We will be visiting Epcot on Saturday Nov 24 CL 8. FP presently booked this morning are: The Seas w/ Nemo 9:10-10:10, Soarin’ 10:10-11:10, SSE11:10-12:10. Lunch at 12:15 ARBH. All FP were gone for Frozen Ever After in a.m. and there does not appear to be a FP option for Ann/Elsa meet and greet? We will be leaving EPCOT after lunch. I am looking for advice on how to best maneuver our family of 7 to the Norway Pavilion immediately when park opens at 9 to hopefully get in the front of the line for Frozen Ever After and Anna/Elsa meet and greet since we do not have FP for these. (I realize we might miss our FP for the Seas w/ Nemo because of this). Can anyone answer the following questions for me:
What time should we arrive to the parking lot with EPCOT opening at 9 a.m. to allow for security etc. a and try to be inside Future world and as close as possible to Norway Pavilion? (Does EPCOT usually open before official opening time?)
Which should we do first, Frozen Ever After or Anna/Elsa meet and greet? (To save most time).
Is there a specific route we follow to get to the Norway Pavilion since the rest of World Showcase would not be open?
Thanks so much for any tips!!
I think you risk not making it to your Seas FP if you do FEA first…although, I’m not sure that’s a big loss UNLESS you plan to park hop to another park later in the day and want to get FPs in that park the day of.
No plans for park hopping. I felt like I was limited in selection of trying to book FP only in the morning and still make our lunch. The Seas wasn’t our first choice, but was available. We were happy to get Soarin’ and SSE at the times we did.
Okay. In that case, no worries. If you don’t make it to The Seas on time, it isn’t like that’s a spectacular ride or anything!
I don’t know about the wait times to see Anna and Elsa, since we don’t do meet and greets. But the line for FEA can get pretty long very quickly. Two years ago, when we got there at park opening and went there first thing, the line was still 45 minutes. (We could have done better if I’d made everyone train hard for the rush back there, but that’s just not my family’s vibe!)
Just for info @ryan1, park hopping wouldn’t be an issue at all. You don’t have to use 3 FPs in one park before hopping, you can book theremainder of your initial 3 FPs in another park as soon as you use one.
I know. But there is some trick about if you don’t tap in all your tier 2 FPs that you won’t be allowed to book a tier 1 at another park under certain circumstances.
We didn’t have FP for this our past trip either and it’s my DD4’s favorite. We ended up choosing to wait in the SB line. Posted wait right after lunch was 60, we waited 44. Like previous poster mentioned, the line did move fairly quickly and it’s cutely decorated and INSIDE IN THE AC!! We ended up appreciating the break from the mid-day heat. FWIW, The SB had dipped down to 45ish minutes I think when we went into our lunch (around noon) and E&A M&G times went to around 20 minutes about that time as well. Just a second option perhaps if you don’t want to deal with the mayhem of RD.
Correct. That was my concern (if they were planning to park hop)…that they wouldn’t get back from Norway in time to tap in at the Seas. But no hopping is involved, so it is no longer a concern.
I think the waits for FEA are much more manageable now than they used to be. My observation would be if you can get there before 11AM when the rest of World Showcase opens, you’ll be OK and have a reasonable wait.
I am wondering the same thing! We did get a FP for FEA, 9:15-10:15, and we have a 9:45 reservation at Akershus. I originally was thinking we’d do FEA first and then the meet and greet, but then I thought, hmm, maybe most people are doing that so we should do the meet and greet first? Would the line be short at 9? Only slight problem for us is that my group couldn’t get a reservation for 10, so my in-laws have their breakfast reservation for 9:25…but maybe they’d be okay showing up a few minutes late?
We rope dropped frozen last thanksgiving time. We came in through the international gateway instead of main gate. The park was very busy and people were running to the line. You have to go on the side of the world by Mexico (the other direction is closed). The line move pretty quickly but we were towards the front of the pAck. I think we were at the gate 30 minutes before and they did open the gate a few minutes early.
My experiece (different time, just slightly lower crowd level) was that FEA was worth going to right when it opened, even though we were a bit late the line was about 20 minutes. My kids wanted to ride it twice, after the first one it was about 30 minutes. The line growed longer quicker than the meet & greet. I think, and this is just a hunch, but I think you should be able to do both and make it to your FP at Soarin.
Like someone said skipping Nemo is not a big deal because if you want to go later, the line probably won’t be long. While the ride is not that exciting, the aquarium is pretty cool and huge, my kids (5 & 7) wanted to spend a lot of time there.
