4 parks in 1 day....ever tried it?

[PrincessSophiasMom]

We are going for a short 3 day trip in August (11-14) to see the new nighttime attractions at Animal Kingdom and we were thinking we could try doing all 4 parks in 1 day during one of those days. It is something we have always wanted to try!!! Has anyone ever tried this before? What were your strategies? We do have a 6 year old but we plan on having a stroller that lays all the way down in case she needs a break.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We do it every year because we go down in March for two weeks but only do the parks one day. And we only do the highlights. We usually go on day when AK is open early for guests and Mk is open late. We go as soon as AK is open. Get on Everest first because safari isn't usually one yet. Then do safari, walk thru the zoo area and do the dinosaur ride. We stay to watch birds of prey and then usually go to Hollywood before lunch. Here's where I get fast passes so we can get on rock and roll roller coaster, tower of terror and movie ride. I usually can't get toy story and the line is too long by then. We might see one of the shows and then have late lunch at brown derby. We go back to room and pool for a couple of hours. Then we head to Epcot and try for soarin and or test track. Walk around the world showcase and have dinner. We usually leave before the light show and head to MK for rides and fireworks. I hate this day but.my husband loves it. Last March we were going to do this but we loved just hanging at the pool so much and seeing spring training baseball that we didn't even go for a day.

We are going in late November and we will do the very merry Christmas party one night and that will suffice for MK. We might do one other day to hit the other three.

 

[LadyRayado]

I kind of want to try this, but would have very limited expectations for each park. One ride, one snack/meal, and a show/parade/character. It'd just be me and my DS4, so I wouldn't want to run us ragged. More just something different to do.

 

[PrincessSophiasMom]

We are staying at AKL and the day we are thinking of doing this as AK EMH in the morning. My thoughts are this

AK for EMH riding Dinosaur, Safari, and Bugs Life (Everest scared the life out of DD last year, may wait another year or 2 before trying that again lol)

DHS before lunch riding Great Movie Ride and Muppets

Epcot using fastpass for Frozen ride, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth and squeezing in Figment

MK for our favorite rides HM, Pirates, and Peter Pan and Wishes.

 

[kay1864]

We stay to watch birds of prey and then usually go to Hollywood before lunch. Here's where I get fast passes so we can get on rock and roll roller coaster, tower of terror and movie ride.

You can't get FP in advance for both of these, since they're both Tier 1.

 

[mco65]

never done this, never dreamed of doing this but sophie may have changed my mind..
we typically are at a park for rope drop and stay until a half hour or hour before park close.. Seems to me like we could hit multiple parks during this same time frame... we typically don't get Park hoppers but I might have to put this on my wish list..

 

[cmaee]

We did it in August 2015. It was a lot of fun. We started at AK. We rode Expedition Everest and then Kilimjaro Safari. We then hopped to HS. We rode Star Tours, had a snack at Starring Rolls, half of our group rode the single rider line for RRC while the other half watched the muppets. We then hopped to E via the boat. We got lunch at Sunshine seasons and then rode the single rider line for TT. We went on spaceship earth and then met Mickey at the Disney Visa meet and greet. We then hopped to the MK. I don't really remember everything we did at the MK. I had our FP scheduled for here. I know we rode 7DMT, BTMRR, and Splash Mtn. We ended up closing the park here. I think we made it to MK around 5. It was a really fun day. We plan on doing it again in June.

 

[LadyRayado]

Ok now I really am intrigued:

AK: Safari, It's Tough to be a Bug, and Character Outpost
DHS: Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Disney Junior show, lunch, Muppets 3D, and Great Movie Ride
EPCOT: Lap around World Showcase, Figment, Nemo, Test Track, and dinner (FPs here)
MK with EMH: (taking it easy since we'll be slowing down at this point) Lap around on the train, Carousel, Laugh Floor, and then Celebrate the Magic, Wishes, and MSEP.

Crazy?

 

[Pmlocke]

My wife and I did it on my 60th Birthday trip. That was three years ago. Spent about 2-3 hours in each park. We did it because I wanted to be able to say I did it. Walked in, did a ride, had something to eat and went to the next park. This was in September when attendance is at a low.

 

[DC to Disney]

I've done it before. It's really not difficult as long as you only plan to spend 2-3 hours in each park. Start the morning in MK, then take the monorail over to Epcot. Walk through Future World and WS, exit Epcot through the International Gateway and either take the boat or walk to Hollywood Studios (20 minute walk). After a couple of hours at HS, take a bus to AK.

 

[DOOM1001]

I've done the 4 Disney parks in one day and I've also done a more complicated multi park day,I left my house at 5am in South Florida,drove to Tampa where I was at Busch Gardens until around 1pm.I then drove to Orlando and went to Sea World until around 5pm,from there I went to Universal and did both parks there until around 9-10pm,from there we drove to DTD(Disney Springs)and ate at Earl of Sandwich.Total tally,3 cities,around 350 miles,4 theme parks and DTD,the 4 Disney parks in one day was a breeze compared to that day.

 

[jeremy1002]

A recent episode (#15) of "Backside of Magic" podcast went over one approach to this challenge.

 

[AinW]

My DD & I try to do this every trip (about every 3 years). We usually do it in this order: AK - bus - MK - monorail - Epcot - DHS. We do it after we've had a day at each park & just hit the highlights. It's exhausting but fun! My DD was 11 or 12 the first time; I wouldn't recommend it for young kids-too tiring.

 

[RedAngie]

Technically, no. But we did visit all four parks in fewer than 12 hours over the course of two operating days.

MK had evening EMH until 2 am. We went back to the hotel, took a nap, and arrived at AK for their morning EMH at 7am. Rode Everest about 5 or 6 times, then hopped to HS before its 9am opening. Stayed until about 11am, then took the boat to Epcot, arriving before noon.

 

[cedricandsophie]

You can't get FP in advance for both of these, since they're both Tier 1.

Actually last November I got fast passes in advance for both rides one hour apart. For whatever reason tower of terror moved into the second tier. I was surprised but we were able to get on both very quickly

 

[PSUGuy]

We did this once in the early 2000s, never again. We spent more time travelling between parks and waiting in long lines in the later parks than actually enjoying attractions. Especially on a short WDW vacation we'd use our time more wisely, but have at it if it's on your Bucket List.

Bill From PA

 

[tobikaye]

On a normal day, I usually do 2-3 parks so a 4th is not that difficult. I usually only plan either where I am starting or where I am ending and then what happens the rest of the day is what happens. I sometimes go to a park just to get a snack or do one attraction and then head some where else. I actually have only once planned 4 parks in one day the other 2 or 3 times, it just kind of happened.

If I was planning to do the headliners in each park, then I might find it stressful and rushed, but on the 3 or 4 times I have done all 4 in one day, I usually am really relaxed. might do only 1 headliner and grab a snack or I might do a few of the shorter wait attractions or just see a show at a park.

 

[loril13]

We plan on trying it for the first time in October. We have a pre-gate ADR at Tusker House for breakfast. We have dinner reservation at California Grill and MK has PM extra magic hours. We are staying at BCV so both Epcot and HS are an easy walk to go over get a photo with the Park Icon and a snack or drink and maybe hit an attraction depending on wait times.

 

[Darcy03231]

I did it several years ago with my kids (they were 17 & 19 at the time). We started at DHS and got a fast pass for TSM. Went over and did RnR and ToT and then Star Wars. It was then time for TSM. We hopped over to AK and did Dinosaur and EE and had lunch at Flame Tree. From there we went back to DHS and saw the Beauty & the Beast show and Lights, Motors, Action. After that we hopped to Epcot for Soarin and Test Track and had dinner at Sunshine Seasons. Hopped to MK for Pirates, Small World (must do every trip), HM and Wishes. We did it the last week in April, mid-week, and the crowds were light to moderate. This was also before FP+.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

The most we have done is 3. The kids were 3 & 5 and we docked at PC on the Magic and had one day PHs as part of the deal. This was before FP+ and I was used to making good use of that system. We were allowed to do EMH and AM was Epcot so we started there, hopped to AK about 10:30, hopped to MK about 2 and closed it out at 10 then back on the bus to the ship! We were exhausted but saw so much as it was Feb and not very crowded. We definitely could have done HS too, but there wasn't much for my little shorties to do there at the time.