Hi everyone! This is my first trip report from when I went solo at all four parks last Saturday (3/30/13). I just returned from a wonderful vacation on board the Disney Fantasy with a one day stop afterwards to the Walt Disney World Resort! While my family hung back at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the day, I decided to head out to see if I could manage to hop over to all four parks on the day before Easter.
I started my day off at the Animal Kingdom. I arrived to the park around 10:20 and was able to make it to the 10:30 showing of the Festival of the Lion King (my favorite show on property). Since I walked in just as the show was starting, I was able to snag a seat in the warthog section in the third row! It’s the closest I’ve ever been and now I have finally sat in all four animal sections. After FOTLK let out I walked over to see if any of the character lines were short. There were only a handful of people in line for Donald so I hopped in that line and got to see one of my favorite characters once more!
After leaving Camp Minnie and Mickey I went over to Dinoland and was able to get onto Dinosaur in about 7 minutes (the wait said 20). I debated on whether I should stop and see the Nemo show or not, but I decided to skip it and rode Everest instead. I just love this ride. The final drop is so thrilling!
Upon leaving the Animal Kingdom, I sprinted to the bus stop as the bus for Epcot was arriving. I snagged a seat on the bus and was ready to go check out the Flower and Garden festival. I REALLY wanted to ride Test Track, but wasn’t prepared to wait 90 minutes for standby and 40 for single rider. I really wanted to, but it was not worth it for me (especially having just been on it back in February.)
I walked around Future World and spotted Pinocchio at the fountain and then proceeded to check out the topiaries as I made my way into World Showcase. One thing that really irritates me to no end is that people shove up to the front of the topiaries to get their picture with it or they stand in front of it and block everyone else who is trying to take a picture. It’s just utter chaos, but I think I managed to get some decent pictures of what was on display.
I decided that my plan for World Showcase was to start in Mexico and work my way around World Showcase until I got to the International Gateway and then I would exit and take the boat over to Hollywood Studios. I stopped in Norway and rode Maelstrom since the wait was only about 10 minutes! I was surprised since that ride draws long waits in the off season and this was a peak time of the year! I continued to walk around World Showcase and saw some awesome topiaries, including the Snow White one in Germany which is my favorite!
I exited Epcot and then took the boat over to the Studios. I have to say that I got REALLY lucky with transportation. I was expecting all of my park hopping to take forever, but the longest I waited for anything on the transportation side was about 15 minutes on my way back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge from the Magic Kingdom.
I arrived at Hollywood Studios and walked down Hollywood Blvd up to the the wait time board only to discover that Tower of Terror was pulling a 150 minute wait. How lovely is that! Gotta love those spring break crowds. Needless to say, I did NOT ride the Tower of Terror this time. I did, however, ride the Great Movie Ride. Being a party of one, I was stuck up into the front row next to the tour guide/gangster that robbed our car. It was a little awkward for me especially since our tour guide was a little too animated. I am happy to report that the woman playing the “Mugsy” was wearing a microphone and that we could actually hear her this time. Usually, I can never hear what they’re saying when they are still “in their movie”.
I didn’t really know what to do after this so I walked in a giant circle only to find that all the wait times for everything were a little too long for my liking. I decided to stop for lunch at Pizza Planet. I just got a cheese pizza with chips. It was good, but nothing special. After lunch, I decided I wanted to go over to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. The only problem is that Count Down to Fun was slowly approaching the hat. By the time I got up to the hat the parade had already arrived. I could have walked by and fought all of the crowds, but I decided to hang back and watch the parade considering it would be the last time I would be able to see it. While it’s not my favorite, I do have to say that I admire all of the energy and joy that the performers bring to it.
Upon arriving at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster I hopped into the single rider line and waited about 20 minutes to ride. Not to bad when the standby line is 60 minutes.
By that point, I was ready to leave the Studios, but I wanted to stick around to see if the pop up character surprise was still happening on the Streets of America. I had read that it usually starts around 4:40. I still had close to an hour to kill so I popped by Muppet Vision 3D and visited Statler and Waldorf.
After exiting Muppets I found that pop up surprise was happening. This was great, but it was such a cluster. They did have a lot of character attendants on hand though which was good! I met Gepetto, Queen of Hearts, and Jafar. I did want to meet Meeko, but by the time that I had found where he was they were already bringing him in.
After visiting some of my character friends, I made my way to the front of the park and caught a bus to the Contemporary and then I walked over the Magic Kingdom. I didn’t want to go to the Ticket and Transportation Center as I did not want to deal with any crowds on the monorail. I arrived to the Magic Kingdom around 5:30 and my first order of business was to go fastpass Splash Mountain. My return time was for 7:45 - 8:45 so I still had a little bit of time to kill.
I grabbed something to eat at Pecos Bill (just got a burger and fries, how elaborate!). After dinner, I went over and waited a whopping 40 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean. I just love the newly designed queue (not). Pirates was great, although the mermaids were not working and the projection of Blackbeard was a little iffy. I am happy that the cannon blasts in the battle scene were toned down since when I went in February I actually got soaked from one them. Like wetter than I did on Splash Mountain.
After Pirates, I made my way over to the new Tangled bathrooms. They were really nicely done are a nice area to sit and relax.
I then went over into the new part of Fantasyland and waited 40 minutes for Ariel’s Undersea Adventure (much better than the 80 minute wait that it had at other parts of the day). The queue is very nicely designed.
After going under the sea with Ariel, I went over to Gaston’s Tavern and tried out Lefou’s brew and a chocolate croissant. I loved both of them! I’m sad I didn’t discover Lefou’s brew when I was there in February.
It was starting to creep towards the time for my fastpass, but I wanted to stop by the Haunted Mansion first. I was able to squeeze in a ride on there with about a 10 minute wait. It was nice to stop by and say hello to all 999 of the happy haunts once more!
Now is the moment I had been waiting for almost all day, fastpass time for Splash Mountain! Upon arriving to the fastpass return I discovered that the ride was down again. I was really upset since I was unsure if it would be opening again at all that night. I hung out around that area for around 20 minutes, but then gave up. A very helpful cast member (unfortunately cannot remember her name) told me I could ask any cast member on duty and they would be able to find out if Splash was back up and running. I went over to the Jungle Cruise and rode since the wait was only about 10 minutes. My skipper's name was Kirsten and she was great! Shortly after, I crossed over into Tomorrowland after fighting the pre MSEP crowds. Stupid stupid decision on my part since I found out Splash was open right before I was going to ride Buzz. Instead of hopping in that line I turned around and went back over to Splash and finally got to ride. I didn’t even have to wait which was great. I literally walked right on!
After riding Splash, I made my way to the front of the park and visited my favorite mouse, Mickey! A trip to the Magic Kingdom is not complete without saying hello to Mickey! I stopped by to say see ya real soon (since it’ll probably at least 2 years until I return) and then waited around for Wishes. After Wishes, I booked it to the bus stop and then headed back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge! I got back around 11:30.
It was a very long, but fun day and I am very happy that I was able to visit all 4 amazing theme parks in just one day. I think I walked about at least 7 miles that day so I got quite the workout in too! thanks for reading!!!
It was quite the challenge and I was very exhausted the next day (the day I flew home). Also my legs still hurt on Monday. I think I over did it just a bit. lol.
It was tough, thankfully I had my phone to keep my entertained! I'm not really one to engage with others while in line especially considering most of the people around me were cranky.
