I am making a touring plan to do Epcot half day (or less) and then hop over to do MK for the other half day.
As we will be arriving from Australia, this will be day 3 of our trip. (Technically only the 2nd full day as we arrive late on the first night. I am expecting to still feel a little jetlag, therefore, I have made 2 different plans for our Epcot visit - and this will depend on if we are sleeping in versus if we somehow make it to rope drop.
My first plan option is for FW and the rides. I will ONLY do this if we arrive at RD, as I will not have FP, as I will be using them at MK later in the day.
My second plan option is for World Showcase, but only half of it. This is in case we sleep in and miss RP. I donāt want to attempt to do rides at Epcot if we arrive late, so am just focussing on WShowcase and not bother with lining up for rides at FW. I will try and attach a copy for you to see whether you think this is a realistic thing to do. I will only manage to do one side of Epcot before leaving to go to MK. I will be able to return to Epcot another day to do the other half.
I am keen to experience going to MK on the boat once we leave Epcot. I need to be at MK by about 2pm as I would like to get a good view of the parade at 3pm. Therefore, I have us leaving Epcot around 1pm or soā¦ giving us at least an hour to travel to MK and then some time to settle in for the parade. It is important for us to do MK on this evening as other evenings look like Halloween events may impact us.
My question is, do you think 2 hours is really enough time to do half of the World Showcase? I understand that it doesnāt open until 11am, but what time do you think should arrive to enterā¦?
I appreciate your help with all these finer details
Wow, that second plan doesnāt really show you much at all. You skip doing the 360 degree movie in Canada, and the widescreen movie in France. But you especially miss out on seeing the technologically impressive American Adventure attraction. You also miss out on walking past the countries on the east half of World Showcase. You can probably do the countries in far less than 10 minutes if you just do a very swift look as you walk past, instead of really walking deep into them (and Iām not including extra time for any movies, including the one in China) and do a full lap instead of doubling back. Are any children traveling with you? Often they like the Future World things better, but nowadays there are activities etc aimed at children in each country.
Even if you arrive late, you might be able to Spaceship Earth without a horribly long wait, and itās such a classic, to me. Is this the only day at Epcot during your entire trip?
I am at WDW for 9 days and have a park hopper ticket. I have decided to do one park in the morning, then go back to hotel for a rest most days before entering another park for late afternoon/evening.
I will be visiting Epcot a few times. This will give me another day to do the āother sideā of WS, and we should be there for much longer.
I have basically put Epcot here on this day so that I can āpossiblyā (if we wake up early enough) do part of epcot before catching the boat to MK. I want to do the boat trip I need to go to MK on this particular date in order to watch Wishes in the eveningā¦ this is one of the evenings that are not impacted by Halloween eventsā¦ so I must be at MK this evening. We are not doing any Halloween Party dates.
So, all in all, I will get to do Epcot in a more thorough way on another dayā¦ I was just wanting to see if I could do āpart of itā today before taking the boat to MK.
I have 2 daughters and my husband with me. Daughters will be 15 & 17.
I think you can spend a couple of hours in WS and see some of it, but maybe not half. We have daughters about the same age and we can spend many hours exploring WS, especially Japan, Morocco, China and Mexico. WS is much more fun if you spend the time exploring rather than whizzing round. My suggestion would be to go for it, but be flexible and maybe combine with snacking for Lunch.
Personally I would say if you wonāt be there early enough to spend more than two hours I would just skip it that day. By the time you walk all that way youāll just be quickly going through the countries with no time to enjoy them, shop, snack, etcā¦
Are you talking about the ferry ride from the TTC to Magic Kingdom? For some reason Iām reading it as though you were expecting a boat directly from Epcot to Magic Kingdom which isnāt the case.
You should also be prepared for Magic Kingdom to be very busy on non party days. So many people avoid the party dates because of the limited hours so on non-party dates it tends to be very crowded. If you get the chance be sure to catch Hallowishes also, there are places you can see and hear it from outside the park. The holiday party shows are really fantastic.
@VJB - Thanks for the additional information. Iām glad you will have additional times to visit Epcot. You will be there during the Food & Wine Festival. Going from Epcot to MK is fairly swift: monorail to TTC then ferry to MK - if a boat is there. The ferry ride is only about 10 minutes. But then you add on bag check, etc.
Yes, I was thinking I was catching a boat from Epcot to MK OK, so now I need to research another thing
It seems that I need to catch a monorail to Transport place and then catch a boat to MK. I had read somewhere that catching the boat to MK is a nice experience, which is why I wanted to do it I guess. This is really the only reason I am doing Epcot in the first half of the day.
Maybe I should really try and get there for RD and that way it will be more worth the visit. I am mainly worried about not being able to get rest time back at our hotel in the middle of the day on this dayā¦ due to the fact that I need to get to MK to enjoy the parade and stay for Wishes (this being a day that doesnāt have Halloween events).
I think I need to re look at the other days that I could possibly do MK and try and fit in Wishes another day. I was trying to save myself having to enter MK on a more crowded day. This day looks to be only a CL3 day compared to others later in the week which go to a 6-8 level.
Here are some things to help you understand the transportation, as well as the whole WDW setup. There are more, but these are good starting points. On Touring Plans, there is a full discussion of WDW transportation methods, including photos, but it is 3 years old: A Walt Disney World Transportation Primer: Monorails, Buses, and Boats, Oh My | TouringPlans.com Blog . I also like to go to Google Maps and put in Walt Disney World, and switch to the earth view. It helps get the point across as to the size of WDW, and what is where. Too often printed maps are not exactly to scale. Good luck with your trip! Iād love to have that many days there.
FWIW, I personally do not find the boat to MK to be a particularly ānice experienceā, especially if youāre not right at the front where you can see whatās ahead. Itās not horrible, itās just not something Iād ever go out of my way to doā¦ in fact, I took the ferry for the first time since the 90s last month, and only then because the monorail from the TTC wasnāt running.
In my opinion, a nicer boat ride (albeit a longer trip) would be to get to either Grand Floridian or Polynesian (you can walk to Poly from TTC) and take their small launch boat to MK.
I agree with all shared here. 2 hours in WS means about 2 countries when you add on all the walking. FWIW, lately Iāve been splitting Epcot in half vertically instead of āhorizontallyā (between FW/WS). So a half day at EP might look like TT, SOAT, MS, SE, Mexico, China, Norway, Italy, America. Then on another dayā¦Soarin, Nemo, Crush, LWTL, UK, Canada, France, Morocco etc. Depending on entrance and FPs I might circle from WS to FW or the other way around. Good luck!
Hmmā¦ understanding that internet advice is worth exactly what you pay for it, I have a couple thoughts:
Thereās a temptation to park hop because you spent the extra money for the PH and it will feel like a waste if you donāt hop. But if you do that, you may end up regretting wasting a lot of extra time in travel, TWICE getting from transportation through the gates and then making the long hike into the āheartā of the park, as well as the travel time between parks, which for sure should generally be expected to be an hour, especially when MK is in the mix.
The boatās okay. If you really want a (slightly) nicer boat ride to MK, leave MK and got to one of the MK resorts for lunch or supper sometime and take the boat there/back (Eg Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL, etc). Or Uber from your hotel to a MK resort and take their boat to get to MK.
Iād embrace my jet lag, sleep in the morning of the 28th, and go straight to MK when Iām up and ready to go. If you donāt think you have anything else to do at MK, consider SOMK or a Pirate Adventure in Adventureland and catch the parade back in Frontierland from the steps of the Diamond Horseshoe or thereabouts.
I think it might be best to stick with MK on this date. Trying to do Epcot as well is going to make me rush, and Iāll miss the whole point of enjoying myself and taking it all in. Will adjust my plans and fit Epcot in elsewhere. I might not even worry about trying to do the boat journey.
My park hopper isnāt really taking any more time out of my day as most days we are coming back to hotel to grab a few hours rest in middle of day before heading back in evening.
I need to go to MK on this particular date in order to watch Wishes in the eveningā¦ this is one of the evenings that are not impacted by Halloween eventsā¦ so I must be at MK this evening. We are not doing any Halloween Party dates.