If you wish to do a day or night at EPCOT, this half-day itinerary presents a plan of assault for touring the park effectively. EPCOT is arguably the least family-friendly park at Walt Disney World, so chances are you’ll not want various hours to do every part of curiosity in case you have young children.
With that stated, a full day at EPCOT is extremely beneficial for first-timers. Earlier than choosing solely a half-day, you must actually learn our 1-Day EPCOT Itinerary and see how a lot of that appeals to you. Though World Showcase has an (inaccurate) status of being “boring” and EPCOT may seem on paper to be gentle on worthwhile rides for teenagers, there’s way more to it than meets the attention.
We spend extra time at EPCOT than another theme park at Walt Disney World, and would even suggest that some adults do 1.5 and even 2 days at EPCOT. Now that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s Ratatouille Journey are each open, there’s much more of substance to do within the park. These be part of standard rides like Frozen Ever After, Check Monitor, and Soarin’ Across the World (amongst others) as must-dos at EPCOT. Experiencing all of these and seeing the fireworks is nearly unimaginable in a single afternoon and night…
Let’s begin with what makes EPCOT half-day plan so this troublesome. First, there’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. As of the time of this itinerary’s publication, this new EPCOT E-Ticket nonetheless makes use of a digital queue. That would change within the coming weeks, however Walt Disney World has already confirmed it’s sticking round after TRON Lightcycle Run opens. Learn our FAQ & Experience Information to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind for every part you’ll want to know.
The factor is, Cosmic Rewind goes to be troublesome no matter whether or not it makes use of a digital queue or standby line. We’ve managed to hitch the digital queue when getting into the park after 2 pm on at the least a half-dozen events within the final 6 months, and the result’s nearly all the time the identical: being known as again in the direction of the top of the night. Alternatively, you may have the ability to purchase Particular person Lightning Lane entry if the digital queue fills up–or chances are you’ll not have the ability to do Cosmic Rewind, interval.
With Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind out of the way in which, there a few methods to strategy a half-day within the park. The extra conservative choice is “stacking” Genie+ Lightning Lanes for the afternoon and night at EPCOT, rope dropping one other park, and doing as many points of interest as attainable with minimal through standby earlier than Park Hopping to EPCOT as soon as crowds catch as much as you.
That is our beneficial strategy. Going this route, it’s attainable you can rating Lightning Lanes for 3 of 4 headliners at EPCOT: Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, Frozen Ever After, Check Monitor, and Soarin’ Across the World. You nearly actually is not going to get all 4, and it’s going to be robust to get each of the primary two on that checklist. On actually busy days, you may solely get 1 of the primary 3. See our EPCOT Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Experience Rankings for the best order of picks to maximise your picks and time saved.
The choice is reserving Genie+ as regular on your first park (or under no circumstances), displaying up at EPCOT with zero Lightning Lane trip reservations in hand, and being okay with skipping standard points of interest and/or the fireworks. This isn’t our suggestion, as there’s a good probability that you just’ll be confronted with three standby traces with hour-plus posted wait instances in the event you don’t buy the Genie+ service.
In contrast to the opposite parks, wait instances for the headliner points of interest by no means sharply drop and crowds don’t die down at EPCOT. That is largely as a result of EPCOT is the after-work park for Floridians, and a preferred Park Hopper vacation spot for vacationers. Individuals love eating at EPCOT, wandering World Showcase, and ending their evenings with the fireworks…therefore this itinerary!
Suffice to say, EPCOT attendance will increase all through the day as a result of extra individuals arrive than depart, and wait instances stay pretty regular for lots of points of interest. From a strategic perspective, one of the best time to do EPCOT is earlier than midday, not within the afternoon or at evening. The concept behind this itinerary just isn’t drawing consideration to an excellent time of day from a strategic perspective, however reasonably, to supply recommendation for widespread strategy to doing EPCOT that’s standard…however for good purpose!
We simply need to provide you with a warning to this sensible actuality so that you don’t go into this half-day plan with the mistaken assumption. In contrast to our plans for afternoons in Animal Kingdom and evenings in DHS, this itinerary doesn’t exist as a result of Park Hopping to EPCOT is a good suggestion from a low crowds perspective. Spending the afternoon and night at EPCOT is a good suggestion–not because it’s savvy technique, however as a result of it’s an pleasant time to expertise the park.
To that time, that is how we mostly do EPCOT regardless of the crowds. Not the precise plan right here, however the concept behind it. Whereas we’ve area examined the environment friendly strategy right here, our regular afternoon at EPCOT is arriving about 90 minutes earlier than sundown, doing Spaceship Earth and the Land pavilion, grabbing meals from competition cubicles, making a leisurely lap or two of World Showcase (with extra stops for snacks), watching the fireworks, making 1.5 extra laps of World Showcase, and heading out. We’re what you may name “EPCOT Mall Walkers.” It’s consuming and train whereas having fun with a theme park…how will you go mistaken?!
In fact, we’re not going to advise vacationers with restricted trip time to mall stroll round EPCOT (until you need to–it’s surprisingly enjoyable!). Slightly, this afternoon and night at EPCOT half-day touring plan is optimized to attenuate wait instances to the best extent attainable, supplying you with a tough blueprint for one of the best order of doing issues, and essentially the most attainable flexibility. Anyway, on with the present…
Fly Via Former Future World – Most visitors who spend all day within the park do EPCOT from entrance to again, that means the wait instances for points of interest on the entrance of the park are longest at first of the day and reduce within the afternoon.
That is really one of many few strategic upsides to a day arrival–you can begin on the entrance of the park and work backwards. We assume a lot of you’ll be arriving through the Worldwide Gateway in World Showcase after Park Hopping from Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even if so, you must stroll to the entrance of the park upon arrival and begin there. Our beneficial order is as follows:
- Spaceship Earth
- The Seas with Nemo & Associates
- Journey into Creativeness with Figment
- Dwelling with the Land
- Soarin’ Across the World
- Mission: Area
- Check Monitor
Relying upon the time of your arrival, you may have to skip a number of the earlier entries on that checklist. Or not. The primary 4 points of interest on that checklist will probably be near walk-ons most days after 3 pm, making them low-stress choices for a condensed day at EPCOT that may provide you with a way of accomplishment.
Ensure you save Soarin’ Across the World and Check Monitor for later within the afternoon–ideally after 4 pm. These are the 2 points of interest that can have the longest traces earlier within the day. With out query, the longest wait time you’re going to expertise will probably be at Check Monitor, which doesn’t actually begin dropping till after 5 pm. Even then, you possibly can anticipate to attend 45 minutes or extra until you do it through Single Rider.
Quick Meals – It’s ‘Pageant Season’ at EPCOT a lot of the yr, and the meals cubicles situated on the entrance of the park are sometimes a number of the greatest choices. That is very true throughout Flower & Backyard, the place Farmers Feast and BRUNCHCOT (close to Check Monitor) and Honey Bee-stro (between Journey into Creativeness and the Canada entrance to World Showcase) are 3 of our favourite cubicles. The Meals & Wine choices up entrance are additionally sturdy.
Listed below are the varied occasions together with their approximate annual timeframes:
Grabbing dishes from these meals cubicles is an effective way to do an environment friendly dinner on the go whereas additionally having fun with a little bit of culinary tradition. Be at liberty to make stops all through World Showcase for extra worldwide flavors.
Navigate to Norway – From the World Discovery facet of the previous Future World, it’s straightforward to stroll previous the Odyssey competition heart and make your method to the Mexico facet of World Showcase. You can begin with Gran Fiesta Tour if time permits (it ought to have a minimal wait), earlier than navigating to Norway.
Norway is house to Frozen Ever After, which is the favored and comparatively low-capacity boat trip primarily based on the favored animated movie franchise. Wait instances for Frozen Ever After begin falling a bit throughout the dinner rush, so purpose to do that at about 6:30 pm in the event you’re utilizing the standby line. Even then, you might need an hour-long wait time.
Scurry Across the Showcase – From there, make your method to Remy’s Ratatouille Journey behind the France pavilion. Whether or not you race to the Rat Experience or take a leisurely tempo relies upon upon how a lot time you might have and whether or not you need to see the fireworks. We don’t suggest speeding by World Showcase, even when that makes skipping Remy’s Ratatouille Journey.
Wait instances for this new attraction are likely to plateau within the afternoon and early night, probably not falling till after 7 pm. The issue is that the posted wait time remains to be over an hour on common at round 8 pm. Which means, on a busy evening, you may miss the beginning of the fireworks at 9 pm in the event you wait till 8 pm to do Remy’s Ratatouille Journey through standby.
In our expertise, wait instances for Remy’s Ratatouille Journey are inflated, particularly in the direction of the top of the night. We’ve jumped consistent with 60-70 minute posted instances at 8 pm and been off the trip by 8:45 pm on a number of events. This offered enough time to go to make it to Japan, our most well-liked spot for watching the fireworks.
Fall Again for Fireworks – EPCOT is ends every night with a nighttime spectacular on World Showcase Lagoon. For the following couple weeks, that’s Harmonious. Beginning April 3, it’ll get replaced briefly by EPCOT Perpetually. Someday on or after October 1, a everlasting new nighttime spectacular–our assumption is one thing with drones–will debut and certain run by 2024 and for years to come back.
No matter which is scheduled on your go to, it’s value seeing. All of those options an assortment of songs choreographed to colourful lights, lasers, fireworks, and extra. For planning functions, seek the advice of our Greatest Epcot Fireworks Viewing Spots posts for a listing of one of the best spots and different ideas for viewing the present. (Tentatively, we suggest watching any of those from the Japan pavilion. A entrance row spot just isn’t crucial; see the picture above.)
Fireworks Put up Present: World Showcase Stroll – That is the optimum itinerary for an environment friendly night at EPCOT, however I’ve gotta be sincere with you: it’s not my most well-liked strategy to the park. EPCOT must be sipped like a superb wine, loved for the ambiance and great thing about World Showcase. It shouldn’t be chugged like an inexpensive beer, operating from trip to trip to “full” them guidelines model.
One choice is utilizing Genie+ to chop down waits on the headliners and release time; one other is eliminating one or two of them totally; a remaining choice is doing the sipping and savoring after the park closes, slowing all the way down to odor the roses after it’s not attainable to do rides. Even in the event you take different measures to keep away from the lengthy waits, we’d nonetheless suggest going this route.
Because the eating places in World Showcase make eating reservations till park closing and it takes some visitors over an hour after park closing to complete their meals, you might have over an hour to linger and slowly make your means out of EPCOT after the park closes. Take full benefit of this with a leisurely stroll round World Showcase and out of the park. For this, we normally double-back to France from Japan, after which retrace these steps as we head again the great distance across the lagoon in the direction of Mexico. Belief us, it’s value it.
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Your Ideas
What would you embrace in your good night at EPCOT? Do you assume this plan is smart, or is it an overzealous quantity to perform in a single afternoon within the numerous ‘Worlds’ of the back and front of the park? Would you suggest a full day at EPCOT to a first-timer given the present state of the park? Agree or disagree with our half-day EPCOT plan? Any questions? Listening to suggestions about your experiences is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
