A Disney Parks Around the World Journey: Day 3 – Four Parks, One Day Part II

Disclaimer: This post is going to be a little more detailed than typical as I know many are interested in doing 4 parks in one day. Also I know many are curious as to how much can be done in a VIP tour. Today was crazy fast paced as well and in cases like this there just isn’t much time for photography.

So we continued on our 4 parks in 1 day journey via van. On the way to Epcot Kennedy gave us the VIP Merchandise menu so we could strategize our purchases in advance.

The VIP merch is brand new for Walt Disney World and only started at the beginning of December so very few people have ever had the opportunity to purchase it.

3:35PM We arrived at Epcot and used the backstage exit near Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Also, just so you are aware, there are no pictures allowed in backstage areas and as such there will be none in this post for those who were wondering.

We stopped for a quick picture with the golf ball AKA Spaceship Earth.

3:44PM Used Lightning Lane entrance for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

4:17PM Done with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

4:22PM Left via same backstage entrance and went back to the van and used van to transfer to Magic Kingdom.

On the way to Magic Kingdom I noticed the coolest parking tag of all time. I sooo want one!

4:35PM We arrived at Magic Kingdom and upon exiting the car were again offered snacks. It was the same variety as before, but this time they had added some Clif and Kind bars. We then entered via the backstage walkway that is only opened before fireworks to allow more fireworks viewing space and also to decrease congestion on Main Street afterwards.

This is right next to Tomorrowland Terrace where they hold the dessert parties. We stopped for a quick bathroom break, and while we were doing our business, Kennedy went and got us some ice cream. Me and Kendall split a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich. We then started the trek to the newest ride, or really newest reimagined ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

4:55PM Used Lightning Lane entrance for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. We all donned our ponchos and jackets as getting wet when it’s low 50’s outside is not exactly ideal. Of note, the VIP tour does provide ponchos for free, but our jackets are waterproof so we just opted to use those.

This was the first time I had been on it since it was rethemed from Splash Mountain. I found it a worthy successor, but nothing will ever be as good as the original to me. The animatronics were impressive and definitely far more advanced than previously. I definitely missed “Zip-a-Dee-doo-dah” as the ending song though.

5:21PM Done with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. While we were on Tiana’s, Kennedy went off to get us some real Disney snack’s. Options included popcorn, ice cream bars, churro or a pretzel. Kendall and Lucy went for some popcorn and I took a Mickey Pretzel.

5:34PM Used the exit entrance for Haunted Mansion.

5:41PM Done with Haunted Mansion

5:46PM Used Lightning Lane entrance for Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

6:05PM Done with Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

We were the supposed to do Tron but it was sadly down. At that point the group decided to stick around Tomorrowland in hopes it would open back up soon. We then chose to go to Space Mountain.

6:13PM Took a bathroom break near Space Mountain.

6:20PM Used Lightning Lane entrance for Space Mountain.

6:29PM Done with Space Mountain. Tron was still not back up so we decided to do Buzz Lightyear Space Range Spin.

6:37PM Used the exit for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

6:46PM We exited Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Tron was STILL not online so we decided to go on Space Mountain one last time.

6:52PM Used Lightning Lane entrance for Space Mountain.

7:02PM Done with Space Mountain and Tron was STILL down.

7:15PM We had run out of time to do Tron so we march on over to Curtain Call, a store at the very front of the park that sells the VIP merchandise. This can ONLY be purchased during your tour time AT Magic Kingdom so you have to use some tour time to buy the merchandise further adding to the cost. The merch is not on display, and must be requested by a tour guide. Interestingly enough for the price you’d think there was at least some basic presentation but they just kinda bring it out half hazardly in a box. For something of this price you’d think they’d have a little better presentation.

We shopped for a bit, and every one buys something. In the end, we bought some ears, a lounge fly, spirit jersey, a collectible pin set and an ornament.

7:40 PM We then headed over to the VIP fireworks area which is in the lawn area near Casey’s corner. It was shockingly pretty empty. Per our tour guide there could have been 200 people there today, but I counted maybe 50 at best so it was very spacious and the girls in our group could play. Kennedy offered to grab some water or snacks for us but we were full from all the snacks. While we waited Kennedy got us an anytime Lightning Lanes to be used for Tron later if it came back online. We took some pics with the castle in the background and waited for the fireworks.

8:00PM The fireworks started. It was Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks today instead of Happily Ever After which was kinda neat. It had been a while since I’ve seen Happily Ever After thought and was really looking forward to having a good view of it so I was little disappointed to be honest.

8:14PM The fireworks finished up. It’s a much shorter show than Happily Ever After, and so that was another small disappointment given that we didn’t get to use the VIP area a little longer as well. We then said goodbye to our newly made friends and I started to walk to the lockers at the front of the park with our VIP merch. We still had 2.5 hours of park time and I was not gonna drag the merch on all the rides. I was there and back to pick up Lucy and Kendall in less than 12 minutes which was crazy fast given how congested Main Street is after the fireworks. We then started to walk to our first Lightning Lane, the ride with the eighth wonder of the world, The Jungle Cruise.

8:31PM We got to the Jungle Cruise or really it’s holiday themed version, the Jingle Cruise. We used our Lightning Lane and enjoyed some holiday themed dad jokes.

8:48PM We were done with Jungle Cruise and noticed Tron had just opened back up so we head toward Tron.

9:04PM We made it to Tron and apparently everyone else had the same idea as the Lightning Lane was really backed up.

I guesstimated it was probably a 30 min wait with the Lightning Lane and that proved about dead on accurate. I always find the Tron loading area so soothing with all the blue lights. I am a huge fan of the Daft Punk Tron soundtrack, so I just love listening to music in the area.

9:45PM Finished Tron and at that point we decided to go home as we were getting pretty tired as we started the day at 7:00AM. We still had two Lightning Lanes that we could have used, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and another Space Mountain but this trip is a marathon and not a sprint and we chose to let those go dead. I missed the days when you could just hand someone your unused fast passes as a little pixie dusting. I did stop for one final pic of the castle on the way out. It truly does look beautiful at night. No wonder it’s the number one most instagrammed spot on earth.

10:01PM We had made it outside Magic Kingdom. The number one most glorious thing about having a room at the Polynesian is not having to deal with the mass chaos of trying to take the ferry or monorail back to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then make your way home via car or deal with the painfully long bus lines back to your resort. We just took the monorail to the resort. That was it. Doesn’t get much simpler. This was a real milestone moment for us after years of trekking home exhausted, hot and sweaty after waiting in the crazy long lines for the monorail or ferry at the end of a Magic Kingdom day. We had waited our whole lives for this convenience. It was absolutely glorious.

10:25PM We were back at the Polynesian and stopped at Capt. Cooks for some food as all we had eaten since noon was a bunch of ice cream, popcorn and pretzels. Kendall and I split a BBQ sandwich.

We were exhausted at this point so we then went to bed to prep for a day of transit to Paris… or so we thought.

Day 3, December 21st, 2024 Step Count – 33,800 Steps

Total Step Count – 63,971

Continue to the next day here.

Read about our previous day here.