Theme park enthusiast visits all 12 Disney parks and rides more than 200 rides in 12 days
By Ashley Mackey
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LOS ANGELES (KABC) — One man from Atlanta, Georgia was brainstorming vacation options when he came up with a plan. Nathan Firesheets, 34, is an audiovisual system engineer and programmer and he loves theme parks.
Firesheets is no stranger to theme park challenges, but he recently completed the ultimate Disney challenge. He rode every operating ride at all 12 Disney parks around the world in just 12 days.
“It was a lot,” said Firesheets. “Looking back on it, I’m like ‘I can’t believe I just did that.’ It’s just so insane. So much travel, so much park stuff, but it was really an incredible experience. Tons of fun.”
He called it the Disney global challenge and Firesheets said he took about a month to plan it. In just 12 days he visited all the parks: Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Anaheim and Orlando.
He began the challenge March 8 and completed it March 19. More than 20,000 miles around the world, and yes, the 12 days included travel time. Firesheets said on average he got about four to six hours of sleep a night.
“Some of it is just dealing with the exhaustion,” Firesheets said. “Dealing with some frustration with some ride things, there were some weather issues. Definitely the lowest point was sleeping through all my alarms in California and just having that day get off to just the wrong foot.”
In all, Firesheets rode 216 rides and videotaped himself on every one. He documented his journey on Twitter with photos. He said the amazing cast members and the support he received in-person and online along the way were the highlights of the trip.
“Absolutely, the cast members really made the trip what it was,” Firesheets said. “All that support and encouragement was super tremendous. I don’t think I could have gotten through some of the lower points without everybody going, ‘You can do it. Come on.’ It was really fantastic to have all that encouragement and support.”
When asked which was his favorite park, he said nothing beats the original happiest place in the world.
“I am a classic Disneyland fan,” Firesheets said. “It’s got the most history. It’s the only park that Walt actually walked in. It still has 11 opening day attractions. There’s so much history, nostalgia. It’s not super spread out, and it’s got another park a couple hundred feet away.”
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