4 Parks in one day - help me choose which day

[KristinU]

On our next trip (in April) we're planning a 4 parks in one day challenge. My 14 year old DS is planning the order of parks and setting the criteria and strategy, but I'm in charge of the overall trip agenda for the week...so, I'm trying to figure out the best day to choose for the challenge.

The order he's planning: AK, DHS, Epcot, MK (DHS and Epcot could be flip-flopped, I don't think he's firm on his middle two but he definitely wants to close with MK)
Regular park hours (as of now): 9-9 for DHS, Epcot, MK and 9-8:30 for AK
Criteria: 2 attractions, 1 snack to eat, and a pic in front of the park icon.

We are staying offsite, so no EMH but I want to be smart about planning around EMH hours. And that's where I'm looking for some additional opinions.

I have it narrowed down to two options:

1. a Tuesday where the EMH is evening at Epcot. My thinking here would be that the EMH-goers wouldn't be at Epcot yet when we hit it, especially if we did it as our 2nd park.

2. a Wednesday where the EMH is evening at MK. My gut says stay away since MK is the last park of the day on his plan, but then I think about leaving at 9:00 and there would be less of a mass exodus.

So, which would you choose?

 

[disneylover102]

I would definitely do option 1. What I typically do that helps avoid the mass exodus is get in line for a popular ride like Space Mountain (the line isn’t long but while waiting in line a bunch of people are leaving the park) and then once you get done with the ride, the crowds aren’t bad. The crowds of people to mainly worry about are the crowds during the parades and also at Hollywood Studios after Fantasmic. If you go to MK right when all the hotel guests will be there, you’ll have longer lines and you won’t have as fun of a time.

Also, since you’re doing AK first, if you’ll be doing RD for Pandora, make sure to get there at least 45 minutes to an hour early!

 

[qman6975]

My son and I did the challenge two years ago and followed the same order (AK, DS, EP and MK). I think ending at MK is key as it is so big you will not have too much trouble getting in the required number of attractions.

What are your rules for your challenge? Our "rules" required three attractions and one character meet and great at each park. I have to say the biggest challenge were the meet and greats as the lines for those things can be quite slow.

 

[gatorlisa]

We did this last September. We did AK, HS, Epcot, and MK. I highly recommend keeping the middle two in that order, since going from Epcot to MK is super easy provided the monorials are running without issue. Since the monorail entrance at Epcot and the exit at MK are within security, you don't even have to go back through security at MK. We did it on a Wednesday, to utilize the MK evening EMH. I set our FPs for HS and we did standby only at AK. I had no issues getting 4+ FP at Epcot (got Soarin and Frozen) and MK.

We did photos with park icons at all parks, met Donald Duck at all parks, and did 18 attractions (2 AK, 2 HS, 4 Epcot, 10 MK). It was a really fun day and something I would definitely do again. We didn't plan on meeting Donald at all parks. But I wanted the one in AK and then he was out with pretty much no wait as we were leaving HS. After meeting those two, I decided we needed to get all 4, even though it meant meeting Mexico Donald in Epcot despite having just done a picture with him the previous day.

 

[Keels]

Rope Drop AK for EE and then Dinosaur on your way back out of the park, make FP+s for DHS for around 11 for RnRC and Tower of Terror, while you're in line for RnRC or Tower of Terror, grab a Soarin' FP. Walk from HS to Epcot, ride Test Track solo, ride Soarin' and then start grabbing what ever FP+s you can for MK.

Definitely go for the night with EMH at Epcot. MK is going to be crowded anyway, but at least you can probably hop in line for Mine Train right before park close and not have to wait too, too long.

Also, don't forget about mobile ordering food! That will definitely save you some time.

The girls and I always do a four-park, one-day challenge following this plan and we've always had great success! This usually puts us at Trader Sam's for a drink when they open at 4, and then into MK for rides and fireworks around 5-6.

 

[KristinU]

Thanks for all of the input and suggestions! Sounds like Tuesday is the way to go. Since DS is in charge of the actual day's logistics, I'll pass along all of the ideas - lots of good nuggets! DS and I did 3 parks last year without really trying, but we also had the express bus then. We need to decide on transportation for this. We'll have a car but I'm thinking Uber might be easier, especially at the end of the day. Or maybe a combination: drive to AK and DHS, walk to Epcot, monorail to MK (if it seems reliable on that day...kidding/notkidding), then Uber from Contemporary back to the car at DHS. Damn I loved that express bus...oh well...

@disneylover102 and @Keels I have us rope-dropping for FOP on another day, so I'll try to steer him away from it for the 4 park day. DH, DS, and I have done it 3-4 times each already, so it won't be the end of the world if we don't hit it, but DS's friend will be with us and he hasn't been since Pandora opened so we'll try to make it happen on a different day.

@gatorlisa I love that you met Donald at each park! We tend to not be real big character people, but wouldn't that be fun! I suggest a character meet to DS. But like qman said, that might eat into our time...I guess we'll have to play it by ear. I love that you kind of stumbled into it!

@qman6975 our criteria (as it stands now) is 2 attractions, 1 snack (or QS meal), and a pic in front of the icon. DS is talking about doing every mountain as part of it, so that would mean the 3 mountains at MK and EE...I guess we'll just have to see if we have time since MK is last.

 

[Keels]

So ... we did three parks for NYE (no MK because we avoid MK, but we could've easily hopped over there to meet your challenge requirements).

We got to AK at 11, rode Dinosaur stand-by (25 minute wait), rode EE three times via single rider. Drove from AK to Dolphin (where we were staying), and then walked to DHS for our ToT and RnRC FP+s. Walked back to the Dolphin to change clothes and watch the entire Saints-Falcons game in the lounge at BlueZoo. Grabbed a same-day FP+ for Spaceship Earth, so we rode that. Rode the Mexico ride. Grabbed a same-day FP+ for Mission: Space, had dinner at Teppan Edo then partied until the New Year.

So, we did all of that on one of the BUSIEST days of the year and not even bothering with rope drop! If the three mountains challenge is added in, you definitely need to save MK for last and be pretty fastidious about refreshing the app for those FastPasses! I've found Splash and Big Thunder are pretty easy to walk on when people are getting ready for fireworks, but you'll want to get in line for Space Mountain right before the park closes if you don't want to wait for forever - if you don't luck into a FP+!

For strategy ... search in singles or pairs and click through all of the times until you find ones that work or overlap. That will maximize your chances of getting same-day FP+s for popular rides. People are getting a lot better about releasing FP+s if they aren't using them these days.

 

[imp&pixie]

I love that you're doing this with your son! My daughter (who will be 14 when we take our next trip) and I have been talking about doing this challenge. I am going to use the tips here for that and maybe I'll enlist her to make the details. We did 3 parks in one day on Christmas Day last year without even working at it, so I can't imagine adding the fourth park will be difficult.

 

[JustMeFran]

I love you asked this!
We are doing 4P1D day during our November trip this year! Hubby does not want to join us on the adventure, so it will be just me and DD11 doing it. We will end at EPCOT because that is where Hubby is going to spend his day.

Our criteria for each park is:
Pic in front of the Icon
Something to eat
At least 2 rides (and completing all 4 Mountains)

We are going to do it like this:
Rope drop AK, grab a pic @ tree, ride EE, ride DINO, hopefully grab a bun @ Satu'li Canteen,
Bus to HS
@ HS, grab a pic @ ToT, FP for ToT, FP for Star Tours, (have 3rd FP here that times out), Mickey Bar
Bus to MK
@ MK, grab a pic @ castle, FPs for the Mountians, Nutella waffle @ Sleepy Hollow
Monorail to EP
@ EP, grab pic @ Spaceship Earth, ride Spaceship Earth, single rider TT, meet up with Hubby and have supper at Spice Road for Illuminations (or whatever it is going to be by then)

Have fun!!

 

[MrInfinity]

Between your 1 and 2, I would pick 2. But I'm a fan of doing EMH, not avoiding it. That gets you an extra couple hours in the day. We did our challenge on a Saturday (AK morning EMH) over Columbus day weekend... (massively busy!) and we managed it with dinner at Ohana. We rode every ride we wanted at each park. The early morning really helped get a jump on the day.

 

[gogiantsfan11]

I have done this twice in the last two years. First time with my 3 son last December. Stayed off site and did rope drop at HS.. Did Toy Story and Star Wars, Tower of Terror and RnR .. Left the park and made our 11am FP at Thunder Mountain at Disney .. Space Mt and Splash Mt fast pass done by 1pm. Lunch and kept doing FP+ for Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Buzz, Speedway, Tea Cups, .. Left and was at AK by 4Pm.. got FP for EE, FP Rapids, FP Safari and Dinosaur. Left and ate dinner at Epcot and could not get any FP but did single rider line for Test Track. We never waited more 5 min and had FP for everything. But, I think things have changed a bit since I was there in January this year to do the same thing and it was way more crowded.
We did AK EMH Walked on FoP, EE, Safari and about 10 min wait for Dino. Left the park at 10am and made fast pass for 11am for TM, Space MM and Buzz. Lunch and was able to grab a FP+ for Mines, Speedway and a couple others. Left and had FP+ at Toy Story.. Left for Epcot for dinner and FP+ test track. We did not nearly get as much done as with my sons. But we never waited for anything either.
Good Luck.

 

[KristinU]

Thanks again for the suggestions everyone! Reporting back that we did it yesterday and had a great time!

Here's a recap:

We did AK - DHS - Epcot - Magic Kingdom in that order.
Our criteria: 2 attractions, 1 snack or meal, and a Photopass photo in front of the park icon. We aren't big character people, so we didn't include a character visit in ours.

Transportation:
We are staying offsite at Wyndham Bonnet Creek and have a car and AP free parking, but we decided that for hopping like this the plan would be to use Lyft to AK, bus to DHS, walk to IG at Epcot, Monorail to MK, walk to Contemporary to Lyft home. However, drenching rain that hit as we were finishing our 2nd attraction at DHS made us choose to make a mid-day stop back at the villa to dry out (and I took a Walmart run to get better ponchos and a couple of umbrellas - the dollar store ones were not going to cut it for the rest of the day!) . So we Lyfted back to WBC, then Lyfted again to Boardwalk after our break to start up again.

Method:
We made fastpasses as early as possible and kept rolling forward to more fastpasses, this worked really slick. The technique is outlined by this couple:

Shirts:
I ordered special shirts from Etsy - I'm so glad I did! This made it more of an official thing and had people chatting with us all day! We even got a little pixie dust bonus slushie! Here's what I ordered: https://www.etsy.com/listing/574165508/four-parks-one-day-challenge-accepted

What we did:
AK: Everest, Dinosaur, watched a little live music in Africa, and shared a colossal cinnamon roll from Kusafiri
DHS: Rock n' Rollercoaster, Toy Story Mania (they are doing same day fastpasses on it right now!), and shared a carrot cake cookie from Sweet Spells
Epcot: Frozen (yes, a same day fastpass), we split for the 2nd attraction after some debate...I had actually reserved fastpasses for Soarin' but DS and his friend wanted to do Mission Space and DH and I had done Soarin' the day before, so we ended up dropping those and rode the Three Amigos while the boys did MS orange - both without fastpasses. The boys had turkey legs and DH and I had some F&G kiosk food and drinks. We also stopped and watched some performers in France. Oh, and with teens we never miss Club Station cool.
MK: Tomorrowland Speedway, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, watched a little Country Bears street dancing, ate dinner at Pecos Bill's, DS got a haircut at the Barber Shop, and we closed the night with the HEA dessert party (plaza garden viewing)

The rain drove a lot of people away and the evening at MK was cool and peasant ad the crowds were really low. We were doing our fastpass thing, but the waits were all 10-15 minutes anyway.

It was a full day and a lot of fun! I do think coming back mid day really helped us recharge even though it was unplanned. To be honest, I think we would have been done with our criteria and said "now what?" by around 4 pm if we hadn't had the rain - so that really worked out forcing us to take a break!

 

[Cloe Colton]

I love you asked this!
We are doing 4P1D day during our November trip this year! Hubby does not want to join us on the adventure, so it will be just me and DD11 doing it. We will end at EPCOT because that is where Hubby is going to spend his day.

Our criteria for each park is:
Pic in front of the Icon
Something to eat
At least 2 rides (and completing all 4 Mountains)

We are going to do it like this:
Rope drop AK, grab a pic @ tree, ride EE, ride DINO, hopefully grab a bun @ Satu'li Canteen,
Bus to HS
@ HS, grab a pic @ ToT, FP for ToT, FP for Star Tours, (have 3rd FP here that times out), Mickey Bar
Bus to MK
@ MK, grab a pic @ castle, FPs for the Mountians, Nutella waffle @ Sleepy Hollow
Monorail to EP
@ EP, grab pic @ Spaceship Earth, ride Spaceship Earth, single rider TT, meet up with Hubby and have supper at Spice Road for Illuminations (or whatever it is going to be by then)

Have fun!!

You could easily get a FP for RNR or even a TSMM ride since both of your other rides are tier 2. Might as well just use the third one for another fun cool ride (I'd pick RNR since you also are doing EE, could do all of the rollercoasters in the parks)

 

[wings91]

I've done a couple variances of the 4 park challenge.
1: 3 rides and the Mickey M&G in each park. Rides are no problem, but the line for MM gets really long.
2: 4 Parks & 30 rides. The ultimate is all rides (46?), but the that's a virtual impossibility. 30 actually wasn't too difficult, and MK was only open until 10pm.

 

[Kellykins1218]

We did the challenge in September the day the re-opened after Hurricane Irma. It was a lot of fun and, since the crowds were non-existent, we not only did all 4 parks but actually went back to Epcot a 2nd time.