Day 8 - 4 Parks Day, 1 day
Everyone is up very early again. The usual pre-dawn walk for coffee.
My parents are leaving early this morning, to get a jump start on the long drive to DE. We say our goodbyes and they hit the road.
It’s because of them that we could do this trip, and we are very grateful. We all had a great time together and made a lot of memories.
The 4 of us still here have one more day of Disney magic, and we decide to do something different for us.
We are going to do all 4 parks in 1 day!
Never really was a park-hopping family, as we don’t ever pay the extra for park hoppers. And, we don’t take mid-day breaks and are fine with long days in one park.
But now with our shiny new APs…
Since we visited all the parks a bunch already on this long trip, we thought it would be something neat to do.
Plan is to start at AK for EMH at 8am, Studios, park at TTC for monorail to Epcot and back to MK to finish at 11pm.
We’re driving this time since the 4 of us can fit in the rental, and we need to be speedy.
I made 3 early FPs at AK to use them up right away. We were going to attempt rope-drop FOP, but I fear that we won’t get there early enough to do that.
We get there just at 8 and the gates were already open and most of the initial rush is through. My youngest and I head towards Pandora to see what we can do. My oldest doesn’t care to do FOP again (made her a bit dizzy the first time), so my wife and her head their own way.
As we get closer to Pandora (still with a bit of crowd along) my daughter notices a few people every so often headed back out already. I don’t think anything of it.
We get to FOP and the queue is out into the pathway to Africa already, no surprise. I say, let’s go see how far it goes.
It’s far, very far.
We audible and decide not to waste the time. Now I know why some people were already headed out.
So, off to Everest it is!
We get to EE and there is barely a wait. We get in line, ride it, take a photo or two around Asia and are eating breakfast at the doughnut stand by 8:45.
Despite this being our 8th day in a park, we still haven’t had photos with Mickey and Minnie. We do that just as the doors open at 9. Another box checked off the list.
We get some close up looks at the tree, see Bug’s life, kids ride Primeval Whirl, etc. There was something else in there I think to use up our 3rd FP, so we could start to grab a future one and so on. We might have burned one up early at Kali and didn’t ride. Yea, that’s it I think.
Oh, and I can’t forget…
Finally, finally get our Rum Dole Whip!!
It was only 10:30 in the morning, don’t judge because I don’t care.
Delicious
Quick photo with the tree with us holding up “number 1” on the way out.
We are on the nearly empty parking tram at 11:00, right on schedule.
Next destination is the Studios. We get to see some of the construction of the tall spires in Galaxy’s Edge on the backside driving in. Can’t wait until that’s done.
Walk thru the tapstiles at 11:36 and head straight to our FP for Tower. In line, there were a few CMs doing an active cleanup of vomit.
Ride was great, better than before. We all swear there was an extra drop or two this time.
We get our photo in front of the Tower with our “number 2”.
It’s 12:30 and obscenely hot again already. Time for some shade and a couple frozen drinks at Anaheim Produce.
We catch the Frozen show again and get some more fill of Star Wars stuff. While walking into Path of the Jedi, we notice the CM nametag says he is from Coruscant, nice touch.
We need a sit-down in some A/C, so we have lunch at Mama Melrose. Food was good. That far corner of the park has got to be the quietest in all the World.
Done here, we’re leaving just before 4.
Drive under the MK “sign” at 4:20, park at TTC and get on the monorail for Epcot.
I like the little cruise around overlooking Epcot before coming in to the platform, I had forgot about that.
Quick stop here - in at 5:00, leave at 6:30.
Got our photo in front of SE with our “number 3”
Don’t think we rode anything, our priority was to stop at Mouse Gear to get our Passholder magnets.
Off on the monorail again for MK to finish off this adventure!
I split from the group at TTC to drop some things off at the car.
Meet them just as our food is ready for a quick dinner at Harbor House, nice upstairs window view.
We go see Cinderella for the first time this trip, the princess thing was not as big a deal since the girls are older now.
Purple wall photos (new version and old school).
Get our final photo on Main Street with our “number 4”.
Watched HEA up closer this time, so we were able to see more detail on the castle. Once again a very good show.
Headed in the opposite direction of the leaving crowds and went to see Storytime with Belle. It’s meant for younger kids, but we still enjoyed it.
We all sit down for ice cream and watched the crowd thin out.
Sad walk out at closing time, sad wait for 30 minutes for ferry, sad boat ride to TTC (although pretty on the water at night), sad tram ride to car, sad ride to POR.
Not back to room until 1am.
One VERY long day, but worth everything.
