Taking our DS5 and DD7 to Epcot for the first time in August. We only have one day there so trying to maximize our time and see the ‘must dos’. Can you please let me know what you think? We get our FPP in a few days, so I’m going to try for the FPP listed in my TP. It will be a long day, but we are doing a rest day the following day. Thank you!
This plan looks fine, and includes a lot of my family’s favorites. My kids also really love doing agent P and just wandering around WS. We’ve also had some really great character M&G there. But if you have limited time I can understand why you left that out.
The only real concern that I saw is that you have a break leaving the park but you’ve only left 90 minutes. If you are taking Disney transport, you will end up with less than a half hour rest, even under ideal circumstances. Even if you are driving, I don’t think you will have much additional time. You might be better off to consider a rest in the park. Buy a drink and find a table at sunshine season where the kids can kick back at a bench or ride Ellen’s energy adventure.
Have fun. I think Epcot is my family’s favorite park, so I hope y’all have a good time!
You also have a lot of zig-zag running from one side of the park to another… Unless you r runner, I would reorganize that to cut down the time.
I see a potential problem here:
You are starting the WS at 3:06 at Canada and then going all the way around, expecting to be back at Spaceship Earth by 3:41, or at least before your FPP expires at 4pm? I don’t see that happening. You’ll have to add in all the pavillions on the way in order to get your timing more accurate. Just walking with purpose all the way around can take you that amount of time. Also, the Canada show (which is nice, but a 360 Circlevision standing only show, by the way, so good thing you’ll be rested) is 15 minutes long, assuming you just walk into the show at the time you get there (another might be in progress and you could even just miss it). I would suggest doing the Spaceship Earth before you start the WS.
If you don’t want to do all of WS, only put in the pavillions you want, or put in a ‘rest’ for the number of minutes you think you want to spend on the WS with a note for yourself of what you want to see.
Also, you have China and Mexico in your plan after Mission Space and Living Seas (Turtle Talk), which are in FW. That’s quite a lot of walking… Canada, then back to Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, then Turtle Talk and then back into the WS.
Also, as someone mentioned, your 90 min rest out of park won’t get you very far and it’s a long way back to the parking lot/buses. Unless you’re at one of the hotels that are in walking distance to EPCOT, I would also suggest finding a spot to relax. I would suggest Living Seas, as the kids can look around and you can slow down. I can’t remember if there is any seating in there, though. The other good place for a ‘rest’ is Ellen’s Energy show. Don’t get me wrong, I love that show and we go every time, but my husband tends to close his eyes and nod off a few times in that ride. It’s not that the seats are comfortable, they aren’t that great, it’s that it’s quite dark and, except for the dinosaurs in the beginning, it’s more information than ride. But it is air conditioned and about 45 minutes long, making it a nice rest.
Finally, do you know why your plan has you starting at Soarin’ at 9:17? It may just be expecting you to take that long to get there, but be aware that it might not be accurate. That said, I was surprised it was going to get you through Soarin’ and into Test Track by 10:07. What is the CL on your date?
The one thing I notice is that there is A LOT of backtracking, particularly going from Soarin to Test Track to Figment to Gran Fiesta all in a row, and then returning to nearly all of those locations later for a secondary attraction or ADR. Given the physical space at Epcot, that’s going to really add up. I used the Google maps pedometer feature and it calculates your route at about 5.5 miles just for transitions between attractions. The doesn’t include any walking in the queues, walking within the pavilions, or walking to/from wherever you’re going on your break.
A couple of suggestions to help reduce this would be:
- Wait to do Gran Fiesta until right before your dinner at Hacienda, and instead take the boat back to Germany after Test Track. This will save LOTS of steps, and give you a little bit of downtime on the boat, plus some free time to explore the pavilions or watch Jammitors or whatever.
- See Oh, Canada on your way out after lunch, pushing your break back by a few minute but still leaving plenty of time to make the 3:00 FP for Spaceship Earth
- Swap Living with the Land and Test Track. According to the crowd calendar that will make your wait for Test Track only slightly longer (maybe 5 minutes), but it will save you considerably more time over walking back and forth across Future World.
I plugged those changes into a TP, and it all works out to get you to everything, with far fewer steps.
Of the three items for the Seas pavilion, you might want to rearrange their order. We usually do the ride first, since it is one method to enter the pavilion and deposits you at the exhibits. Then spend your free time looking at exhibits until the next show starts for “Turtle Talk with Crush”, then finish looking at exhibits.
Be aware of how long it really takes to walk from one pavilion to another, especially in World Showcase. If you make a lap around World Showcase like you indicate (Mexico to Italy for lunch then to Canada) you can get rests by staying in the park and stopping at the “American Adventure” and the movie in France (both have seats in air conditioning).
Wow, thanks for all of the comments and suggestions! I was thinking Epcot wasn’t all that spread out, so the back and forth wouldn’t be that bad but it looks like it would be a lot of walking.
@Ariadne Opps! For some reason TP automatically had the Note in the O Canada step and I forgot to remove it. We aren’t doing a counter clockwise tour at that time. Just going from O Canada to Spaceship Earth. We are staying at BC, so I was thinking it would be a quick 10 minute walk back the room? It’s supposed to be CL8. Were you thinking it would be faster or slower?
@Nikkipoooo The problem I’m running into is that I really want lunch at VN, but don’t have enough time to do all of FW before lunch. I need to hit Soarin at RD, and then I heard it was better to go right after to TT. We can’t do the single rider since have a DS5. I didn’t realize there is a boat in Epcot! Where do you catch it and where does it drop you off? Since we are going through the international gateway exit back to BC, would doing Oh, Canada be backtracking again if doing on our exit out? It’s hard to tell how far things are from each other looking at the map. Any suggestions on where to fit in Figment?
@mkmuzzy Thanks! Great tip! I will rearrange the order.
Would it be better to stop at American Adventure, France, or Ellen instead of walking back to Beach Club? I was thinking of having the kids lay down for about an hour would be more restful, but wondering how much of a pain it will be to leave the park for 60-90 minutes.
Thank you again for all of the suggestions! This is exactly what I need!
Yes, Soarin’, then Test Track, for sure, unless you can get a FPP for one of them. You’ll cross FW, but that’s not that much of a walk compared to WS.
If you’re staying by the International Gateway, you may be able to go back to your room for a rest. That’s different than trying to bus or drive to another resort.
I’m assuming Frozen ride will be a Tier 1, so thinking I can’t get a TT FPP since it will probably be same tier 1. TT without a FPP is really throwing a wrench in my plans!!
I would love this plan. But I have DSs 5 & 7 (and we stayed at YC last August) and so I’ll offer some advice (worth exactly what you’re paying for it):
- I think you may be risking them being cranky and miserable by the end of the day because you’re trying to do everything. I would suggest giving up some important things to make sure you can really enjoy the essential things. (I’d drop Figment, O Canada, Mission Space, and maybe the Three Caballeros if time was tight.)
- Agree with others, need to drop/rearrange some things to minimize the walking. Epcot is enormous, and the boats that cross the world showcase lagoon are slow and imperfect.
- Hard to say whether you’ll be able to get Frozen Ever After FPP, if not, get TT for later in the day.
- I would suggest you consider copying your plan and evaluating some group of edits that looks a bit like:
A: Right side of the park:
i) Soarin
ii) Living with the land
ii) Seas with Nemo/Turtle Talk/Seas Pavillion
iv) Spaceship Earth
B: Cross to Italy/Germany midday
v) Boat across World Showcase lagoon to Via Napoli for lunch
vi) If energy, go to Karamel Kusche, and do the Germany Agent P Adventure (it’s awesome, and lets your kids explore the amazing Germany model railroad). If not, grab Karamel Kusche snacks and dash back to BC.
C: Take a break.
vii) Break at the BC. It will be hotter than the surface of the sun.
D: The home stretch
viii) Return to World Showcase - China/Mexico/Norway/Frozen Ever After
x) Test Track (consider Mission Space here only if you spare time and energy)
(Here’s the Test Track wait time profile for August 17th - you’ll wait 10 or 15 minutes longer late afternoon/early evening, but you’ll save 25 or 30 minutes not having to dash back and forth across the park: https://touringplans.com/epcot/attractions/test-track/wait-times/date/2016-08-17 )
xi) Hacienda San Angel for supper and prepare for Illuminations
(ASIDE: Don’t stress out about the “perfect” spot for Illuminations if you don’t get good seating at the Hacienda: pretty well everywhere around the Lagoon is good. Especially near the International Gateway to allow for a speedy escape behind the tens of thousands of people who will be heading in the opposite direction, toward the main entrance. Also, a lot of kids find illuminations a little boring because it’s fairly slow through the middle. If they’re done for the day before Illuminations, it’s not the end of the world to skip it.)
1 Like
Great advice, @mossymom. I will play around with your steps and see what the times looks like. Yeah, them ending up tired and cranky is my fear too. It’s just so hard to fit it in one day!
1 Like
Just saying… I love Figment. Don’t drop Figment. Also, when you exit the ride there are some cute things to try like making music with your arms or stepping on dots to make sounds, etc. Not a lot, but a nice difference from all the other rides.
I’m from Canada, I love the Canada movie, but only do it if you (your kids) are able to stand through it. Otherwise, skip it.
Could you do lunch in Mexico and dinner in Italy? That would save you some walking. We have had lunch in Mexico a few times–it’s nicely air conditioned and the agent p activities for Mexico are all indoors (most of them are outside) which is a nice active break as well.
I love Figment too. But often our plans end up dropping things we love to do the things we REALLY love. We’re Canadian too but I still haven’t managed to fit in O Canada… and still haven’t done Test Track! (Embarrassing, I know. The kids don’t do speed well.) The exit area in Figment is cute but we thought very dated. Our kids don’t love it.