Epcot - RD from International Gateway

We had RD Epcot in the past, but always from the main entrance.

This time (early first week of March), we’ll be RD from the International Gateway.
The plan is to get to HS early to get a late BG for RotR, maybe ride a secondary attraction (ST or ToT) and head to Epcot to RD at 9:00.
We’ll hop back to HS in the afternoon to use our FP+ (MFSM, TSM & RnRC).

If we want to ride Soarin’ AND Frozen Ever After from IG, in what order would you do it ?

My instinct is to go for FEA before Soarin’, because I will not be able to beat the crowd from the main entrance if I head to Soarin’ first.
My fear is that we might end up in a 30mins+ wait at Soarin’ after FEA.

NB.: Test Track will not be in refurb when you will go.

I have RD from IG in my last few trips (stayed at BCV and YC) and have always rope dropped Frozen, then went to Soarin.

The wait time calendar will tell you the predicted time and it’s slightly less than 30 min on a random early March day I picked at 10 am -
Soarin' Around the World Wait Times - Friday, March 6, 2020

Crowds at IG RD might be affected by Skyliner now… but TP should have that built in.

The time to Soarin’ from the IG at RD is the same as from the main entrance. TP did a video on this, and had a guy situated at each entrance to test it. We always RD from the IG, and have never felt like we were behind.

I think there’s no advantage to either entrance for FEA, either. Try swapping them around in your TP to see what you come up with. IIRC, in that video they recommend FEA first because Soarin’ has a higher capacity.

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I’m actually looking at a similar question, but looking at soarin vs test track. Because test track is further, is there an incentive to do soarin first in that case?

Here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jby-8q4lTbw

I’d do TT first, then Soarin’

TT lines always run longer lines than Soarin’, in my experience. But it also breaks more, so that would be very frustrating to have that happen at RD.

I’ll be using the same strategy, getting to HS as early as possibly, get a BG :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers:, ride SDD and possibly something else if time allows then hop over to Epcot IG for an 8 am RD. I’ll realistically only do SDD then hightail it over to Epcot but a girl can dream. Question, which mode of transportation is quicker at that time of day to go from Studios to Epcot, boat or skyliner? I was originally thinking the boats because of the transfer at CBR but the skyliner is infinitely faster than the boats, so now I’m back to square one. :woman_shrugging:

Skyliner is faster. Feet might be faster yet.

That’s interesting. I was planning on doing the reverse for my trip. FEA then Soarin’ then TT, since I’ll be using single rider. Should I consider reversing TT and Soarin?

No, I’d do them in your original order, because you are doing FEA first, and the line for Soarin’ will be growing. IF TT breaks down, you won’t have wasted time in line during those primo early hours. It’s a bit more walking but I think it’s better to go with that plan. (@emcglone wasn’t doing FEA, or single rider, so it’d be better to get TT done first in that case).

I feel like I spend half my time at WDW juggling these three rides, they are the most likely to lay waste to my carefully crafted plans. EPCOT is big, there aren’t a lot of rides, and it’s hard to get these rides (plus MS) lined up to where we’re not crisscrossing the park, and/or wasting time, even with FPs. The tiering is frustrating.

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2 weeks ago, we stayed at Beach Club on the Epcot end, about a 5 min walk from IG and skyliner. Here is what we experienced for transit times.

A brisk walk from Beach Club to HS was around 25 min, so HS to Epcot would be about 30.

We typically only rode skyliner at midday, when there were minimal/no waits to load. That took about 40-45 min from HS to Beach Club.

We gave up on the boats as we never seemed to catch them loading, and we heard they only come every 20 min, and we weren’t sure how to tell how soon the next would arrive. The one time we caught them loading, they reached full capacity a couple of families ahead of us, so we just walked rather than wait for the next one.

Change of plans for me. With a few days of fastpass stalking, I got good TT fastpass times. So, that makes my decision really easy. Soarin at RD, along with that whole side of FW. Then we can trek over to the other side of the park. I like it!

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