Not Your Everyday Park Hopper

Have you every wondered if you could make it to all four parks at Walt Disney World in one day?  Well, it is possible if you are ready to run and do a lot of park hopping.  Recently, the team at www.parkeology.com took the plunge with their epic WDW47 event where they rode every attraction in all four parks in one day.  This was amazing, and many others have also attempted similar challenges.  My brother, Brian Creel, who runs a site called www.modernerdom.com , decided to take it upon himself to attempt to experience 15 different attractions in all four theme parks last Saturday, and with a little help from yours truly, he was quite successful. 

Brian started his day by going to Epcot to ride one of the attractions with the longest wait times across property, Soarin’.  The decision to go to Epcot first had to be carefully thought out because there are also other rides with equally long wait times throughout the other three parks.  Brian arrived at Epcot well before rope drop, and he sprinted to Soarin’, entered the standby line, and didn’t actually have to wait that long.  After soaring over California, Brian’s next target was to head to Hollywood Studios in order to snag the coveted Toy Story Midway Mania fastpass.  Now, Brian is a local, so he just drove to all of the respective parks; he did not use Disney transportation.  Although Brian arrived at the Studios shortly after park opening, his fastpass for Toy Story was for well after 6 pm that evening. 

Next on the list was Magic Kingdom.  After arriving at this park, Brian went to Peter Pan and procured a fastpass for later that day.  While he was waiting for his time to come up, he rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as well as Splash Mountain.  The theme park gods were definitely smiling down on him because he didn’t really have to wait very long for these attractions.  Normally, Splash commands a pretty substantial wait time.  After these Frontierland favorites were accomplished, Brian rushed back to Fantasyland to take flight over London.  After his trip to the Magic Kingdom, Brian still had to go to Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and back to the Magic Kingdom to finish up a few rides there.

When he arrived at Animal Kingdom, Brian decided to head to Dinosaur to get a fastpass, and then he went to Kilimanjaro Safari to take in the sights.  After the safari, it was time for the single rider line on Everest, then on to Dinosaur.  And with that, Animal Kingdom was finished.  However, there was no time to dilly or dally because Brian had to go back to Epcot and tackle a few more attractions there. 

Back at Epcot, Brian went on the Maelstrom, Grand Fiesta Tour, and Spaceship Earth.  None of these attractions had too much of a wait, so he was able to knock them out fairly quickly.  Time was of the utmost importance because he still had to head back to the Studios to complete a few more attractions there as well as go back to the Magic Kingdom to finish up what he had left.  The entire time he was running around, I was helping long distance style from Louisiana.  I would have loved to be there with him, but alas, I could not.  However, I did have access to the My Disney Experience application on my iphone, so I was able to let him know wait times and fastpass windows that would work best for his target attractions.

After Epcot, the Studios came next, and Brian rode Star Tours, the Great Movie Ride as well as Toy Story.  At this point, he was exhausted, but he still had to make it back to the Magic Kingdom.  After a quick jaunt over to the Magic Kingdom, Brian rode Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain, the Tiki Room, and he even had time to enjoy Wishes.  Needless to say, this was a very full day, but it seemed like so much fun!  Being a local and an annual passholder, Brian has the privilege of going to the parks whenever he wants.  Setting these types of challenges can make going to the theme parks fun and exciting even if you have already visited hundreds of times.  We are moving down to Florida at the end of the month, and my husband and I cannot wait to engage in this type of theme park challenge.  Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!