30am after a 25+ hour long day, I got up very early because of jetlag. That’s always nice about coming to the US from Europe because it means I am up early feeling refreshed as if I slept in.

Day 1:

06:10am Getting up from bed after being awake for a while
07:00am IHOP international drive
Every opportunity I have to get delicious American food is greatly appreciated. I got the belgian chocolate pancakes which had enough energy to get me through the day. The waitress suggested leaving the car there and walking to Universal which in theory sounded like a great idea to save on parking, but I knew I would be short on time later in the day so decided to park at the garage at Universal

7:38am Arrival at Universal parking garage
08:00am Waiting for the 09:00am opening of Islands of Adventure
Universal Studios was already letting people in but they had the extra morning hours for hotel guests which I did not qualify for. Instead, I wanted to rope drop Islands of Adventure to get as many rides with as little wait as possible. An hour before opening there was nobody there. On this weekday in January it would have been perfectly fine just arriving 20 minutes in advance but I was awake anyway. To my surprise they actually opened the park about five minutes early.

08:58am Incredible Hulk roller coaster
I managed to be on the first train of the day. The ride was really good but I don’t think I would have noticed the big refurbishment they did since my last visit. It’s easily the best roller coaster at Universal Orlando in my opinion.

I had read online that the King Kong ride is fairly new and can attract huge lines, even more so than Harry Potter. So after Hulk I power walked there and I was the first one in the area. I asked the greeter at the entrance which he would suggest me riding first for the most efficient way to tour the park, Kong or Harry Potter. He said Harry Potter first for sure and I believe it was a good call so I walked on.

09:13am Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
Without the detour I could have made it here a few minutes faster but it was still a walk-on. I was really excited because when I visited the other Universal Parks around the world, their respective Harry Potter lands were still under construction. This was my first time actually experiencing it. The castle and the queue were magnificent although Hogwarts itself turned out a bit smaller than what I had dreamed up in anticipation of this moment. In theory I knew exactly what to expect because I heard a lot about the ride system and even rode a Chinese ride named Devil’s Peak (Fangte) a few times that uses a very similar technology.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a great ride, though, and of course it’s better than the aforementioned knock-off. Yes, it is also mainly a motion simulator with 3D glasses but it also uses physical sets and effects. I think it’s probably better than Avatar Flight of Passage, except that it was also a lot more intense and gave me even more motion sickness. Usually I don’t have these issues and mainly just blame the lack of sleep and whirlwind nature of this trip, for it. All in all this is an excellent ride, but again, not my absolute favorite compared to other rides out there.

09:38am Cat in the hat
After Harry Potter I knew I needed a break from thrill rides so I remembered this cute little ride. The decorations and animatronics were simpler than in my memory but still good enough.

09:47am Spiderman
Of all those 4D dark rides in the world, Spiderman is still my favorite because it seems to get the mix of the physical sets and the movie screens just right. I like it much better than the newer Transformers for that reason.

10:05am Skull Island: Reign of Kong
Now it was time to try this new ride, even though technically I have already experienced most of it during the Studio Tram Tour in Hollywood. The huge King Kong animatronic at the end was a very nice touch that improved the otherwise underwhelming experience.

10:24am Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey again
It was only a 5 minute wait at this point. Still great, but still made me a little nauseous. I decided I had done everything I wanted to at Islands of Adventure (Hogwarts Express was closed for maintenance and i am no fan of water rides) so after less than 2 hours I decided I was done with this park and headed over to the next one.


10:47am Universal Studios Orlando
Maybe because of the extra morning hours, the park was a lot more crowded than Islands of Adventure.

10:54am ET
While still recovering from my second Harry Potter ride I chose to do ET because it had been my favorite attraction at Universal Orlando all those years ago and it is unique to only this park. I only had to wait about 10 minutes for it. It turns out even now it is still my favorite at the resort even though you can tell its age. The sets are a little dated but so beautiful all the same! I wish they had this in Hollywood, Osaka and Singapore. A staff member told me they would keep this ride for as long as Steven Spielberg was still alive. Hopefully he has a long healthy life.

11:12am Men in Black
This ride disappointed me. I had remembered it to be a lot better. Maybe it didn’t age too well or maybe I just remembered it wrong. Also the blasters didn’t work well. Moving on.

11:27am Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts
While I previously knew all about the Forbidden Journey ride, I didn’t read any spoilers about Escape from Gringotts so I didn’t know what to expect other than it being a roller coaster and very popular. Thanks to single rider I got on in just 5 minutes. Well, it wasn’t bad but also not great. It was my 4th attraction this morning with 3D glasses and unfortunately there wasn’t much going on apart from the screens, nor was there a lot of roller coaster action involved. I would totally be okay with this ride staying exclusive to just the Orlando resort. Not impressed.

11:48am Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit
Speaking of roller coasters, I wanted to experience this one ever since I saw it under construction during my last visit here. The operations were quite bad. It took more than half an hour of waiting in the single rider line, with the regular line being just 20 minutes. The ride was decent and it was fun to listen to a song that you can select before the ride, although it was also a bit random since the song wouldn’t really match the pacing of the coaster too well.

Because I didn’t feel like any other 3D screens for now I decided to call it a day.

12:45pm Back in the car
01:05pm Applebee's somewhere on the drive to Walt Disney World
I wish we had Applebee’s in Europe. Their appetizers are absolutely amazing. And the meal was more affordable, quiet and relaxing than any theme park meal could have been. It was the best idea to stop here for lunch since I was out of the parks anyway.

02:15pm Parking at Disney’s Transportation and Ticket Center
Nobody at the parking lot or monorail station knew anything about the Disney After Hours event that night. They all insisted the park would close at 08:00pm so they couldn’t help me at all with finding out about how to get back to the car at midnight. I figured to just wait and see. As it turned out, the ferry was running until late at night. I wish the cast members were better informed.

02:30pm Monorail
It’s the little things that make the Disney nerd in me happy like the Spanish announcement to stand clear of the doors. In Disneyland Resort I was so bummed when they didn’t play that. Had a great time finally riding the WDW version again.

02:39pm Magic Kingdom
It’s a little bit of a shame that I used a full day’s admission ticket just a few hours before they would have let me in with my After Hours ticket but with this short trip it just couldn’t be helped. I knew there were some classic attractions in the Magic Kingdom I wanted to experience, that wouldn’t be available after the official park closing.

02:53pm Hall of Presidents
This was one of the very few Disney attractions in the world that I have never done before because it had been closed for refurbishment. I can tell it’s a classic and I loved it. I even learned some things about the presidents that I didn’t know before. I hope they will keep this show and add to it with each new president in the future.

03:40pm Pirates of the Caribbean
The park felt very crowded and Pirates had a 20 minute line. But I knew it’s a fairly long ride so doing it now would save time during After Hours. I already remembered Pirates in Disney World not being as good as the other versions, but I really couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed all the same. As much as I’m a fan of classics, I really wouldn’t mind them closing this version and replacing it with Battle for the sunken treasure from Shanghai. Now to be clear, the classic Anaheim, Tokyo and Paris versions are amazing and should absolutely stay the way they are. But Orlando doesn’t compare to them unfortunately.

04:13pm People Mover
This ride is the heart and soul of Tomorrowland. They better won’t mess with it for the construction of Tron! This is seriously one of the greatest rides in the entire Magic Kingdom and I’m not someone who says it just for nostalgia because I didn’t grow up with it. So much fun! It is included in the After Hours but first of all it was great to ride it during the daytime and second of all it is a fairly long ride that never has much of a line so it seemed smarter to ride it before.

04:33pm Carousel of Progress
This wouldn’t be open later at night so I had to do it now. It’s a classic that I hope they’ll keep for a long time.

05:00pm Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (Fastpass)
The Fastpass would not have been needed. The show is unique to Magic Kingdom so even though it’s not my favorite I’m still glad to have done it once more.

05:38pm Ice coffee at Starbucks
By this time I really needed energy as it was approaching midnight for my biological clock.

05:56pm People Mover again
Great ride again and it was beautiful as the sun was setting.

06:20pm Splash Mountain (Fast Pass)
Splash Mountain is one of my favorite Disney rides. It was fun to notice a few small differences to the Tokyo and Anaheim versions.

06:40pm Splash Mountain again
Only 5 minutes wait, so why not? Have I mentioned it's one of my favorites?

By now I was getting pretty hungry. I wanted dinner before After Hours to maximize my ride time. Unfortunately this turned out to be a difficult endeavor. Pecos Bill was already closed for the night, so was the Diamond Horseshoe and Pinocchio’s Village House. All the other little places I walked past were closed already, too. The park was still very busy and the regular closing time was still about an hour away so I don’t understand what's going on. According to the app, the only available places were Casey’s and Cosmic Ray's. Trying to avoid what I expected to be insane pre-fireworks crowds at Casey’s I went to the latter.

07:30pm Cosmic Ray's burger
Honestly the burger was pretty bad but I was hungry and needed something to get me through the night. I saw some fireworks near the castle while I was in the restaurant which now I know was the projection show.

08:00pm Happily ever after fireworks
I don’t know how but I magically managed to still get a fantastic spot in the hub shortly before it started. The show was amazing and I liked it better than Wishes. Disney fireworks shows are always great, especially in America where there’s more of the big fireworks compared to the international parks. Watching it did eat into my Disney After Hours time but because this was my only night in the Magic Kingdom I have zero regrets.


08:19pm Buzz Lightyear
Almost 20 minutes late I started with my first After Hours ride. I was worried that Space Mountain or Seven Dwarfs would still have long lines from day guests so I chose Buzz first. Wow, this ride is bad compared to the international versions. It feels really dated and the guns are so difficult to operate in comparison.

08:27pm Space mountain
No wait at all. I had forgotten how different the Orando version is. It was a lot of fun!

08:38pm Ice cream sandwich and Coke in Tomorrowland

I then wanted to go to Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train but it was down because of a technical issue. About a dozen people were waiting there for it to reopen but I had no time to waste.

08:44pm Little Mermaid (2x)
Is the ridiculously huge queue ever full of people? At least not tonight as it was a walk-on and then I was allowed to remain seated for a second ride. Because Seven Dwarfs was still closed afterwards, I continued with my round though the park.

09:06pm Haunted Mansion
It’s such a great ride and I was glad to see the classic version again without the holiday overlay of the other parks. It was only a few minutes of waiting before the stretching room.

09:23pm Frozen chocolate banana
09:29pm Slash Mountain again
The cast member commented on me riding it for the third time tonight. It’s because I was having a zip a dee doo dah night.

09:46pm Big Thunder Mountain
The posted wait was 15 or 20 minutes, probably because Seven Dwarfs was still down. I must say at first I was slightly annoyed at this “long wait” during After Hours but when it ended up only taking 7 minutes to get on the train I was happy.

10:00pm Ice cream sandwich and bottled water

At this point I noticed how fast the time was racing by. This was already the last hour. Yesterday at Animal Kingdom there seemed to be more time for two reasons. First, there really was more time, because the After Hours didn't start until half an hour after park closing while at Magic Kingdom I spent the first 20 minutes of After Hours still watching the fireworks. Second, there are way more attractions at the Magic Kingdom so if you want to do everything you have to hurry up.

10:07pm Jungle Cruise
It’s maybe not the best use of the precious After Hours time but I like Jungle Cruise and didn’t get to ride it earlier during the day. I think the skipper was nervous about doing the ride with just a handful of guests on the boat so we waited about 5 minutes for more people to join us before leaving with a half full boat. It was nice at night and I had forgotten that they had the tunnel part at Disney World.

By this time Seven Darfs was back up but it had a posted wait of 30 minutes which I believed to be somewhat accurate, especially after it being down for most of the night. Would I have joined the queue now, it might have been my last ride of the night so instead I played it smart.

10:27pm Winnie the Pooh

10:33pm Haunted Mansion again
Still love this ride.

10:52pm Winnie the Pooh again.
I really didn’t need to ride Pooh again. But at this point I wanted to be very smart. I knew they let people get in line for Seven Dwarfs until 11:00pm so I thought this way I could manage one more ride. It worked!

10:57pm Picking up an ice cream sandwich and water

The wait for Seven Dwarfs was now 20 minutes. Enough time to enjoy the fourth and last frozen treat for the night (and the 7th in the last 27 hours).

10:58pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
The plan worked and I felt like a genius. Not only did I get in line just before they closed for the night, I also still had ice cream to enjoy. If I had gotten in line half an hour ago I would have accomplished at least two rides less tonight.

11:18pm Done with Seven Dwarfs
11:28pm Waiting for ferry boat back to the Transportation and Ticket Center
11:50pm Back in my car


I don’t know for sure but I was probably back in my motel by 12:30am after an amazing day, visiting 3 parks.

 

[Stitchland]

Day 2:


7:05am Alarm
I expected to wake up way earlier due to jetlag but after such a busy day my body must have needed the sleep.

7:32am Leaving the motel

8:03am Arriving at Animal Kingdom parking lot
The park was scheduled to open at 9 and I knew the recommendation for rope drop is arriving 90 minutes early but because I slept longer than anticipated it couldn’t be helped anymore. I contemplated skipping Animal Kingdom altogether this morning or at least skipping Pandora since I had already done it but then decided to still try it. Also, if you paid attention: The headline is 9 Orlando parks in 3 days but then I started with Day 0 for arrival and Animal Kingdom After Hours so if I didn’t visit the park again during the official 3 days I’d need a new headline .

They let the first pack of people into the park around 8:30 but then stopped the line for a while. I was in the second pack. Not exactly pole position. About 10 minutes later they let the second pack in and of course we headed towards Pandora where we joined the first pack waiting to get into the land. Another 10 minutes later they led us all into the queue of Flight of Passage.

I am so glad I went back to Pandora this morning because the themed land looks incredible at daytime!! It did look pretty at night for After Hours but this morning with the rising sun and some morning fog and the floating rocks it was absolutely jaw dropping. So beautiful!

09:02 am Flight of Passage pre show room one
09:16am Done riding

Considering the current standby line was way over 2 hours now, I guess I should have felt accomplished for already having ridden it just 16 minutes after park opening. But still, I wish I had arrived at the park half an hour earlier because the next ride on my agenda didn’t go so smoothly anymore:

09:29am Kilimanjaro Safaris (30 minute wait)
It took a long time fighting the crowds to cross the bridge into Africa and once I got there the Safaris line was a solid half an hour wait. I assume for the folks that were on the first Flight of Passage ride of the day, it was still a walk on.

The Safari ride is excellent though, much better than the ones at other theme parks. I love how they grow so many species of African trees that make your surroundings look legitimately like Africa.

10:51am Back in my car

Originally I had planned to do a few more rides before leaving by 11. Me arriving later than planned and the park being very busy by now prevented that. No problem, thanks to After Hours I got my fair share of rides the other night.


11:11am Arrival at Disney Hollywood Studios
Second park today, the fifth this trip for those who are counting.


11:16am Getting in line for Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster
The posted wait said 90 minutes. It was long. It was hot. It was miserable. But I knew that in advance. I had actually anticipated it to be somewhere between 90-120 minutes so this was still good, and I would have probably gotten in any line up to 3 hours for it anyway. I don’t think the coaster is really worth that kind of wait but it was the only Disney roller coaster in the world I hadn’t ridden yet so my honor as a Disney nerd demanded it.


12:43om Slinky Dog Dash
The ride was fun. It’s really nothing special but I can see this remaining popular for many years to come because it’s simply a good classic family friendly roller coaster. I would never wait more than 15 minutes for it anymore (so never ride it without a fastpass) but I’m happy to have done it.

I briefly popped into One Man’s Dream next to admire the Imagineering model of Tokyo Disney SEA but unfortunately it has been replaced by some Star Wars models. I get that Star Wars is popular and Galaxy’s Edge is going to be cool but this is getting a little too much...

12:59pm Muppet vision 3D
It’s not just my favorite attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios but it’s still my number one 3D movie in the entire world. And trust me, I have literally watched about a hundred. The Muppets are super funny. It’s a pity they removed this from California Adventure and I hope it will stay in Orlando for many more happy years. When I walked in I “had” to watch the entire pre show because I had just missed a showing, which in this rare case is actually a good thing since even the pre show is hilarious.

01:41pm Grabbing an ice coffee and leaving the park
The only other attractions I would have wanted to do were The Great Movie Ride (unfortunately closed forever) and Tower of Terror (too much of a wait and at least there was the possibility of coming back tomorrow night for After Hours although that wasn’t my plan).


02:12om Epcot
Park 3 for today. What an amazing feeling to enter future world again after 10 years and walking towards Spaceship Earth.

02:19pm The Seas with Nemo and friends
It was a lot better than I remembered. The projections in the actual aquarium are really good and the song “In this big blue world” stays with you. I don’t know why, I enjoyed it more than the submarines at Disneyland, possibly because it’s so much easier to ride without the longer waits and climbing into the sub.


02:34pm Mission Space (Fastpass)
I panicked! Not remembering too much from my last ride on this and already getting nauseous from Harry Potter and Avatar (I’m not usually like that!) made me really worry about this one. All those warnings Disney shows you before the ride and the news articles about the incidents from back in the day didn’t help either. I got pretty nervous and asked the cast member about the exit. He said I could exit after the pre show, during which some other guests talked me back into riding with them. I did ride. I was freaking out. It turned out to be fine, I was just panicking from what was in my head. Interesting experience because that’s not typical for me at all.


03:10pm San Angel Inn (same day reservation)
My choice for same day reservations was this or Nine Dragons. I have been at both before and liked them both but today I was craving Mexican more. The tacos al pastor were really delicious. I forgot I was in America and got an appetizer. Way too much food! I think one of the best things about EPCOT is the food in world showcase.


04:08pm Frozen (Fastpass)
Obviously it was my first time on this ride since they converted the Maelstrom flume ride. I still find it odd that they did that because the movie Frozen is not set in Norway and it doesn’t seem logical to retheme such an old ride system to such a popular new franchise. I must say the result was pretty good though. I liked the animatronics even though their faces were just projections and the music from Frozen is always nice to hear. I’m glad I finally got to ride this but I hope the upcoming Frozen attractions in Hong Kong and Paris will be a lot bigger and more modern.


04:38pm Journey into your Imagination with Figment
Believe it or not, I was looking forward to this ride a lot and it didn’t disappoint one bit! Figment is so cute and funny. I know it’s dated, I know it’s cheesy. I didn’t even grow up with this but still I can’t help but feel nostalgic for this ride. The song is so catchy, too.


04:53pm Spaceship Earth
THE ride in EPCOT. I mean it’s even located inside the park’s iconic sphere. I imagine Walt envisioned more rides like this that were educational and entertaining at the same time. I love that it’s so long and that you slowly travel forwards in time. The moment when you arrive at the top and see the earth from space is amazing. I hope during the upcoming major refurbishment they don’t mess with it too much and just find a better solution for the descent than just the monitor in front of you.


05:37pm Character meet
I wouldn’t have allocated much time for meeting characters this trip but there were instant Fastpass+ reservations available so I gladly said hi to Mickey and Goofy.


05:54pm Living with the Land
Another classic EPCOT ride. I just love it. It feels more like you’re in a museum than in a theme park and I’m saying this as a good thing. I just wish they still played the theme song.


06:18pm Spaceship Earth (again)
How could I not ride my favorite EPCOT ride a second time?


06:50pm The Seas with Nemo and friends (again)
I probably shouldn’t have ridden it again because time was running out but it was a walk on and it was fun.


07:10pm Oh Canada
In my opinion this is the best one of all the World Showcase movies. Martin Short is genuinely funny and I like how the Canadians can be lighthearted about the whole thing and laugh about themselves and common stereotypes, too. The song Oh Canada actually put tears in my eyes, it’s so beautiful.

I really wanted to watch the other circle vision movie that can be found in the China pavilion. Back in the day I remember being impressed about how modern China seemed. Since then I have visited the country multiple times so I was curious to experience the movie again. Unfortunately when I arrived there I had just missed it and I wouldn’t have time for the next performance.

Instead, I got some delicious Baumkuchen from the Japan pavillion and made my way over to Test Track for my Fastpass, thinking I could easily do the Grand Fiesta Tour afterwards.

08:13pm Test Track
I was a bit bummed I had to wait 35 minutes (including a few minutes to create my car) despite the Fastpass. No Grand Fiesta Tour for me. But the ride itself was really interesting. They changed it a lot since last time. It was fun to see how the individually designed cars would measure up to the other riders’ designs. During the racing part in the end I could really feel that this ride is considerably faster than Radiator Spring Racers or Journey to the center of the earth, both of which use the same ride system.

09:00pm Illuminations

Originally I just wanted to find a spot somewhere in World Showcase but I barely had time to make it from Test Track to the lagoon so I watched from the center of Future World at the lagoon. In my memories this was one of the best fireworks displays ever. Well… the beginning and ending still really are. They really really are amazing! The middle part on the other hand is lacking. There’s nothing happening for a long time. In my dreams, they’ll keep the beginning and ending when they replace this show next year and just find a really good replacement for the middle part. Also, the music is really beautiful so it would be sad to replace it.

After Illuminations I made my way to my car because EPCOT was closed now and I wasn’t done for the day yet.


09:52pm Fun Spot America - Kissimmee

Theme park number 4 for today and number 7 on this trip. Some of you might argue it’s not a real theme park and you’d certainly be right that most people wouldn’t spend more than just a few hours here but hey: They have 3 roller coasters that I still hadn’t ridden yet. So for me it counts. I got those done quickly and was back in my car at 10:16pm.


10:48pm Back at my motel with Krystal

In Europe we don’t have half of the crazy fast food you have in the US. Being a huge fan of White Castle, this night was a great opportunity to get the southern version of it called Krystal again. The sliders from Krystal seem a tad higher quality than White Castle but to be honest, both count towards the worst kind of junk food I know. And I love them both. I know it’s bad for me but it’s fun every once in a while.

 

[Stitchland]

So after a break of two years, today I finally finish this trip report with the final day. The current Covid-19 pandemic makes me really thankful for all the travelling I used to be able to do. Especially now, I have no regrets about taking such an insane 3 day 9 theme park intercontinental vacation. For those who counted, it was 7 parks in the first two days already, so there's two more to go.

Day 3:

After three extremely short nights and extremely long days, I finally got a little over 7 hours of sleep. This brings the average of the last 4 nights up to 5 hours and 45 minutes. Way less than what I normally need. But thanks to jetlag, in the morning, I felt perfectly rested. For my biological clock I had slept until after noon.

08:28am Arriving at Sea World parking lot
Since I had been here 10 years ago, there were the two big new roller coasters Manta and Mako that I wanted to ride. Also, I absolutely loved the show "Believe" in Shamu Stadium. The park was opening at 09:00am and the new show would start at 11:00am, giving me two hours for the two roller coasters. This was a Saturday, so I expected crowds. But with rope drop it seemed realistic enough.

08:41am Queue at turnstile

09:01am Manta
The first coaster is very close to the main entrance. Riding it first seemed smart, before heading off to the newer Mako that is further back. I was actually in the first train of the day and in the first row! The view from the first row of this flying coaster is far better than from any other row. I enjoyed the ride a lot but it didn't amaze me. I had already been on several other B&M flying coasters that I liked better than this one. It is decent enough though.

Now I wanted to rush over to Mako, the only other must-do before the show One Ocean. However, I had to find out that most of the park including Mako and Kraken wouldn't open until one hour after park opening. On the one hand I was slightly disappointed but on the other hand it meant I would have the opportunity to rope drop Mako, too. That meant I would definitely be able to ride it and arrive at Shamu Stadium in time for the show.

09:15am Antarctica
Having some extra time, I decided to check out Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin, that was also new for me. It was quite nice actually and I was surprised to find a trackless dark ride inside. I love those.

09:44am Queue at rope
I wasn't taking any chances, so I lined up at the rope to be among the first to ride Mako, even though the park still wasn't very busy at all.

10:00am Mako
Wow, this coaster is amazing! I hadn't really followed the news when they planned and built this but got excited a few weeks before my trip when I saw a video about it on Youtube. Hyper coasters are my favorite, especially those that are smooth and gently go up and down over big hills, giving you a sensation of flying weightlessly through the air. I have ridden many different coasters like this, and of course Mako isn't the tallest or fastest out there, but it is sooo much fun! This is easily my favorite roller coaster in all of Orlando. That is funny, because ten years prior, my favorite coaster in the Orlando theme parks was Kraken, also at Sea World.

The park still wasn't busy at all and Shamu Stadium is huge, so I decided I had time for a few other rides before showtime.

10:04am Shark Encounter
I briefly checked out the sharks.

10:20am Kraken
Here was my previous champion of the Orlando roller coasters. In the last ten years I rode many, many other coasters around the world and was a tad worried that nostalgia made me remember it better than it really was. But no, it's still an extremely good ride and after Mako my second favorite coaster in Orlando. And both are at Sea World, who would have thought.

10:34am Mako, again
I figured that I was just a single person and there were not too many people in the park. I would still find any seat in Shamu Stadium later. So I chanced it and rode Mako again. It is such an amazing ride!

11:00am One Ocean
I was right, the stadium was two thirds empty, so I got a really nice seat just a few minutes before show time. In 2009, Believe was an absolutely wonderful show and I still listen to the CD in my car sometimes or occasionally watch the DVD. I knew that the newer shows don't involve trainers in the pool anymore, and that's probably for the best. One Ocean was very good though, regardless of that. Sea World is really good at producing these shows and the score was great again, too.

11:25am Leaving
After less than 2.5 hours I accomplished what I came for, and then some. So I rushed out of the park, grabbing the new CD on the way out. This was already the 8th park this trip, but the day was still young.

11:50am Fun Spot America - Orlando
The night before, I was at the Kissimmee location, but now I wanted the three coasters in Orlando. As expected, I got them pretty quickly.

12:15pm Done!
I did it, I visited 9 Orlando theme parks in 3 days! How many have done that before me? 2.5 days actually. And I had done almost everything of interest to me in these parks, too! What an insane whirlwind trip this was!

12:23pm Applebee's
I deserved a good lunch and this neighborhood grill is one of my absolute favorites. I know many Americans look down on this chain but we don't have anything like this in Europe and the appetizers are outstanding.

01:32pm Parking at Universal Orlando
Look, I am a huge Disney fan. But for this trip I only had a 2 day ticket that was already used up at this point. Plus After Hours. My Universal ticket was actually good for 14 days. So naturally I headed back here.

01:49pm Starbucks ice coffee at City Walk
Contrary to what you might think from this trip report I am not even a Starbucks fan, but it is a reliable source of plain iced coffee in the US. Now that I "finished' my mission, I really started to feel tired. I needed my fix. I had to wait about 20 minutes for it though, which is ridiculous.

02:22pm Universal Studios
Today was Saturday. It was fairly busy.

02:40pm ET
I already said this is my favorite ride at Universal Orlando, but I will say it again: This is my favorite ride at Universal Orlando!

03:13pm Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts
This attraction was under refurbishment two days ago. Thus, I still needed to ride it now for the full Harry Potter experience. I waited about half an hour for it at King's Cross Station. What can I say about the ride? It is alright. I adore the design of the train and the little compartments you sit in. They're beautiful! The illusion with the window screens was just alright, though.

04:15pm Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
The other day I rode it twice already, but the single rider line didn't seem too bad. And this would be my last opportunity to ride it for a while, so I did.

05:19pm Hogwarts Express back to London
It's fairly disappointing the train just goes backwards instead of turning around. I wanted to see the full experience, though.

By this point I was feeling exhausted from the last few days and the short nights and jetlag. Back home it was approaching midnight again and I could tell. This day they would have Disney After Hours at Hollywood Studios, that was on my "maybe" list. Official admission with an After Hours ticket would begin at 7pm, with Fantasmic at 8pm, Star Wars fireworks at 8:30pm and After Hours from 8:30-11:30pm.

In hindsight, I do not understand why I didn't go for it. After Hours is my favorite thing at Disney World! Riding Slinky Dog without much of a wait, at night, would have been fun. I love the nighttime spectaculars and never even saw the Star Wars fireworks before. And I didn't get to ride Tower of Terror during this trip, yet.

But I was just too exhausted. And the next day I would fly home and then immediately head from the airport to the office for a full day's work. It was too much.

I decided, to skip After Hours and stay at Universal instead. After Hours would have meant arriving at the hotel around 12:30am. Seeing the Universal Studios Night Time Show would mean arriving back at the hotel around 09:00pm. That's much more sleep!

05:55pm Starbucks ice coffee
My second for today. I really needed caffeine by this point.

06:16pm The Mummy
Okay, so now I was freshly caffeinated and had a couple of hours until the night time show. Time for The Mummy! The fire effects were one of the coolest things I had ever seen, when I first rode this 10 years ago. On later visits to Universal Studios Hollywood and Singapore I noticed, that their versions of this ride are much smaller and less spectacular. Yes, the Orlando version is a lot better! I could tell that it is aging, but it was still a great ride!

06:55pm ET, again
Yes, this dark ride is fabulous! The only ride around the world that is similarly charming is Droomvlucht in Efteling, Netherlands.

07:12pm ET, again
It is so sad that Universal Hollywood, Osaka and Singapore don't have this ride. And Beijing won't, either. ET is a wonderful ride.

07:37pm Sitting on the grass
At this point, I was done. 3 days. 9 theme parks. 82 attractions. I was happy, but exhausted. I tried getting on Transformers, because the posted wait time was around 15 minutes. After standing in line for a few minutes, I decided to leave. It's a decent ride but not as good as Spiderman, plus it is available at the other Unversal locations, too. I wasn't really feeling like another 3D screen type ride anymore anyway. Instead, I just sat down on the grass, waiting for the night time show "Cinematic Celebration".

08:00pm Cinematic Celebration
This night time show was surprisingly nice! They use fountains and water screens for projections and use a good amount of fireworks, too. It had scores from Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Despicable Me and others. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Disney Fans from the west coast are going to be mad at me, but if you set aside the emotional connection we people have with Disney, the experience was actually comparable to World of Color. It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful short vacation.

08:50pm The Cheesecake Factory
If my whirlwind Orlando trip needed another cherry on top to make it perfect, here it was! I decided to stop at the Cheesecake Factory to pick up dessert. Those cheesecakes are absolutely amazing! We don't have any in Europe. The closest is in Lebanon which is still far away. My favorites are Oreo and Celebration. I don't remember but I probably got both.

The next morning I had to return my car at MCO airport around 09:30am for a 11:50am take off back home across the Atlantic Ocean back to Europe. After landing, I quickly took a shower before heading directly to the office for work.

Final thoughts:
Yes, I was extremely exhausted by day 3. But I had an AMAZING time! I always waited for the perfect opportunity to do another big Orlando vacation. But the perfect opportunity never comes. I am so glad I just went for it and did this absolutely insane solo trip. 3 days, 9 theme parks, 83 attractions if you also count shows, Disney After Hours. It was incredible!! Now, two years later, we are in the middle of a global pandemic and I sit at home looking back at these insanely fun times I had. I have absolutely zero regrets.

I'd like to close with a quote:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
- Mark Twain