Disney Parks Superfan Nathan Firesheets has completed his mission of riding every Disney ride currently operating across all twelve Disney Parks around the world in 12 consecutive days.
This evening, Nathan boarded Astro Orbiter in Magic Kingdom and successfully completed his Disney Global Ride Challenge. Astro Orbiter was his 25th ride at Magic Kingdom and his 216th and final Disney ride across all twelve parks.
This attempt by Nathan Firesheets, a.k.a. @A_Coaster_Story on Twitter, has gained more publicity thanks to a tweet from Mercedes Lois Gleeson of his backpack. We first heard about his journey on March 8 in Disneyland Paris. A sign on Nathan’s backpack reads “I’m riding every ride at all 12 Disney Parks in 12 days” with a list of the parks, #DisneyGlobalRideChallenge, and QR codes for his Twitter and YouTube channel.
On March 9, Nathan completed the first leg of his latest challenge, riding all 28 rides at the two Disneyland Paris parks. From France, he traveled to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and both Tokyo Disney parks before tackling both parks at the Disneyland Resort and all four parks at Walt Disney World. Today, March 19, he has successfully ridden every Disney ride possible around the globe.
Along the journey, Nathan has posted a thumbs-up photo from every ride he’s boarded. He’s also included photos that give a glimpse into the journey overall. His positivity, as much as his dedication, has made his global journey an inspiration. In a video explaining what prompted the challenge, Nathan pointed to the epic adventure of it all as his driving force. While he has completed a number of challenges, the Disney Park globetrotter seems entirely motivated by the experience of it all.
Watch an Introduction to the Global Every Disney Ride Challenge:
“I’ve seen people who visit all the Disney parks in the world but just go in, do one thing, eat a churro, and leave, [a]nd that seems silly to me,” he explained. “Why travel all the way around the world and not at least try to enjoy all that the parks have to offer?”
The journey was not without hiccups. Golden Zephyr at Disney California Adventure went down while Firesheets was in the queue of the attraction. Still, the Disney Park globetrotter managed to ride every ride available to him during his visits to each of the twelve Disney parks.
Nathan has also completed the Parkeology Challenge (riding every ride at a single Disney resort) seven times: five times at Disneyland Resort and twice at Walt Disney World Resort. Half of those times, he did it without FastPass (the challenges were completed prior to the launch of Lightning Lane). In 2019, he completed the first-ever #EveryRideCoastToCoast, riding all 94 rides at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World within 36 hours.
Prior to 2018, Nathan had only visited a Disney park eleven times in his life. His original plan has been to end his latest challenge with a fireworks view from Astro Orbiters, but because he finished every other ride earlier than expected and didn’t want to keep fans waiting, he boarded his 216th and final Disney ride around 8:15 p.m. and left the queue a Disney hero.
The first thing he did after completing the global challenge was pick out a special ride as a bonus fireworks addition to his quest. Be sure to check out his entire journey as posted on his Twitter account and keep an eye on his YouTube channel for a full recap. We’ll be waiting to see what future challenges await following his more than 20,000-mile journey to every Disney park and every Disney ride.
What do you think of Nathan’s biggest Disney challenge? Let us know what you think about this massive undertaking in the comments below!
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