4 Parks in One Day Challenge
Tricia KeierleberJanuary 10, 2017
Have you heard of the 4 parks in one day challenge? At Walt Disney World, fans challenge themselves to visit all 4 parks in one day, (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Animal Kingdom). It is not enough to step foot in all 4 parks in one day, you must do something in each park. Some will say you need to ride a ride in each park, others will mention shows or dining experiences. Depending on your day, at least accomplish one thing of note and be sure to take a picture with each park icon, (or entrance), to celebrate accomplishing this challenge. Some determined and enthusiastic challenge participants will challenge themselves to ride every ride in each park they visit that day! I would start with one picture and one item of note, (at least), for your first challenge.With any park day, but especially for this challenge, booking with a travel agent will help you make the most of every second in the park. We here at Wishes Family Travel are trained, traveled and trusted. We are very familiar with the parks and can help you accomplish this challenge or just give you the most magical day at the park- whatever you are dreaming of, we can help!Here are a few tips from this August when my family and I conquered the challenge.It was my 30th birthday, (and my daughter’s 5th adoptionversary). It was day 7 of our trip, and I would recommend waiting until you have at least visited each park prior to doing this challenge. Let’s say you do this first thing, you will be distracted by all the things you want to do, and you will feel like you are missing out on everything and you will lose sight of your goal. The order of the parks is important too. It can be done in other ways, but I have found (from my experience and others concurred) that this is a good order: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and lastly Magic Kingdom.We started the day with breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. We made an 8 AM reservation so we could get the day started even before the park opened. After breakfast, we met Mickey and Minnie in their safari gear and then took a picture with the Tree of Life. If you tell your Photopass Photographer what you are doing, they will be excited for you and maybe even give you ideas. Ours had us hold up the number one with our fingers, which we then did at the rest of the parks to mark the order of our day.
Have you heard of the 4 parks in one day challenge? At Walt Disney World, fans challenge themselves to visit all 4 parks in one day, (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Animal Kingdom). It is not enough to step foot in all 4 parks in one day, you must do something in each park. Some will say you need to ride a ride in each park, others will mention shows or dining experiences. Depending on your day, at least accomplish one thing of note and be sure to take a picture with each park icon, (or entrance), to celebrate accomplishing this challenge. Some determined and enthusiastic challenge participants will challenge themselves to ride every ride in each park they visit that day! I would start with one picture and one item of note, (at least), for your first challenge.With any park day, but especially for this challenge, booking with a travel agent will help you make the most of every second in the park. We here at Wishes Family Travel are trained, traveled and trusted. We are very familiar with the parks and can help you accomplish this challenge or just give you the most magical day at the park- whatever you are dreaming of, we can help!Here are a few tips from this August when my family and I conquered the challenge.It was my 30th birthday, (and my daughter’s 5th adoptionversary). It was day 7 of our trip, and I would recommend waiting until you have at least visited each park prior to doing this challenge. Let’s say you do this first thing, you will be distracted by all the things you want to do, and you will feel like you are missing out on everything and you will lose sight of your goal. The order of the parks is important too. It can be done in other ways, but I have found (from my experience and others concurred) that this is a good order: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and lastly Magic Kingdom.We started the day with breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. We made an 8 AM reservation so we could get the day started even before the park opened. After breakfast, we met Mickey and Minnie in their safari gear and then took a picture with the Tree of Life. If you tell your Photopass Photographer what you are doing, they will be excited for you and maybe even give you ideas. Ours had us hold up the number one with our fingers, which we then did at the rest of the parks to mark the order of our day.
We then took the bus over to Hollywood Studios. I had a very strict schedule because I had certain things I wanted to accomplish, (some were under a time constraint). When we arrived at Hollywood Studios I had to breathe and allow my schedule to be changed a bit, (but it was totally worth it!). I had planned on meeting Chewbacca with my daughter dressed as Han Solo. A couple of days prior, she had made friends with some Star Wars cast members. When they saw her this day they treated her like royalty. There was no way I was going to stop any of that in order to keep my schedule. We stayed there much longer than I had planned, but it really only affected one item of my to-do list, (meeting Gaston at Magic Kingdom because he doesn’t meet later in the evening).Here is a huge tip! There is a boat that will take you between Hollywood Studios and Epcot, (as well as some resorts). Take the boat from Hollywood Studios to Epcot! You will disembark near France in the World Showcase. Entering from the back of the park alleviates running around. My daughter was dressed as Belle in her blue dress. We waited over an hour to meet her because this was my goal for the day. Then we rode the new Frozen ride again. When you head towards the front of the park, you can jump on Test Track or Soarin’. This was our plan but with those two time setbacks we decided to skip the rides, (this is why you want to have already accomplished most of these items prior to this Challenge Day to help avoid disappointment).
From Epcot, we took the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom transportation area, then the ferry to Magic Kingdom. It was fun that we were able to take multiple forms of transportation! I planned Magic Kingdom as our last park of the day so we could relax and enjoy our time there. We arrived there late in the afternoon, (around 5 PM), and we stayed late into the evening. We took our picture with the castle, caught dinner at Be Our Guest, and were able to experience many things before the night ended.We felt very accomplished for our first challenge and look forward to doing it again one day! I highly recommend adding this to your Disney Bucket List. As always, we here at Wishes Family Travel, myself included, can help you accomplish this fun goal and keep it more magical than overwhelming!If you would like more information, please contact me tricia@wishesfamilytravel.com or 832-366-5690. Check out my Facebook page by clicking HERE.
From Epcot, we took the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom transportation area, then the ferry to Magic Kingdom. It was fun that we were able to take multiple forms of transportation! I planned Magic Kingdom as our last park of the day so we could relax and enjoy our time there. We arrived there late in the afternoon, (around 5 PM), and we stayed late into the evening. We took our picture with the castle, caught dinner at Be Our Guest, and were able to experience many things before the night ended.We felt very accomplished for our first challenge and look forward to doing it again one day! I highly recommend adding this to your Disney Bucket List. As always, we here at Wishes Family Travel, myself included, can help you accomplish this fun goal and keep it more magical than overwhelming!If you would like more information, please contact me tricia@wishesfamilytravel.com or 832-366-5690. Check out my Facebook page by clicking HERE.