WDW in One Day.

[chellealistic]

Hello!

My husband and I are going to Florida at the beginning of October for our honeymoon. We are doing A LOT (including a Disney Cruise!) and only really have time to fit in one day at WDW. We've already purchased a one day park hopper. We'll either be visiting on a Monday or a Wednesday.

My questions:
- Is it possible to visit all of the parks in one day?
- If so, what is the best plan of attack in regards to the order of the parks that we should visit?
- Between the two days we plan on visiting (Monday or Wednesday), which is better in regards to how busy things are? Is there even any way to tell this? lol

We aren't interested in spending all of our day in lines, but more of just wandering around. I've only been to WDW once before and most of the time was spent in MK. I really want to spend a good deal of time at Epcot, because I've NEVER been there.

We are also sort of lost in regards to where to eat while we are there. There are SO many choices. We want to get the best bang for our buck.

Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated

Thank you,
Michelle

 

[disneygal2007]

Not sure you could do it in one say. It usually takes us 2 days just for Epcot.
Congrats on your marriage DH and I spent our late honeymoon at the World. Since you have already been to MK and really don't plan on riding the rides. Can't believe I'm saying this. Skip MK and spend a day at Epcot. If that is what you enjoy. Maybe do a few hours at Hollywood studios. And maybe catch the Fire works show at MK. As for a meal eat what you enjoy. Our family favorite is Ohana. But if you go anywhere you need to try to make a reservation ASAP! Cause this close there may not be any openings. Good luck and have a great time on you honeymoon

 

[NLD]

Hi Michelle,

I'm in no way a WDW expert (some people here truly are), but I'll take a quick stab until the pros join in...

- Is it possible to visit all of the parks in one day?

Possible, yes... enjoyable... probably not. There are four parks. You also have to take into account park hours for the day you think you'll visit--if the parks close early, then it's going to be REALLY hard to do all four.

Honestly I wouldn't try. You'll just spend so much time traveling between the parks and only have a little bit of time to actually do anything in them.

- If so, what is the best plan of attack in regards to the order of the parks that we should visit?

Well... out of necessity, end at whichever park is open latest. Beyond that--it depends on what you want to do at each park.

- Between the two days we plan on visiting (Monday or Wednesday), which is better in regards to how busy things are? Is there even any way to tell this? lol

There is a site called touringplans that give crowd predictions for the parks. Google it... Early October might even be in the timeframe that you can view for free right now. (Depends on which date exactly in October you're talking about.) Otherwise you have to pay for a subscription to get the crowd predictions.

 

[Planogirl]

We've done three in one day but it was just to hit certain favorites. We hit DHS in the morning and then MK in the afternoon. Then we finished out the day at Epcot. It was OK since we just had a few attractions and restaurants in mind for the day.

 

[g-dad66]

If it were me, I would look over the attractions at all 4 of the parks on the WDW site and decide which one(s) look like must-dos -- and then pick what park(s) to attend accordingly.

For only one day, I wouldn't want to spend the transit time for doing more than 2 parks, and I could easily find plenty of must-dos in just one park.

Either Monday or Wednesday could be the busier day, depending on which park(s) you choose to go to.

 

[honeydiane1953]

No

 

[shellybaxter]

If I were you I would choose just one park. Since it is food and wine festival time I would choose Epcot. I research all the fun things to do at the festival and plan a full day with dinner reservations either in Epcot or one of the cresent lake resorts. I would recommend either Shulas or Todd English's Blue Zoo

 

[kaligal]

You can physically enter all four parks in one day, but you'd spend most of your day driving, parking and walking in and out of parks. You wouldn't be able to DO much of anything in them.

I'd do one or two. And I'd finish my day at Epcot. I think the World Showcase at night is the most romantic place in WDW. Have dinner, watch the fireworks, wait 10 or 15 minutes until the crowd has moved on...and stroll out slowly.

If you want to go to more than one park in a day, you have to pay a nice chunk of change extra for it. I'd stick with just Epcot, but that's me.

 

[chellealistic]

Thank you to everyone who replied. It was helpful to read your ideas.

We had originally planned on only going to Epcot, but since we don't get to go on vacation very often, I just wanted to fit in as much as possible. I think the current plan is to just look at the maps, decide on a few things from each park and then spend the majority of the time at Epcot. We plan on eating our hearts out anyway because of the wine and food festival. Hehe.

By the way, I am confused about the parking. Don't you just have to pay to park once and then there is other sorts of transportation between the other parks? If that isn't the case, then we may just go to only two parks.

Thanks!
Michelle

 

[chellealistic]

There is a site called touringplans that give crowd predictions for the parks. Google it... Early October might even be in the timeframe that you can view for free right now. (Depends on which date exactly in October you're talking about.) Otherwise you have to pay for a subscription to get the crowd predictions.

Aw, nope, it doesn't have my day listed because it's within the 30 day window. However, that is a very neat website. I wish I had known of its existence beforehand. I'm not very good at googling to find what I want. Heh.

Thank you for the suggestions though

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

By the way, I am confused about the parking. Don't you just have to pay to park once and then there is other sorts of transportation between the other parks? If that isn't the case, then we may just go to only two parks.

Thanks!
Michelle

You only have to pay to park once, you can show your pass at the others parks throughout the day. Yes there is park to park transportation (busses and monorail from Epcot to MK) but I would suggest since you are not staying on property that you move your car with you unless going between MK and Epcot only the monorail transfer is pretty efforless, but waiting on park to park buses can be very time consuming.

 

[ktlm]

We did 3 parks in a day last year just for very limited purposes, and I would not recommend it, especially for someone who is not familiar with the parks. We spent the first part of the day at AK; then moved to DHS to meet characters in the animation building and see Osborne lights because it had rained us out the other night we planned on seeing them, then we hopped to Epcot for an ADR that we already had scheduled. Two parks would have been okay, but the third made it hectic, especially trying to get to an ADR time.

What you need to remember is it can take an hour (or sometimes more) to get from one park to another, by the time you walk out of the park, wait for the bus or boat, get to the next park (i.e. AK is over 7 miles from MK), go through the lines to have bags checked and get into the park, and walk to where you are going in the park. The more times you hop parks, the more time you have wasted for the day.

Since you really want to explore Epcot, I would suggest you start there and then see how it goes. You may decide to hop later or you may decide to say put. Have a plan of where you want to go if you hop and what specifically it is you want to do. Know the park hours and entertainment schedules (for example AK closes early and if it is a Fantasmic night, you can expect DHS to be more crowded than other days). If you do look at the maps and decide a few things you really want to do at the parks, post them here and you can get opinions on how best to do them, if it is possible to do them all, and what to expect. As far as where to eat, if you really want to see as much WDW as possible, you may want to just grab counter service and eat on the run. If you really want a sit down meal as far as "bang for your buck", I really like lunch at Biergarten in Epcot. It is a buffet, so you can get as much "bang for your buck" as you want to eat. With your limited amount of time, I wouldn't suggest more than one table service meal. Allears.net has all of the WDW menus with prices, so you can look and see what appeals to you. I would suggest that if you want to eat at a table service restaurant that you make an ADR now as they can be hard to get. You can always cancel later if you change your mind.

Congratulations on your wedding!!

 

[skiingfast]

I would go whever is open earliest first and whereever is open last late.

Probably AK will open early, MK late. It's just common. I would do AK get a couple rides in, maybe a show then go to Epcot, this will be more walking around and less ride intensive. When Epcot is closing go to MK, maybe see fireworks and get in some last rides.

Only do DHS for ToT, RnRC and TSM. Use FP all the time.

 

[PSUGuy]

Four-in-One days will involve more travel than attractions. What I'd do is choose a non-Epcot park that has the most of what you want to see, hit that at ropedrop then hop to Epcot in the late afternoon. It's Food&Wine time and it's fun, for us, to graze around World Showcase, and they have a concert series in the American Pavillion stage.

Bill From PA

 

[mesaboy2]

Four-in-One days will involve more travel than attractions. What I'd do is choose a non-Epcot park that has the most of what you want to see, hit that at ropedrop then hop to Epcot in the late afternoon. It's Food&Wine time and it's fun, for us, to graze around World Showcase, and they have a concert series in the American Pavillion stage.

Bill From PA

I second this. Pick one other park that has two or three things you want to do and do those, then go to EPCOT for the rest of the day since you haven't been there before and it will have Food & Wine. IMHO, you would waste too much time in between parks doing 3 or more. That is unless you consider driving, riding a bus, riding a boat, or riding a monorail 'fun' in and of itself. Okay, maybe the monorail.

As for day of the week, I doubt there is much difference between a Monday or Wednesday during the first part of October.

Congratulations!

 

[disprincessatheart]

As for day of the week, I doubt there is much difference between a Monday or Wednesday during the first part of October.

Congratulations!

I agree UNLESS one of those days is the 11th, Columbus Day, then definitely do Wednesday.

 

[twitch]

I have to throw my hat in with those who are advising against this...

The place is huge. I think if you tried to do more than 2 parks, you would feel like you spent your whole day either standing in line for buses... or sitting on buses. If it were me, I would feel rushed and that I didn't really get to enjoy anything.

I would encourage you to pick one park (besides Epcot) that you would visit in the morning. It sounds like you don't care so much about the rides... so I would encourage you to head over to Animal Kingdom to see the animals... or to DHS because they have some fun shows. You could look at the dates you have in mind and see if either of them have Extra Magic Hours... if you're eligible and plan to use them, then pick that park... if you're not eligible (or can't get up that early), then pick the park that doesn't have EMH.

Epcot is open later, and the atmosphere is wonderful for the sort of wandering that you've described. I'd encourage you to end your day there.

 

[mjp12831]

I LOVE Commando touring and I'm advising you to go for it.

Do 3 and not 4. While AK is my favorite park, I'd leave that out because it's the least convenient to hop to or from. I feel 3 is the tipping point after which you spend too much time traveling.

Staying on property? You indicate flexibility on days - if you want to commando tour, try to find a day with am emh in HS - be there for 8am rope drop and tour until around 11. HS has a bus directly to Epcot - it's faster than the boat. Tour Epcot from 11:30 to 7 or so which still should be early enough to get FP for Sorin and TT - this will allow you also to have lunch/dinner in the best dining park. For a 1 day commando trip I'd advise counter service to maximize time in the park, and Epcot has the best counter service hands down. Finally, hop (monorail) to MK - the park that always has the latest hours (and if everything works in your favor and you are staying on property maybe you can pull a pm emh day).

Figure 30 minutes for travel time between these parks - you can luck out and be better, but probably not much.

Even if not staying on property, I'd advise these 3 parks in this order to maximize your park exposure.

 

[winterman]

I would have suggested that you spend your one day in just one park. But since you already paid for a hopper, I will say stick to two parks. I would do EPCOT and MK. If you do any more than that you will spend most of your time getting from one park to another.

 

[mesaboy2]

I agree UNLESS one of those days is the 11th, Columbus Day, then definitely do Wednesday.

That's true. I took her 'early October' timeframe with Monday and Wednesday and assumed the 4th and 6th. Those dates probably don't matter. If it is the following week, I would also advise to avoid Monday the 11th and go on Wednesday the 13th.