4 Parks in 1 Day Question

[PlutoTheDog89]

Going at the end of January and looking to try the "4 parks in 1 day" feat.

Going on January 26th. Last year it was far-more crowded than we expected. We wanna try to do 4 parks in 1 day.

We already have FP+ selections for Magic Kingdom: 7DMT, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. Should we go to AK for rope drop and try for FOP, or go to DHS for rope drop and try for Slinky Dog?

We'll either go:

9am: Rope drop at DHS
9am-10ish: Slinky Dog Coaster
10am-11am: RnR Single Rider if it's short
11am: Head to Epcot
11:30am: TestTrack Single Rider
12:20pm: Head to Animal Kingdom
1:00pm: Expedition Everest Single Rider
2pm: Lunch/Snack at Animal Kingdom
3:00pm: Head to Magic Kingdom
4:30pm: Thunder Mountain FP+
6:00pm: 7DMT FP+
7:20pm: Space Mountain FP+

OR

9am: Rope drop at DAK
9am-10ish: FoP
10am: Head to DHS
10:40am: RnR Single Rider
11:30am: Head to Epcot
12:15pm-2pm: Festival of the Arts
2pm: TestTrack Single Rider
3:00pm: Head to Magic Kingdom
4:30pm: Thunder Mountain FP+
6:00pm: 7DMT FP+
7:20pm: Space Mountain FP+

 

[hakepb]

FoP is a better ride (Slinky is a fun kid coaster, but is much closer to 7DMT or BTMM)
Either choice should have an 8am arrive for rope drop if you want to be in the 1st few groups, otherwise you could get a 60+ wait 1st thing.

But, Animal Kingdom has 8am EMH, so you wont get a quick FoP, unless you stay on site and arrive at 7am for the early EMH...or you get into the FoP line at 7:30-7:45pm before the 8pm close.

 

[JETSDAD]

Not gonna lie, it hurts me a little to see pre-booked evening FP's but let's go with it. I'd RD AK, then HS, then Epcot, then MK (this is the order we have done it when we did 4 parks).

 

[MaC410]

Not gonna lie, it hurts me a little to see pre-booked evening FP's but let's go with it. I'd RD AK, then HS, then Epcot, then MK (this is the order we have done it when we did 4 parks).

This is the order my wife and I plan to do our 4 park day. We never have a car so that order lets us not have to use buses all the time and take the boat from HS to Epcot and Monorail from Epcot to Magic Kingdom.

 

[JessM]

It looks like AK has EMH that morning, if you are staying on site you would want to be there for 8am RD, if you are staying offsite I'd probably start at DHS. MK is open until 11pm that night, I would probably aim to head over there closer to 7 if that's your last park so you have time to do more than 1 thing in each of the other parks. We've done 4 parks in one day before and doing a couple things in each park makes it more worth while to us.

I'd start at DHS and RD SDD and do whatever else you felt like doing until 11am or so.
Head to Epcot 11:30ish - 3ish
AK 4ish to 7ish
MK 7ish to 11
But we don't have any kids and have no problem being out and about all day.

I would consider moving your FPs to an earlier park in the day. There's so much to do at MK, it's easy to grab extra FPs there or find things to do that don't require a FP.

 

[FCDub]

You're going to have a BUSY day, but a fun one!

 

[PSUGuy]

I'm the wet blanket here but we did this once years ago and found it to be a colossal waste of time, mostly eating up travel time. If it's on your Bucket List, go for it and have fun but I'll use our precious WDW time to better effect.

Bill From PA

 

[Pkltm]

We have done this a few times and love the challenge. One year we even did all three modes of transportation bus, boat and monorail to add to the challenge.

Have a blast and take pictures!!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Driving yourself saves a ton of time when doing all 4 parks. We did this a few years ago, rode 16 rides, saw Mark Hamill in the Star Wars parade and we didn't even start until noon.

We prebooked FPs in the first park (DHS).

 

[Flamingeaux]

This is what we did on our last trip.

We got to AK around 8:00AM for a 9:00 opening. They let us in Pandora around 8:30 and we rode FoP and Navi and then Dinosaur. We got lucky and the bus to EPCOT came in about 5 minutes. We rode TT single rider, then Living with the Land and grabbed lunch at Sunshine Season. We then rode the boat to DHS, again we got lucky and the boat was loading right when we got there. We had FPs for SDD, RnRc and ToT!!! When we got to MK we rode five rides and grabbed supper at CHH. Then we settled in for HEA. What a day!!! We took pics in front of the Tree, SSE, the Theater and the Castle.

 

[No.1000]

Hmmm.....

When we 4 park it, we usually hit up the EMH park first (on site guest), FP at our second park, and then pick up same day FP for the next two parks. We also like to make MK late as we like the fireworks, or AK for FOP standby at closing.

Whatever you choose, go with the flow and have a good time!

 

[gatorlisa]

We've done this twice and really enjoyed it each time. Of the options you presented, I would do the second. Doing AK/HS/Epcot/MK order makes transportation more efficient. And it's really nice being able to skip security at MK (which you get to do if you hop from Epcot to MK via monorail and stay within the secure area. In the 10-12 hours of our day, we maybe spent a grand total of 1.5 - 2 hours of it waiting on and riding on transportation, and we found the park transition time to be a nice opportunity to rest the feet for a few minutes.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We did it this summer, but staying offsite, so no EMH. We started at MK because it was easy to knock out 3 attractions (our goal) without waiting at RD. Next was HS. Then we walked to Epcot, stopping on the way to take a surrey bike 2 trips resort area. We saved AK for last because it was open the latest. We had our own car and drove ourselves, except HS-EP and back.

 

[kdisser]

We loved doing this!! When we did it we planned it on a day with which park had EMH either early or late. And looked at which park was open the latest so we would end there. We did all transportation types, 2 rides (usually smaller walk on rides to begin with), and pictures at each landmark. We even took a mid-day break to swim at the resort with plenty of time left.

 

[Laura's Dad]

I did the parks in the same order. I rode/did at least 3 things in each park. Here is how it looked:

AK (Pre-Pandora): Rope dropped Kilimanjaro Safari (great lion interaction), Expedition Everest, Tough to be a Bug
Bus to DHS: Star Tours, ToT (w/FP), R 'n R Coaster w/FP. Got FP for Spaceship Earth after using 2nd FP.
Boat to Epcot IG: Ate lunch at food booths during Food/Wine Festival, rode Mexico boat ride, Spaceship Earth w/ FP, Nemo ride. Got Splash Mountain FP after getting in line for Spaceship Earth.
Monorail to MK: Did Mickey's Philharmagic, Small World, Splash w/FP.

I got up pretty early as AK was Early EMH and was tired after my 3 MK rides. Went back to room, ate early dinner, fell asleep.

 

[JBinORL]

We did this in September.....early morning at HS for TSL, then to AK for Everest, then to MK for Buzz/CoP, then to Epcot for SSE. We also had a drink at every park (except MK). We managed to complete it by 4, but obviously you can do more stuff at each park and drag it out. We also had our car as we are local, but took the monorail from EP to MK and back.

 

[WedWayPilot]

We are also doing 4 parks on the 26th. We’re starting at AK for the 8am EMH and ending at MK because of the late closing.

I’m stopping for a nap in the middle of the day because I’m going with my 6 year old.

I’m trying to hit mostly coasters and anything else space themed.

Our Schedule looks like this:
8:00 FOP
8:45 Everest
9:15 Dinosaur
9:45 Transfer to Epcot
10:30 Spaceship Earth
11:00 Mission Space
11:30 Lunch in World Showcase
12:45 Back to Resort for Nap
3:30 Boat to HS
4:20 Star Tours FP
5:20 RNR FP
6:00 Dinner
7:00 SDD FP
7:45 Transfer to MK
8:45 Barnstormer
9:15 BTMRR
9:45 Space
10:15 7DMT