Around the world with Disney - visiting all the parks in one big trip (Sharing those early plans)

[Morrighan]

What originally started a bit as a laugh is now actually being put into reality. One trip - all the parks. We’re just in the early planning stage yet so we haven’t set an exact travel date, but we do know that we want to make our trip in November due to it being overall the best weather month to attempt this.

Currently we’re working on running up all the major costs to figure out what we need to budget for this trip and how long it will take us to save up for it. While we’re hoping to save some money by using some travel points on our flights we’re doing the math without taking that into account. We’re also weighing up if we want to stay at a Disney hotel at all of our stops, or save some money by living off site in at least Disneyland Paris and Disneyland since these are the two parks that we visited together before. We have great experience with staying off site in both of those locations and that would allow us to do a small upgrade to our Tokyo Disney Resort Hotel, which is my favorite park.

We’re planning on traveling with the clock so our travel route will be:

Norway - Disneyland Paris - Disney World - Disneyland - Tokyo Disney Resort - Hong Kong Disneyland - Shanghai Disney Resort - Norway.

We have been discussing making a pit stop at Aulani, but to save on costs and time that probably won’t happen. At the same time we also discussed adding more days at several of our stops, but we decided that if this trip is going to be actually possible for us to go on then we have only so many days at our disposal. Here is a rough breakdown of our “trial schedule” set in November 2023 which we are using to do our calculations.

1st leg - Departure from Norway on the 1st of November heading toward Disneyland Paris

Estimated travel time 3 hours and 50 minutes with 1 stop.
Arrival time around 13.25.
Staying at Aparthotel Adagio Serris - Val d'Europe
Nothing planned on arrival day, just walking around and enjoying Disney Village and the area. Maybe have a nice dinner at one of the Hotels.
Spend one full day at each park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Hyperspace Mountain
• Crush’s Coaster

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Phantom Manor
• Small World

Must attempt dining reservation:

• None really since the food in Disneyland Paris isn’t that great. Maybe Inventions for a character meal?

2nd leg - Departure from Disneyland Paris on the 4th of November heading towards Disney World

Estimated travel time 13 hours and 17 minutes with 1 stop.
Arrival time around 19:57
Staying at Pop Century Resort
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring Disney Springs and grabbing dinner to fight the jet lag before heading to bed.
Spend one full day at each park.
Schedule one extra full day for either a return to favorite park, Disney Springs, Resort stay or other activities.

Must do unique attractions:

• Magic Kingdom doesn’t currently have any unique attractions that we really feel a need to visit, but we’ll probably aim at Tiana's Bayou Adventure and character autograph hunting.
• Epcot - Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Spaceship Earth
• Hollywood Studios - Slinky Dog Dash and Rock n’ Roller Coaster
• Animal Kingdom - Avatar Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Haunted Mansion
• Small World

Must attempt dining reservation:

• We’re currently reviewing our notes for our canceled 2020 trip to see which nicer dining experience we want to prioritize

3rd leg - Departure from Disney World on the 10th of November heading towards Disneyland

Estimated travel time 5 hours and 33 minutes.
Arrival time around 09.13
Staying at SunCoast Park Hotel Anaheim
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring Downtown Disney, relaxing at the hotel and getting a nicer dinner at Napa Rose.
Spend one full day at each park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Disneyland - Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (not really unique but it wasn’t open when we were there)
• California Adventure - Radiator Springs Adventure (it kept being out of order during our visit so we couldn’t ride it)

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Haunted Mansion
• Small World

Must attempt dining reservation:

• Napa Rose

4th leg - Departure from Disneyland on the 13th of November heading towards Tokyo Disney Resort

Estimated travel time 11 hours and 55 minutes.
Arrival time around 16.50 on the 14th of November
Staying at the Hotel MiraCosta
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring Ikspiari and grabbing dinner either there or at the hotel.
Spend two full days at each park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Disneyland - Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt
• DisneySea - Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage (and all the new Fantasy Springs attractions)

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Haunted Mansion
• Small World

Must attempt dining reservation:

• Magellan’s
• Crystal Palace Restaurant Buffet

5th leg - Departure from Tokyo Disney Resort on the 19th of November heading towards Hong Kong Disneyland

Estimated travel time 5 hours and 55 minutes
Arrival time around 13:10
Staying at the Disney Explorers Lodge
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring the resort and grabbing a nice dinner at the hotel.
Spend two full days at the park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Iron Man Experience and the new Frozen rides

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars
• Mystic Manor
• Small World

Must attempt dining reservation:

• Crystal Lotus Disney Dim Sum

6th leg - Departure from Hong Kong Disneyland on the 22nd of November heading towards Shanghai Disney Resort

Estimated travel time 4 hours and 5 minutes with 1 stop
Arrival time around 18:25
Staying at the Toy Story Hotel
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring the resort, Disneytown and Wishing Star Park. Grabbing dinner at the hotel or Disneytown.
Spend two full days at the park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for the Sunken Treasure and the new Zootopia Ride

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ( the closest we could get to Thunder Mountain)
• Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (the closest we could get to Small World)

Must attempt dining reservation:

• Barbossa’s Bounty

7th leg - Departure from Shanghai Disney Resort on the 25th of November heading towards Norway

Estimated travel time 17 hours and 35 minutes with 1 stop.
Arrival time around 22:23
Get a cab home, snuggle the dogs and head to sleep.

Update: Having crunched the numbers the trip would cost us, with todays prices and currancy exhanges, 170 000 NOK. That's about 17100 USD, 13 250 GBP or 15 250 EUR.

That is with a downgrade in Tokyo from MiraCosta to The Ambassador Hotel. The difference being 6000 NOK.
That's 602 USD, 468 GBP or 540 EUR.

We hope to be able to save up that extra difference, but decided to go with the downgrade for now since at that price it's also a REALLY hard booking to secure.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Sounds absolutely amazing. I hope all goes very smoothly with your plans!! Just a personal note, Mystic Manor (Hong Kong) and Pirates (Shanghai) are 2 of our favorite Disney attractions in the world. Pirates is probably #1 - make sure you get to experience both of these at least once! They are stunning!

 

[Morrighan]

Sounds absolutely amazing. I hope all goes very smoothly with your plans!! Just a personal note, Mystic Manor (Hong Kong) and Pirates (Shanghai) are 2 of our favorite Disney attractions in the world. Pirates is probably #1 - make sure you get to experience both of these at least once! They are stunning!

Thank you. We've decided to aim for November 2026 so crossing my fingers that there won't be any sudden world events to get in our way.

We're very excited to get to experience both Mystic Manor in Hong Kong and Pirates in Shanghai. Since we're planning to spend two days in both of those parks we're hoping to get to experience both of them twice.

 

[zanzibar138]

So jealous of all these round the world Disney trips people are planning... maybe one day for us!

5th leg - Departure from Tokyo Disney Resort on the 19th of November heading towards Hong Kong Disneyland

Estimated travel time 5 hours and 55 minutes
Arrival time around 13:10
Staying at the Disney Explorers Lodge
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring the resort and grabbing a nice dinner at the hotel.
Spend two full days at the park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Iron Man Experience and the new Frozen rides

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars
• Mystic Manor
• Small World

Must attempt dining reservation:

• Crystal Lotus Disney Dim Sum

By the time you arrive in HK, you'll probably be pretty pleased to have a bit of downtime, but just so you're aware, there's really not much to see outside the parks here. For something nice and low key, I would suggest walking along the foreshore path from Explorers to the HKDL Hotel, checking out the Hollywood Hotel on the way through. You might run into some characters, and the HKDL Hotel lobby is a nice place to sit with a drink and soak in the ambience - sometimes they have classical musicians playing on the balcony. Explorers Lodge is also a lot of fun, and you might see characters in their explorer outfits.

If you want to do the Disney Dim Sum at Crystal Lotus, that's only available at lunch time, so you'll have to go back to the HKDL Hotel during one of your park days. 2 full days at the park will allow for some time out for your lunch and a nice relaxed touring pace, with plenty of time to see and do everything multiple times. Mystic Manor and Grizzly Mountain are 2 of my faves at any park!

It may be worth noting that HKDL will be closed on Wednesdays until further notice, however this is likely to change before 2026!

6th leg - Departure from Hong Kong Disneyland on the 22nd of November heading towards Shanghai Disney Resort

Estimated travel time 4 hours and 5 minutes with 1 stop
Arrival time around 18:25
Staying at the Toy Story Hotel
Nothing planned on arrival day, just exploring the resort, Disneytown and Wishing Star Park. Grabbing dinner at the hotel or Disneytown.
Spend two full days at the park.

Must do unique attractions:

• Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for the Sunken Treasure and the new Zootopia Ride

Must do similar attractions in every park:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ( the closest we could get to Thunder Mountain)
• Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (the closest we could get to Small World)

Must attempt dining reservation:

• Barbossa’s Bounty

First of all, I would really recommend trying to get a direct flight - there should be heaps of options. I would go for dinner at Disneytown over the Toy Story Hotel - the restaurant there is more cafeteria style. It's a pretty basic hotel, but the rooms were cute and I did run into Woody and Jessie in the courtyard when I stayed there, so keep an eye out!

I would agree with Barbossa's as a fun dining option, but you don't need a reservation - it's a quick service restaurant. Go outside of busy hours for the best chance of nabbing a table by the water. I recommend the ribs.

Agree with the PP that Pirates in Shanghai is hands down the best ride at any Disney park I've been to. The effects are just incredible. Well worth the effort. Tron was another favourite of mine in Shanghai, but I believe this is also at WDW now.

 

[Morrighan]

So jealous of all these round the world Disney trips people are planning... maybe one day for us!


By the time you arrive in HK, you'll probably be pretty pleased to have a bit of downtime, but just so you're aware, there's really not much to see outside the parks here. For something nice and low key, I would suggest walking along the foreshore path from Explorers to the HKDL Hotel, checking out the Hollywood Hotel on the way through. You might run into some characters, and the HKDL Hotel lobby is a nice place to sit with a drink and soak in the ambience - sometimes they have classical musicians playing on the balcony. Explorers Lodge is also a lot of fun, and you might see characters in their explorer outfits.

If you want to do the Disney Dim Sum at Crystal Lotus, that's only available at lunch time, so you'll have to go back to the HKDL Hotel during one of your park days. 2 full days at the park will allow for some time out for your lunch and a nice relaxed touring pace, with plenty of time to see and do everything multiple times. Mystic Manor and Grizzly Mountain are 2 of my faves at any park!

It may be worth noting that HKDL will be closed on Wednesdays until further notice, however this is likely to change before 2026!


First of all, I would really recommend trying to get a direct flight - there should be heaps of options. I would go for dinner at Disneytown over the Toy Story Hotel - the restaurant there is more cafeteria style. It's a pretty basic hotel, but the rooms were cute and I did run into Woody and Jessie in the courtyard when I stayed there, so keep an eye out!

I would agree with Barbossa's as a fun dining option, but you don't need a reservation - it's a quick service restaurant. Go outside of busy hours for the best chance of nabbing a table by the water. I recommend the ribs.

Agree with the PP that Pirates in Shanghai is hands down the best ride at any Disney park I've been to. The effects are just incredible. Well worth the effort. Tron was another favourite of mine in Shanghai, but I believe this is also at WDW now.

Thank you for some great advice.

Yeah when deciding on two days at Hong Kong that was to give us a bit of a relaxing break and allow us to return to the hotel for lunch on one of our days.

We'll have to carefully concider what day we start our trip when the time comes to potentially avoid closed days if that should still be a thing in 2026. Same with at which parts of our legs we want to hit the weekends.

Our current flight selection is based around which flights we potentially can use our points at, and sadly non of them have direct flights from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Once it gets time to actually start booking flights we'll have to see how our point situation is and concider which airlines will work the best for us when it comes to a balance of time, cost and comfort. I'll have to do more research regarding which airlines outside of our points system people recommend.

And I've made a note about what you've said concerning the dining in Shanghai.

Really hope you get to do your own around the world trip in the future.

 

[zanzibar138]

Our current flight selection is based around which flights we potentially can use our points at, and sadly non of them have direct flights from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Once it gets time to actually start booking flights we'll have to see how our point situation is and concider which airlines will work the best for us when it comes to a balance of time, cost and comfort. I'll have to do more research regarding which airlines outside of our points system people recommend.

I think that's definitely one worth buying with cash if you need to. It's a short and relatively cheap flight, and I imagine by that stage of your trip you'll be probably be a bit over airports and travelling so a direct flight would be much more tolerable!