On Monday, October 29, I'm also going to attempt a feat I've also been told is impossible. I'm going to try to experience the 24 biggest attractions at the four Disney World Parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios), in one day!
Wait - what?
As you probably know, Disney World contains four theme parks, which are several miles apart from each other. Each of them can fill an entire day of a vacation (or more). I am planning to try to visit the biggest attractions at ALL FOUR of these parks in ONE DAY.
Why the heck am I doing this?
For two reasons:
1) As you may know, my business Optimal Magic helps my customers have the absolute best time possible at Disney. I use sophisticated analysis to build custom plans that enable customers to do everything they want in the way they want to do it, without ever waiting in long lines. While I would never recommend visiting four parks in one day for a customer, I figured that if I can solve this particularly absurd problem, imagine how great a trip I can help you have if you do just one park each day!
2) It's fun!
Which attractions will I visit?
So here's what I did - I took a look at all the parks, and started with the "biggest four" attractions at each of them. Then I added a few more here and there until I was at 20. Then I added a few more that I really wanted to visit. So here is the attempted list:
Magic Kingdom
1) Space Mountain
2) Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
3) Peter Pan
4) Winnie the Pooh
5) Dumbo
6) Splash Mountain
7) Big Thunder Mountain
8) Haunted Mansion
9) Pirates of the Carribbean
10) Mickey's Philharmagic
Epcot
1) Spaceship Earth
2) Soarin'
3) Mission: Space
4) The Living Seas
5) Journey into Your Imagination
(Unfortunately Test Track will not be open)
Disney Hollywood Studios
1) Toy Story Midway Mania
2) Star Tours
3) Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
4) Rock 'n Roller Coaster
Animal Kingdom
1) Kilamanjaro Safaris
2) Expedition Everest
3) Primeval Whirl
4) Dinosaur
5) It's Tough to be a Bug!
Many people would consider doing just one park's worth of these attractions a successful day. And I'm going to try to get them all done in just one day!
You probably think I'm going to cheat
I'm not going to cheat. I'm not going to use anything that is unavailable to any other Disney resort hotel guest. My ground rules are this:
1) I will utilize Extra Magic Hours (as can any other Disney Resort guest).
2) I am willing to use the single-rider line where it exists (as can any other guest).
3) I will not accept any "extra" Fastpasses to help me in my quest, whether given to me by other guests or Disney staff. Only exception is any bonus Fastpass that any other guest could get in a situation (for instance, if I'm stuck on a ride that breaks down and Disney offers a Fastpass to apologize), or any "surprise" Fastpass a Fastpass machine spits out (since the machine doesn't know about my quest and won't treat me more favorably than any other guest).
That being said, I'm going to have some big challenges
There are things that will make this very difficult. Let's talk about the two biggest challenges
Challenge 1: I'm going to have to wait in some lines
I hate waiting in lines. Despise it. The custom plans I build for customers avoid the lines because I know most people don't want to spend their vacation standing in hour-long lines.
Unfortunately, for this quest, I'm going to have to wait in some lines. There are certain rides that have long lines all day unless you arrive at opening or get a Fastpass very early. (For example, Toy Story Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios, and Soarin' at Epcot). It will be impossible to arrive at 9am at two rides at once, so I'll have to wait in a few lines - something I never do! What do you do in a line for 30 minutes anyway?
I'm going to try to optimize my time so the lines are as minimal as possible, but I anticipate at least one 60 minute wait.
Challenge 2: The parks are far apart
It's not exactly speedy to get from Animal Kingdom to Epcot, or from Hollywood Studios to the Magic Kingdom. Travel time is going to eat away at my efficiency.
So how do I plan to visit every major attraction in one day? What is the plan?
It's not going to be easy. I have found several examples of people visiting all four parks scattered all over the web (examples here, here, and here). But I haven't found anyone come close to hitting the 24 biggest attractions. Is it possible? I don't know.
As for the actual plan - I'll post more about it as we get closer, and I'll post updates day of the trip on my Twitter and Facebook pages.
A sub-four minute mile was considered impossible until Roger Bannister in 1954. Lou Gehrig's 2130 consecutive game streak was considered unbreakable until Cal Ripken Jr. broke it in 1995. Is the 24 biggest rides at Disney possible in a single day? We'll find out on October 29th!
Wait - what?
As you probably know, Disney World contains four theme parks, which are several miles apart from each other. Each of them can fill an entire day of a vacation (or more). I am planning to try to visit the biggest attractions at ALL FOUR of these parks in ONE DAY.
Why the heck am I doing this?
For two reasons:
1) As you may know, my business Optimal Magic helps my customers have the absolute best time possible at Disney. I use sophisticated analysis to build custom plans that enable customers to do everything they want in the way they want to do it, without ever waiting in long lines. While I would never recommend visiting four parks in one day for a customer, I figured that if I can solve this particularly absurd problem, imagine how great a trip I can help you have if you do just one park each day!
2) It's fun!
Which attractions will I visit?
So here's what I did - I took a look at all the parks, and started with the "biggest four" attractions at each of them. Then I added a few more here and there until I was at 20. Then I added a few more that I really wanted to visit. So here is the attempted list:
Magic Kingdom
1) Space Mountain
2) Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
3) Peter Pan
4) Winnie the Pooh
5) Dumbo
6) Splash Mountain
7) Big Thunder Mountain
8) Haunted Mansion
9) Pirates of the Carribbean
10) Mickey's Philharmagic
Epcot
1) Spaceship Earth
2) Soarin'
3) Mission: Space
4) The Living Seas
5) Journey into Your Imagination
(Unfortunately Test Track will not be open)
Disney Hollywood Studios
1) Toy Story Midway Mania
2) Star Tours
3) Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
4) Rock 'n Roller Coaster
Animal Kingdom
1) Kilamanjaro Safaris
2) Expedition Everest
3) Primeval Whirl
4) Dinosaur
5) It's Tough to be a Bug!
Many people would consider doing just one park's worth of these attractions a successful day. And I'm going to try to get them all done in just one day!
You probably think I'm going to cheat
I'm not going to cheat. I'm not going to use anything that is unavailable to any other Disney resort hotel guest. My ground rules are this:
1) I will utilize Extra Magic Hours (as can any other Disney Resort guest).
2) I am willing to use the single-rider line where it exists (as can any other guest).
3) I will not accept any "extra" Fastpasses to help me in my quest, whether given to me by other guests or Disney staff. Only exception is any bonus Fastpass that any other guest could get in a situation (for instance, if I'm stuck on a ride that breaks down and Disney offers a Fastpass to apologize), or any "surprise" Fastpass a Fastpass machine spits out (since the machine doesn't know about my quest and won't treat me more favorably than any other guest).
That being said, I'm going to have some big challenges
There are things that will make this very difficult. Let's talk about the two biggest challenges
Challenge 1: I'm going to have to wait in some lines
I hate waiting in lines. Despise it. The custom plans I build for customers avoid the lines because I know most people don't want to spend their vacation standing in hour-long lines.
Unfortunately, for this quest, I'm going to have to wait in some lines. There are certain rides that have long lines all day unless you arrive at opening or get a Fastpass very early. (For example, Toy Story Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios, and Soarin' at Epcot). It will be impossible to arrive at 9am at two rides at once, so I'll have to wait in a few lines - something I never do! What do you do in a line for 30 minutes anyway?
I'm going to try to optimize my time so the lines are as minimal as possible, but I anticipate at least one 60 minute wait.
Challenge 2: The parks are far apart
It's not exactly speedy to get from Animal Kingdom to Epcot, or from Hollywood Studios to the Magic Kingdom. Travel time is going to eat away at my efficiency.
So how do I plan to visit every major attraction in one day? What is the plan?
It's not going to be easy. I have found several examples of people visiting all four parks scattered all over the web (examples here, here, and here). But I haven't found anyone come close to hitting the 24 biggest attractions. Is it possible? I don't know.
As for the actual plan - I'll post more about it as we get closer, and I'll post updates day of the trip on my Twitter and Facebook pages.
A sub-four minute mile was considered impossible until Roger Bannister in 1954. Lou Gehrig's 2130 consecutive game streak was considered unbreakable until Cal Ripken Jr. broke it in 1995. Is the 24 biggest rides at Disney possible in a single day? We'll find out on October 29th!
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