I’m thinking of attempting this challenge next December and am curious if people who have done it have tips. What are the rules I create? Three or Four attractions in each park doable and a snack? I assume I’ll have better luck with LLMP and start with AK since I believe it opens first but going during early entry and then booking an 8, 9 and 10 am pass or some such and as soon as we hit the 10 am ride we start booking in other parks. I was thinking order of parks something like
AK for early entry
Bus to DHS
Skyliner to EPC
Monorail to MK since it’s usually open the latest and maybe do this on a day when there is EETPH?
And if so what would be the two best rides to buy LLS pass for? I’m thinking if we do late night in MK then we could do Tron during late night so maybe GotG and FoP would save the most time?
Here’s my four top attractions in each park (and some of these aren’t my faves but they’ll be new so want to hit them)
In priority order
MK:
Tiana (cuz it’s new)
Tron
Space
7DMT (only since Big Thunder is down and I could skip this)
Snack: Drink and a snack at the new Pirates tavern?
EPC:
GotG
Test Track (cuz it’s reimagined)
Remy
Frozen
Snack: Creperie (cuz I still haven’t tried it and it’s on my bucket list)
DHS:
New Villains show
Reimagined LM show
ToT
RnRC if it’s still open and SDD if it’s not
Snack ideas? I have not had a Wronto Wrap so maybe that’s the one.
AK:
Zootopia (new)
FoP
EE
Dinosaur for one last ride
Snack: Satu’li Canteen (still haven’t eaten here and on my bucket list)
Any you book in advance must be in the same park, whether you do 1, 2, or 3. That’s why tapping in to your first one is so important - it unlocks the tiers and parks restrictions.
When the Kid did 4 in one day with 3 other family members, they opened AK, HS, MK and closed Epcot cuz of an ADR at San Angel Inn.
The Kid - who was 15 at the time - split the day by times. When to leave AK, HS and MK.
They used Disney transport.
Loosely the park plan was a ride, a snack, a photo pass photographer photo. And another thing that I’m not recalling.
They did wind up having a few extras thrown in - like EE initially being down. So they left for HS a little early. As they were finishing that park the Kid noted that EE was running, so directed the group back to AK to do that. They arrived at MK close to the scheduled time despite a group member peeling of to buy an AK shirt. At MK the snack turned into a lengthy rest in the welcome AC at Cosmic Ray’s while another group member recovered from not enough fluids and fuel and too much heat. They still managed their basics must do MK stuff and got Epcot and the SAI supper done as well.
They arrived back at the resort very footsore some time between 10 and 11. Two 40 something newbies, a late 20s WDW veteran back after 10 yr absence and the Kid. Trip was early September when FPs were still a thing tho the Kid mostly used wait times, shifting to a different MK ride. I think one FP was used at HS - maybe RRnC.
We’re doing USO first from 12/15-19 (and if I can ever get a 2nd Epic Universe single day ticket I’ll prolly make 12/19 our 2nd Epic day. Which I’m thinking we’re gonna need a rest day before we attempt this which means 12/20 maybe we go to Disney Springs and catch the drone show if it’s still going and/or the new Cirque show I haven’t seen. It should get dark early in December so I hope the drone show is early and we can get to bed at an early time. This means 12/21 is Epcot’s Evening extra hours day (I can’t remember the stupid new acronym name. EMH was so much easier). So then I think is a good plan of attack for us too ending in Epcot. But I’m also thinking it might be better to enter from IG so then should I flip it and go AK → MK → DHS → EPC. I can get the LLSPs for FoP and Tron this way and ride GotG during evening extra magic hours right before they close and start with Remy and a Crepe in France. Then we could book the TS probably as well and get a nice break before mad dashing thru at least TT and GotG during the extra hours.
Well none of us are that but we’ll be two 40 somethings and an 18 and 21 year old. The 40 somethings regularly workout so I’m not too worried. I will say DH used to get low back pain when he wasn’t working out but every time we’ve gone when he was working out regularly he’s been fine.
Yes. The LLs and different ride situations make HS more of the afternoon park as well entering from IG.
In 2019 all the new stuff seemed at HS which the Kid wanted to avoid, sticking with Tower of Terror and RnRC. I guess 7 Dwarves was new at MK and maybe the Little Mermaid but those weren’t a priority for this group. Pretty sure they were mostly in Frontierland. The Kid loves CoP so they might have done that also.
The drone show in 2024 was just a summer thing, from about May 24 to Sept 2. Nothing has been announced yet for 2025, but there is speculation it may return for the summer.
My daughter and I did a four parks day this past December 28. We had an amazing experience!! We did AK (9a-1) → HS (2p-4:30) → EP (5p-8p) → MK (830-close). We bought LLSPs for FOP and GOTG ahead of time and did a 530 ADR at Teppan Edo.
We also had great luck getting LLMPs for almost everything we were looking for using a combo of BG1 and Standby Skipper. We had NRJ, EE and KS prebooked all before 11 and then were able to pick up MMRR and RnR before leaving AK. We got SDD and TSM on afternoon drops while at HS and were also able to get Remy on an afternoon drop while in HS. We did Remy, dinner and GOTG and then started picking up MK rides between HS and Epcot. Managed to snag SM and BTMRR by just refreshing a bunch of times in BG1, got TBA through Standby Skipper and then hit 7DMT toward the end of the night when the line had dropped to about 45 minutes.
It sounds crazy but it was surprisingly unrushed and felt like we were still energized by the end. It was truly I think the best day we’ve ever spent in Disney and that’s saying a lot! Good luck and can’t wait to hear how it all turns out for you!
12/21 is a Sunday. Will EPCOT really be open late on a Sunday or is your date wrong?
I’ve never done a 4 park challenge, but I like the idea of planning one.
Some random thoughts:
It might make more sense not to use LLMP for your 1st park, since you’ll have the benefit of early entry there.
maybe get LLMP for HS? Based on your list, I think that’s where you’ll benefit most.
MK looks like it should be first or last, in order to ride Tiana & Space without huge lines. If you want to end at EPCOT, it might be worth giving up the 8am at AK to start with MK. Your AK list could easily be done with subsequent day of LLMP selections, which is less true for other parks I think.
You could use single rider for Remy and Test Track. less benefit if it’s extended evening hours, but still might help. true also for RnRC, but I understand that it’s a less efficient single rider line. same for EE, but seems less needed.
Yup you’re right it’s Monday 12/22 with EPC extra magic hours. Another thought I had is if they do JN at DHS again on Saturday we could do it Saturday ending in DHS going AK → MK → EPC → DHS but I’d want to make it before the last Villains show. I’ve also contemplated going Friday but I think four back to back theme park days will hurt with that being the last one because last year Friday was MVMCP and we could end in MK for that day during the party if we get tickets. Then I think I’d go AK → DHS → EPC → MK. The other option is doing Disney first and going on Wed when MK has nighttime hours I think. Then do Universal over the weekend. Decisions decisions. Thanks for the tips I will play with it once TP has the times correct for those dates (and Disney releases them). Until then I’ll have fun imagining all the combos! LOL
The highlight and reason for this trip BTW is Epic Universe and consequently Universal (it’s been a bit since we did Christmas there). I thought WDW doesn’t have enough new stuff to warrant spending a lot of time on it yet and then I had the lightbulb of 4 in one hitting the best rides of each and the few new things this year. Thanks to having seen some others do it here and on youtube.
Also, as you get closer to your travel dates, keep an eye on what’s really open.
Recently the two things my sister and I were planning at AK weren’t available until 9:30. So we didn’t rope drop.
The other thought here is that with Epic opening, you could be doing a lot of moving around at Universal.
Perhaps your 4P Disney day can be less ride centric (meaning less walking) and more experience centric (more relaxed).
Maybe a new thing in each park. A hidden Mickey. Or a sort of scavenger hunt. Take a photo in each park of a certain thing - like in Epcot, only things that start with E. Really change it up.
If you’re doing ride centric, I do agree with the LLs being better for either the second park or the park with the rides you expect will have the longest lines/most priority.
I haven’t done 4P1D, but am so glad you posted because I’m playing with the idea of a similar plan in July. Your plan sounds amazing to me, so it’s useful to hear from others sharing their experiences on what is realistic and not.
Not everything you’ve listed will be open by July, but my draft plan had the same order of parks (AK, DHS, Ep, MK) as your original plan.
My thinking was that I can save a LLSP by rope dropping FoP (and still be able to ride 2-3 other things in AK before lines build). For the two LLSPs that I can buy, I was thinking of prioritizing GotG and then either 7DMT or Tron (to be negotiated with the kids - one of mine loved Tron last year, the other did not but may want to try it again now that she’s a little older).
The LLMP situation also stumped me a bit because you don’t really need it during the first two hours of AK, but if you prebook for your second park then you are losing the ability to tap in early and open up your tiers.
I am super impressed with what @WylieAnne managed to achieve in their day! I’m not sure I’m brave enough to gamble on drops for some of our priorities though, especially SDD (my youngest’s favorite) which along with TBA and FoP are probably among the top three things we’d want to include in that day.
Indeed!
Will update here in case we decide to go ahead with this idea
- split the day by times. When to leave AK, HS and MK.
