How To Do All 4 Disney World Parks In 1 Day | Orlando, Florida

Thanks to my amazing best friend who works for the Disney Institute, we accomplished a feat I didn’t even know was possible.

We went to all 4 Disney World Parks in 1 day on 4 hours of sleep. We walked 30,000 steps, and we spent $0 in park fees and parking. We rode every ride that we set out for, and we got to experience the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. It was an experience I will never forget and never do again; nevertheless, it was an experience that I am glad to say I have done.

I feel obligated to say that my travel experiences are never smooth nor perfect, but I always have fun.

It started out with a late Friday night flight by Southwest. People typically love Southwest. I rarely fly with them, because they are rarely the budget option since I am a more spontaneous flyer. My flight was meant to be around 9pm, arriving around 11pm in Orlando, give or take.

Long story short, I receive about 7 texts during this time telling me my flight is delayed by 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 3 hours, back to 2 hours, etc. So begins the long night waiting in the Nashville Airport. The best part was that I sat and ate chips and queso alone in O’Charley’s. The worst part was, well, a great story.

I decided to go to the B terminal, I believe. It’s about 11pm, not a soul in sight besides the cleaning crew. I decide the massage chairs look nice, so I go for it, since no one is around. To give a better idea of the situation, these chairs are directly facing the main walkway. So I sit. I go to put in my card, and it automatically gives me 15 minutes of a massage for $5. I didn’t ask for that much, but I thought, “Why not?”

So begins the torturous event of being locked into the chair and having my body going into strange contortions from the force of the massage. My legs are locked in tight, and I am being shaken and my back keeps getting pushed out by the “massage.” About 2 minutes in, a flight lets out.

People start flooding by, staring at my shaking body and me looking like something is terribly, terribly wrong. I still had 13 minutes to go, and those were the longest 13 minutes of my life. The people kept coming, and I called my friend just to have someone to share that experience with. Nevermind the fact that 2 people decided to come sit by me, not doing the massage, in the most empty I’ve ever seen the airport. Yeah.

Story time over: the flight leaves about 4 hours late, and I don’t get picked up from the airport until 3am, Orlando time. (Lane, you are an angel.) We go to sleep around 4am, and knowing we have to make the most of the day at the parks on Saturday, we wake up at 8am – struggling.

This was our itinerary:
MAGIC KINGDOM

We started off the day in Magic Kingdom. Although we thought we were early, there were still crowds. We planned for that, and we got fast passes for Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We ran to Big Thunder Mountain, and we made it just in time!

After that, we walked around a little bit, saw the castle, caught our fast pass for Space Mountain. Tomorrowland is amazing. It has Space Mountain, the People Mover, Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, and delicious food at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe.

Side note: People Mover is my favorite ride because it takes you on a relaxing ride around all of Tomorrowland, through rides, and we even saw fireworks at the castle from the ride!

This is around the time we decided to do all 4 parks. I just couldn’t decide how to choose between the parks!

Next up:
ANIMAL KINGDOM

We caught the ferry back from Magic Kingdom and drove to Animal Kingdom. At this point, it started pouring rain. It was around 1pm at that time, and we still had 3 parks to go.

We went into Animal Kingdom, and of course saw the Tree of Life – incredible. We then went to the Safari, and saw all of the animals, because they love the rain. What’s even more incredible – Pandora.

The land of the Avatars is absolutely breathtaking. It is beautifully built, and the food and drinks there are perfect designs and flavors. We didn’t ride any rides, but we got a drink from Pongu Pongu and took in the land.

We were beginning to be disappointed that Expedition Everest was closed for the rain, but then it stopped. We checked the wait times, and it was open so we booked it over to the ride. We got there just in time. The wait time had been over 2 hours all day, but we got to the ride when it was only 45 minutes. What a steal. We rode Expedition Everest, walking through a Nepal-designed queue. It was brilliant.

Park #3:
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Hollywood Studios does not have many rides, but it feels like you are on a movie set, so walking around is enough to get you excited. Lane didn’t want to ride the Tower of Terror, but we watched it enough times in the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster line that it was as if we rode it. We decided that was our one ride. We waited in line for over an hour, feet hurting from all the walking, listening to kids play with the loud doors, but we were determined. We would ride this ride. Favorite ride in Hollywood Studios.

Last, but not least:
EPCOT

This was the only park I had never been to, and we came at the perfect time of year: International Food and Wine Festival. I love international food, and they had some amazing choices. We ate at at least 5 different countries, including my favorite, Japan. I love Asian food, and they had a delicious Teriyaki Chicken Bun. Some nights I dream about it now.

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the food, because I ate it so fast, but other places we ate at were Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Spain. All of the food was so good, and I was stuffed by the end of the night. Another noteworthy experience was the Norway bathroom. It is beautiful, and it feels like you are truly in Norway. Well done, Epcot, well done.

We were exhausted by the end of the night. We had blisters, our legs were sore, and we were running on such little sleep. We had to watch the light show, which was pretty good, but the other parks have better shows.

This is the order that we went in for our 4 parks in 1 day, but depending on fast passes, the light show you want to see, and the restaurants you want to eat at, you can do it in any order.

If you have an insider who can get you into the parks for free, but you only have one day, it is worth doing that experience once! It is not for the faint of heart, but it makes for one heck of a story and memory.

Don’t worry, Disney, I’ll be back – I’ll just enjoy you in pieces next time!