Three Parks, One Day - Your Thoughts?

[brad817]

We've never done this before, but the plan for an upcoming visit is:

Hollywood Studios at open - ride Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror 1x-2x each. Maybe Star Tours too.
Animal Kingdom late morning - Fastpasses (starting around noon?) for Expedition Everest, Primeval Whirl and Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Epcot late afternoon/evening for the Food and Wine Festival.

What do you think? Any recommendations?

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

This may be hard depending on crowd level and what fast passes are available for the times you want, but not impossible. Good luck

[Polynesian Dweller]

Doing three parks in one day is not difficult at all. We do 4 a day regularly with a car and if you include DS sometimes five. So yeah it can be done. The difficulties in your plan would be at DHS getting two rides without FP and getting the correct FP times at AK.

[Figment!]

As mentioned, one of the tricks will be if you can drive or otherwise get direct transportation between the parks.

The Park to Park Disney Bus service between the Studios and Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom to Epcot could take over an hour each trip. Changing at a hotel or Disney Springs, may not be much a time savings if at all.

I think getting in 4 standby rides from 9:00 am to 11:30-ish might be tight, but it would greatly depend on the time of year and day of the week. If it is during a mid to high crowd time, the park should start filling up toward the end of that time slot.

Our three park plan for an upcoming Fall trip is Magic Kingdom in the morning with Extra Magic Hour, monorail to Epcot for FastPass+ attractions early afternoon through early evening, then walk out International Gateway to Disney's Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic! and Evening Extra Magic Hours.

[BowTie7]

I did this in the off-season. I parked at the Studios, took a Disney bus to Animal Kingdom and then to Epcot and finally (after the fireworks) exited at the International Gateway and walked to the Boardwalk and then Hollywood Studios. That was a long walk but none of the crowds either getting to the Studios parking lot or leaving it.

[DonaldDuck1117]

Totally easy. Be at HS at open and get get your rides in on tower and rockin roller coaster. Then head over to AK with your fastpasses then move to Epcot And enjoy your evening there.

[DizneyRox]

AK is a better morning park, especially the safari... MGM is a half day park at best, you can probably wait to use your fast passes at Epcot if you wanted, however the tiering is a deal breaker for riding the good rides.

This also keeps Epcot and MGM together, they are easy to get back and forth between. Also allows you to leverage busses so you can leave your car at home. AK to Boardwalk/Beach Club and walk to wherever. No need for a designated driver..

The key to multiple parks really is the travel time between them. You can eat three hours with your current plan.

[Pirate Granny]

Take a bus to either EPCOT or Beach Club from AK...first one there, take that one...

[DonaldDuck1117]

Oh great tip Pirate Granny!!

As DizbeyRox said you might want to do AK in the morning and Fastpass tower and RnRC.

[brad817]

As mentioned, one of the tricks will be if you can drive or otherwise get direct transportation between the parks.

The Park to Park Disney Bus service between the Studios and Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom to Epcot could take over an hour each trip.

Why do you say it will take over an hour? In theory, if a bus leave every 20 minutes and the ride time is about 20 minutes, an hour seems high.

What about a taxi or Uber from park to park? Is that even an option or can they not get close enough to the park entrances?

[brad817]

Take a bus to either EPCOT or Beach Club from AK...first one there, take that one...

Great idea. Thanks! Or a bus to Boardwalk?

[brad817]

Thanks everyone. We'll have to consider switching HS and AK.

The only rides we really care about at HS are Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Since they are close to each other we can go from one to the other and back if possible. However, transportation from HS to Epcot would be easier since we could walk.

At AK, Everest and the Safari are the two priorities. We like Primeval Whirl too and all those are spread out. It seems more difficult to me to get all that in without Fastpases. If time allows, there are also other attractions we'd rather do at AK vs. HS.

[DizneyRox]

Why do you say it will take over an hour? In theory, if a bus leave every 20 minutes and the ride time is about 20 minutes, an hour seems high.

What about a taxi or Uber from park to park? Is that even an option or can they not get close enough to the park entrances?
Busses don't run on a 20 minute cycle anymore. They are pretty much on demand. Leaving a park early in the AM and you'll find a fairly long wait most of the time, busses are usually doing drop offs and then onto next next pickup. Doesn't make sense to not pickup at the same park they dropped off from, but it happens, a lot more than your think.


Thanks everyone. We'll have to consider switching HS and AK.

The only rides we really care about at HS are Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Since they are close to each other we can go from one to the other and back if possible. However, transportation from HS to Epcot would be easier since we could walk.
The walk is often the fastest way between the parks.


At AK, Everest and the Safari are the two priorities. We like Primeval Whirl too and all those are spread out. It seems more difficult to me to get all that in without Fastpases. If time allows, there are also other attractions we'd rather do at AK vs. HS.
For me, KS is not worth the trouble once it heats up. Better chance at seeing the cheetah and lions when it's cool. Pro Tip: If it starts raining head directly to KS.

[Mad About Mickey]

We have done 4 parks in a day before and the travel between wasn't bad at all. We started at Hollywood Studios and took the boat to Epcot. We then took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then a bus to Animal kingdom. I agree the safari is best at park opening when all the animals are being released for the day and moving. If you start at AK you can walk on Everest, then Kilimanjaro Safari and end with Primeval Whirl and save you fast passes for HS. You can then bus to HS to use your fast passes and have the whole afternoon to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival after your boat ride to Epcot.

[joonyer]

We've visited 3 parks in a day several times and all four parks on one occasion (can you guess we are park commandos?). It helps when MK is open late, like until 2 or 3 a.m. :crazy:

[phillydan]

We've visited 3 parks in a day several times and all four parks on one occasion (can you guess we are park commandos?). It helps when MK is open late, like until 2 or 3 a.m. :crazy:

Agree - MK open late made 3 parks in a day "easy". My trip was a solo trip and it was before Fastpass+. I started at HS (on Star Wars weekend, no less) and did everything by late morning; took the bus to AK (not sure if it was direct or via another resort) and finished up there by mid-afternoon. Took a break for dinner upon arrival at MK and then stayed until 1:00am for extra magic. I skipped the first nighttime parade, which allowed easier access to the popular rides. Saw Wishes, the second parade and then hit up almost all of the main rides again before leaving. Utilized single rider line a lot, which sped things along. It was exhausting, but so glad I did it.

[#1donaldfan]

You can do it....just rope drop HS, you can ride stand-by with minimal wait for all the rides you mentioned, then head over to AK late morning and ride what you can, enjoy a snack, then head over to EC to finish up your day. We have done 4 parks in a day many times and although it's a rush-around-day, it's doable and fun !! enjoy !!

[texas211]

Do what you can, but get to the FW festival at 11. Gets busy fast, plus don't want to miss any of that delicious goodness.

[CaptSmee]

Try it and see how it goes. I have done Hollywood Studios in the am, Epcot afternoon, and Animal Kingdom in evening and it was great.
My experience is Animal Kingdom after 3:00 is a ghost town, not sure now with the night time stuff but it ised to be

[TikiLounger]

We've visited 3 parks in a day several times and all four parks on one occasion (can you guess we are park commandos?). It helps when MK is open late, like until 2 or 3 a.m. :crazy:

Park Commandos! I love it! We, too, have visited 3 parks in a day many times and all four parks a couple of times, as well. It's crazy, but so fun when it works. I think you'll be fine. It's definitely possible.

[brad817]

Thanks again everyone. Based on recommendations here, we have switched the order. It will be Animal Kingdom at rope drop without Fastpasses. Probably the Safari first since we've never done it in the morning and people are saying there are more animals then. After that, Everest a couple times and maybe Primeval Whirl. Fastpasses are scheduled at roughly 1pm, 2pm and 3pm for Star Tours, Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror respectively. After that it's walk, boat or bus to Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival....and maybe a ride or two.

I think it will work out great! Feel free to throw out any more tips, tricks or recommendations.

[lawgirl]

OMG I miss those days! I remember doing all 4 parks in one day, and it was so awesome...crazy, but I loved it. Even though in theory, the buses pick up every 20 minutes, I'll have to say, some times we've waited 5 minutes for the bus, and sometimes we've waited 30 minutes. I love AK in the early morning and Epcot late at night, so that sounds perfect to me. I hope you have an awesome time. I'm jealous!