Magic Kingdom Ultimate Challenge — December 5, 2018
On December 5, 2018 (Walt Disney’s birthday!), I attempted the Touring Plans Ultimate Magic Kingdom Challenge. To complete the challenge, you have to complete all “core” attractions, and your score is the total number of core and bonus attractions you complete. (Any core attraction that is not planned to be operating that day is not required.) You must post a photo of yourself experiencing each attraction — miss a photo of yourself on a ride or in a show and you’re out of luck!
The complete list of core and bonus attractions is at the bottom of the post.
On December 5, the official hours for Magic Kingdom were 9 am to midnight, and I completed 62 total attractions (all 46 core attractions and 16 bonus attractions) between when the park opened around 7:45 am and when they shooed us out of there around 12:15 AM (16.5 hours). Below is a record of my day (can also find on my twitter feed).
Initial FPs:
Times Guide
The Attractions
- Main Street Vehicles
2. Extra MSV #1
3. Extra MSV #2
4. Let the Magic Begin
I had the previous day’s hashtag (#GiveKidsTheRides) on the timestamp text until this point. Updated (#UltimateMKChallenge) after this point.
5. Meet Merida
Arrived at 9:02 am, first in line for Merida’s 9:15 set. Her brothers had left the gate open and Angus got loose. She had to catch him so she arrived about 9:26 am. I had considered trying to catch Alice or the Tremaines after this for another bonus attraction but I skipped that idea after losing 11 minutes here.
6. Enchanted Tales with Belle
7. Peter Pan’s Flight with FP1
8. Cinderella’s Castle
I was going to watch the Royal Majesty Makers for 5 minutes for a bonus attraction, but they were wandering around talking to people and I realized I didn’t know if the was their “show.” Instead I got the photo in front of the Cinderella Castle murals (core attraction) and moved on.
9. Meet Daring Disney Pals
I had hoped to reach Pete’s Silly Circus just before 10 am when the character meets opened but was running a few minutes behind. I opted for the Goofy/Donald side since it had the shorter line. I skipped meeting Donald since only 1 character in each queue counts toward the total.
10. Casey Jr. Splash ’n’ Soak Station
The attractions where you just take a photo and run make you feel like you’re really racking up the numbers.
11. Dumbo
The Barnstormer line looked longer than I wanted to wait so I headed to Dumbo instead.
Leaving Dumbo, I noticed that Winnie the Pooh was down — rope across the entrance, no one in the queue. After I tapped in to 7DMT with FP2, it went down 2 trains before I would have boarded. So I took a chance and modified FP3 (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) to a 10:45 AM WTP FP. It quickly converted to any anytime FP (good for any ride other than Peter Pan or 7DMT) and I grabbed another FP for 10:50, followed by 11:00, and 11:05 after each successive one converted. All 4 of these converted to anytime FPs. For 2 of the times (10:50, 11:00) I have screenshots of both the original and anytime FPs, and for the others I have screenshots of the anytime FP only (10:45) or the original FP only (11:05). I don’t believe the FP screenshots are required per Ultimate touring plan rules, but we will see.
12. 7 Dwarfs Mine Train with FP2
13. Muppets Present…Great Moments in American History
14. Splash Mountain
15. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with FP3 (1st of 4 anytime FPs)
16. Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire
17. Casey’s Corner Pianist (view for 5 minutes)
Not just 5 minutes. 5 minutes and 1 second.
18. Snow White at Town Square Theater Porch
I signed up for Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom on the way to meet Snow White.
19. Main Street Philharmonic (view for 5 minutes)
5 minutes and 1 second again!
20. Dapper Dans (view for 5 minutes)
Dapper Dans were really good, so I stayed 5 minutes and 5 seconds.
21. Enchanted Tiki Room
22. Jingle Cruise using FP4
23. Pirates of the Caribbean using FP5
24. Glassblowing Demonstration at Crystal Arts (view for 5 minutes)
25. Festival of Fantasy Parade
First and last floats:
The rest of the parade:
26. Magic Carpets of Aladdin using FP6
27. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
This SOTMK mission was spread out over time. The first 2 windows were before the parade. The remaining windows were after Magic Carpets.
The remaining 3 windows are shown below. The next mission it gave me was in Frontierland.
28. A Pirates’s Adventure — Treasures of the Seven Seas
The first stop for this quest (chest of bones) was completed before the final SOTMK window above:
The other 3 stops were completed consecutively:
29. Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade
After a stop at the enlistment center for another Pirates Adventure quest, I headed around the corner to the Shootin’ Arcade.
30. Country Bear Jamboree
Ugh, this show. Tears will be the chaser indeed.
31. Hall of Presidents
I tweeted this one out of order, but HOP was my next stop. I got there just as the next show was about to begin. We had a nearly full theater!
32. Pirates Adventure (Extra #1)
This Pirates Adventure was simpler to follow, all 4 stops in a row:
33. Hoedown Happening
I enlisted for 1 more Pirates Adventure and then followed the big guy in the red hat to the Hoedown Happening.
34. Mickey at Town Square Theater using FP7
I almost tried to sneak Tinkerbell in before Flag Retreat started, but on the advice of the CM at the FP tapstile, I decided to wait. While I waited, I got the autographs of Lady and the Tramp. (Find out how at CharacterLocator.com!) Very cool, but you don’t get to meet them so they don’t count as an attraction.
35. Flag Retreat
At Flag Retreat you are required to view until the flag is removed from the pole.
36. Tinkerbell at Town Square Theater using FP8
Lovely conversation with Tinkerbell about the frost fairies’ responsibility for the cold weather.
37. Pirates Adventure (Extra #2)
Another straightforward Pirates Adventure with 4 consecutive stops culminating in finding the sword.
38. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (Extra #1)
I didn’t get pictures of the first window for this SOTMK, which I completed prior to the Shootin’ Arcade.
The 2nd window was after the Hoedown Happening (first photo below), and the final two (remaining photos) were after the just-completed Pirates Adventure.
39. Swiss Family Treehouse
40. Tomorrowland Speedway using FP9
I thought I might complete this ride and get back to the castle before the Frozen Wish castle lighting show at 6:15 but it wasn’t to be.
41. Carousel of Progress
I had grabbed a Buzz Lightyear FP for 6:35 but while I was on CoP, Space Mountain (which had been down for about 90 minutes) came back online so I headed there to ride with one of my anytime FPs from the morning.
42. Space Mountain using FP10 (using 2nd anytime FP)
43. PeopleMover
I went to use my Buzz Lightyear FP but the line to tap in for FPs went outside the building, down to the Laugh Floor and back, and out into the plaza. So instead I got into the PeopleMover line, which also snaked back and forth.
While on the PeopleMover I realized I wasn’t going to make my Buzz FP so I moved it to 7:35. But the FP line was still backed up so I dropped that in favor of a WTP FP at 7:40. It wasn’t quite 7:40 yet so I used my 3rd anytime FP from the morning to meet a princess.
44. Meet Cinderella and Elena at Princess Fairytale Hall using FP11 (using 3rd anytime FP)
I met Elena but skipped out on Cinderella because time was running short (see how she likes it when it happens to her, amirite?).
45. Winnie the Pooh using FP12
I tried to get a FP to meet Ariel before the fireworks but couldn’t move it early enough. so I headed to Haunted Mansion to use the last of my anytime FPs from the morning.
46. Haunted Mansion using FP13 (using 4th and final anytime FP)
47. Meet Ariel
I still couldn’t move my Ariel FP early enough so I took a chance that the standby line would be shorter than the posted 20-minute wait. I was prepared to bail in order to be at Happily Ever After on time and grabbed a FP for Under the Sea next door just in case, but the line was short and I made it to Ariel in about 12–13 minutes.
That left me enough time to squeeze in Under the Sea:
48. Under the Sea using FP14
While riding I grabbed a FP for Buzz Lightyear (at least the 3rd Buzz FP of the day).
49. Happily Ever After
50. Buzz Lightyear using FP15
Finally I was able to use a Buzz FP, although right after the fireworks of course I didn’t need it; the ride was a walk-on. But I did pretty well in the game of “get as close as you can to Galactic Hero without achieving it.” Before boarding I grabbed my final FP of the night for the Teacups.
51. Mad Tea Party using FP16
52. Barnstormer.
53. Once Upon a Time
I had been happy to knock out 3 rides between the end of Happily Ever After and the start of Once Upon a Time. It made me feel that even if the park was busy during Extra Magic Hours that I had a good chance to complete the rest of the core attractions.
54. Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
I got a little unlucky, just missed the previous show.
55. Astro Orbitor
I got lucky on this one, though, last one on my flight, got to walk directly into the elevator.
56. Sonny Eclipse (view for 5 minutes)
Sonny Eclipse, one of the few bonus attractions available during extra magic hours.
57. Prince Charming Carrousel
(Proof of motion available in my twitter feed.)
58. “it’s a small world”
59. Mickey’s Philharmagic
Final core attraction! Plenty of good seats available.
60. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (Extra #2)
When I had exited the Carrousel, I noticed someone at one of the Fantasyland SOTMK windows, which was interesting since SOTMK was listed as closing at 9 pm per WDW online and. My next mission was on Main Street, and I had to go to the lockers to get my backpack, so I decided to see if they were still working, and they were! A bonus bonus attraction. (You can see by my coat and hat at the final window that I picked up my backpack after the Train Station window.)
61. Meet Rapunzel and Tiana
With just a few minutes left before midnight I had time for the other princess line at Fairytale Hall. I stayed for both princesses this time.
62. Kiss Goodnight and The End
Final attraction of the night and return to the Stop location at the Hub.
Most of the day I felt good about my chances of completing all core attractions, with the exception of a stretch around 7:30 pm where I had trouble getting to the Buzz Lightyear ride. In all, I completed 62 attractions in 16 hours and 26 minutes. As of the date of my attempt, only 11 teams had completed the challenge with more attractions than I had, and all but one of them either were during a 24-hour event or involved Disney challenge veteran Kenny “The Pirate” White. I had a fun day in the beautiful (if chilly) Florida sunshine!
Give Kids The World Village Challenge For Hope
On the same day I was running my Ultimate challenge, several friends were attempting the EveryRideWDW challenge (riding every operating ride in all 4 parks) while raising money for Give Kids The World Village. One of the challengers was GKTW Village President and CEO Pam Landwirth, and 2 teams even completed all 45 rides! I’m proud to be part of the Every Ride Challenge Team that raised over $11,000 for GKTW Village this fall!
Core and Bonus Attractions
