Hi, everybody! I am planning on celebrating my 40th birthday at WDW in a few weeks. Originally my plan was that I’d celebrate the big 4-0 with my own big 4 – making up our own version of the 4 parks in 1 day challenge! Sounds fun, right?
I was really excited about that for a long time, but now that the dates are approaching, (and I’m exhausted from life and work), I’m not feeling as enthusiastic anymore. I think I’m just tired.
So I am asking you to share: What were the best things about your 4-parks-1-day? What were your least favorite, or the hardest? Would you do it again? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Fun! I spent my 40th birthday in the Magic Kingdom (also my 50th in Jan this year).
I did a solo 4-parks-1-day in Jan. this year. (DH and DD19 slept in and did their own thing). The plan I did was: bus from Pop to AK, then bus to HS, then boat to Boardwalk (got off toured the resort and had lunch), then walked from Boardwalk to EP, monorail to TTC, then monorail to Poly (toured the resort), monorail to GF (toured the resort), monorail to MK, then bus back to Pop. My focus really wasn’t rides. I concentrated on leisurely taking in the scenery, and just soaking up the atmosphere. I also entered wait times on the app. I really enjoyed the day! I took my resort mug with me and filled up at Boardwalk and Poly. I was tired, but I would do it again. Not sure if I’ll have time for it next trip.
Doing four parks in one day was the best day of our holiday last July. It was me and my DDs 14, 12 and 12. We did rope drop at DHS at 8am, followed by Ak and the epcot (including lunch). Had some time back at the hotel and then did MK, including evening EMH. We rode at least 3 rides per park, had something to eat and had a photo in front of iconic sights. It was great fun, action packed and something we will definitely do again. You can tell how good it was as there were no arguments between my daughters all day! I say you should go for it - I am 50 next month and wish I could do this on my birthday.
Thanks, everybody! It will be me and DD7 – our girls’ trip. She’s actually pretty excited about the idea… When I started to lose enthusiasm, part of me was thinking “our trips are always such rushed 3 day long weekends, I don’t want to rush around this time, and four parks in one day sounds like a lot of rushing and busing.” But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way…
Would love to hear more!! What did you like about it? Anything you might have done differently, if you have it to do again? Important tips we should know?
I posted this last week so please forgive the redundancy, but I truly am passionate about 4 in 1 days.
I’m a California native, lived and worked at Disneyland but had never the opportunity to go to WDW. Last April, 2013, I had a biz trip in Orlando. I had one day off and a parkhopper. With no foreseeable future plans to be back, I wanted to see all 4 parks “meaningfully” and as a newbie, that meant not missing much of anything. Of high importance to me was to see all the bigs that are in DLR to compare, to see all those that are no longer in DLR (for nostalgia’s sake), and to see those amazing things that only exist in WDW - so pretty much everything.
Sound impossible?
Nope. Thanks to TP, it worked like a dream. 13.2 miles of walking and 14 hours later, I finished my goal and even got to ride Jungle Cruise (my fav) one more time before closing.
A big part of my success was navigating the transportation system. We’ve got nothing like that in Anaheim so it was totally new to me. I played out every transportation scenario with the transportation wizard (http://www.ourlaughingplace.com/aspx/twiz.aspx#.VCXC_CldWn5) and found that the shortest amount of travel between 4 parks in 1 day (while still saving MK for last to take advantage of the most meaningful night time stuff - MSEP, fireworks) is found in AK to EP to HS to MK.
And then I stuck to my plan like a drill sgt. When BTMRR went down, I optimized again and followed the plan.
It was amazing.
One thing to note is that I think another factor was that I was alone. I think I could maybe do it again with a second person, but he/she would have to be just as passionate and serious about hitting the important attractions so as to minimize rests and potty breaks.
I watched as several determined groups of younger people than myself charged forward toward a goal, leaving me behind with my steady pace, got distracted and got slowed down by their own mass and community spirit. I always got to the goals before them.
I liked using all modes of transportation (except car), because sometimes we miss riding the boat during our trips. Definitely look at park hours ahead of time. No park had early EMH, so I started at AK, which had the shortest hours. My plan was a little different because I added resort touring. Although I followed my plan exactly, I also told myself I could bail or change anytime if I got too tired. You should make a plan, but be realistic. Most importantly, you and DD should be having fun. If it gets to be too much, then don’t feel bad about stopping.
DH and I did 4 parks 1 day on our last trip, on September 1st. I am 25 years old, DH is 26 years old. We aren’t big time athletes or anything, but DH runs about 3 times a week, and I go to the gym about once a week. Now that it has been a month since our trip, any time the subject of 4 parks 1 day comes up, DH says “never again.” He found it to be too tiring. Too much rushing around: going into a park, walking around the entire park, leaving the park, finding the correct bus/boat/monorail, going into the new park, etc.
Personally, I would do it again. Next time, I would be sure to get more sleep the night before. We did the Epcot Wind Down the night before, so we didn’t get to bed til late!
Our perimeters were: 1 headliner, 1 other attraction (headliner or not), 1 show/live entertainment. That worked for us. In three of the parks, we also got something to eat, whether it was a meal or a snack.
My DH and I did 4 parks, 1 day last Dec. We had a blast and would totally do it again! (Next time with DDs 13 and 16.) Our favorite part was getting our favorite snack in each part. Our only regret? We ended the day at EP and we regret that we didn’t haul ourselves back to WS to have dinner. I kept a running thread on chat the day we did it, tracking where we were, rides we rode, etc. It was super helpful when it can time to scrapbook our trip.
I’ve done 3 in 1; EP from RD to 1430, AK 1500 to 1930, and MK 2000 - 0100. Original plan was just for EP and AK, but MK was open late so when AK closed, I said what the heck. Time-wise, I could have easily split the EP block in half and added DHS, but as I said, I wasn’t planning a 4 parks day in advance. If you’re a WDW vet, know your way around the parks and the World, and are content with just “sampling” at each of the parks, it’s quite managable - but it definately takes stamina and very good shoes… On my next solo trip, I am going to specifically plan a 4-in-1 day.
My family of 5 did 4 parks in one day (known as the quadrapod in our house, not sure how that nickname stuck) in 2010. My DH and myself and our three older teenagers. We had a ball! We used all forms of transportation (bus, boat and monorail), and had a really good time. We started at AK for am EMH, rode the Safari and EE, then got on the first bus that pulled up when we got out, happened to be to the TTC. Took the boat to MK and we all remember doing HoP, but not what else. Maybe Buzz? Monorail to Epcot, single rider Test Track, Living with the Land and walked through the World Showcase to the International Gateway. Friendship boat to HS, single rider on RnR and short line at ToT. If I’m not mistaken, some of us even headed to Downtown Disney and did a little shopping in the evening. We had family pictures taken at the big icons in each park and enjoyed the travel time between parks. It was relaxing to be on the bus, boat, or train. Planning to do it again in May!
@Carpenters, great tip on the photos with each park’s landmark! We did that as well. Also make sure to enter a wait time on this app for each park so you can get your badge!
