Can you see two theme parks in one day at Disney? (passport, town)

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Fancy-Schmancy

AK can be pretty much done-and-dusted by noon if you get there when it opens. Go from there to Hollywood Studios. Stay late, enjoy Fantasmic! Plan to have your meals in HS.

Epcot and MK are a day each, minimum.

Ak probably takes more than a half day. Dhs, less than half

[jadidonato]

I've done all 4 in one day before! Wow I could not move the next day. Hit up all the rides that a 20-year old would care about and then moved on to the next park. It was hella fun though!

[Fancy-Schmancy]

Doing AK and HS in one day presupposes a couple of things. 1) you have your own transportation. 2) you don't dawdle. 3) you don't stick around for the AK parades which are nowhere near as interesting as the ones in the other parks. AK and HS are relatively small parks so you can do them in one (long) day.

Most important to get to AK before it officially opens. The animals are livelier in the early morning, so do Killamanjaro Safaris first thing. Make sure you have your 'My Disney Experience' app ready to go so you can do your fast passes in advance. Move expeditiously...this is not a plan for folks with small children or the elderly or for people who want to see *everything*. You'll see a good sample of what this park is about and then you'll move on. Everest is a must for roller coaster fans. The Safari is the raison d'etre for AK. If you like walking around in soggy shorts, the Rapids are great. Walk the tiger/gorilla path, enjoy the details and the art as you go. I like the Dino part of the park but why waste time at the carnival games that you could play at any carnival in the country? If you like Flame Tree or Y ak & Yeti (love the decor...the food is meh), enjoy it but don't expect speed.

Then get in your car and head to HS. It won't work if you have to spend 2 hours riding around on Disney Buses. Do the Great Movie Ride...it's fab. Tower of Terror and the Star Wars 'trip' are great. The Muppet movie is a must. The restaurants are better here than at AK...except the Brown Derby which is so-so. My favorite is the open-air market as you head toward TofT. You can get good, fresh food here. Choose a show...I prefer Indiana Jones to American Idol, but then I don't watch the tv show either. Animation used to be better (I sound old). Little Mermaid is delightful but it is a rehash of the movie with puppets. Not my thing more than once. Fantasmic is worth the price of admission by itself. If you want to splurge, sign up for the dinner package.

In any park, if you get hot or tired, take a break. 'Great Movie Ride' is very long, and a great place to cool off a little. Or wander into a shop for a 20 minute a/c binge.

It can be done...but not if you want to have a leisurely lunch *and* a luxurious dinner or if you want to save money by using Disney Trans. Or if you have family members who cannot or will not move quickly.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by Fancy-Schmancy

Doing AK and HS in one day presupposes a couple of things. 1) you have your own transportation. 2) you don't dawdle. 3) you don't stick around for the AK parades which are nowhere near as interesting as the ones in the other parks. AK and HS are relatively small parks so you can do them in one (long) day.

Most important to get to AK before it officially opens. The animals are livelier in the early morning, so do Killamanjaro Safaris first thing. Make sure you have your 'My Disney Experience' app ready to go so you can do your fast passes in advance. Move expeditiously...this is not a plan for folks with small children or the elderly or for people who want to see *everything*. You'll see a good sample of what this park is about and then you'll move on. Everest is a must for roller coaster fans. The Safari is the raison d'etre for AK. If you like walking around in soggy shorts, the Rapids are great. Walk the tiger/gorilla path, enjoy the details and the art as you go. I like the Dino part of the park but why waste time at the carnival games that you could play at any carnival in the country? If you like Flame Tree or Y ak & Yeti (love the decor...the food is meh), enjoy it but don't expect speed.

Then get in your car and head to HS. It won't work if you have to spend 2 hours riding around on Disney Buses. Do the Great Movie Ride...it's fab. Tower of Terror and the Star Wars 'trip' are great. The Muppet movie is a must. The restaurants are better here than at AK...except the Brown Derby which is so-so. My favorite is the open-air market as you head toward TofT. You can get good, fresh food here. Choose a show...I prefer Indiana Jones to American Idol, but then I don't watch the tv show either. Animation used to be better (I sound old). Little Mermaid is delightful but it is a rehash of the movie with puppets. Not my thing more than once. Fantasmic is worth the price of admission by itself. If you want to splurge, sign up for the dinner package.

In any park, if you get hot or tired, take a break. 'Great Movie Ride' is very long, and a great place to cool off a little. Or wander into a shop for a 20 minute a/c binge.

It can be done...but not if you want to have a leisurely lunch *and* a luxurious dinner or if you want to save money by using Disney Trans. Or if you have family members who cannot or will not move quickly.

But..... the shows at Disney studios end by 5 or 6 even when the park stays open so you can't do a lot in the park. We have tried it but only shopped and rode TT after 6. Toy Story always was out of Fast Passes and wait was usually over an hour. It seemed like everything was closed except the few rides. Also they still only do the fireworks there on certain nights, I think,

[Botev1912]

I prefer to go in the winter time because the weather is much better and don't have to worry about rain and storms.

[Hesky]

There is always going to be disagreements on whether AK or HS are half day parks or not, it's the oldest discussion on Disney interwebs.

The fact is that if you truly want to get to know the parks, experience all the rides, see all the shows, absolutely they are not half day parks.

On the other hand, if you are not so interested in the theming and you are going there primarily for the thrill rides....then yeah, you will certainly be done with either AK or HS in half a day because each one only has a couple.

Same thing with Epcot, it seems like people either love it or hate it (I love it, my wife hates it). That's the great thing about Orlando as a vacation destination, there's something for everyone.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Hesky

There is always going to be disagreements on whether AK or HS are half day parks or not, it's the oldest discussion on Disney interwebs.

The fact is that if you truly want to get to know the parks, experience all the rides, see all the shows, absolutely they are not half day parks.

On the other hand, if you are not so interested in the theming and you are going there primarily for the thrill rides....then yeah, you will certainly be done with either AK or HS in half a day because each one only has a couple.

Same thing with Epcot, it seems like people either love it or hate it (I love it, my wife hates it). That's the great thing about Orlando as a vacation destination, there's something for everyone.

Yup.... the only consistency is that MK is the flagship park with the most to do.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

Yup.... the only consistency is that MK is the flagship park with the most to do.

And the last one some of us long time locals want to spend time in.....except for seeing the fireworks at Christmas or if they have grand kids .


As for doing thrill rides at Disney? If you are in it for thrill rides-probably heading to the wrong parks. JMHO Also if you are running from ride to ride you will miss so much.

We have done 4 parks in 1 day during the summer when parks close at 11 or 12AM. You have to choose
what you want to see the most. We used Disney transportation. Parked at MK in morning. Did about 5 things there(basically walk ons) , went to Epcot about 1PM to eat lunch and did a couple rides there and walked around .to back gate took the boat to Disney studios, but rethought the plan realizing AK would be closing in 3 hours so went right to the bus loop. <g> Took the bus to AK . I think we were able to go to 1 show, ride the coaster, and do safari. Tried to go to last show for bugs but closed before we got there. Took the bus to the Studios and rode tower of terror cause the other shows last shows were at 5. Rode the bus back to magic kingdom and got there about 8 PM so got some food and staked out spot for parade and fireworks. Fun day but tiring- used the transportation between parks to revitalize for the next park because it was really hot out.

BTW with fast pass plus during week before Easter- 4 hour waits have been reported for Soarin in regular line. If not staying on property with the 3 preplanned fast pass, you have to get to machines and wait in line for fast pass in the parks and they will probably be for rides you used to not need one on.

[Fancy-Schmancy]

If you download 'My Disney Experience' to your smart-phone, you don't have to wait in the FP+ kiosk lines.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by Fancy-Schmancy

If you download 'My Disney Experience' to your smart-phone, you don't have to wait in the FP+ kiosk lines.

Don't have a smart phone, but anyone going in on a day ticket or not staying in a Disney Hotel has been getting their fast passes in the park they day they go. It is an ever changing process because it is being tweeked to work better. You now can only get 3 fast passes per day and they have to be in the same park. But they were talking of maybe letting people get more.