Advice for Last Minute Trip 3 Parks in One Day

[Yorel]

I would change up the order and do HS, Epcot, then MK. When you take the Monorail from Epcot to MK, you do not have to go back through security upon arrival at MK because the Monorail is entirely within the secure zone when traveling in that direction.

I would rope drop HS and ride what you want there, then hop to Epcot. If you are willing to do Test Track via the single rider line (you will be split up) then you should be able to do that with minimal wait.

I would finish at MK.

Personally, I would schedule my FPs for MK. But, if you want to ride Soarin' or Frozen with the shortest possible wait, then I would do a FP for one of those, still ride Test Track via single rider, then schedule a FP for MK as soon as you've tapped in at whichever Epcot ride you fastpassed.

The monorail /security savings is a good point. could be a significant time saving. thank you

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

Epcot -TT first thing is smart since it may go down later in in the day. Frozen has some crazy wait times whereas Mission Space usually doesn't, I know it's back tracking but you have to go back to Future World to catch a bus so maybe rope drop TT, ride Soarin then head to Frozen and hit mission space on the way out.

Nope, would be heading to the back of the park to take a boat from Epcot to DHS. In my opinion, you'd be silly to waste time on Frozen with the rest of the rides you have indicated.

 

[JETSDAD]

There is none for the day of. So if we want to go on those rides, we just have to be prepared to wait. Which is why I am not sure that HS makes sense for the first park. Just about everything good is already gone.

Day of is on the actual day, not in advance. Night before and day of there is a lot of movement in FP's and by refreshing you can add many FP's throughout the day, even for rides that have no availability in advance.

 

[JETSDAD]

Now I'm really curious, what kind of schedule do you manage with 4 parks in one day?

It depends on the goals for that day but in the past we've started at AK with just a FOP FP or with FOP and a Safari FP. The only SB ride would be EE multiple times with no wait right at RD. Ride FOP and move up Safari to a closer time. Once we tap FOP then add a FP for the 2nd park while still holding Safari, or if we don't want to ride Safari we will make 2 FP's for the 2nd park or one for the 2nd park and one for the 3rd park. At this point it will only be 10-10:30 (assuming 9:00 open). Then off to HS. The last time we did 4 parks was right before TSL so now that it's open we would use a FP drop to get SDD (as we do on our HS days). Use FP's for whichever rides we want to do at HS then on to Epcot. Epcot we don't find it difficult to add any of the tier 1 FP's (this is why we would do it 3rd, plus then we could take the monorail to MK). Once we are done with Epcot we will grab a FP for MK. At MK just refresh for FP's for the evening. Ride the mountains, often also ride 7DMT. Rides such as Jungle Cruise, PotC, Buzz, etc are easy to get.

Our 4 park days tend to just be fun, relaxing, letting refreshing and FP drops determine our next move within the parks (the order of the parks is usually the same though). We're ok with jumping around because there will also be plenty of breaks hopping between parks.

 

[BarlowFamily]

Wow! What a day!! I see this as a planning challenge, and I think it's great. I completely agree with switching the order to HS - E - MK. And yes, I would save those Fastpasses for later in the day, especially for the Big Mountains (Thunder, Space, Splash), they are worth it. I set out to kind of show you that you would NOT be able to do all you want, but looks like I was WRONG! Even planning for my family that takes an hour to get between parks, we could do those three parks with all the rides you mentioned starting with Rope Drop at HS and closing down MK around 10pm. It's doable. It's going to be a long day, but oh so fun. There's no food or bathroom breaks in this plan. Camelbacks and granola bars for everyone. So here's what the Barlow Family would do (and we just might one day because it sounds so fun!)

HS: All 3 TS rides or just Slinky Dog? Alien Swirling Saucers, Slinky Dog, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, ToT, RnR...Touring Plans says you could do all 6 (in that order) by 1:15pm on the 17th if you Rope Drop, no fastpasses. Dropping one or two of those, and single rider on RnR could get you out of there by noon.

E: Mission Space orange, Frozen, Test Track and Soarin' in that order according to touring plans, arrive by 1pm those four would be done around 4:15pm (no fastpasses). IMO you could single rider again on Test Track that will save some time, and I don't think Frozen is worth the wait, but you might.

MK: arrive around 5:15pm Space Mountain, Pirates, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Peter Pan, and Buzz no fastpasses, with a few minutes to spare before park closing (10pm) to hop in line for one more ride somewhere. I think Buzz and Pirates would be the easiest FP+ to get day of, after using the first 3, this is the touring plan order. If you could get Splash, Space and Big Thunder Fastpasses starting at 5:15 it gets even better
Splash (4:55 FP+)...Big Thunder (5:55 FP+)...Pirates...Buzz...Space (7:05 FP+)...Peter Pan...and you'd have an hour an the end for more rides.

 

[Yorel]

Wow. Thank you BarlowFamily. We may drop ToT and RnRc. My 14 y/o does not think he's ready for it and at 50 y/o neither do DH or I. And my 16y/o doesn't want to do it by himself. Should I still do HS first if I drop those two? Probably wont single rider for TT because they really enjoy competing in the design/race. Why not FP TT or Soaring? I would expect these would be close to an hour or more midday.

 

[BarlowFamily]

Wow. Thank you BarlowFamily. We may drop ToT and RnRc. My 14 y/o does not think he's ready for it and at 50 y/o neither do DH or I. And my 16y/o doesn't want to do it by himself. Should I still do HS first if I drop those two? Probably wont single rider for TT because they really enjoy competing in the design/race. Why not FP TT or Soaring? I would expect these would be close to an hour or more midday.

You're welcome! This is fun! We've decided to try a 4x4 challenge on one of our visits next year, inspired by you. We'll do our top four rides in each of the four parks in one day!

That absolutely changes things. You could still definitely start in HS, but going in reverse sounds like a more manageable day to me with those changes. I still prefer Epcot in the middle, but that's just me. TT is way easier mid day than SDD...although Touring Plans has pretty consistent wait times for the TSLand rides all day - a little over an hour for SDD, 40ish minutes for TSM, and the aliens just over 30 minutes...not matter when you go.

MK: Buzz, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates, Big Thunder, Peter Pan. Starting with rope drop for Buzz, you'd be walking out of MK a little before 12:30pm. That Peter Pan line will be your longest.

May I make a suggestion? A BoG PPO reservation will likely become available a few days before your trip, we have great luck with this. BoG is a very overpriced breakfast, but you can just order a coffee and be ready to ride Peter Pan first thing. Our DS prefers PP to SDMT so this is what we do. And if you happen to be on the dining plan, BoG breakfast is a great use of a QS credit. An early cup of coffee shaves an hour off your morning. Worth it to me, but we're early birds.

E: You will have to go through bag check/security again...a little hassle but no big deal. Arrive around 1:30pm.
Without any Fast passes Frozen, Test Track, Mission Space and Soarin' is your best order. You'd be ready to head out around 5:00pm. If you nab that 2:40pm Frozen FP+ make that MS, F, TT, S and save 30 minutes of time. A Soarin' FP+ would save about the same amount of time.

Test Track FP+ are gone until after 7pm on the 17th, otherwise that would be my choice. You can FP Frozen and Mission Space (you want the intense Orange right? not the mild Green?) but get that Frozen FP soon if you do! We find Soarin' FP+ day of frequently, but if you drop Frozen, yes Soarin' is a great FP+. Or really change it up end END the day at Epcot. Wild. Crazy. I know.

HS: stroll in around 6pm when most folks are strolling out...with zero FP+ Aliens, Slinky, Toy Story, Star Tours could be done in that order just by closing time! I'm not sure the odds of day of TS Land FP+ drops, but you will likely get Star Tours! There's still Alien and Toy Story Mania night FP+ available! Grab one! Quick! If you do...Star Tours (FP+ 5:55)...Aliens...SDD...TSM (7:35 FP+)...you'd have time to get seats for Fantasmic or get in line for SDD again. If you drop Frozen from your Epcot you could also go to the sing-a-long here

It really looks like you could do the 3 parks in whatever order you want and get all of the rides you want. There's a few you'll be waiting 30+ minutes for, but 14 headliner rides in 3 parks is a pretty big undertaking. If you don't have a Touring Plans membership, I highly recommend it. It could be fun with your boys to plan out your Epic Day. TP constantly surprises me, for instance I never think to head to Buzz first thing, but sure enough, it saves time. And do it soon! Because those coveted FP+ won't last! Check back in after your trip, I'd love to hear how it all worked out.

 

[Princess Minnie of Disney]

Wow. Impressive. We have to make some tough decisions. We kind of want to see fireworks but also want to do rides. I know we have to be flexible. We love toy story. Only my 16 y/o wants to do RnRc and ToT. But my 14 yo can be convinced. If I could do only one ride at HS, it would be TS but I don't know if I would wait an hour.

If you want to rope drop TSL then my best piece of advice would be come about an hour before park opening and go straight to Slinky Dog or TSM. RnRC was pretty low for single riders if your 16 yr old wants to go single rider but TOT gets very high very fast due to only one half working. As for fireworks, you can def hit some rides after them as they end at 9:30 and the park closes at 10. Do you know if there are any extra magic hours that day? Hope this helps!

 

[Princess Minnie of Disney]

If you want to rope drop TSL then my best piece of advice would be come about an hour before park opening and go straight to Slinky Dog or TSM. RnRC was pretty low for single riders if your 16 yr old wants to go single rider but TOT gets very high very fast due to only one half working. As for fireworks, you can def hit some rides after them as they end at 9:30 and the park closes at 10. Do you know if there are any extra magic hours that day? Hope this helps!

Edit: Just saw that you do not want to single ride! Then I would def just rope drop TSL if that is what your whole family loves!

 

[brenda1966]

I think you have a very ambitious list. I think I'd knock Soarin off of it as it is such a time investment. Hit TT and Frozen at Epcot and Mission Space. At Studios I think Toy Story is going to be very difficult. Unless you are able to get on ToT quickly and use Single rider for RnR. Maybe grab food and eat lunch in line while waiting for Toy Story MM. I agree with getting the FP's for MK as being your best option, plus it's fun to have things to do in MK in the evening.

My daughter and I have done 3 parks in one day, long before FP+ -- we did Studios, AK, and then Epcot. And I have been in 4 parks in one day, also long ago. Link in my bio.

 

[cgattis]

I’ve got to ask....have you considered a VIP tour? I’ve never done one, because cost has always prohibited it, but if you’ve got the cash to spend, sounds like this would be the time to try it. And if not, DD and I did four parks in two days in August 2017, and we did a lot—and lived to tell about it!! LOL