Parkeology Challenge

[Mark_E]

Has anyone else done the Parkeology challenge? I found it whilst researching my Disneyland trip this past week and thought I'd give it a go. Basically to ride every open ride at both parks in one day (details here - https://www.parkeology.com/parkeology-challenge-all-disney-world-disneyland-rides-one-day).

I chose Wednesday 29th for a few reasons. Firstly, I was alone this day, secondly, I suspected it may be quieter due to shortened hours due to the after dark event.

I arrived at around 7:30 and was in the park by 7:45. A quick wander up Main Street and rope drop was at 7:55. I couldn’t beat the runners to Peter Pan, but it was on a delayed opening anyway so I headed straight to Mr Toad. I was actually first in line but they weren’t going to start boarding for another few minutes. I was allowed to stand to the side whilst boarding groups opened and scored group 14(technically, group 4 as they started at 11).

(all timings taken from the photos I took on my mobile)
First hour looked like this:
8am Mr Toad
8:05 Alice in Wonderland
8:12 Matterhorn
8:19 Teacups
8:25 Pinocchio
8:34 Jungle Cruise
8:51 Indiana Jones (Fastpass 1)
9:12 Astro Orbitors

As I was boarding the Orbitor, my boarding group got called. Rise was a walk-on!
9:39 Rise of the Resistance
9:52 Smugglers Run (single rider)
10:07 Big Thunder Mountain (Fastpass 2)
10:16 Main Street Vehicles
10:25 Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (Fastpass 3)
10:40 Space Mountain (single rider)
11:02 Autopia
11:16 Roger Rabbit (Fastpass 4)
11:23 Disneyland Railroad
11:36 Star Tours (Fastpass 5)
11:50 Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island
12:06 Splash Mountain (Fastpass 6)
12:25 Winnie the Pooh
12:38 Pirates of the Caribbean
12:56 Sailing Ship Columbia.

5 hours and 23/47 rides down, and most of the big hitters at DL done, it was time to head over to Adventure

13:31 Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
13:44 Golden Zephyr
13:49 Goofy’s Sky School (single rider)
13:58 Silly Symphony Swings
14:08 Jessie’s Critter Carousel
14:17 Incredicoaster (single rider)
14:40 Soarin’ (Fastpass 7)

Time for another park hop to finish off Disneyland
15:12 Dumbo
15:30 Casey Jr.
15:47 Gadgets Go
15:53 It’s a Small World
16:24 Storybook Canal
16:59 Peter Pan (longest wait of the day so far at around 25 minutes)
17:28 Nemo Submarines

All complete except the monorail and..... it’s down! I’d had such a smooth run up until this point, so it was bound to happen. Not wanting to waste time I head back to adventure.
18:13 Jumpin’ Jellyfish
18:23 Toy Story Mania (Fastpass 8)
19:00 Pixar-Pal-A-Round

As you can see it took a long while to get on the wheel! I still needed to do Emotional whirlwind but at a 15 minute wait I needed to catch the Monorail. I headed back into Disneyland park
19:26 Monorail

A blitzful walk through Downtown Disney. 6 rides to go and not a lot of time to do it!
19:50 Emotional Whirlwind
20:05 Luigi’s
20:12 Radiator Springs Racers (single rider)
20:31 Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
20:38 Monsters Inc

Park closing at 9 so I join the last queue and...
21:22 Guardians of the Galaxy.

Just made it! Had a lot of fun. Some learnings for future attempts:

Pick a day with longer hours
Save some easy Fastpass rides such as Buzz/Star Tours for later
Do a round trip monorail to save legs
Wait an extra 5-10 mins in line rather than going back later. Specifically for stuff like Gadgets go/Storybook/Emotional Whirlwind.
I did over 36000 steps this day! Needless to say, I crashed when I got back.

 

[lalasmama]

I'm planning to attempt this in May the hours should be slightly longer then.... Just need to figure out the best plan of attack!

 

[Indiana Scott]

The parks are more than the sum of their rides. If hitting every ride is all one strives for, you'll miss the true magic of Walts talent and may as well just go to Six flags.

 

[CastAStone]

That sounds like a fun day! Congrats on completing it!

 

[montreid]

The parks are more than the sum of their rides. If hitting every ride is all one strives for, you'll miss the true magic of Walts talent and may as well just go to Six flags.

Yes, take a moment to take it all in. Perhaps the OP is an AP holder and time and steps to kill. Or gone and done Disney 100+ times over. Disney is many things to many people

It's a challenge. Fan took it - celebrate that.

 

[VandVsmama]

That's impressive!!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

That is so impressive, wow!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

You should enter MC's Gumball Rally! You could be a serious contender!

 

[gerilyne]

Wow..... I am super impressed. I wish I had the stamina to try it some time.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We’d love to try this one day! Nice work, sounds like fun!

 

[LoveDisneyDad]

Well done! I’ve never been solo and would only attempt it that way. My DW and boys couldn’t handle the 36000 steps. Add it to the bucket list

 

[Mark_E]

The parks are more than the sum of their rides. If hitting every ride is all one strives for, you'll miss the true magic of Walts talent and may as well just go to Six flags.

Yes, take a moment to take it all in. Perhaps the OP is an AP holder and time and steps to kill. Or gone and done Disney 100+ times over. Disney is many things to many people

It's a challenge. Fan took it - celebrate that.

I'm a new annual pass holder and did two full days Monday/Tuesday with friends of mine and then had Weds solo so thought it was a good opportunity to do all the rides I hadn't been on before (majority of the "flat" rides at Cali Adventure I hadn't done before).
Next month, I'll take a friend for a day in each park who's never been to Disney before and take it at a much slower pace!

 

[Peachy0118]

This sounds awesome.
I showed it to DH and he said "I could do that.... when we become AP let's do that."

Hahaha. Oy boy.

 

[Etonduf]

The parks are more than the sum of their rides. If hitting every ride is all one strives for, you'll miss the true magic of Walts talent and may as well just go to Six flags.

Meh. If I had an annual pass or had recently been on a leisurely trip to the parks, I think I'd have a lot of fun doing this. Seems like it's just a different way to enjoy what Disneyland has to offer. Different strokes, and all that.

 

[cruisehopeful]

That sounds really cool. I'd never be able to do it because I can't do the spinning rides.

 

[montreid]

I wonder if there's a challenge to see every single character meeting. That probably would be equally challenging.!

 

[bethwc101]

My sister and I actually did this in Oct. We did every ride in both DCA and DL. We went Wed with early entry. Wasn't too difficult. We actually didn't start out doing it on purpose. After early entry on wed plus a couple after official opening we realized we had done every ride in DCA except jellyfish. We went back and did it for fun. Then did a lot in DL and realized we had probably half the park done by 3 or4. We had FPd every ride we could so the rest was mainly FL rides and other standby only rides. We made it a goal to do every ride. Including canoes, tom Sawyer, full train loop, etc

 

[Mike_M]

The parks are more than the sum of their rides. If hitting every ride is all one strives for, you'll miss the true magic of Walts talent and may as well just go to Six flags.

I think how we perceive and enjoy the park is different for each of us, however I will say that for myself, I also prefer a more relaxed approach that focuses on spending a while in each land, enjoying both the attractions and the ambiance. This is especially true in the western half of the park. I’ve done single day marathons in the park before and while still fun, I’ve always enjoyed my longer, slower trips more.

Once SWGE had all of its attractions, I was easily able to spend a few hours in that land alone soaking it all in.

That all said, sounds like an interesting challenge trying to get everything in both parks in one day. I’ve been able to get on everything in DCA in just a few hours before and I’ve found a strategy for getting through all of Tomorrowland in a morning that both fits my desire to spend time in one land at a time and knocking out 3 FP rides efficiently.

 

[teevtee]

As the co-creator of the Parkeology Challenge I can tell you that we would never encourage first timers or even tenth timmers to run our challenge before they have taken the time to fully immerse themselves into the parks and truly enjoy them. Our challenge was first created (and completed) by us as a way of exploring the parks in a new light. It also just seemed impossible and at the time no one thought it coudl ever be done. Now we have a very formal format and system with many specific rules and guidelines and many, many people really enjoy it. It is no different than a marathon: Some may prefer to stroll through a park while others want to run 26 miles... there is no right or wrong. You can go to the parkeology webiste to see all the rules and find out about the history of the challenge. You can also see the official boards than show who has completed and attempted the challenge. Right now a true full completion is impossible since some rides are under refrub but we have two versions: Every open ride (which can be done now) versus every ride they have (which will not be possibel again for another year plus).

 

[Princess351]

This sounds like a blast! I love a good challenge. Last April, I challenged myself (solo trip) to ride every ride at DL & DCA **in the order of its opening day**. I made the list of the rides' opening dates, and had rules for myself (if more than one ride opened the same day, I could do those rides in any order; I could skip a ride only if it was down for refurbishment- if it was just temporarily down, I'd have to wait it out... etc.) It was a lot of fun, and quite challenging to not get to 'pick' where I went next. It took 2 days, but I did it!!