Next Monday we’ll be at Epcot all day, from RD to closing. Looking to lay out our plans and see if there’s anything we can improve upon from all the gurus!
We don’t feel Genie+ is necessary, but will get $ILL for GOTG if we don’t get lucky with a boarding group? I’m familiar w/the BG process and plan to be up and ready in time for the first drop, and I also understand that there is a 2nd drop at 1pm - is that correct?
Our RD plan was to hit Remy or Frozen. Is is a tossup here or is Frozen still a crapshoot at RD? I assume the lines die down SOMEWHAT throughout the day for both, so we’re good with treking backwards to come back late for whichever one we don’t do first.
There are a handful of non-headliner rides we don’t really care if we do or not, but we are interested in seeing some shows this time around. We’ve only been to Epcot once and focused more on rides; the only show we got to see was Serveur Amusant (son got to participate, too, a highlight of the trip!) - are there any others in World Showcase that we should consider must-see?
Some people are able to hit Remy (entering through IG) and then Frozen, both with minimal waits.
You might want both a BG and an ILL for GotG. It’s that good.
The pavilions are beautiful. We’ve seen the 360 film in China twice. While I liked it better the first time (I think it needs updating), it’s still a beautiful place to explore.
Oh shoot, that’s a good point! We are coaster nuts, so that’s a must! I just assumed if you got a BG or $ILL, you were blocked from getting the other. Thanks for the tip @davej@motherofdaughtersthree
Also you are right you probably don’t need Genie+, though it could come in handy for TT and Soarin’ (or re-riding your RD picks).
As far as the pavilion films, my favorite is Impressions de France, which only shows in the evening. Reflections of China gets second place from me, followed by Canada Far and Wide. Beauty and the Beast sing-along is cute but totally skippable. American Adventure is 100% worth watching as well.
O Canada shut down a few years ago and was just replaced in 2020 with Canada Far and Wide. I saw it in March of this year, I think. They do close the show for the Food & Wine festival, so it is closed until November 19th at least.
I’m going to be there next Monday as well, and one thing i have penciled in is the BG availability at 6PM for GotG. I heard that on extra hours dates (i hope you have that factored into your plans) that there is now a 6PM BG drop. I am looking to verify that now…
What do you mean by this? Each morning there is a list on MDE of meet and greets in each park for that day. That said, we found the times in the list for World Showcase to be only moderately reliable. Also, the day we were in Epcot, there was a meet and greet with Minnie in World Showcase (near IG) that was not on the list.
There are “secret” character meets that happen throughout some parks, unannounced, and without much fanfare. Random characters come out for training purposes, as I understand it. There’s a name for it but it’s courtesty to not call it out by name, so I won’t. One of those “if you know, you know things” and I don’t want to get in trouble in case the moderators don’t want it shared here.
Anyway, the last time we went, Epcot had it in the International Gateway at one of the big fences and we met about 6 characters along with maybe 10 other visitors who caught on to it. We did a couple at Hollywood Studios, too, behind TOT.
The article says they closed Far and Wide on June 27th in preparation for Food & Wine, which started July 14th and runs through November 19th. That’s a long festival!
Off-site, so I plan to park at Swan/D and wall unless there’s some better idea out there. I figure the transportation drops up at the main entrance and may not even get us there early enough to beat everyone else anyway?