Hi all - I have some extended family traveling to WDW in a couple of weeks, before the big influx of people head to WDW for school breaks. They plan to travel with another family with young kids (both families have kids age 4 and under) and have not experienced Epcot yet. They plan to spend a day there, and am looking for some advice on what to tell them to look out for, especially what is special over the holidays this year. All suggestions welcomed. I won’t mention what I already told them, as I don’t want to discourage any ideas.
There is cute story telling especially in Norway and Italy (Italy’s Befana was my favourite). Performance times will be in the daily sheet they can pick up. Note though in recent years it would have taken all afternoon to have seen all of them, which is why I mentioned those two in particular. But the dragon dance and Japanese drummers will also entertain.
For young kids, Remy, FEA and the 3 Caballeros will be great rides. And as much as Imagination has nothing on the earlier versions it’s still fun for kids, with a neat play area at the end. They’ll also enjoy The Seas with the Nemo ride. Plus Spaceship Earth.
Also the Voices of Liberty in the American pavilion.
The storyteller times are also usually listed in the app - if you click on the map icon, switch wait times to “entertainment” and then use “show list”.
There is also the cookie walk, or just cookies. I would download the food and wine app so you can see what is in each kiosk.
Olaf hunt and the cookie stroll are fun for all ages, including young kids. Kidcot activities too, of course. The aquarium and turtle talk with Crush are good for young kids, though not special for the holidays.
Do you think it’s possible to have fun with the Olaf Hunt without buying the map and stickers? I looked at it, and it seems sort of cheap (piece of paper) for the $10 price - not that $10 is a lot. Shocking, I know.
You win a price. This year it’s a coin purse that you clip on things with various frozen characters, you choose. So it’s not a terrible waste of $10. We do then every festival. So much fun. But yes you could find them without the map and stickers.
Yes you can (that’s what I’ve done in the past). It’s in the free festival passport. They are all over; booths have them, stores have them. You don’t have to register. Just purchase and stamp the passport I think for five of several potential cookie stops and then claim it at the booth it says to in the passport.
*pro tip. I lost my partially stamped passport once but since I was live trip reporting I was taking a photo of it after each stop. I was able to use that photo to help claim my prize.
Also, you don’t have to get 5 different cookies. You can get five of the same, or mix and match as you please. Basically, buying a cookie buys you a stamp in the passport.
And you have as long as the festival to complete it. For F&W, I did half during a trip in July, then kept hold of the passport and finished it up on a return trip in October.
Do you think it’s possible to have fun with the Olaf Hunt without buying the map and stickers?
You can definitely just look for Olaf and not buy the game sheet. But for my family, the sheet makes it more engaging with the stickers and accounting it provides, so I think it’s worth it regardless of the prize at the end. YMMV.
Sorry if that was confusing–the cookie stroll is a Holiday festival thing and will last for the duration of this festival, but they have a similar passport-stamp event at other the other festivals (the F&W was certain cheese dishes).
