Our Step‑by‑Step Strategy for the Disney 4 Parks 1 Day Challenge
Four parks. One day. One Notion Dashboard.
If you’re wondering whether it’s possible to visit Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom all in one day - it is.
We did it.
And yes, we lived to tell the tale.
This was our first Disney World trip without our daughter, and instead of relaxing like normal people, we decided to attempt the infamous 4 Parks in 1 Day Challenge with a full strategy built in Notion.
Here’s exactly how it all went down.
The plan, the problems, the pivots… and whether we’d actually do it again.
What Is the 4 Parks 1 Day Challenge?
To officially complete the challenge, you have to:
- Visit all four Disney World parks in one day
- Ride at least one attraction in each park
- Eat something in each park
- Take a photo at a landmark in each park
You can’t just walk through and say you did it. You’ve got to experience each one.
Our P-L-A-N
If you know anything about us, it’s that we don’t just wing Disney.
We always have a plan.
And for this Challenge, we built a full Notion dashboard with:
- Ride targets
- Food Items
- Photo spots
For rides we were aiming for:
- Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom
- Rise of the Resistance or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot
- Tron Lightcycle/Run at Magic Kingdom
Our initial thoughts was to book a Lightning Lane Single Pass for each ride so we could have that part all scheduled out.
Here’s the thing.
Disney only lets you purchase TWO Lightning Lane Single passes per day.
So this was our first problem we ran into.
Two parks we’re going to have a Lightning Lane associated with them and two we were going to have to see what the wait times were going to be.
Pro Tip:
Disney allows you to book your Lightning Lane Single passes in advance.
If you’re staying at a Disney Resort, you’re able to book your Lightning Lanes 7 Days before your check-in dav.
If you’re not staying at a Disney resort, you can book your Lightning Lanes 3 Days before your park reservation day.
We weren’t staying at a Disney resort, so 3 days before our Challenge Day, we hopped on My Disney Experience App and looked through what was available.
Since we could only grab two, we decided to get them for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in Epcot and Tron Lightcycle/Run in Magic Kingdom.
These are the two rides historically with the most brutal wait times.
Expedition Everest doesn't even offer Lightning Lane Single Pass and typically has shorter waits in the morning anyway.
And Hollywood Studios?
Well, that's where we’ll roll the dice and see what the wait times look like when we get there.
Here’s how are Lightning Lanes looked:
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - 3:20 PM - 4:20 PM
- Tron Lightcycle/Run - 8:40 PM - 9:40 PM
Challenge Day
Park 1: Animal Kingdom
We started the day at Animal Kingdom.
This park opens the earliest, so we decided to get here the moment it opened.
We also decided to get Preferred Parking so that we could park at the front at each park.
We’re always trying to save some steps.
Here’s what happened at Animal Kingdom:
- Parking by 7:30 AM
- Park Opens at 8:00 AM
- Ride: We walked onto Expedition Everest with a 5-minute wait at 8:03 AM
- Food: We passed on the usual grab-and-go stuff and trekked across the park to Harambe Market in Africa. The breakfast there? Absolutely worth it. We were done with this by 8:35 AM.
- Photo: We grabbed our pic in front of the Tree of Life at 8:47 AM
- Bonus stop: At this time Disney was passing out limited time Crush Magnets for Annual Passholders. And the next time we come here? It will be gone forever! So, we made a quick detour to grab the limited edition Crush magnet.
By 9:00 AM, Animal Kingdom was done!
Park 2: Hollywood Studios
This was the wildcard.
We had no Lightning Lanes booked for this park, so it was all up to the wait times when we arrived.
Now Hollywood Studios opened at 9:00 AM, so we basically rope-dropped Hollywood Studios too.
We were on Hollywood Blvd by 9:20 AM.
Now to look at the wait times to see what ride we should go to.
The wait times were:
- Rise of the Resistance - 70 minutes
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster - 20 minutes
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster it is! because who doesn’t want to be launched from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds while Aerosmith screams at you? That's basically the Hollywood Studios experience in a nutshell.
By 9:52 AM we were done!
We’re crushing it but also we need to slow down.
Since we’re trying to have lunch by 11:30ish, we figured let’s go ride Rise of the Resistance.
It’s at 70 minutes, but we have time to wait in this line and honestly the air conditioning will be nice.
We got in line at 10:15 and we were walking out by 11:15.
Pro Tip:
Usually when it says 70 minutes, its not actually that wait time.
At this point, it's officially lunch time, which means we're headed to Woody's Lunchbox.
And here's where our obsessive planning really pays off.
We actually ordered our food through mobile order while we were standing in line for Rise of the Resistance, so it should be ready and waiting for us.
Because nothing says "we've got this whole Disney thing figured out" like seamlessly coordinating ride queues with lunch orders.
Once we finished our lunch, our final item on our To Do list was our mandatory Hollywood Studios photo op.
We're going classic - right in front of the iconic Chinese Theater.
In summary, here’s how Hollywood Studios broke down:
- Ride: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at 9:25 AM
- Bonus ride: Since we had plenty of time before lunch, we hit Rise of the Resistance. Wait time said 70 minutes - we were off in 60. Victory.
- Food: We mobile ordered Woody’s Lunchbox while waiting in line. I got the plant-based Totchos, Doug got the regular ones, and the Raspberry Lunch Box Tart? A must whenever we’re at Hollywood Studios. We were done with this by 11:45 AM.
- Photo: Snagged it in front of the Chinese Theater.
By 11:57 AM, we were leaving Hollywood Studios.
Two parks down before noon. Crushing it.
Midday Break (Yes, Really)
This is where our plan differs from most.
We left.
Like, fully went back to the hotel.
Why? Because we are millennials with lower back problems and an understanding that rest is a strategy.
We took some ibuprofen, laid down, and gave our feet a break.
After an hour nap, we were ready to get back at it.
Park 3: Epcot
Okay, so here's our plan for the final two parks.
We're heading to Epcot first, then finishing at Magic Kingdom.
But instead of driving to both parks separately, we're going to park at Magic Kingdom and take the monorail over to Epcot.
Now I know what you're thinking, "Why would you add extra travel time to an already crazy day?"
Well, here's the thing:
I've always wanted to take the monorail ride into Epcot, and apparently we've decided to use this highly stressful day to make random Disney dreams come true.
Because honestly?
That's peak Disney right there.
Where stress and magic somehow combine into this beautiful, chaotic experience that makes absolutely no logical sense but feels completely right.
When we got to Epcot we were greeted with a beautiful Florida welcome: RAIN.
Here is how our time at Epcot looked:
- Ride: Used our Lightning Lane for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
- Food: It was raining on and off, so we opted for Connections Eatery and ordered the Black Garlic, Truffle & Parmesan Fries. No notes, would eat again.
- Photo: Even though it was raining, we got our picture in front of Spaceship Earth. Yes, we were commited to the bit.
By 5:25 PM, we were done with EPCOT and ready to head back to Magic Kingdom.
Monorail Plot Twist
So, here’s how the monorail works:
- Monorail 1: Epcot > TTC (Transportation & Ticket Center)
- Monorail 2: TTC > Magic Kingdom
We took Monorail 1, no problem.
But Monorail 2?
Completely shut down. So guess what that meant?
We had to take…
The ferry…
Now if you like the ferry, I love that for you.
But personally? It’s hot, it’s slow, and it starts the “my feet hurt” timer way too early.
Monorail is chill. Ferry is chaos.
But hey, what’s a 4-park challenge without a little adversity, right?
Park 4: Magic Kingdom
Eventually, we made it. Magic Kingdom. The final frontier.
Our Lightning Lane for Tron wasn’t until 8:40, so the plan was to get our photo and food first.
Obligatory castle photo? Acquired.
Then we headed to Casey’s Corner.
Which, fun fact, we never eat at when we’re with our daughter because she has a severe egg allergy.
But tonight? No kiddo.
Which means we finally get to try those Mini Corn dogs everyone raves about.
And honestly? Absolutely worth the hype.
We also split the Pulled Pork Hot Dog, which was delicious but also aggressively messy.
Like, “grab 17 napkins and say a prayer” kind of messy.
Now it’s 7:00 p.m. and we are one - ONE - ride away from completing this whole insane challenge.
With time to spare, we did something wild…
We slowed down.
We walked.
We watched the sunset.
We just… existed in the park for a minute.
And after the chaos of earlier, that was kind of the most magical part.
Oh! And!
We bought a Stitch popcorn bucket.
Because:
- Sophia would love it, and
- She has no idea we snuck off to Disney without her, so this little guy is basically our peace offering
At 8:30 we made our way to Tron.
Pro tip:
You can scan in for your Lightning Lane five minutes early, so at 8:35, we were officially in.
Fifteen minutes later, we were boarding.
Lights. Speed. Adrenaline. Existential reflection. TRON is short but so, so sweet.
And with that… we did it.
Four parks. One day. One very detailed Notion dashboard. A few curveballs. And a lot of snacks.
In summary, our time at Magic Kingdom looked like:
- Photo: Snapped in front of the castle, of course.
- Food: Finally tried Casey’s Corner. Since our daughter has an egg allergy, we usually skip it, but this time we had the mini corn dogs and a pulled pork hot dog that was delicious… and dangerously messy.
- Bonus stop: Bought a Stitch popcorn bucket for Sophia. Because if your kid finds out you went to Disney without her, you better have something to bribe with.
- Ride: Lightning Lane for Tron at 8:40 PM (but we scanned in 5 minutes early, because we couldn’t wait another minute!)
Now we just had one ride left…
Final Thoughts
We completed the 4 Parks in 1 Day Challenge.
One ride, one food item, one photo in each. Plus a hotel nap, a monorail betrayal, and some limited time merch stops.
Would we do it again? Honestly… yes.
With the right plan and realistic expectations, it was a really fun Disney experience.
Thinking about trying it yourself?
Grab our Notion planning template here. It’ll help you know what your next step is so what the inevitable curve-ball is thrown, you’ll know how to pivot.
