Hey Folks,
Family is going to Disney, staying at POR in July and my original plan was to do Epcot on July 6th CL 5 but no EMH. Doing my touring plan with a relaxed walk and noticed when I try to do Soarin’ twice, other attractions, and Pavillions, time is awful tight and plan actually has 0 free time. Looked rushed to me. So I looked at doing Epcot on July 5th but a CL7 but has EM Evening till 11pm. Did a relaxed walking plan and it isn’t as rushed with 65 mins free over the plan. This free time doesn’t include meals which I put at 60 mins each for lunch and dinner. I guess I am torn between EMH with a higher CL or a lower CL with no EMH. Thoughts? Also to note we have 3 boys, 17, 14, and 11. July will be hot and spending 14 hours in the park might be a bit much especially for the 11 year old…
I absolutely recommend a mid-day break during the summer. We usually go in early April, and last year it was miserably hot. We only had one day for Epcot so powered through, but that was a mistake. World Showcase felt like the surface of the sun. That being said I would pick the day with EMH, go early, leave in the afternoon then return in the early evening and stay through the end of EMH. We rode so many things between 9-11pm and this was Good Friday so very busy, plus the temperatures after 6pm were fabulous.
If you decide not to have mid-day break, at least plan Future World things between 1-5 pm. Stay in the A/C as much as possible.
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I’m also a little leery of crowd numbers like that. Just after the 4th, which this year is on a Monday, I’m betting bigger crowds than 6 or 7.
I virtually NEVER take mid-day breaks. On a “typical” day I leave my room at 7 AM and don’t return until close to midnight. I also NEVER go from June to September anymore, because of the heat/humidity (and I live in FL). Last time I was in EP in July I was a “fit” 23 year old and it wiped me out. My friend from CT almost needed medical help. Unless I was planning on spending multiple hours mid-day just wandering around some of the FW pavilions, there is NO way I could do an RD to closing day at EP in July without a break.
PM EMH at EP is one of my very favorite things in WDW. I LOVE WS and can spend hours walking around the countries, looking in all of the shops, eating, drinking, seeing the shows/movies, etc. I’ll usually have dinner around 7:00 or 7:30, find a spot to watch IllumiNations, and then spend the next 2 hours “getting lost” in WS. I rarely, if ever, spend much time in FW after dinner; in fact, unless it’s the only FPP I can get, I spend very little time after noon in FW. I don’t know what your TP looks like, but I HIGHLY recommend NOT jumping back and forth between FW and WS. Mexico to TT - or even MS - isn’t so bad (especially if you’ve had a couple of La Cava margaritas), but the LAST thing you want to do is have to go from America or Italy back to the Land for a Soarin FPP and then go back to Morocco or France. In July, it WILL kill you.
Bottom line, if I had that choice, I would go to EP on the EMH day. I would do all of what I wanted to see in FW by 1:00, take a break until around 5:00, and then spend the rest of the day in WS. If you really don’t want to leave the park, plan a long TS lunch for around 1:00 and then do things like the Seas, the Land, and the post-show areas of TT and MS up until about 5. This would also be a good time to shop in MouseGear, which is probably the best in-park all-purpose Disney store in WDW. Around 5:00, head into WS and take the countries more or less in order, timing things around your dinner TS ADR.
We just came back from our first WDW trip and had two days at Epcot. The first day we were only in the park 11am-7pm and the second day we were there RD to close and it wasn’t enough time for us. We looooved it. My son wanted to do more Agent P and I left wishing we had done one PM EMH night to truly explore all of WS.
I would definitely recommend the PM EMH choice, BUT also follow all the excellent advice of @Wahoohokie and @bswan26 on avoiding the heat. Our first Epcot day I thought I was going to melt into the pavement of Future World at 2pm. The good news is there is lots of inside space that is air-conditioned so you can easily stay out of the heat by waiting until after 5 to start WS.