I once read an article about the challenge of riding 10 Magic Kingdom rides/attractions before 10am. It can be done according to the person who wrote it, and I don’t doubt for a moment that it’s true. The majority of our trips to Disney have been somewhat commando-style, with detailed plans organized by extra magic hours and park layout. So our last trip we challenged ourselves to do all 4 parks in one day. (So you don’t think we are totally crazy, we did not have the kids with us on this trip.) Our idea wasn’t to do as much as possible at each park, but just to do our favorites and enjoy a few special things that each park has to offer.

We started our day bright and early at the All Star Music Resort to catch the bus for Hollywood Studios 8am Extra Magic Hours.

After morning opening ceremonies at Hollywood Studios, we went straight to Tower of Terror…

and then to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Now we could get some breakfast! Starring Rolls Café is the perfect place with their delicious (and huge!) cinnamon buns and fruit turnovers. And coffee. Needed the coffee. From there we walked around the Animation Courtyard, over to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre…

and back towards Pixar Place.

Unfortunately, both One Man’s Dream and Toy Story Midway Mania were closed so the area was pretty deserted. We did get to talk to some nice Cast Members who seemed desperate for something to do. We then wandered back towards the Streets of America and around towards Echo Lake,

with a visit to Writers Stop. “Writers Stop?” you ask, “I have never heard of it.” And I almost want to keep it my little secret, but that’s just not how we are. Writers Stop sits on an unassuming corner near the back of Hollywood Studios. The reason for this visit was to try their carrot cake cookie. Amazing! But, I have to tell you, the other cookies they had in that display case were like nothing else I have seen at Disney. We knew we were short on time (not to mention full!) but next time, I’m going back for the chocolate chip (4 different kinds of chocolate!) Ok, now I really needed to keep walking, so we headed towards the exit to catch the bus to…

Animal Kingdom was our next stop. We knew this would be the park where we would spend the majority of our time. We slowly walked back towards Africa, taking our time to check in with all the animals along the Oasis and Discovery Island. While enjoying the safari, we learned that they have a new feature on the ride where they now make ten 5-second stops so that you are able to enjoy the scenery a bit more and take clear pictures!

We then headed over to Asia, stopping for a frozen chai tea at the Royal Anandapur Tea Company on the way to ride Expedition Everest.

Dave wanted to catch the Village Beatniks show near Flame Tree Barbeque, so that’s where we headed next. They are so talented and fun and I love to watch the little kids join in their show. One more ride on Expedition Everest and then we headed back to our room at All Star Music. It was now 3:15.

We were at Epcot by 4:00. We got Fastpasses for Test Track and then rode Mission Space. Even though this was our fourth trip to Disney in less than three years, we had just recently learned of Club Cool in Future World. We didn’t find the Beverly totally offensive, but I certainly couldn’t drink much of it! By now we were getting hungry. We always wanted to try Tangierine Café and today’s agressive schedule was a great opportunity to try a unique quick service location.

How convenient that they have a boat at the Showcase Plaza that takes you right to Morocco! We shared the Mediterranean Sliders Combo which came with hummus, Tabouleh and Lentil Salad. Everything was delicious, I could have eaten a plate of just the hummus and Tabouleh they were so good and it was plenty of food for two people. We walked though World Showcase stopping at Norway for something else we had yet to try, the School Bread. Look for it next time you are in Norway. You won’t be disappointed. Next we headed to Mexico to do a tequila tasting. Interesting. I’m not a big tequila fan, but the way the tasting is presented is really unique and I would definitely do that again.

So then we walked all the way back through the countries to the UK. It had just started to rain by this time and what better place to wait out the weather than a British pub! At the Rose and Crown Pub I enjoyed a Snake Bite, (a hard cider and Harp mix) and Dave did a single malt scotch flight. Now, you may be thinking “Geez, all these people do is drink and eat!” May I remind you that I mentioned we did not have the kids with us (“I don’t want to go in the pub, the pub is so boring!”) and we were going to enjoy some of the “big kid” things that each park has to offer. The food and beverages in World Showcase are probably the highlight of this park to me.

Well, the rain was letting up and we still had Test Track fastpasses! Unfortunately, the rain returned while we were in line and riders were coming back from the track soaked. We loaded before the rain stopped the ride but we ended up sitting in our car at the brake test area for a bit until they felt it was safe to resume (re-zoom?) It was now about 9pm and the storm made for some fantastic photos around Epcot.

But we still had one last park to hit…

So we hopped the monorail at about 10PM to head to Magic Kingdom for their evening extra magic hours. We wanted to ride Space Mountain because it had been closed the last two times we were in the World. Stand by wait time was only 20 minutes so we started to walk through. Things seemed to be moving pretty slow, and the next thing we know the lights come on and a voice announces they are experiencing technical difficulties. We hopped over the rail and headed back out before everyone else decided to do the same. So we took a few more pictures of the castle…

…and decided to call it a day.

We didn’t get to do as much at MK as we would have liked, but visiting all 4 parks in one day is definitely possible.  The rain slowed us down a bit. Waiting in line for Space Mountain while it was down wasted some time. This was our second day of the trip, the first day starting at 4AM for our flight, so fatigue from our travel day drove us out of Magic Kingdom an hour before closing. With the weather and time, the park was starting to empty out. Had we been able to use the last hour of the night we could have squeezed in our favorite rides and captured a few more night photos of MK. Ending the Four Disney Parks in One Day in Magic Kingdom during its evening Extra Magic Hours definitely allows for the most hours in the parks since this means a 1AM or 2AM closing. Even so, maybe next time we attempt this, we’ll start at Magic Kingdom so we can be sure to ride all three of the “mountains”! Can we still pull off the best of all four parks in one day??? We’ll let you know…