ORLANDO, Fla. — Heather and Clark Ensminger breathed sighs of relief when their Los Angeles-bound plane took off from Florida on time: Their biggest hurdle was now eliminated for achieving their goal of visiting six Disney parks on two coasts in one day.

They succeeded Wednesday, visiting four Disney parks in the Orlando, Fla., area and two in Anaheim, Calif., with a 2,500-mile cross-country flight and two time zones in between, all within 20 hours.

“It was incredible, unbelievable, surreal,” Heather Ensminger, 30, said in a phone interview early Thursday as the Kingsport, Tenn., couple prepared to return to the California Disney parks for a second day.

Adding to the surreal feeling, they said, was the media interest in their Disney pilgrimage after an Associated Press story about their plans was published. As they traveled from park to park, they were bombarded with calls and texts from radio stations, TV outlets and newspapers, wanting to know where they were on the journey.

A camera crew from Disney World’s publicity office tracked them down for an interview, and they were stopped by Disney guests who recognized them from media reports.

They also updated friends and fans of the Disney parks throughout the day, with posts on a Facebook page for Heather Ensminger’s travel-agent business.

The trip was planned for their 10th wedding anniversary, but it also marked a sadder occasion: the first anniversary since Heather Ensminger’s father had died. Last year, a few days before the Ensmingers planned to visit Walt Disney World in Florida for a vacation with her parents, Heather’s father had a fatal heart attack.

“A couple months ago, I was having a hard time with the anniversary of my dad’s death and my husband began planning the trip without letting me know,” Heather Ensminger said.

She ultimately was tipped off by her credit card company after Clark used points to pay for part of the trip.