Should I convince my friend to do Epcot?

I recently took a friend to WDW for the first time. She had so much fun, she’s taking her kids (17 and 20) for five nights at OKW starting January 10. She has planned four park days, but is not planning on going to Epcot. She’s asked me which park I would plan for a second day, and I told her honestly I’d pick Epcot instead of repeating one of the others. I don’t want to push her too hard to do something she’s not interested in, but how hard should I push her to try Epcot? When we went in October, we only visited MK and AK.

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If it’s Festival of the Arts push that. My hubby loved Epcot for the first time when we barely rode anything and just did the festival from lunch on.

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It will be Festival of the Arts. The only issue is that she is GF and I don’t know how easy it is to enjoy the festival eats when you have a significant allergy like gluten.

Why isn’t she planning to go to Epcot? Is she missing info about the offerings or does she know what’s there and just isn’t interested? Not being interested in Epcot is valid but I think everyone should try it once to see!

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I don’t know how much she’s looked into it, but I assume she at least looked at the attractions. I didn’t consider it for our short trip in October, but with four park days, it seems like a no-brainer to do one day at each park.

Maybe I will give her another nudge toward Epcot and see what she says.

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Don’t tell a certain someone on this forum, but I think for many people AK is a good half day park and the evening could be spent at Epcot if she got a park hopper ticket. Or she could do two HS days and do Epcot in one or both evenings. That way if she really likes Epcot she can reserve more time there the second day.

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Are they big star wars fans. If so they should plan a second studios day.

Otherwise i suggest another magic kingdom day. There is so much to see and without fast passes i think a second day there would be welcome. (and its my favorite)

Personally i would not push epcot. Future world is a construction zone. Unless they are interested in seeing the countries. Which do not have their cultural ambassadors right now. You mentioned her food choices are limited. I know there are resources for all types of food issues. But I think epcot is not at its best right now.

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When we have 4 park days, we typically pick 3 parks so we can do 2 days at MK. In the past we have skipped HS (twice) and AK (once), but never Epcot. I could see, however, why someone would choose to skip Epcot on a 4 park day trip.

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This is a good plan! Agree AK is a half day, especially with no shows lately.

I’d have her do a fun dinner at Epcot! Then she can see it.

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They have gotten better with the Festivals, and there are usually some things that are gluten-friendly. And beyond the ones that are marked there are often ones that can be modified. fairytalefoodie.com usually has a good rundown of what’s available once the Festivals start. No, we can’t eat everything, but there are usually enough things we can try. Drinks if nothing else. HA!

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We had two days at Epcot and still couldn’t manage to get it all done. Of course, Epcot is my favorite park, so perhaps biased, but I can’t fathom skipping that one. Animal Kingdom we had a day at and we were done in about half a day. (There was more we could have done, but just didn’t care to.)

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…if I’m going and can’t go to all four parks I skip EC… it’s not my favorite park or rather my least favorite cuz I can’t pick one that is my favorite. I like someone’s suggestion of park hopping over for an evening meal. That’s usually how we experience EC… for dinning purposes only.

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I’m the weird one who if I’m skipping a park it will be Studios because there’s not that much that I want to do there. I’ve watched enough Twilight Zone this weekend I really do want to hit that - and I’ve not seen MMRR yet, so I am pretty sure Studios will be on the schedule for Feb (I have a reservation one day) with a break for lunch at Beaches & Cream since there are not THAT many things I’m interested in at Studios. (Tower, MMRR, Muppet Vision, probably RNRC is about it. MAYBE I’ll venture over for SDD and Swirling Saucers.)

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I think people have their favorites and their skippables. Anyone who knows me knows what my two are :wink: Does she say why she’s thinking of skipping Epcot? I wouldn’t try too hard to change anyone’s mind about anything, and with such a short trip she may want to have two days somewhere (MK is always 2 days for us no matter the trip because we can’t fit it all into one day). She can always go back :slight_smile:

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Dead. To. Me.

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I wouldn’t try to change anyone’s mind. You might ask her some leading questions about why she picked Epcot to skip. For me, hands down, I would skip Epcot.

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I agree. I love AK, and could spend a lot more time there, but we’ve never been able to accomplish it with DS. It’s not his thing. Too much observing, not enough action.

I also agree with this. For us Epcot is usually a 2 day park, but I would not want someone’s first impression of the park to be that construction mess. We opted to skip it this December bc of all the construction. When we go back in March, well be doing one day, mostly in the WS. We don’t plan to devote 2 full days again until after the reimagining is complete, which hopefully will be by our big trip in 2023.

Based on the ages of their kids, DS might be the best option, especially if they are Star Wars fans.

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I’d have them go to there first three parks and then decide if they want more of one, or if they’d rather give Epcot a try. To me, Epcot is Soarin’ and Frozen Ever After and the atmosphere. Other than that, I’d be okay with skipping even though I do love it. We just haven’t spent as much time there and so haven’t built as many memories there.

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Thanks, everyone, for your input! I did suggest that she make two HS reservations as that was the one I thought that might be difficult to add at the last minute. I believe her plan is to visit the three parks - MK, AK, HS - and then decide where to go the last day. I just struggle not to keep pushing Epcot. But I think I will encourage her to look again at Epcot before dismissing it, but I won’t push it too hard.

Like @OBNurseNH I could visit AK everyday and not get tired of it. MK is probably the park I would be least likely to do for two days but that is because I’m a DLR person. My friend hasn’t been to DLR since the 80’s and her kids have only been there a couple of times with their dad. So MK might be the best choice for them for a second day.

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Thanks for the pro GF tip! I will pass that website on to my friend. I’m sure it will be useful no matter if she goes to Epcot or not.

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