Tips for Doing Four Parks in One Day

[lacrosse_lady72]

For those of you who have done all four parks in one day is there anything you wish you would have done better or something I should know?

I plan on doing this in January during our stay at AKV. I plan going AK-EP-HS-MK and MK should be EMH from 11PM-2AM historically on that day. TIA.

 

[The Hendies]

We have frequently done 3 parks in one day, but to do all four, I suggest lots of caffeine!!! We usually drive our own vehicle to the park where we want to end our day, but if we are doing 3 parks that day, we drive from park to park. I think waiting for buses takes forever sometimes. I wish you well!

 

[Justsyd2]

It shouldn't be any problem. On 6/5 we did three parks using Disney Buses when MK had PM EMH until 1 am. We went from HS to EP to MK. It's entirely doable, or it was for us!

For your plan I would do AK - HS - EP - MK. Take the boat or bus from HS to EP, then monorail from EP to MK. Enjoy!

 

[Csaks]

You guys are all nuts! Three or four parks a day?

 

[WaitTimes]

Toy Story Mania is so popular and getting such long lines, you might want to do that first. After that, maybe Epcot in order to get Soarin' before it gets too crazy. After that, i don't know.
-brent

 

[jack_loves_sally]

Get a good night's sleep the night before!! My Husband's DD8 and I did all four parks in one day last December, and the longest we waited for a bus was 10 mins, but maybe we were just lucky. Have fun!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

We have frequently done 3 parks in one day, but to do all four, I suggest lots of caffeine!!! We usually drive our own vehicle to the park where we want to end our day, but if we are doing 3 parks that day, we drive from park to park. I think waiting for buses takes forever sometimes. I wish you well!

I too have done 3 parks in done day before but usually not while hitting all the headliner rides.

I wish I had a car but I'm not driving from Oregon and it'd be too expensive for a 22 year old to rent a car. I'm ok with buses.

As for caffiene, I have the best solution. I can get these things called 'buzz bites' that are what I call- crack cubes. They bring on the energy!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

It shouldn't be any problem. On 6/5 we did three parks using Disney Buses when MK had PM EMH until 1 am. We went from HS to EP to MK. It's entirely doable, or it was for us!

For your plan I would do AK - HS - EP - MK. Take the boat or bus from HS to EP, then monorail from EP to MK. Enjoy!

I have time in September to think of what I like best. I have had terrible luck with the monorail from Epcot to the TTC and the HS-EP boat can take around an hour so if I did do HS first I would probably take the bus to Epcot go through FW then WS and exit out the International Gateway take the MK bus from BC and be on my way.

Thanks I think I should do HS before Epcot.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

You guys are all nuts! Three or four parks a day?

Well I can't speak for the other posters but I can confirm that I AM nuts.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Toy Story Mania is so popular and getting such long lines, you might want to do that first. After that, maybe Epcot in order to get Soarin' before it gets too crazy. After that, i don't know.
-brent

Yes, when I do HS and Epcot, they will be one after the other. The reasons why I feel like I should do AK first is...
1. It closes so early
2. I will be staying at AKV and would like to avoid back tracking as much as possible.
3. I feel like in that RD time, I can get KS, KRR, EE single rider, Dinosaur AND ITTBAB all within the first 1.5 hours. Especially if I plan on being there first in line at the AK entrance and closest to KS during rope drop. I am sure they'll stop me from running but even at 5'3" I am still a fast walker.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Get a good night's sleep the night before!! My Husband's DD8 and I did all four parks in one day last December, and the longest we waited for a bus was 10 mins, but maybe we were just lucky. Have fun!

Another reason I am nuts, this will be our arrival day so RIGHT after I check-in at 6AM, I will be on my merry way to the first park (probably AK).

 

[millerwdwfans]

My DS and I did the Four Parks in a Day challenge last Summer and we loved it. Make it an early night the night before and don't plan on getting up early the next morning.
We started with AK because it had morning EMH. We were out of there by 9am. We were just exiting as they were letting in the heard.
We did three attractions at each park. We also wanted to add transportation to our list. You don't have to do that. Some people use a car but we wanted to use each type of transportation too.
We started with AK, bus to DHS, boat to Epcot, monorail to MK.
We actually did all four and then went back to our room for a short break. DS swam while I showered then he took a shower and we ate dinner in our room and then went back to MK to meet up with some friends.

 

[Steffy]

Good luck!

Yes, when we did the challenge we started with AK. We decided to take it up a notch and decided to start with a character meal, breakfast at Tusker House.

We also did at least 3 headliners each park, used all Disney transporation, used the bus and the monorail. We took the train in the MK.

We got one photopass picture in each park, watched Spectromagic and Wishes. And were finished by 9:34 pm. We had a blast.

We truly thought we were going to lose it in EPCOT. We had eaten at Tangerine Cafe, and rode the grand fiesta (the little ride in Mexico) Test track was down for so long, there were no more fast passes for Soarin' and the standby line was 2 hours! We finally put on our big girl pants, rode Mission Space, waited for TT to come back up, rode the single rider lane, did Spaceship Earth and called it a day!

We really could have used another Grey Goose slushie!!

 

[OB1]

4 parks is not that hard to do, but it is difficult to get in the big attractions. I did this last September, but I did it more for just soaking in the atmosphere than catching attractions. I did AK-HS-EP-MK and was back at the hotel at 8:00pm. This is all I did for attractions

AK - EE, Lion King, trails and early lunch
HS - Tower
EP - American Adventures (it was raining)
MK - Monsters Inc, Stitch, Buzz (still raining - but stopped after Stitch)

I wanted to do all 4 in a day, and I was not concerned about any attractions - it was a day to just soak in the atmosphere of all the parks.

I had a car, so I drove to AK - HS - EP, then monorail to MK & back.

 

[FidlMom]

Why even bother to do it?

For fun and for bragging rights!

A few years back, we had only 1 available day for WDW during our trip to Florida, and we did all 4 parks with 2 small children (ages 4 and 6). We started at AK with the Safari - this was before EE; then did some other activities, before we moved on to DHS. DH and DD6 did Tower of Terror while DD4 and I did the Muppets and other less terrifying experiences. I think RnR was open then, but only DH went on it.

Next, to EPCOT, we walked the entire showcase and played lots of games at whatever the Future World buildings were called that year. Then wound up at MK for all the coasters for DH and DD6. DD4 and I did all the circle rides. We saw the parade and fireworks and called it a night.

We did all Disney Transportation, too, which was part of the fun. I think we brought in snacks, though, in order to save time and money.

The kids' favorite memory from that trip was sleeping in the bunk beds at the Holiday Inn Kids' Suites.

 

[PDJPrinceCharming]

It was my challenge last September & it was very exhausting but I had a blast! I started in AK did FOTLK, Everest & Dinosaur then headed to DHS for TSM, Lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet, TOT & RNRC then went to Epcot for a few beverages at Club Cool, Soarin', Test Track & Mission Space. I then took the monorail to MK to finish the parks after eating dinner at Crystal Palace. Finished rides with Buzz, CoP & Space Mountain, watched Wishes(my favorite!) & ended the night at Pleasure Island(R.I.P.) at my favorite club, the Comedy Warehouse. It was an amazing night & this year i'm doing AK, lunch at Pizzafari, Epcot, MK, dinner at Crystal Palace & finishing the night at one of my favorite parks DHS. I can't wait!

 

[madalex]

I have done 4 parks in one day a couple times and intend to do so again when I am back at WDW in October. When I do this, I set a goal of going on at least two of the major rides in each park, as well as whatever minor rides catch my fancy.

I do AK or DHS first (whichever one is early open on day I do it) and the other one second. I find I can be done with both of those by noon. I then go to Epcot. I have lunch there and, when I have done this in October, I graze around the food and wine festival for awhile. Late afternoon is back at the resort resting. I then schedule dinner at a Magic Kingdom resort and go to MK after dinner.

It is a lot of walking to get around all 4 parks, but not really that hard to do.

 

[coltfan]

Try doing it early in your trip while your feet aren't sore at all. We did it our last day. Try using extra magic hours at both ends of the day.

We started our day at DS for emh and did the following: TSM, TOT, RnRC, animation class, VOTLM, and B&tB. (drove to DS) Then we headed over to Epcot for CS lunch, Kim Possible mission, and watched Miyuki. (parked at the BW and entered international gateway). Stopped at Beaches & Cream for No Way Jose and then drove to AK for PM emh. We saw the Lion King show that we missed on a previous day but did things in the wrong order since the Maharajah Jungle Trek was closed after the show. We rode EE via the single rider line and then drove to TTC. (We had planned to go on PW too but the place was nuts so we left.) Took the monorail to MK. We boarded the train and rode to Frontierland to pick up FP for BTMRR (got 9:45 - 10:45). Stopped for a snack and did a little shopping. Grabbed a table at Casey's for dinner, watched Spectromagic, walked down towards the castle for fireworks and then used our FP for BTMRR and walked out of the park.

I am not sure I would do this again. It would be an enjoyable day without the AK portion.

 

[dlaushey]

Here is the challenge posted by Mike Scopa on AllEars.Net in regards to 4 parks in a day - This is a little over a year old:


http://land.allears.net/blogs/mikescopa/2008/04/not_for_the_faint_of_heart_1.html

http://land.allears.net/blogs/mikescopa/2008/05/four_parks_in_one_day.html


We plan on trying this in July when the days are long and HOT. Our DD14 will be celebrating her birthday that trip. She has always wanted to try hitting all 4 parks in a day ever since we told her she did it when she was 4. We had to get Cindy's autograph before leaving WDW on our1st family trip to the World. We had already hit 3 parks getting in a few must do's that we had missed and of course she was in the one we hadn't been to that day! We didn't hit many attractions that time. We plan on following the rules laid out in the article above.

 

[johde]

I've done all four parks a couple of times. My tips are to use the park hours to your advantage. If a park has and early EMH or Late EMH (after 9:00pm) take advantage of it. If you are taking Disney transportation take advantage of the boat from and back to Epcot to MGM and the Monorail from Epcot to MK. That way you're not stuck with all busses.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=10890759&postcount=33 has a summary of what I did back in 2005 when I did all 4 parks.