We Tried the 4 Parks in 1 Day Challenge at Walt Disney World…Here’s How It Went
On our last trip to Disney World, my daughter and I decided to attempt the ultimate Disney test: visiting all four parks at Walt Disney World in a single day.
And honestly? It was exhausting… but SO much fun. If you’ve never done the 4 Parks in 1 Day challenge, I highly recommend trying it at least once.
Starting the Day at Animal Kingdom
We stayed at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, which gave us Early Entry… a huge advantage. Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom opens the earliest and is only accessible by bus, it made the perfect rope-drop choice.
Most people who rope drop Animal Kingdom are heading straight for Pandora: Flight of Passage… is it an amazing ride? YES. Do you want to rope drop it? NO.
With the initial rush of people to Pandora, that line is going to get LONG, FAST! Later in the day, once the initial rush is gone, the wait times will go down…they tend to fluctuate all day depending on the influx of people.
That’s why I suggest rope dropping Everest at Animal Kingdom. We felt like we had the whole back end of the park completely to ourselves…except for the ocassional cast member, we were the only people heading that way. Which made for amazing photo ops and we were able to walk right on to Everest (and even rode it three times before heading on).
Our morning was incredibly productive. Before 10am we had already:
- Ridden Everest
- Ridden Flight of Passage
- Seen the new Zootopia show
- Met Mickey and Minnie
- Grabbed breakfast at Satu’li Canteen
We wrapped up around 9:45am, only to learn the hard way that park-to-park buses don’t start running until after 10am. We ended up waiting until 10:25 for a bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to arrive. Luckily this is the longest wait we had for any transportation for the rest of the day!
Hollywood Studios: Pick Your Priorities
Once we got to Hollywood Studios, transportation would be easier for the rest of the day but the crowds were intense.
To stay on schedule, we made a rule:
1 ride, 1 show, 1 snack.
We chose:
- Tower of Terror (45-minute wait)
- Buffalo Chicken Bowl from Fairfax Faire
- The new Villains stage show
By the time we finished, it was clear we wouldn’t accomplish much more there, so we hopped on the Skyliner and headed to EPCOT.
EPCOT: Food, Rides, and a Second Wind
We arrived at EPCOT around 1pm and were more than ready for lunch.
In my opinion, the best affordable EPCOT lunch spot is in the France pavilion at Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie. Their ham and cheese croissant never disappoints.
Bonus: this put us steps away from Ratatouille, which only had a 20-minute wait.
Afterward we:
- Grabbed schoolbread and iced coffee in Norway
- Headed to Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind
Guardians had our longest wait of the day at 55 minutes — but thankfully I was allowed to bring my iced coffee into the queue.
When we exited, it was already pushing 4pm… time for park number four.
Magic Kingdom via Monorail (and Ferry!)
We took the monorail toward Magic Kingdom, switching at the Transportation and Ticket Center. (Side Note to Disney: An express monorail from Magic Kingdom to EPCOT would be an amazing addition!)
Since we wanted to experience every type of Disney transportation, we opted to take the ferry across Seven Seas Lagoon instead of the second monorail and honestly, it was such a fun break.
We entered Magic Kingdom just after 5pm, and since the Cinderella Castle cut-through was open, we walked straight into Fantasyland. If you’ve never walked through Cinderella’s Castle like this….it is PURE MAGIC!
Needing a rest, we watched Mickey’s PhilharMagic before grabbing dinner at Columbia Harbour House. Then we caught The Country Bear Jamboree just as the show was starting.
When we exited, we were surprised to see the Starlight parade heading our way… so of course, we stopped and soaked it all in! Frontierland is much less crowded during the parade….so it’s the perfect spot to watch from without all the crazy crowds!
Ending the Night with Fireworks Magic
With only 30 minutes left before closing, we rushed to Pirates of the Caribbean… which turned out to be a walk-on!
After Pirates, we hurried to Haunted Mansion and made it into line with just five minutes to spare.
When we came out, fireworks were exploding overhead. Seeing them from that side of the park was such a unique perspective. We slowly made our way toward the hub, watching the show as we walked and just as we reached the bridge, we caught Tinker Bell flying across the sky.
It was the perfect ending.
Was the 4 Parks in 1 Day Challenge Worth It?
By the time we returned to our resort, we had:
- Spent 16 hours in the parks
- Walked 7 miles
- Completely exhausted our feet
The next day was a very lazy pool day… but it was absolutely worth it.
Because at the end of the day, the rides weren’t the real win… it was the memories we made together.
And those? They’ll last forever.