I’m struggling with my plan for Epcot and would really appreciate any feedback from you knowledgeable folks. I haven’t been to Disney World since I was in high school about 20 years ago. I’ll be there in two weeks on a crowd level 6 day with my husband, our daughter (4), and my parents (70s). We’re staying on property and will need to return to our hotel for a nap/break around lunchtime.
Our priorities are Remy’s, Frozen Ever After, Guardians, meeting Anna and Elsa, Journey of Water and The Seas. We’d also like to do Test Track and Soarin. We plan to buy Genie+ and make our first reservation and VQ at 7 AM, and get to the park for early entry.
I’ve read the touring plans in the book and played with the custom plans, but I’m still torn about how to approach it. We will be at the main entrance since the Skyliner will be closed. Should we…
RD Remy’s, G+ Frozen first, and do most of World Showcase before our break?
RD Soarin or Test Track, G+ Remy’s first and then Frozen, and wait to do World Showcase for after the break?
Something else?
I’m finding it really hard to plan without knowing when to expect our Guardians VQ return time. Any walking I can minimize for my parents is beneficial, and if my daughter could see Moana and Mulan (generally seem to be available at set times between 10 and 3), that would be a huge bonus.
I recommend Frozen at EE RD and booking Remy as your first LL. By the time to you get your first ride with a 4 y/o and older grandparents, you will likely be behind the RD rush and at that point Remy will likely have a much longer wait than Frozen. I also think that ILL for Guardians makes sense for your group if you can fit it in your budget. With VQ, you will likely have a much longer wait in line and also the return time uncertainty.
Below is what we did this past October. Note - We didn’t meet Moana (got there too late) or Ana/Elsa (line longer than we were interested in waiting).
7:00 am - Got 10:10 to 11:10 am Remy. Purchased Cosmic Rewind ILL for 3:00 pm return time.
8:15 am arrive at Epcot and in line for EE. There was a long line to get into the park.
8:50 am - Arrive at FEA. Sign says 45 mins. TP app says 23 minds. TP with the win … it was about 25 mins.
9:30 am - ride Three Caballeros
10:08 am Use LL for Remy. Grab 3:00 tp 4:00 pm LL for TT.
10:15 am- Noon Meet and Great characters in World Showcase area
12:08 pm - grab LL for Soarin’
12:30- 1:30 pm QS Lunch at Connections.
1:30 pm-3:00 pm Use LL for Soarin’; grab LL for Nemo; Meet Goofy and Minnie near park entrance; Have a snack.
Someone is going to have to confirm this but here is what I think.
Remy and Frozen and Anna/Else are all in World Showcase – nearer to the skyliner entrance than the front of the park. It feels like Remy is a mile away from the front of the park.
I would recommend taking an uber from wherever you are to the skyliner entrance. The resort there is beach club if you can’t go directly to the park, and get dropped off there.
You are going to save everyone’s legs by getting all that out of the way first then leave through the main entrance.
I just don’t know if it’s feasible to get dropped off at the skyliner entry or beach club. But someone else here will know.
Keep in mind that a lot of World Showcase doesn’t open up until later in the morning, so you will probably miss a lot of fun things if you plan to be done with Showcase before your lunch break.
Agree that RDing Remy from the front entrance would be challenging. It’s definitely not a good idea when the Skyliner is running as all of those people will be ahead of you - but even if it’s not running, you’ll still be behind the resort crowd (Beach/Yacht Club, Boardwalk and Swolphin), and it’s FAR from the front gate. Not sure I’d want to start the day with a big hike like that.
Beach/Yacht Club and Boardwalk may turn you away if you are coming with ride share (the only way to be sure to be let in is to have an ADR - sometimes it works without one but no guarantees). You can be dropped at the Swan/Dolphin without problems/no ADR but it’s still a 10-15 min walk to IG from there.
So my vote would be for RDing the front of the park and G+ Remy first. We always go for Frozen first, though you could also do TT. Soarin will take longer to build a line than either of those. If not everyone is riding TT, you could use the single rider line there, which will be short in the morning.
These responses have been enormously helpful! I hadn’t even considered ILL for Guardians, but I’ll keep it in mind depending on our VQ return time (assuming we get it at 7 AM). We have a little extra flexibility with that one since my mom and daughter won’t be riding.
I think we’ll RD FEA, which will be a fun way to start our first park day for my daughter. Then if Anna and Elsa aren’t out yet, we could do Three Caballeros and then jump back to meet them. I’ll put our return times in the Lines app to figure out what to do after that.
The VQ line is usually only short early in the morning, so if it fits better into your touring plan to do it later in the day, and you don’t want to spend too much time on that step, ILL is the way to go. If you have the time, ride it both with ILL and the VQ!
Also remember to check the MDE app in the morning for the full character schedule. We met Donald at the Mexico pavilion, Pluto at the Gazebo near the entrance to World Showcase and Daisy on the bridge neat the International Gateway. There were many princesses too that your daughter may enjoy meeting. We did princess meet and greets in Epcot when my kids were younger, but my kids are not interested in princesses anymore.