10/13/2026
On Saturday, I completed a bucket list challenge of mine. After a wonderful week at Walt Disney World, on my departure day I visited all 4 parks before heading to the airport. I flew to Los Angeles, and, all in the same 24 hours, visited both Disneyland parks, successfully completing the 6-park challenge.
7:28 AM - entered Animal Kingdom
7:42 AM - rode Expedition Everest
7:51 AM - snack - Dole Whip
8:25 AM - entered Hollywood Studios
8:49 AM - rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
9:01 AM - snack - Mickey waffles
9:46 AM - entered EPCOT
10:20 AM - rode Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
10:37 AM - snack - Mickey pretzel
11:12 AM - entered Magic Kingdom
11:39 AM - rode Tron Lightcycle/Run
12:07 PM - snack - LeFou's Brew
1:14 PM - arrived at MCO
5:31 PM - hopped off the plane at LAX
6:51 PM - checked into Pixar Place and dropped our bags
7:40 PM - entered Disney's California Adventure
7:58 PM - snack - Fluffernutter churro
8:28 PM - rode Incredicoaster
8:51 PM - entered Disneyland
9:22 PM - rode Space Mountain
9:30 PM - watched the nighttime show at Disneyland's castle
9:55 PM - snack - grilled cheese & tomato soup
"Visiting a park" consisted of riding a ride, and eating a snack. We got so lucky in getting all 6 of our "Plan A" rides - everything was up and running and we didn't need to find a backup plan. Eating a snack proved more challenging, especially at Animal Kingdom (Dole Whip was lucky and wasn't marked as being open that early!) and EPCOT (all the wonderful food booths don't open until 11!) We also got lucky that our flight wasn't delayed, and that it only took us about an hour to drive across town.
We planned, however, as much as we could, for months. We analyzed all the different park orders and each ride's location in its park. We relied on Lightning Lanes, which, because it was the end of my trip, I was able to book 12 days out. Incredicoaster was our longest wait, about 20 minutes because it was down due to rain. All transportation was ironed out very far in advance, including a private transfer from LAX to Anaheim to avoid the delays that come with ordering an Uber at that airport. We intentionally didn't check bags to save time there too. Every detail was planned and accounted for, because that's what happens when you have 3 people who do this professionally working together on a project like this.
A huge thank you to Samantha and Amy for accompanying me and helping so much on this journey and for still loving me when I'm tired.
We did it! And now to spend the rest of the week at my favorite place on earth!
