Despite loving everything Disney, I rarely visit any of the Walt Disney World parks in Florida which always seems to surprise some people – in fact before this trip in May 2019, my last visit was all the way back in 2015. It’s not that I do not enjoy Walt Disney World but it’s so expensive for what it is. Life is too short and I would rather spend my time and money visiting other countries and new places around the world and experiencing other cultures rather than go on holiday to the same place year in and year out.

Before our cruise on the Disney Fantasy out of Port Canaveral last year, we spent a few days in Orlando and decided to spend one day at Walt Disney World. We only wanted to do one day at the parks as years ago, we both bought ten day “Non-Expiration” park hopper tickets when they were still available (they are valid until all the days have been used up) and we want to save as many days as we can for visits in the years to come. We also wanted to be able to chill on our other days in Florida as there is absolutely nothing relaxing about going to a theme park on every day of your holiday. I did that once the first time I went to Florida and I’ll never do it again – it was exhausting and it ends up making you miserable and there is nothing fun about that.

We always thought it would be fun to visit all four Walt Disney World parks in one day and I have always loved watching videos and reading blogs from other people who have done the “Four Parks Challenge”. There seems to be lots of unofficial and different rules regarding what you have to do in order to be able to count each park – some people say you need to ride at least two rides in each park, some say one ride and one character meet and others say one ride, one character meet and one snack. However the best part about doing the “Four Parks Challenge” is that you get to decide your own rules that suit you. We decided that stepping foot into each park was enough for us but we would also get something to eat or drink in each park as well as well as ride whatever we wanted to during the day. I also bought one of the new small reusable bags from each of the parks as a souvenir of visiting each one.

Having an idea of what order you want to visit the parks is essential as well as knowing the opening and closing times for each one. We decided to visit Magic Kingdom first, followed by Animal Kingdom, then Hollywood Studios and finishing with Epcot. We decided this order as our traditional first Disney ride of the day is always Splash Mountain and we also wanted to watch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot as this would be our last chance to see it before it closed a few months later. We also booked three Fastpasses thirty days previously on the My Disney Experience app for Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and to meet Mickey and Minnie.

On the day we left our hotel just after 7:30am and drove to the Transportation and Ticket Center where we used the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and as it was the start of May, it was not too busy or too humid which was very welcome – I could not cope with the crowds of the parks in Florida in the heat and humidity of the summer months. Magic Kingdom opened at 9:00am that day and we were walking along Main Street USA towards Cinderella Castle at 8:30am.

Just before 9:00am the “Let the Magic Begin” welcome show started on the castle forecourt stage. It was the first time we had seen this show and it was great fun to watch and a nice way to start off our day in the parks.

Once Mickey and Friends had officially opened Magic Kingdom for the day, we made our way through Liberty Square and into Frontierland ready to ride Splash Mountain which has always been our traditional first ride of the day. We had a Fastpass to ride Splash Mountain between 9:00am and 10:00am and a Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain between 10:20am and 11:20am. However at this time there was only a five minute wait for Big Thunder Mountain so we decided to ride that first on standby before using our Fastpass on Splash Mountain. At this time I also checked what other Fastpass were available and changed our Big Thunder Mountain Fastpass for Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid at 10:30am.

After riding Splash Mountain, we walked into Adventureland and jumped in line for Pirates of the Caribbean as there was no wait. We both said that since visiting Shanghai Disneyland which is home to Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure (seriously one of the best rides in the world), every other Pirates ride now seems a little bit boring in comparison.

The week before our visit I had seen a photo of the Hei Hei Cone on Instagram so knew I had to get one. It was delicious and a perfect snack in the Florida heat – though it did start to melt quickly!

On the way to Fantasyland to ride Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid, we stopped at the Tangled toilets and had to take some photos outside of them – I’ve read that this is one of the most Instagrammed spots in the park!

A top tip for doing the Four Parks One Day Challenge is to visit on a “quieter” day when the crowds are lighter and the weather is manageable. We visited on a Wednesday at the start of May and the parks were not too busy at all. Visiting in the height of summer with heavy crowds and Florida humidty and thunderstorms would be hard work and not fun in the slightest.

After a short detour to Tomorrowland for a quick ride (and a sit down) on Peoplemover, we headed back down Main Street USA towards Town Square Theater and Celebration Central for our Fastpass to meet Mickey and Minnie in their 90th birthday costumes. I was so happy to have a Fastpass for this experience as it would have been a long wait otherwise which we would not have had time for that day – little did I know at that point that I would also be meeting Mickey and Minnie in the same costumes the following week on the Disney Fantasy!

After signing the Celebration Guestbook and receiving some stickers as well as a postcard, we had a five minute wait to meet Mickey and Minnie. It was a brilliant experience with lots of laughs and as there was no one else behind us in line in the room, we were not rushed. It was a great way to end of our first park of the day.

We left Magic Kingdom at 11:45am and drove over to Animal Kingdom where we thankfully got a parking spot close to the entrance so we did not need to use the tram. Our first stop was Starbucks for some much needed caffeine as it had been an early start that day.

It had been a long time since either of us had visited Animal Kingdom so with our iced drinks in hand, we decided to walk around and explore the park to see what (or who) we could find.

Another top tip for visiting the parks is to make sure to stay hydrated as the last thing you want to be is feeling ill whilst in the parks. We drank endless cups of the free iced water that you can get at any of the quick service dining locations throughout the day.

When we got to India, it was time to ride Expedition Everest – a ride which I absolutely love but which my boyfriend cannot ride. Thankfully it has one of the quickest moving single rider lines I’ve ever seen so I was able to use that and I waited less than five minutes.

We walked through Dinoland USA to see if we could see Dinosaur Chip and Dale (who I really wanted to meet) but we only found Donald Duck walking around instead. Our last stop in Animal Kingdom was Pandora: The World of Avatar which was a new land for both of us. It has two of the most popular rides at the park which always have long lines so whilst we did not go on them (neither of us can ride Flights of Passage due to motion sickness), we did explore the land, take lots of photos as well as get a Night Blossom to drink from Pongu Pongu.

Our next park was Hollywood Studios and even though we did not plan it, it was the thirtieth anniversary of the park opening that day. To celebrate the occasion, we were each given a badge, a poster and a special commemorative guide map. We were both hungry so our first stop was the ABC Commissary for lunch as I had seen that the “Vegan Burger” they offer (which is made with a Beyond Burger which are incredible) gets good reviews and it was absolutely delicious!

After lunch, we explored the rest of the park and grabbed another cold drink but did not go on any rides. At this time Star Wars Land was still not open, we had no interest in going on any of the rides in Toy Story Land and the only Fastpass times available for either Tower of Terror or Rock n Roller Coaster were much later in the day. Having the My Disney Experience app on our iPhones meant we could constantly check wait times and Fastpass availability throughout the day.

We quickly called it a day at Hollywood Studios and drove over to Epcot which is one of our favourite parks to visit.

We arrived at Epcot which was our fourth and final park of the day at 4:30pm. We were both excited about visiting as the Flower and Garden Festival was taking place making the park absolutely beautiful wherever you looked.

I absolutely adore how colourful Epcot becomes during the Flower and Garden Festival plus with all the booths around World Showcase, it becomes a mini Food and Wine Festival too! It really is my favourite time of the year to visit.

Our first ride at Epcot was the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros inside the Mexico Pavilion which is always fun and also a great way to spend a few minutes sat down inside with air conditioning. During any day in a busy theme park, it helps to take these breaks (like we had done earlier in the day on Peoplemover) as they really help to keep you going on a long day.

We took a slow walk around World Showcase stopping to look at all the pavilions as well as getting a drink or a snack from one of the booths if we saw something we liked.

After hearing about it and seeing so many photos of it for such a long time, I was excited to finally try the Violet Lemonade from the Pineapple Promenade booth and it was definitely worth the wait – I loved it.

Earlier in the day we had been able to get a Fastpass to ride Soarin’ Around the World which we were both looking forward to as neither of us had ever been on this ride before at Epcot – we had only done it at California Adventure and at Shanghai Disneyland.

After riding Soaring, we saw there was no line for Journey into Imagination with Figment so quickly walked over to ride. Whilst the ride is getting old now and there are always rumours of it being replaced, it is a ride that makes me smile so much.

We both wanted to go on Frozen Ever After but had been unable to get a Fastpass for it. We saw it had a thirty minute standby line so decided to wait. The queue moved incredibly slowly but we eventually got to ride about forty minutes later. I will always miss Maelstrom but I loved Frozen Ever After and I cannot wait to ride it when it opens at Hong Kong Disneyland.

We wanted to make sure we had a good view for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth which was due to start at 9:00pm and had been told that the balcony above the Mitsukoshi Department Store was a great place to watch from. There was already a few people waiting there when we arrived but still plenty of room.

It was so good to be able to see Illuminations: Reflections of Earth one last time before it closed a few months later. Once it had finished we took a slow walk back around World Showcase to the front of the park. It was a wonderful relaxing way to finish our long day and our Four Parks One Day challenge.

As much as I loved visiting all four Walt Disney World parks in one day, it was incredibly tiring – I walked over thirty five thousand steps which was nearly thirteen miles. Looking back at our day, there are some things that we know we would do differently on our next trip:

We decided to drive our car to each of the four parks during the day but in hindsight we know now that we made a mistake as we wasted so much time getting between each park – especially at Magic Kingdom when it takes forever to get to and from your car. We now wish we had parked our car at Epcot first thing in the morning and taken the monorail over to Magic Kingdom for park opening. This way we would have been able to use Disney transportation between each park and our car would have been waiting for us in the right place at the end of the night.

We also wish that we had not taken a bag into the parks with us as being able to use the No Bag line to enter the park would have been much easier and quicker. This is something we are definitely going to do on our next visit whenever that will be.

Have you done the Four Parks One Day challenge? What were your rules for the challenge? Let me know and have a great time at Walt Disney World!

Since this blog post was written back in 2020, some of the information may no longer be accurate or up to date. Be sure to do your own research and check official websites for the latest details before making any of your own travel plans.

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