4 parks in one day...any tips from people who have done this?

We used to be park commandos but we've ridden everything and seen every show by now. On our last two trips, we've actually stumbled upon 1 day each trip where we did this, just to avoid crowds and see what we want to see. The best strategy though would be yours, OP. Do all 3 fast passes at the first park then schedule additional fast passes for the next park after you've gotten off the previous ride. Should be easy peasy!
 
We did this last August. It was our last day and we did it to hit random things we had missed. It was probably the best day of our trip. We called it “four parks and a hoop dee doo”!
My husband took photos of us at the entrance to each park. We held up one finger for the first park, then two, then three and then four. We made it for our 6:15 dinner. So much fun : )
 
My fiance and I did this in February, but we had a car because we were staying off-site. It was awesome! Started in Animal Kingdom with FP to FOP and 2 others. After having a quick breakfast, we then went to Epcot and were able to get 2 Test Track FP. After a quick bite, we were off to HS, where we scored 3 TOT FP, pretty much in a row which was fantastic. That was all we did at HS before heading to MK. We were able to grab FP there for BTTM, Splash, and SDMT before watching Happily Ever After. I can't remember everything we did, definitely more than that but those were the highlights. It is definitely possible to score some great FP on the same day. You just have to keep refreshing MDE. New FP will pop-up every time you refresh. I always like to get my FP for the first park I'm going to in the morning, then continue to grab more throughout the day as I park hop. Have fun!
 
I have to ask. Other than to say you've done all 4 parks in 1 day, why? You can't do many attractions/rides/shows in any one park. You spend a lot of time traveling between parks. Maybe I go to WDW too often, but I don't see the appeal of trying to do 4 parks in one day.
 


gharter said:
I have to ask. Other than to say you've done all 4 parks in 1 day, why? You can't do many attractions/rides/shows in any one park. You spend a lot of time traveling between parks. Maybe I go to WDW too often, but I don't see the appeal of trying to do 4 parks in one day.
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For me it was because I've been to the WDW parks so many times. The first time I did four parks in a day was in 2009, on my last day off before flying home at the end of my College Program. I'd been in and around the parks for four and a half months both for work and for play, and I wanted my goodbye to WDW to be something special. I couldn't decide what the "perfect day" looked like at any one park, and realized that what would make the day feel most complete and most like a real goodbye would be to do all four. That morning I ropedropped MK when it was cool and beautiful outside, and that evening I closed down Epcot with Illuminations and was part of the great mass of people streaming out of the park. It was everything I'd loved condensed into one day, and it made a fond memory that I could look back on in the years when I didn't have the means to go back.

This January I did it because I only had one day to spend in the parks at all, and I simply couldn't decide what I wanted to do--so I did everything. I enjoyed the physical challenge of it and I enjoyed having a goal in mind throughout the day, and I didn't have to feel like I was missing any of my favorites. I probably won't do it again on the next trip (next trip I'm thinking I won't even add a park hopper to my ticket), but apart from overtaxing myself and paying for it after the trip, I can't say I regret it. You don't lose as much time on transportation as you'd think; it's surprising how much you can get done.
 
We didn’t set out to do four parks, we were just hopping around and it ended up that way. We got a great deal on airfare and decided to fly down for an impromptu one day trip to celebrate our anniversary. All we knew we really wanted to do was pick up our passholder magnets from HS and EP, have lunch at the F&G booths in EP, and we had dinner reservations at BoG.

So, we got to HS at open and picked up our magnet, then walked through Launch Bay and Animation academy before our TSM FP. Then I did a little shopping and we hopped over to EP. We didn’t do any rides there (we easily could have, we just didn’t feel like it) and walked around WS. That went faster than expected, and our dinner reservations weren’t until 7:50, so we decided to grab a FP for EE and hopped over to AK. We got done with that around 1:30, so we decided to go back to our hotel (we stay offsite) and take a little nap. We got to MK around 5:00 and rode PM, PoC, Splash, IASW, did some shopping, dinner at BoG, watched HEA, then rode BTMR and 7DMT. We also took pics in front of all the park icons. So, we did everything we set out to do and more!

For us, it really wasn’t difficult or a big time waster. If you drive yourselves (like we do) there’s no waiting for busses or anything. The only park that takes a little longer to get into is MK. This was our first adults-only trip (we left our 6yo at home since we were there to celebrate our anniversary) and it is incredibly fast to hop when you don’t have a small child with you, lol!

Also, as others have said, this really isn’t for someone who doesn’t go often and has a lot of things that they want to cover. For us, we just had a few favorites that we wanted to do. We were fine skipping a lot of attractions bc we’ll be back in Oct with our daughter and we know we’ll do them then.
 


gharter said:
I have to ask. Other than to say you've done all 4 parks in 1 day, why? You can't do many attractions/rides/shows in any one park. You spend a lot of time traveling between parks. Maybe I go to WDW too often, but I don't see the appeal of trying to do 4 parks in one day.
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Each to his own but I think I'd rather slow down and poke fun at angry parents at MK than hop around the last day. That's just me though.
 
I think I would lean more on not using FPs at the first park. Rope drop crowds are usually light except FoP. Any chance of switching park order? Guess for your transportation purposes that wouldn't work. The transportation really flows nicely in the order you are going. You will have a blast. Just be sure to go with an open mind on which rides you are hitting, so as not to be disappointed if you hit a major wait somewhere that will mess up your whole day. Skip it and move on. Good luck!
 
We do this on the last day of our trips and hit only the stuff we want to do to end with a bang. I usually start with the park we can get in earliest and end with the latest. In November 2016 we did all four parks and had our FP+ in MK for the evening but that was Pre-FOP. It probable also helped that there was two or three major attractions in refurb so it didn't take us long at all and it was relaxing because we took our time and enjoyed ourselves. Have fun and don't listen to the negatives in your plan. Just enjoy your vacation.
 
I have done 3 parks in a day when they had the express bus service and it was fun but not something I would do again. :)

Be prepared for travel time and if possible don't carry a bag - you will have to walk to and from bus/boat/monorail stops and then go through security 4 x as well.
 
mlnbabies said:
We plan to do this in June. We will have a car so is it easier and faster to drive to each park or use the buses?
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Except for Magic Kingdom, it is dramatically faster to drive. The problem with MK is you park in the TTC, which adds precious time to either monorail or boat to the park. My recommendation would be to either begin or end your day there. Also, try to plan a day when MK is open late. (11pm or midnight). Gives you more wiggle room.
 
mlnbabies said:
We plan to do this in June. We will have a car so is it easier and faster to drive to each park or use the buses?
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We did it with a car. We went from HS (Early Morning) to AK to Epcot and finished with MK. We kept the car at MK and Monorail to Epcot and back so our car was centralized. I believe MK was open until 11 that night.
 
We just did this with our 2 kids (ages 9 & 7). We stayed at YC, and did AK, Epcot, HS (stopped at the room for a bathroom break on the way between the 2), and finished up at MK. We had our “rules”/goals and it was SUPER fun! Everyone has given good advice and the only thing I’ll add is that I recommend making shirts - the CM loved it and always chatted us up about it...and so did plenty of strangers. Made it even more fun! Have a great day!!!
 
I did four parks in one day last October with my friend who had never been. She had a short, three night trip. I did it with the help of the VIP Ultimate Thrills tour, so we cheated. Still so much fun though. We started at MK and rode Buzz, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Haunted Mansion. Then private van transportation to Epcot for lunch at Sunshine Seasons (included), Soarin and Test Track. Off to HS for Toy Story, Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster and Star Tours.

Tour ended at three pm. Took a cab to Animal Kingdom to meet up with my dh and our three kids. This is where we used our fast passes as every other park had fastpasses for all rides due to the tour. Rode Everest, Na’vi River Journey, Flight of Passage and the Safari. Dinner at Yak and Yeti.

Ended the night with the tree awakening show and music in Harambe.

It was an amazing day. We walked 35 000 steps.

The tour cost me $239 with my dvc discount. Well worth it.
 
I would suggest using the three fast passes at your first park and then adding new ones while you travel to the next park. My DD23 and I have done
four parks in a day multiple times. If you start early and stay late it's very doable and you don't even have to rush around. Have fun!
 
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