You've probably heard the classic Disney advice to arrive to the parks early. This is once piece of advice you see in many places that is actually correct.  If you are able to be at the Disney parks at opening, it makes it much easier to tour the parks without long waits.

But some people say "I'm on vacation - I don't want to get up early every day!"  That's an understandable position to take.  When I hear that from Optimal Magic customers, I try to explain exactly what that decision means.  Simply enough, sleeping in means your choice of some long waits or missing key attractions. In addition, it means fewer attractions, bigger crowds, and often more grumpiness. In addition, if you arrive early, there is time for three to six hours of rest or pool time in the middle of the day.

However, sometimes it simply isn't possible to make it to the parks early every day.  I understand that.  So if you're going to be a late-riser, here are some tips for your trip:

Tip 1: Have an occasional "sleep-in" day

If you can get up early some days, but want to sleep in others, that's great!  If you're going to have a "no park" day in the middle of the vacation (to explore Downtown Disney, for example), that's a great day to sleep in and recharge your batteries.

Tip 2: Use Fastpass smartly

It's important to not only use Fastpass, but to use it smartly when you arrive later.  It's a bad idea to get a Fastpass with a 3+ hour return time - you're better off using Fastpasses for attractions with closer return times - that way, you can get more. You may miss one "big name" attraction, but get in three or four other attractions this way, without waiting.

Tip 3: If you need to pick one park to arrive late to, make it Animal Kingdom

Okay, if one "sleep-in" day isn't enough, you're going to have to arrive late to a park at least one day.  If you're going to do that, make the park Animal Kingdom.  Other than the absolute busiest times of year (particularly around Christmas), Animal Kingdom is quite manageable to visit with a late arrival - even as late as 11:00am.  There are two "huge line" attractions at Animal Kingdom - Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest.  However, both have Fastpass, and unlike other "big line" attractions, Kilimanjaro Safaris Fastpasses are usually pretty easy to get with reasonable return times.

Even better - Expedition Everest has a "single rider" line - if you don't mind being split up from your party, you can get in the single-rider line and get on Everest in minimal time most days.

Best of all, most days, people start to leave Animal Kingdom around 3:00 - the last few hours at the park are usually relatively quiet, and a good time to visit "second tier" attractions (like Primeval Whirl) you may not have gotten a Fastpass for earlier in the day.

As long as you plan well for the Fastpass attractions, Animal Kingdom is the most manageable Disney World park with a late arrival.

Tip 4: If you're a night owl, the Magic Kingdom may work for a late arrival on "Extra Magic Hours" nights


Disney parks are often open for an extra three hours for Disney resort guests (to be cut to two hours in 2013).  If the "regular" park hours are until 10:00pm or later, the last hour or so of the Extra Magic Hours tends to be pretty quiet.  If you prefer the night to the morning, you just need to flip your day.  Save the "big line" attractions for LAST (around midnight).  You won't be completely "wait free" and you still need to use your Fastpasses judiciously, but it is possible to avoid the longest lines.

Tip 5: If you arrive late to Epcot, Soarin' and Test Track may be a challenge

At Epcot, if you don't want to wait, it is near impossible to ride both Soarin' and Test Track with a late arrival - the Fastpass return times will be too far out.  So recognize that a late arrival means either a long wait, or skipping one of those attractions.

Tip 6: If you arrive late to Disney Hollywood Studios, forget about Toy Story Midway Mania


Simply enough, the Fastpass return times and the wait times balloon so quickly at Toy Story Midway Mania that if you don't arrive first thing in the morning, you're going to be waiting 70+ minutes for the ride.  So if you're going to pick one park to arrive early for, make it Hollywood Studios!

Conclusion


I know it's difficult to get up early every day of a trip (especially if you have several late nights planned, as well).  If you're going to arrive late during your vacation, come armed with the absolute best information for your situation.  As always, I'll remind you that Optimal Magic customers always get the absolute best advice and best plans for their situation. If you simply cannot get up early, no problem!  We'll put together the best plan for a late arrival, and still help you avoid the longest lines as best as possible for your situation!

You may know already about the Fantasyland Expansion at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World - if not, check out my coverage on the Fantasyland Expansion, and what to expect line-wise.

Now that I've completed my detailed recap of how I visited every major Walt Disney World attraction in a single day, I wanted to offer a few concluding thoughts. In addition, to celebrate visiting 37 major attractions in one day, I am offering 37% off Optimal Magic services for an extremely limited time - details at the bottom of this post.

 I've gotten some questions about this quest, so let me answer them here.

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

There were three main reasons for this challenge. First, and most importantly, I wanted to raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation. (If you haven't donated yet, click here to make a donation!) Over half of the wishes granted by the Make A Wish Foundation involve the Walt Disney company, and it's a great organization to help out.

Second, I wanted to prove it can be done.  I hear so many people complain about the "incredibly long lines" and "huge crowds" at Disney World.  Optimal Magic is all about helping you avoid those lines and crowds, and having a much better time because of it.  Simply enough, if I can do an entire week's worth of Disney World in a day, and avoid all the lines, imagine what I can do for a family heading there for a vacation?

Third, it was fun!  I'm a little weird - I prefer "beating the system" more than actually riding the rides.  And this seemed like the ultimate "beat the system" idea - visit every major Disney World attraction in one day without waiting in line!

In total, I visited 37 attractions over a single day at Walt Disney World.  They were spread among the four parks, and included every single major attraction - the ones with the infamous Disney World lines.

In total, I waited 72 minutes over the course of the day.  That's an average of under two minutes waiting per attraction!  To put it in perspective, here's a sample of the wait times I saw posted later that day (believe it or not, on a relatively quiet day at Disney World):

• Toy Story Mania - 75 minutes
• Rock 'n Roller Coaster - 60 minutes
• Peter Pan's Flight - 70 minutes
• Soarin' - 60 minutes
• Kilimanjaro Safaris - 45 minutes
• Tower of Terror - 60 minutes
• Dumbo - 35 minutes
• Space Mountain - 50 minutes
• Thunder Mountain - 50 minutes

Yes, I waited less time for 37 attractions than some people waited for Toy Story Mania alone on the same day!

It depends on what you call an "attraction" - I didn't visit many of the minor attractions and relatively few shows.  Some people have tried to visit all of the Magic Kingdom in one day - if you count some things like listening to the "Dapper Dans" barbershop quartet, or meeting a Disney character as "attractions" (I didn't count these), then others have certainly visited more than 37 attractions.

However, I don't believe anyone else has ever visited every major attraction at all four theme parks in a single day. I certainly believe that if you hold a minimum standard for what counts as an "attraction" I broke any existing record - I can't find anyone who has done more!  (If you think someone has done better, please point me to it!)

Unlike a "normal" visit at the Disney parks, I needed long park hours.  October 29 fit the bill, as the Magic Kingdom was open until 1am (using Extra Magic Hours for Disney resort guests).

Also, I needed a relatively quiet day crowd-wise.  My "normal" Optimal Magic planning means crowds are never an issue, as we usually avoid the busiest parts of the day and know how to avoid the crowds.  However, since I was going to be visiting all four parks, I was going to need to do some park touring during busier times.  So a "less busy" day was necessary for this trip.

Finally, I wanted a day where I could have company.  My brother was going to be in Orlando on October 29 and had some free time, so it worked out perfectly.

I used all of my Optimal Magic analytical tools to plot out my itinerary, first at the high level (which order to visit the parks), and then the lower-level (when to visit each attraction, when to get what Fastpasses, etc.)

Some things were obvious - the Magic Kingdom was open four hours later than any other park, so that was clearly going to be my last park.  Other things were much less obvious - several people suggested I head to Animal Kingdom first, because it opened at 8am - an hour earlier than the other parks.

However, a careful analysis showed that it was much better to visit Hollywood Studios first, and save Animal Kingdom for later in the day! The primary reason is that the four "big" Hollywood Studios attractions get enormous crowds later in the day, with difficulties using Fastpass for two of them.  Animal Kingdom attractions, on the other hand, are easier to visit in the late afternoon. If I visited Animal Kingdom first, it would have cost me over two hours in line at Hollywood Studios.  And that would have snowballed to Epcot, costing me another hour or two of waiting there.  

If I had visited Animal Kingdom first (the "obvious" first park), I would not have been able to complete the entire itinerary! Putting Animal Kingdom third made the most sense - in fact, the early entry for Animal Kingdom still helped me - more people completed the park and left by the time I arrived!

Again, I used Optimal Magic planning tools, plus some on-the-fly creative problem-solving.  Some parts were easy - Hollywood Studios was a breeze because I know the crowd patterns in the early morning at each attraction and it was the first park visited.  The other parks took a bit more creativity, especially in mid-afternoon when the crowd levels are high and can vary dramatically from attraction to attraction and from minute-to-minute. I had a "suggested plan of attack" for that point (which I mostly followed), but I couldn't even have a ten-minute unexpected delay, so I adjusted on-the-fly using a combination of three strategies:

• Use Fastpass for the long-line attractions, being sure not to get a "far out" Fastpass that blocks off several hours of time (I used about seven Fastpasses for the day - note that my customers often use eight or more, but they're also re-riding favorite attractions, which I did not do.)
• Riding the "long line" attractions at times where the lines were smallest.
• Riding "medium line" attractions at times where their lines hadn't built up or had died down.
• Filling in the busiest time with "no-line" attractions like Carousel of Progress or the Peoplemover.

If you're an Optimal Magic customer, we usually avoid the busiest parts of the day, so the on-the-fly problem solving is minimized.  However, if you ever get in a bind or need help, I'm only a text or call away and can get you on the right track again!

No - not at all! Vacations planned with Optimal Magic are the exact opposite of crazy and stressful. The whole point of using Optimal Magic is to make your trip less stressful and more fun, by avoiding the lines and doing everything you want to do. And it's 100% customized to what you want to do, not what I think you should do!

I would never recommend an Optimal Magic customer visit all four parks in one day (in fact, I rarely even have customers go to two parks - there are exceptions, especially for people staying at an Epcot-area resort, but it's not too common).

Was this challenge crazy and stressful?  Yes, it was.  But it's not what I would ever have my clients do.  Instead, think of this challenge as a "stress test" on Optimal Magic modeling and planning.  If something as extreme as this worked so well, imagine how well it will work for a "regular" family vacation! Replace the stress and the rushing around with 4 hours of down-time to swim or have nice, long meals.  It becomes great vacation day after great vacation day!

No you don't. If you only have a day to visit Disney World, you most likely are best off visiting one park and having a great day.  Unless the idea of speed-walking 25 miles in a day sounds like fun to you, you really don't want to try this.

But if you really want to do it, drop me a line! I'm happy to help you plan your day.  And if you'd like a guide to come with you to climb Mount Disney, I'm happy to offer my services.  Heck - let's try to beat my record!

To celebrate the 37 Disney attractions I visited in a single day, I am offering 37% off of Optimal Magic services for an extremely limited time.  The offer is only good for services purchased through Friday, November 16th, or until claimed by twenty people - whichever comes first! So click here to buy my services before this offer ends!


Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

This is it - the big one.  I'd already visited three Disney parks, experienced every major attraction at them, and walked 13 miles.  But the Magic Kingdom trumps them all.  More attractions.  More walking.  And most of all, more lines! Can I get through all the major attractions in one night?

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

After my much-needed rest in the Contemporary Resort lobby, I hoofed it over to the Magic Kingdom, and arrived at 4:45.  Wait times were horrendous at this point (it was one of the few nights of the week where the park was open late and the Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks were on, so HUGE CROWDS were everywhere).  70 minutes for Peter Pan.  60 minutes for Space Mountain.  Even "smaller" rides had 20-30 minute waits.

However, I knew that with intelligent usage of Fastpass plus the eventual decrease in crowds late at night, I could get everything I wanted done!

Buzz Lightyear had 40 minute waits and a 40 minute window for the Fastpass return. Again - WHY do people get in these lines instead of getting Fastpasses?  I just don't get it.  Oh well - please carry on - it means shorter waits for us Fastpass users! Anyway, Fastpass in hand, it was time to experience other Tomorrowland attractions!

The Peoplemover was a no-brainer first stop - there is NEVER a wait, so it made sense at the huge crowds were still there.

However, it broke down JUST as I was about to board!  So I had to wait six minutes - six minutes longer than I've ever waited for the Peoplemover in my life.  Hilariously, the one ride that NEVER has ANY wait was one of the few I ended up waiting for!
Total Wait for Attraction: 6 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 38 minutes

Continuing my "rest my legs while visiting no-wait attractions" plan, it was time for a bit of Disney nostalgia with the Carousel of Progress.  Never a wait, and it's cheesy, hokey, and definitely has a 60's viewpoint towards "progress," but I love it!
Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 38 minutes

Using my Fastpass, I was able to ride Buzz Lightyear with a one-minute wait (again, WHY do people wait for 40 minutes in line - I don't get it!)

I hit the secret "robot arm" target several times but was overall off a bit - score was in the 300,000 range - I've done better in the past, but hey, I've walked 15 miles so far today and it's my fourth theme park - I have an excuse!
Total Wait for Attraction: 1 minute
Total Wait for entire day so far: 39 minutes

Due to the "cold" (c'mon - it was still over 60), lots of people were apparently avoiding Splash Mountain. I saw that Splash Mountain had a Fastpass return time only 45 minutes out.  So I trudged across the park to get one.

Philharmagic is my favorite of the four Disney "4-D" experiences (though Muppetvision comes a close second). I had to wait maybe 4 minutes for the previous show to end. The theater is huge, so there is almost never a wait longer than just waiting for the next show to begin - this is the one attraction in Fantasyland that you can usually experience any time of day.
Total Wait for Attraction: 4 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 43 minutes

The Fantasyland Expansion was essentially complete, but not open yet - it was in "cast previews" that day, which meant that Disney cast members with tickets could go visit.  I really wanted to get in anyway (how cool would that be to add attractions that weren't even open to the general public?) I tried to talk my way into the land, but no dice.  I tried to convince cast members heading to the preview to let me be their "plus one" but unfortunately I found out they had to sign people in at the front of the park.  So it wasn't to be - oh well! (And yes, I tried again later in the night, with no more success.)

Before heading back to Splash Mountain, I took a detour and got a Jungle Cruise Fastpass - return time was about 55 minutes out or so.

The sun was setting, the wind was picking up, and it was getting noticeably colder.  Plus, I had FINALLY dried off completely from Kali River Rapids.  So naturally, time to get wet again! With Fastpass, there was no wait at all.

Splash Mountain may be my favorite theme park attraction anywhere in the world.  The theming is wonderful - you're fully immersed in the story, and there are several great drops interspersed.  So it was disappointing to see it in bad shape - the "laughing place" scene was in terrible shape - none of the water effects were working - even the water was turned off where the turtles are riding on water fountains - instead, they just looked like turtles on their backs with a pole coming out of their back.  And some of the animatronics in the final boat "Zip A Dee Doo Dah" scene were out too.

This is not to say it's a bad ride - frankly, 99% of people wouldn't even notice the issues I saw, and they don't detract TOO much from the overall experience - the drops are still fantastic!  And the good news is Splash Mountain is getting a major refurbishment in January.  Here's hoping they can bring it back to its former glory!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 43 minutes

At this point, lines were still long but off their ridiculous peaks.  I knew they'd fade a lot more in a few hours.  I was going to try a few more no-wait attractions (the Tiki Room, for example), but saw a 10 minute wait for Pirates of the Caribbean and decided it was worth it to "check it off the list" (the wait had been 25 minutes not long before). Turns out the wait was closer to twelve minutes.

I would NEVER have a client wait in a twelve minute line if I could at all avoid it.  But my clients aren't trying to visit all four parks in one day! This was a rare wait that I was willing to make in order to complete my quest. Irritating, but what can you do.

You may be thinking "twelve minutes?  That's nothing - why do you care?"  But here's the thing - if we can avoid twelve minutes of waiting on eight attractions, that's an hour and a half! Even avoiding these short waits can give you an extra ninety minutes of time to do what you want (whether it's visiting more attractions, going for a swim, or having a relaxing meal).  The most valuable thing you're spending on a vacation is your time - it's limited!  If we can make every minute as fun as can be and skip the "boring" waiting parts, the vacation will be much more fun. Avoiding the "big lines" is the most important thing, of course, but minimizing the short lines is how you can truly optimize your vacation!

Anyway, I digress.  Pirates of the Caribbean was fun as always, and the new mermaid effects are pretty cool.

Total Wait for Attraction: 12 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

I had a few minutes to kill before the Jungle Cruise Fastpass time opened.  I debated walking the Swiss Family Treehouse, but after 16 or so miles walking, I decided it was a bad idea.  I also debated the Tiki Room, but it would take a while, and I couldn't get caught on the wrong side of the parade (starting at 8pm) - I had attractions I planned to visit in Fantasyland during the parade, and if I was on the wrong side, I'd be stuck in Adventureland! So I just checked out a few shops and took a break until 7:30.

Once again (like most of the time when using Fastpass), there was no wait.  I had a good skipper, and I like the Jungle Cruise better at night, so it was a fun ride, back side of water and all...

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

I saw that Fantasyland waits were still long (even with the parade about to begin).  Besides, I was beyond exhausted - my legs were aching and I was extremely hungry.  And my phone was about to die (again).  So it was time for a long break - I had a meal, and then found an outlet to charge my phone. After about an hour, I got a Space Mountain Fastpass (return time of 9:15-10:00) then headed to Fantasyland.

Now we're getting to the part of the day where I feel a little foolish - riding kids rides without the kids.  But what the heck - it's Disney!  Other people do the same thing!

At 8:41, the families are watching the end of the parade or getting ready for the fireworks - they're NOT riding most Fantasyland attractions.  So it was time to hit some of these "kid" attractions.

The Barnstormer (mild, and extremely short coaster) had a two-minute wait (if that).  Of course, it's a 30 second ride, so maybe it's not worth it!  If you have little kids, though, it's a terrific "first coaster."

Total Wait for Attraction: 2 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 57 minutes

I don't particularly like the teacups.  Of course, I usually am in a teacup with a daughter who wants to spin the thing at nauseating speeds.  When I'm alone, it's a nice gentle ride! As expected, there was no wait (frankly, the Teacups rarely have longer than a 5 minute wait anyway).

By the way, this is my 25th attraction - my original goal!  Of course, I still haven't hit some of the "big" attractions I said I would.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 57 minutes

This was my oldest daughter's favorite attraction when she was six years old.  Of course, now she's 14 so her opinion has changed, but we still joke that it's still her favorite.  So as I was on the ride, I had a lot of fun texting her pictures and videos, saying "aren't you jealous? Don't you with you were here right now?" I could hear her eyes rolling from over 1000 miles away!

There was no wait - there was almost nobody on the ride (with fireworks about to start).  I feel a little bad for the couple who shared my boat with me - they had to have some random guy ruin their nice private ride together!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

I'm not counting it as an "attraction" per se, but I did get to watch the Wishes fireworks show.  I watched from the less-preferred Fantasyland location (some fireworks go by the castle, and some behind Fantasyland - it's just cooler if all the fireworks are behind the castle, which is the view you get from Main Street).  But if you can put up with a different (not worse, just different) view of the fireworks, it's a LOT less crowded in Fantasyland.

Plus, best of all, I positioned myself near the Winnie the Pooh attraction, which was hugely valuable as you're about to see...

Winnie the Pooh has long lines almost the entire day.  But NOT if you get in line the exact moment the fireworks end!  I did that, and walked on to the ride. But by the time I finished the three-minute ride, the line was enormous again!  Nothing more satisfying than NOT waiting for a ride, then seeing people in a 15+ minute line after you're done!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

My brother returned from his trade show!  I met up with him at the Tomorrowland arcade, and gave him my phone to charge (too many photos, videos, and tweets, I guess), and used my Fastpass for Space Mountain.

Space Mountain was SLAMMED with people using their Fastpasses (all the folks who watched the fireworks then headed over to Space Mountain).  But the Disney cast members did an AMAZING job.  There are two (identical mirror image) Space Mountain tracks - usually one is used for Standby and one for Fastpass.  The Disney cast members rerouted half the Fastpass people to the Standby side, so they in essence doubled the Fastpass capacity (at the cost of longer waits for the people who got in Standby).  It was brilliantly executed, and even with all the other Fastpass holders there, I waited no more than 7 minutes. Well done, Disney cast members!

Space Mountain, by the way, is MUCH improved with the refurb from a few years ago.  Considerably darker, which makes it feel far more "out of control."

Side note - I've finally surpassed an hour total of waiting!  It took 28 attractions at four parks to wait a total of an hour - some people wait longer than that for their FIRST attraction!

Total Wait for Attraction: 7 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 62 minutes

After the fireworks, most people head out.  So naturally, we headed further IN to the park. Next stop was Haunted Mansion.  There were still a handful of people in line - we waited maybe 4 minutes - enough time to have fun with the new interactive queue items!  This is one ride where a 5 minute wait may actually be preferable to no wait, because the stuff in the line is fun to play with!

One bummer - the ride shut down for about 30 seconds during the updated end "hitchhiking ghost" scene.  And our ghost disappeared, and didn't return when the ride started up again!  Oh well...
Total Wait for Attraction: 5 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 67 minutes

We've now hit "Extra Magic Hours" - the park is only open to Disney Resort guests from 10:00pm to 1:00am.  Good news for us - crowds will continue to die down.  So we headed to Big Thunder Mountain, where we waited perhaps four minutes for our ride. Definitely an attraction that has a different "feel" at night, which I love!
Total Wait for Attraction: 4 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

We exited Thunder Mountain in time to see the vast majority of the Main Street Electrical Parade.  We didn't count this as an attraction (once again, I probably should), but nice! I'm singing the happy, bouncy 70's electronic Main Street Electrical Parade them again right now!

Next stop was the Country Bear Jamboree.  It had no wait, as expected - we had walked by earlier and learned for the evening they were doing only a handful of shows, and 10:45 was the next start time. 

Incidentally, Disney just re-opened the Country Bear Jamboree after a refurbishment. They have reduced the length of the show, with several edits. Some Disney "purists" are aghast at the edits, but I think the update really helped the show. The old show had lots of "dead" space in the past, and frankly, it was too long for a theme park show with animatronic bears.  I vividly recall people leaving mid-show in the past.

Nobody left the new show, and frankly, they were kind of getting into it! So I think the edits helped the show tremendously.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Another "what the heck - why not" attraction.  There's not going to be a wait for the Magic Carpets at 11:15pm, so I went for a spin.

Why Disney has three "spinning, go up and down" rides in one park, I'll never know.  My brother and I were talking, and think they should move this ride to the Morocco pavilion at Epcot.  It's a relatively close fit to the pavilion (heck, Aladdin and Jasmine are often there).  And Epcot World Showcase is sorely lacking in "kid friendly" things to do.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Continuing my tour of Magic Kingdom spinning rides, we headed over to Dumbo.

Dumbo is still the same ride, but it has been dramatically improved in three ways.  First, there are two Dumbos, alleviating some capacity concerns.  Second, it is MUCH prettier - the lighting and fountains at night are just amazing.  Third, the "play area" in the (indoor, air-conditioned) waiting area is a great idea.  My brother didn't know about it, and when he saw it, he got excited for coming back with his kids.

There was no wait for Dumbo at 11:30 at night - in fact, we could have stayed on for a second ride if we wanted to! (We declined). Compare this to the 20-30 minute waits earlier in the day!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

The things I do to prove a point... We next headed to Stitch's Great Escape and "experienced" it.

Stitch's Great Escape is terrible.  Worst attraction at Disney, by a mile.  It may be the worst theme park attraction I have ever experienced. It's too scary for young kids (lots of time in complete dark with a weird restraint on you, which is bouncing up and down).  It's too convoluted and uninteresting for adults. Then they throw in a disgusting chili dog burp that smells like vomit.  It's awful.  The animatronics are impressive, but the actual attraction is beyond terrible. If someone offered me $20 to ride it again, I would say no.

I experienced the old "Alien Encounter" attraction in the same location.  It had its flaws (primarily that it wasn't appropriate for ANYONE under about age 13), but at least it delivered thrills for an older set.  Stitch's Great Escape isn't thrilling, it isn't funny, and it's still terrifying for young kids.  Who the heck is it for?

Sorry - rant over.  I have ALWAYS told my clients to avoid this attraction, and that will not change!
Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

I generally have my clients avoid the Tomorrowland Speedway.  It's a very slow-loading attraction with low capacity. Unless you get there first thing, it has long lines.  And even if you do get there first thing, you're going to have longer lines at other, better attractions as a result of wasting time on this mediocre attraction (Frankly, any local go-kart place is more fun because the cars aren't on a track). There are SO MANY unique, awesome experiences at Disney World.  This isn't one of them. (Apologies if I've insulted your favorite ride!)

However, for my "ride as much as I can" purposes, it was worth a ride.  And once it's past midnight, the line melts away! I resisted the urge to bump my brother in the car ahead of me as we went around the track.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Question: How do you make a 41-year-old feel foolish?
Answer: Have him ride a merry-go-round by himself after midnight! My brother declined (I think he may have run off to ride Winnie the Pooh)

What the heck though - I'm at Disney!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Finally, the last attraction of the night.  Some people waited 70+ minutes for Peter Pan earlier in the day.  Or they got Fastpasses for six hours later.

Me?  I just walked on - waited maybe one minute.

Total Wait for Attraction: 1 minute
Total Wait for entire day so far: 72 minutes

There were still a couple of attractions that were open that I missed, and the park was open for another 30 minutes. But honestly, I felt I had proved my point, and I had walked almost a full marathon over the course of the day.  It was time to call it a day!  So I got myself a Mickey ice cream bar and we headed back to the hotel for the night.

In my final post in the series, I'll provide some final concluding thoughts, plus answer some questions you may have.

For now, however, here's my favorite stat:  I experienced 37 attractions in a single day, and waited 72 minutes.  That's less than 2 minutes of waiting per attraction!

Stay tuned for my final thoughts in the next post!

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

At 1:10, we arrived at Animal Kingdom, our third park of the day!  Afternoon is when the crowds are the biggest at the parks - will we be able to get through our Animal Kingdom itinerary quickly, even with several waits posted at 30-40 minutes? Using a handful of relatively simple tricks, you'll see how I was successful:

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Coming Soon:
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

Fastpass return times for the Safaris were 1:55-2:55 - only 40 minutes out.  And the posted wait time was 45 minutes out.  I never understand why ANYONE would get in a 45 minute standby line in that situation - wouldn't you rather spend 40 minutes out of line than 45 minutes in line?  Go get a snack.  Sit down.  Or go visit another attraction!  Any of those is preferable to standing in line! The only reason I can think of is a lack of understanding of the Fastpass system.

Anyway, with Kilimanjaro Safaris fastpasses in hand, it was time to visit other attractions.

This was easier than anticipated.  The cold temperatures led to non-existant lines at this water ride (though it was still a pleasant 65 degrees and sunny - seemed warm to this Chicagoan!)

This attraction is always a crapshoot on how wet you get.  You can't tell very well from the photo, but I got SOAKED on the big drop!  Oh well - it may have been cool, but it was sunny, so I'd dry relatively quickly!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 21 minutes

Navigating the park was our biggest challenge at this point - the crowds were big and there was all sorts of entertainment blocking pathways and slowing us down. Regardless, we made our way through the significant crowds, making our way to Expedition Everest.

Expedition Everest (a fantastic coaster with a great surprise in the middle) has a single-rider line - single riders are used to fill up empty seats on trains - as long as you don't mind being split up with your party, it can lead to much shorter waits. The "regular" posted wait was 40 minutes.  In the single-rider line, we waited... 3 minutes!

Total Wait for Attraction: 3 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 24 minutes

Since our Fastpass time had come up for Kilimanjaro Safaris, it was time to get our next Fastpass.  Dinosaur had the longest waits, so we got a Fastpass for it.

Next, we headed back to Kilimanjaro Safaris.  The wait was about 3 minutes to board using our Fastpasses.

We got to see the new zebra display (just opened a few days beforehand).  I'm pretty happy they've finally got rid of the "poacher" story to the attraction, and have made it all about the animals.  It's very well done - I've talked to people who have done a real African safari, and they say it is quite authentic.

Total Wait for Attraction: 3 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 27 minutes

My brother and partner-in-crime for this adventure had to leave, as he had to go to a conference in Orlando.  I walked back to the car with him (I had left my phone charger in the car, and it was on fumes). He would join up with me again in the late evening.

Primeval Whirl is a pretty substandard ride for Disney - a basic "spinning mouse" coaster that's not even really themed - you can find a ride like this at your local amusement park. It's fun and so I guess it's worth your time, but it's nothing "special."

But since I'm trying to visit all the significant rides, and since this ride usually has long waits, I had to add it to the list!

I knew the long waits of two hours ago would be a thing of the past by 3pm - especially with the early park opening, most people would be "done" with Animal Kingdom and heading out by now.  And those who were staying were going to head to the parade starting in 45 minutes.  The parade is in a completely different section of the park, so people wouldn't be here!  That meant my wait was about 3 minutes.

Total Wait for Attraction: 3 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 30 minutes

Final attraction of the day for Animal Kingdom was Dinosaur.  Using my Fastpass, I waited perhaps two minutes.

I was seated next to two young kids - their parents were in the row behind them.  I was worried they'd be freaked out (some kids do freak on Dinosaur) and warned their parents it's "intense", but their parents assured me they're "daredevils." And they took it completely in stride!

Total Wait for Attraction: 2 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 32 minutes

Animal Kingdom is now complete! At this point, it was 3:30pm, and only one park remained - the Magic Kingdom! 

However, before heading to the Magic Kingdom, I decided to take a short break.  There were three reasons a break was absolutely necessary:

• I had walked many miles, completely nonstop, and needed to rest for a little bit.
• I was extremely hungry.
• My phone was almost dead.

So instead of heading directly to the Magic Kingdom, I took a bus to the Contemporary Resort.  There, I ordered some food at Contempo Cafe, found a quiet place to sit, and recharged my phone's (and my) batteries for 30 minutes.

In case you're keeping score, at this point, I had visited the 16 biggest attractions at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, and waited a grand total of 32 minutes.  To put that in perspective:

• That's an average of 2 minute wait per attraction.
• My total of 32 minutes waiting is shorter than most people wait for a single attraction! (Less than half the wait at Toy Story Mania)

Next post is the big one - the Magic Kingdom.  Can I visit EVERY major attraction at the Magic Kingdom if I get there at 5:00pm on an extremely busy day?

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Coming Soon:
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

We laughed as we were arriving at Epcot - it was 10:00am, and lots of people were just arriving to start their day.  But we had already experienced every major attraction at Disney Hollywood Studios, and this was our second park of the day! We knew the first thing that must be done - head to Soarin', but not to ride.

Getting Soarin' Fastpasses 
Anyone who has ever been to Epcot knows that Soarin' has the longest lines, and also the return times for Fastpass are the furthest out.  So we had to rush to Soarin' to get Fastpasses before the times were pushed too far out.

Happily, the return time was excellent - 12:05-1:05, or only two hours away.  So the goal was to visit the rest of Epcot in those two hours!

At 10:15, while everyone else is either in line for Soarin' or going like lemmings to Spaceship Earth, we were able to walk onto The Seas with Nemo.  While there was literally no wait at all, we were slowed down by people walking VERY slowly through the long queue for this attraction. - probably cost us two valuable minutes.  So I sort of want to count that long slow walk as a "wait" but technically there was no wait, so I won't.

Nemo is a very nicely done ride that sets the stage for the rest of the Living Seas pavilion.  And the technology that makes it look like Nemo and friends are swimming with real fish is very well done.  We did laugh at one point when a real shark started swimming towards Nemo and his friends!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 5 minutes

Staying in the Future World West portion of Epcot, we headed to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. There was no wait, as expected.

As always, I felt this attraction is missing something.  You'd think Disney could do a killer attraction about imagination, but it just lacks something.  Kids are usually amused by it, but overall it just seems a little, uh, unimaginative.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 5 minutes

Time to hit one of the "big guns" of Epcot.

Crowd levels were generally light at Epcot at this time (I suspect partially because the Food and Wine Festival was about to get people to  head to the World Showcase portion of Epcot).  So it was time for Mission: Space.  I was anticipating a 10-15 minute wait but ended up with about a 4 minute wait.

And in case you're curious, we chose the "Green" experience (non-spinning centrifuge) instead of "Orange" (spinning centrifuge).  Usually I'd pick Orange, but I couldn't take the chance of nausea this early in the day! Regardless, it's a pretty well done space launch simulation.

Total Wait for Attraction: 4 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 9 minutes

It was 11:00am.  We still had an hour until our Mission: Space Fastpass, so we decided to visit World Showcase and add in some more attractions.  First country visited was Mexico, and the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride.  It has been improved with the addition of the Three Caballeros, but I still pretty much consider it a clone of It's a Small World except the geography is limited to Mexico...

Regardless, there was no wait!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 9 minutes

On to Norway! Maelstrom is a cute boat ride through Norway, with a nifty backwards section after a three-headed troll "curses" you.  Too short, but fun.

Once again, arriving only shortly after World Showcase was open, there was no wait for us.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 9 minutes

I'm not counting this as an attraction (though I probably should), but we walked through the rest of World Showcase.  Epcot's Food and Wine Festival was going on at the time, and we tried several samples of food (no wine - too much to do for that to be a good idea).  The shredded pork lettuce wraps from a Korean booth were incredible.  Also a fan of the lamb meatball from a New Zealand booth.

Here are photos of me in each Epcot country - you'll notice I'm usually holding some sort of food! I also visited Club Cool to try sodas from around the world

Finally, the Soarin' Fastpass time has arrived!

As usual, there was a moderate wait for Soarin' even using the Fastpass - about 12 minutes.  This is to be expected with Soarin' even using Fastpass - it's one of the few attractions where you will still have a wait (albeit much shorter) using Fastpass.

It's fun to note that the 12 minutes of waiting for Soarin' is longer than the first nine attractions I've visited... combined!

Total Wait for Attraction:  12 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 21 minutes

Final attraction of Epcot was Spaceship Earth.  There was no wait (free tip of the day - save Spaceship Earth for last - many people visit it first since it's at the front of the park - we were calling these people the lemmings - the lines decrease dramatically later in the day once all the lemmings have ridden it.)

Spaceship Earth is very well done (other than the "descent" at the end, which is kind of lame) and after already having walked several miles, I enjoyed sitting for fifteen minutes or so!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 21 minutes

Before 1pm (when, amazingly, some people are still just arriving for the day), we had completed the seven biggest attractions at Epcot, (along with the four biggest attractions at Hollywood Studios). In addition, we visited each country pavilion in World Showcase and got several food samples from the Food and Wine Festival.

And if you're curious about Test Track - unfortunately it was closed for renovations, so we couldn't include it in the quest.  Perhaps next time!

So after completing every major attraction at Epcot, it was time to head to our third Disney park of the day - Animal Kingdom! It was early afternoon - when the infamous Disney crowds hit their peak.  Check in to the next blog entry to see if we will be able to successfully tour Animal Kingdom while still leaving enough time for the Magic Kingdom at night!

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

Read the other sections in this blog series

Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

Let's start our detailed view of how I managed to visit every major attraction at Disney World in one day. I'll start with the first park of the day - Disney Hollywood Studios.  I'll walk through how we toured the entire park, from start to finish.

Hollywood Studios was, in a sense, the "easiest" park to plan for - I know the traffic patterns in the parks at opening, and they generally don't change from day-to-day.  So I simply had to put together a plan to visit the four biggest attractions once each as quickly as possible.  Note that when I plan for my customers people, I usually try to get them two rides on each of the biggest attractions without waiting (because they are even more fun the second time), but for my purposes, one was going to do.

Hollywood Studios officially opened at 9:00am.  However, I know the park usually opens 15-30 minutes earlier than the "announced" opening time.  And we simply had to be the first people in a turnstile line.  So my brother (who accompanied me for part of this adventure) and I arrived at 7:33am, and were the second car in the parking lot!  (Added bonus - nearby parking means quicker trip to Epcot later in the day.)

Other than people with breakfast reservations (who have their own separate line), we were the absolute first people at the turnstile.  The weather was chilly (near record lows for October), probably upper 40s as we arrived but heading to the mid-60's - perfect weather for speed touring!

8:45 - park opens
If you've ever been at Hollywood Studios at park opening, you know that 90% of all people rush to Toy Story Midway Mania.  We had to get there ahead of the mob.  Thankfully, my brother and I are very fast walkers, so we entered quickly, and rushed to Toy Story Mania.  How fast were we?  Here's a photo of the people in front of us - nobody! Note that there was a swarm of people behind us!

Even though we weren't planning to use Fastpass, since we were the first people at Toy Story Mania, we went ahead and got Fastpasses anyway (return time of 9:40), to give to someone as we were leaving the park.

After getting the first Fastpasses of the day, we entered the ride, and were the first ones in the queue! It's always fun to see NOBODY in a line that I know will be completely filled with people in ten minutes.

I enjoyed being the first riders on Toy Story Midway Mania for the day!  I destroyed my brother (I didn't think to get a photo of the score - oh well) and I think I aggravated my carpal tunnel syndrome too.

We were off Toy Story Mania at 8:58 and it was time to rush to attraction 2

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for day so far: 0 minutes

It wasn't even 9:00 yet and we had the worst bottleneck attraction completed.  So it was on to attraction 2 - Rock 'N Roller Coaster!

We arrived and entered the preshow at 9:04. After the preshow, we were the on first coaster to ride.

We finished the ride at 9:09am! So yes, that means we completed the two biggest line attractions (which will have a combined two hours of wait time shortly), only nine minutes after the park was "officially" open!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for day so far: 0 minutes

Alas, our first wait of the day.  We got through the preshow in the library section of Tower of Terror without waiting.  But in the "boiler room" we had to wait... for one elevator.  And we had a moment of panic - the ride appeared to go into "shutdown" for a moment, but it only lasted 30 seconds, so no big deal - if we were down for 15 minutes it would have screwed up the entire day due to the "snowball effect" (the more we wait here, the longer waits are the rest of the day).  Total wait ended up being about two minutes.

As a side note - I love Tower of Terror - it's one of the best theme park attractions in the world.

Total Wait for Attraction: 2 minutes
Total Wait for day so far: 2 minutes

Final attraction for Hollywood Studios was Star Tours.  We had maybe a 3 minute wait before boarding Star Tours.

We enjoyed our podrace and also had fun saying hello to Jar Jar Binks - why couldn't we crash into him - it would improve the ride to see Jar Jar get smashed...

Total Wait for Attraction: 3 minutes
Total Wait for day so far: 5 minutes

As of 9:47, we were walking (quickly) back to the car.

End result - we managed to visit the four biggest attractions at Hollywood Studios, which would have a combined TWO AND A HALF HOURS of waiting for someone who arrives at 10:30am, but we waited a grand total of FIVE MINUTES.

Oh, and what about our unused Toy Story Mania Fastpasses?  We found a dad and child entering the park, and gave them to them. I'm sure they appreciated thatwe saved them a 60 minute wait! Always fun to help someone else out.

Stay tuned - the next blog entry will discuss park #2 of the four park adventure - Epcot! Can we get around the hour-plus wait of Soarin'?

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

Read the other sections in this blog series

Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

In today's entry, I'm going to discuss the planning that I did for the "Four Disney Parks in One Day" challenge. There were several steps I took - I'll walk you through them all here:

Step 1 - Figure out the "must visit" attractions
This was extremely important - to make this an impressive achievement, I needed not only to visit a lot of attractions, but I needed to visit the best attractions.  Anyone could get 25 rides done in a day - just get on the Peoplemover when the park opens and stay on for 25 straight runs.  Big deal.  What I wanted to do was visit the biggest rides - the ones everyone talks about when they get home, the ones with the huge lines, the ones that make Disney Disney.  So I went through the list of attractions and made the "must do" list.  My initial list was the following attractions:
Magic Kingdom - Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean
Epcot - Soarin', Mission: Space, Spaceship Earth (I would have also included Test Track but it is currently under refurbishment)
Hollywood Studios - Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock N Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror
Animal Kingdom - Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur

That's 17 attractions.  I added the next layer of "appealing, well known attractions" to get up to a list of 25, which became my goal.  And then I noted other potential attractions that I would try to fit in if possible. Generally I avoided the long show-type attractions as fillers (as they take more time), though you'll see I ended up visiting many of the biggest "show" attractions anyway!

Step 2 - Figure out the best day to visit

I needed to pick a day that fits two criteria:

1. The parks needed to have long operating hours
2. Crowd levels need to be moderate (there is no such thing as "light" crowds at Disney World any more, but there are definitely less crowded times and more crowded times.)

When I advise Optimal Magic clients about best times to visit, I actually don't worry about sending them to the parks on crowded days.  With the exception of the week after Christmas and a couple of other days of the year, you can easily avoid all the crowds and long lines, and have a great time at Disney World, regardless of the overall crowd level.

However for this challenge, crowds were going to be more of an issue. It's physically impossible to be at all four parks at opening (the least crowded time of day).  So I needed to pick a day where I could successfully tour a park in the afternoon (the busiest time of day).

When looking at calendars over the month of October, October 29th stood out as a perfect day.  Three factors made it ideal:

1. October has more moderate crowds than other times of year.
2. Animal Kingdom had morning "Extra Magic Hours" opening at 8am.
3. Magic Kingdom had evening "Extra Magic Hours" and was open until 1am.

Step 3 - Figure out best times to visit each attraction, and create a plan for each park:


I know when rides are busier and when they're less busy - it's the underlying data that drives all my recommendations.  I also know that there are certain attractions that will have extremely long lines, and I was going to have to slot them first.  There are several attractions that have lines that build to over 60 minutes, and at least a dozen more that would have expected waits of 30 minutes.  I simply could not wait in any of these long lines.  Unfortunately, the "arrive at the park first thing in the morning" strategy wouldn't work for all of them, because these long-line attractions are spread among four parks! So I had to determine a strategy to avoid these lines even with these major constraints:

When looking at all the variables, it became crystal clear that the first park to visit simply had to be Disney Hollywood Studios.  Toy Story Mania builds to 60 minute waits in the first 30 minutes the park is open.  In addition, the Fastpasses for this attraction disappear extremely quickly. So unless I wanted to wait an hour or more for Toy Story Mania, it had to be first.  In addition, the other major attractions at Hollywood Studios build big lines (30-60 minutes) relatively quickly.

The other easy park to figure out was the Magic Kingdom - with Extra Hours until 1am (four hours after the other parks close), it was a no-brainer to head there last.

That leaves two other parks - Epcot and Animal Kingdom.  Of the two, Epcot has the ride with the longest waits and latest Fastpass return times - Soarin'.  So I planned to head to Epcot next and check out the Fastpass situation for Soarin'.  I estimated that I could complete the four major attractions at Hollywood Studios in a little over an hour and be at Epcot by 10:30.  My plan was to get Soarin' Fastpasses, and if the return time was early enough, visit the rest of Epcot at that time.  If not, I planned to head to Animal Kingdom, and return to Epcot later in the afternoon.

So the overall order was set:

• Hollywood Studios
• Epcot (get Fastpass for Soarin' and then make a call on whether to stay or come back later)
• Animal Kingdom
• Return to Epcot if necessary for Soarin'
• Magic Kingdom

Once this order was set, I used my custom-built Optimal Magic planning tools to put together a rough plan for each park, so I could visit attractions at their least busy times, and also use Fastpass as best as possible. Because I needed to optimize my trip on the fly (every second counted), I also created ridiculously complex sheets with wait estimates and contingency plans for various possibilities (don't worry - the plans I make for my clients don't have the complexities and are MUCH easier to understand, but work just as well as long as you're not visiting four parks in one day!)

In addition, I downloaded Disney's excellent "My Disney Experience" app, which has real-time wait and Fastpass return time info (not always 100% accurate, but a good guide for on-the-fly decision-making).

Step 4 - Test run
No - I didn't fly down to Disney for a test run.  However, I noticed that October 22nd was a very similar day to my planned visit day of October 29th (same season, same day of the week, and same operating hours).  So I used this day to run through my plans while looking at Disney's wait estimates through the day.  I know the walking time between attractions and the length of each attraction (all important data for any planning I do).  So I would continue through the plan, while checking Disney's estimated wait times throughout the day.

This test run was incredibly helpful.  I made many tweaks to my plan after this test.

Step 5 - head to Disney!
I flew down the day before, visited two parks (and walked 5 miles, which was probably stupid the day before a "marathon"), and then tried to get a good night's sleep!

Starting with the next post, I'll start walking through the entire day, attraction-by-attraction.  And I'll feature lots of photos of me at all four parks - you won't believe how much I got done!

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts