DisneyWorld in One Day?

I am traveling to Orlando soon and I am planning to hit the Disney parks in one day. I have already been there before, so it is not important that I do everything. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to what I should do, see, and eat to make the most of my time there.

So far I figured:

MGM; Rockin Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror

Epcot; Mission Space, Test Track

Magic Kingdom; the three mountains

Animal Kingdom; I have already done everything and I am not planning on going here

I also have some other time set aside for Blizard Beach, Sea World, Busch Gardens, DisneyQuest, and Universal. If anyone has any suggestions about other things I should see or do while in Florida, it would also be very appreciated.

PS; I have been to Old Town , but are there any other coasters in the area to hit?

I just got home from Fl, we had a great time. We only did Magic Kingdom and Universal this time. It only took us till 2 at Magic Kingdom and we did most of everything. It was my first trip there so we had to just walk around and look at everything. We also left Universal around 2 and we did everything there also. Just make sure you go to the Mummy right when the park opens, we did that and had only 5 min. wait time. I would make sure you do Seaworld I love that place and they have one of the best coasters ever. Also we sent to Gatorland in orlando, it was a good time. If you like stuff like that I would try to stop by it's fun for what you pay to get in.

If you go to MGM in the evening and have time, I would see Fantasmic. You must go early to get a seat though.

In November 2002 Stephanie and I did most of Animal Kingdom, Tower of Terror and R-n-R at Dis-MGM, the coasters and other stuff at Magic Kingdom, all in one day. I was tired as hell after that, but it was a good time. Drop AK out of there and you'd have time for Epcot for sure. Note that this was November, which is far from busy that time of year.

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RavenTTD said:
I would see Fantasmic. You must go early to get a seat though.

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They should offer some sort of pay for seating system like Q-bot for that ;)

I enjoy Epcot/MGM in one day. It isn't too difficult because transportation is easier for one thing. Start at Epcot, do what you want like Mission and Test, then head over to MGM via boat which is a nice break.

Finish your day at MGM and end it with dinner and Fantasmic.

Jeff is right, I think more than two parks is overkill and exhausting...particularly during the heat of the summer.

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Lord Gonchar said:

They should offer some sort of pay for seating system like Q-bot for that ;)

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They do. There are like 3 restraunts in MGM where if you eat there (and the cheapest place is like $25 per person), then you will be able to have reserved seating. You will be able to enter and still have a seat upuntill like 5 min before the show starts. The seats aren't the best, but not too bad considering that you'd have to wait like 2 hours before they open up the show seating to get any seats better. Also, I know that you were joking there, but I thought that I should chime in anyways. *** Edited 6/8/2004 6:05:35 PM UTC by Mark Burleson***

How do you plan on visiting all three parks in one day? By that I mean, which form of admission media do you plan on buying?

I did it as a guest of a retired employee. Obviously not everyone has that kind of access.

Yeah, we did that once. My wife had some connection through her hotel with a park employee. We met at the park and ended up with what was essentially a one day park hopper.

I'm not sure those are a publically available option. (although maybe they should be?)

At MGM I would absolutely NOT miss out on Fantasmic, and Muppets. Fantasmic is probably the single best attraction at WDW, and Muppets, may have been my favorite of the 4D theatre attractions at Disney (and probably the one most overlooked in Orlando.)

I would hate to miss anything at Epco. Test Track is great, but I found Mission Space to be the dissapointment of the trip. Its good for the experience but I really have no need to go out of my way to ride it again. Its too bad you'll probably have to miss Illuminations, as well. You're going to pass right by Spaceship Earth and the line is never long...I wouldn't pass that one up.

At Magic Kingdom I wouldn't go if I weren't going to hit Pirates and Haunted Mansion. As far as I'm concerned they're the ultimate Disney "Classics" and I wouldn't pass them up no matter how little time I had.

I'd add the Norway attraction to your Epcot list. If the wait time is bareable. It's a good water ride that a lot of people miss, with a pretty decent drop.

I haven't seen Fantasmic yet, maybe next time. I will say IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth is worth catching. Of course the only problem is the mass exodus that occurs after it.

they have a water ride at epcot? Wow I totally missed that there.

We did a highlights tour of all four parks in February. Of course, it's the off season, so it may be different when you're there. We opened MK and did most of the major stuff there and were out by 1:00. Over to AK for lunch, Triceritops and Dinosaur. We got to MGM by 4:00 and rode about everything there, had a light dinner and caught Fantasmic. From there to Epcot, a couple spins on Mission: Space, one on Test Track and out to the lake in time to see Illuminations. We had dinner before going back to the hotel on 192.

So, yeah - it can be done. But we spent very little time at a couple of the parks.

On a side note - if you are driving, and you go to the parks later in the day, you can park very close to the entrance to the parks (except MK). Most of the folks that get there first thing in the morning are gone. If they have an attendant, just ask if you can go up and look.

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Without the chaindog, you'd never get up the lifthill...

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What about MF?

My suggestion for anyone thinking of doing this is to check the park opening/closing times to plan your "route". Years ago, my 60 something year old Mom and I did 3 parks in one day (back before AK was built) and it was great.

The Magic Kingdom closed earliest (it was the off season) so this is what we did: We parked the car at EPCOT and took the monorail to MK, and stayed there until after the 3 p.m. parade. From there we took the bus to MGM, did a few more things, and when they closed at around 7 we headed by bus to EPCOT in time for Illuminations.

Since it's summer, the parks are probably all open late, but I would still check opening/closing times and plan accordingly. Also, take into consideration the fact that if you are parking your car, I would park it at your final destination, because it's easier than trying to deal with Disney's transportation at park closing time.

Just my 2 cents!

You might want to also think about parking at Epcot and hitting Mission Space or Test Track first and get a Fastpass for the other one. I was there at the end of March and we got in Epcot near opening and the lines were already forming. There is a water taxi that takes you from Epcot --> MGM and back (as mentioned above), but it is approx a 20 minute trip as it stops at a few of the hotels in between.

I would also recommend trying to catch Mickey's Philhar Magic @ MK. It was one of our favorite attractions at that park. Also, if you are planning to see the Illuminations show, there is outdoor seating at the pub in the UK.