Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Day 890: Four Parks, One Day

Every trip brings a new challenge for me, mostly because I like to keep things interesting. A while back I watch a couple of Four Parks, One Day Videos on YouTube and was struck with the idea that I wanted to attempt the challenge for myself.

Now, there were a couple of rules that we had to abide by throughout the challenge. Actually, mostly just one: We had to experience three attractions in each park. Now, as the day went on, the definition of "attraction" got a bit looser, mostly due to weather and other rocky roads that got in the way, but here's a quick overview of the day, as I don't want to spoil anything for the vlog from the day that will come out later this summer!


Our day started off at Animal Kingdom, where I really took no pictures...although I did remember to take a picture to proove I was actually there! Our attractions included Expedition Everest, Dinosaur and It's Tough to Be A Bug! Honestly this was the least amount of time I've ever spent at Animal Kingdom in one trip and I'm pretty sad about that. 



Next up was Hollywood Studios...because apparently we hadn't been there enough in one trip. The exact opposite of Animal Kingdom. Our attractions there included Tower of Terror, The Muppets 3D and Star Tours! We were scheduled to hit Toy Story Midway Mania instead of the Muppets but time got in our way and we missed our fastpass by about 10 minutes! 



We made our way back to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon, with enough time to check out The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, The Carousel of Progress and Ariel! Of course, in typical Florida fashion, some storms were rolling in by the time we finished at Magic Kingdom, but we quickly made our way to the last park...



...EPCOT! This was actually the first we were at Epcot on the entire trip, which was a bit odd for us, and as the night progressed things got darker and darker. The storms finally took us over around 7, leading to a few hours of rain and a postpone on Illuination for almost an hour. However, it still went off with a bang, and thank goodness! By the time I reached 8:30, things were looking pretty bad. We'd already found time to catch a ride on Spaceship Earth and the Boat ride in Mexico, but that left me with a tough decision. The final showing of the French Film was occuring at 8:45, meaning I would miss roughly the first 6 minutes of Illuminations IF it started on time. However, it WAS raining and there was plenty of lightning around too. If I skipped the French film in favor of Illuminations, I ran the risk of the fireworks being canceled and failing the challenge. 

Ultimately, Illuminations won out and I stood on the bridge in the Italy Pavilion for over an hour in the rain waiting for the show to start. It was actually postponed so many times that we got to a part of the pre-show loop I'd never heard before. We had a similar delay a year ago, but not quite this long. Thankfully, Illuminations was performed as usual, minus the fire barge, therefore giving me one final "Attraction" in Epcot to complete the challenge. 

Overall, I personally am at a point where I feel like I sort of failed the four parks, one day challenge, and I've made a note to try it again on my next trip. Several roadblocks hindered the day, and while I won't get into them, it was definitely one of the hardest days I've ever experienced at Walt Disney World. Let's focus on the good though: I DID technically make it to all four parks and experience attractions in each! Plus a picture with all four icons in one day? That's pretty awesome! 

Have you ever attempted the four parks, one day challenge? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a magical day!


(Note: This blog post was written on June 23 due to travel).


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