Disney in a day

[Telcogirl]

Has anyone ever flown in for the day and gone to the parks? I know it’s not the most efficient and economical way to do things. I am looking for the adventure/experience/bucket list kind of day.

We have the opportunity to land at MCO at 750am and then head out on a 920pm flight.

If you’ve done it, what was your experience? What did you pack in your backpack? How do you make the most of Genie+? Did you use it all? For us, our park priorities would be HS and Epcot.

Help us plan!

 

[_19disnA]

Have you ever been to Disney before? If new to Disney, you likely won't know what rides/shows/shopping/restaurants you prefer or where things are making planning more challenging. If you have been there before, at least you know the areas that interest you the most. You didn't mention the age ranges of those in your party. Disney parks can involve MILES of walking in hot/humid conditions, so it would seem you will spend the day racing around mostly to hit the highlights and then be exhausted by the time you depart. Not really how I would choose to visit Disney.

Is there some reason you can only spend 1 day at Disney? Or is this something to do because you think it will be challenging/exciting? Your profile indicates RI, so the flight will be several hours and already a long day due to the time you have to depart from home in the early morning. Since you aren't staying overnight in any hotel, you won't have anywhere to change or take a shower prior to departure. I assume you plan to sleep during the return flight?

 

[Telcogirl]

Have you ever been to Disney before? If new to Disney, you likely won't know what rides/shows/shopping/restaurants you prefer or where things are making planning more challenging. If you have been there before, at least you know the areas that interest you the most. You didn't mention the age ranges of those in your party. Disney parks can involve MILES of walking in hot/humid conditions, so it would seem you will spend the day racing around mostly to hit the highlights and then be exhausted by the time you depart. Not really how I would choose to visit Disney.

Is there some reason you can only spend 1 day at Disney? Or is this something to do because you think it will be challenging/exciting? Your profile indicates RI, so the flight will be several hours and already a long day due to the time you have to depart from home in the early morning. Since you aren't staying overnight in any hotel, you won't have anywhere to change or take a shower prior to departure. I assume you plan to sleep during the return flight?

We have been to Disney many, many, many times. We would be three adults that know what we are getting into as far as flight time, weather, walking, etc. I should have mentioned that we are not newbies in my original post.
I am just looking to see if anyone else has taken on day like this, primarily visiting HS & Epcot.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I'm not sure anyone has specifically flown in but basically you are looking for what you can accomplish (all going perfectly well) at Epcot and DHS between 9:30AM and 7:00PM. To me this is pushing your travel time from and to the airport as tight as possible.

Can visiting the 2 parks be done in this timeframe? Yes. Can you get a lot done? Yes!

It can be done and yes, would be fun but it's only if all goes well with flights and you have at least 1 day of recovery after you return home as you would likely be up for close to 24 hours from start to finish.

Since you are Disney vets, it's really up to you if this is a challenge you wish to take on. One thing to keep in mind that could affect your Genie+ is that you will be in flight at 7AM. If you have Wi-Fi onboard you'll be okay but if not, you will not be able to book your first LL until you land which could take you out of the running for the most desirable LL return times. Also, since you are not staying at a Disney resort, you will not be able to purchase any ILL$ until park opening.

If you go forward with this, have fun! Sounds like a great bucket list kind of day!

 

[Telcogirl]

I'm not sure anyone has specifically flown in but basically you are looking for what you can accomplish (all going perfectly well) at Epcot and DHS between 9:30AM and 7:00PM. To me this is pushing your travel time from and to the airport as tight as possible.

Can visiting the 2 parks be done in this timeframe? Yes. Can you get a lot done? Yes!

It can be done and yes, would be fun but it's only if all goes well with flights and you have at least 1 day of recovery after you return home as you would likely be up for close to 24 hours from start to finish.

Since you are Disney vets, it's really up to you if this is a challenge you wish to take on. One thing to keep in mind that could affect your Genie+ is that you will be in flight at 7AM. If you have Wi-Fi onboard you'll be okay but if not, you will not be able to book your first LL until you land which could take you out of the running for the most desirable LL return times. Also, since you are not staying at a Disney resort, you will not be able to purchase any ILL$ until park opening.

If you go forward with this, have fun! Sounds like a great bucket list kind of day!

We are going to be optimistic and pray to the Disney gods that all goes well with our flights. Being the 1st flight out of the day, there is a high probability we should not have any issues with our arrival time. Again, as long as all goes well, there is wifi on our flight so we can hop onto MDE as soon as it’s possible for us. We do have the entire following day to recover.

We will go immediately to a park from the airport. The X factor will be booking ILL’s. Do you know if we are able to book those at the time the park opens early or at the time of the published park open time?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Offsite guests can purchase ILL$ at official park opening, not ETPE.

 

[Heatherhy01]

Funny that I saw this post! My best friend and I have been talking about doing this a lot lately! We are from Pennsylvania and would love to visit all 4 parks in one day! We saw the challenge on a FB Disney forum, they documented it on TikTok if your interested to watch their time. Search for Pia Mariconda the "disney in a day challenge". I think it would be a great bucket list item!

 

[kylenne]

Quite a few people have done this on the WDW subreddit, usually they stick to one park though I remember one person who did an all 4 in one day challenge.