DW, DD10, DS8 and I are driving over to Epic for one day during our upcoming 2025 WDW trip. We have purchased Express Passes for the day at Epic.
We plan to arrive around 11:30ish and stay until closing.
While I have detailed TPs for each day at WDW, I’m currently planning to wing it more at Epic instead of entering with a detailed step by step plan. Generally, we will start at HTTYD and then likely move to SNW, Celestial, Monsters and finally Ministry, but I don’t have an attraction by attraction TP.
I’m hoping the general plan will help us to better take in the atmosphere whole park instead of being focused on running around from point A to point B. Am I making a mistake going into a day at Epic like this?
A new park with EP is the best opportunity to use an old school strategy of go with the flow! You will be back again someday and can catch what you missed, but literally everything will be new to you and worth soaking in! Watch the shows and the street performers. Try the snacks. Explore the alleys and parks. I can’t wait to do it myself in June!
My sense is that the EP will make the trip quite easy and you will be able to spend more time getting into all the Easter eggs, spells, mini games and vibes. The major complaint I see from Reddit etc visitors is that they didn’t plan and just spent time in line. You’re on this forum which means you’re a planner! Sometimes the best advice for us is to slow down and see each land in detail. Mammoth Clubs Molly did an update EP day and they did everything in half a day. Longest wait was 35 min. Best take away from that video was no criss crossing lands - just do a circle and save those steps.
Arriving at 11:30 with EP the only things I would plan out are the shows, food, and character meets, knowing that those can end well before park close and/or have specific times. I would not plan to see the last show of anything considering that they sometimes have cancellations due to difficulty. Otherwise, I agree, go with the flow and take it in.
I hadn’t thought about that. Yes, I agree. I will do that.
Food: When we are at theme parks, we usually end up with snacks on the go for lunch and then a short QS dinner. But, yes, I should at least look into options ahead of time.
Characters: Last year my kids weren’t particularly interested in character meets (other than the Big 5 at WDW) so we will likely skip characters at Epic. DD10 said “It’s kind of weird to take photos and get autographs of strangers in costumes.” … maybe we need to work on using our imagination more
