Epcot: crowd ratings, EMH, food & wine

[ArielSparrow]

I am not a resort guest and am trying to decide between visiting Epcot on a Sunday that is rated 6/10 per Undercover Tourist, or a Thursday that is rated 4/10 but Epcot has EMH that day. If it matters, it is during the food & wine festival (as was the last time I visited, and we walked on to almost everything).

 

[disneyvoice]

We try to stay away from Epcot on the weekends during Food and Wine (or at least we are prepared for crazy crowds and make sure we leave by about 4:00). I would always choose a week day over a weekend during Food and Wine, even a weekday with EMH. In my experience the worst crowds by far we have ever experienced at Epcot were weekends during Food and Wine. But, we are also very focused on the festival and not on rides when we are there during Food and Wine.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If you are just going to Future World to do rides, you won't see much of an impact from the festival. However, World Showcase will be ridiculous. Sunday not as bad as Saturday though.

EMH no longer attracts large crowds. It just lengthens the lines at AM opening for popular attractions.

 

[ArielSparrow]

I double checked and when I went in 2013, it was a Sunday that we focused on World Showcase and a Monday that we focused on Future World. I don't recall it being crowded but I don't have anything to compare it to. We didn't really do festival stuff. Actually, I forgot it was even going on and was surprised the dates overlapped, but then my husband reminded me there were booths all around. We just were doing the exhibits and such, and ate in the permanent restaurants.

It's good to know EMH doesn't attract large crowds anymore. Is that just for Epcot or all parks? Resources I saw still say to avoid them, but I may be reading old publications.

I'll have to look into what the festival is, but we'll probably not be focused on it much again - and split the time evenly between the two halves. It sounds like if we go with Sunday, it would be better to do World Showcase in the morning and Future World in the evening?

 

[JerseyJanice]

Morning EMH isn’t a big draw. Nighttime EMH is another story, but that’s usually on Tuesday. Sunday is a popular day for locals. So I think Thursday is likely to be far less crowded.

 

[ArielSparrow]

Thursday would also be better for AK...unless Pandora causes it to be consistently crowded?

This is what we are thinking:
Saturday: Kennedy or AK (8:10 TH/ROL)
Saturday: AK (8:40a TH/ROL) or EPCOT
Thurs: AK (RD Pandora) or EPCOT

On one hand, since Epcot is 1 day and AK is 2, I want to give Epcot the less-crowded day.
On the other, because of Pandora, AK needs less crowded days. The new stuff at Epcot are less new and just theme changes (Soarin' & Frozen).

Also, were we just lucky when we went on a Sunday to World Showcase in 2013? It was our first day at WDW overall so we didn't have anything to compare to (only Disneyland), so it seemed fairly empty to us. I think longest wait was Gran Fiesta tour? (I wish I wrote up a trip report so I could recall more details, but I never got around to it).

 

[DFII]

Locals go more on weekends which increases crowds. Go Thursday

 

[ArielSparrow]

Wouldn't that be the case for both parks? Or is the shift less noticeable at AK? The best I can do is avoid Disney Saturday by going to Kennedy, but I need to be at either Epcot or AK on Sunday.

 

[DFII]

Wouldn't that be the case for both parks? Or is the shift less noticeable at AK? The best I can do is avoid Disney Saturday by going to Kennedy, but I need to be at either Epcot or AK on Sunday.

Sorry, I was referencing Epcot being more crowded on weekends during Food & Wine. I would recommend Epcot Thursday and AK on Sunday.

 

[iujen94]

Is the EMH on Thursday a morning EMH? If so, I would DEFINITELY go to Epcot on Sunday. As an offsite guest, by the time you get to Epcot on Thursday (an hour after the park first opened and while lines have been building), all of the headliners will have relatively long lines. If you go on Sunday at rope drop, you’ll be able to walk on at least one headliner and have relatively short waits for at least the first hour of park opening.

Also, with regard to your plan to do WS in the morning and FW in the afternoon, most of WS (other than Frozen and a handful of other things) does not open until 11. I’d do FW from park opening until 11, explore WS from 11 until it starts to get too crowded for your liking, and then head back into FW.

In general, I would definitely suggest an offsite guest avoid ANY park with morning EMH.

 

[ArielSparrow]

Haha now I don't know what to think since I have people saying AVOID and "it doesn't affect crowds anymore."

Yes, Thursday is a morning EMH. So what I have gathered is that it will affect the headliners in the morning. So I just wonder whether the time saved by rope dropping Sunday would be worth the increased crowds over Thursday.

And since I did World Showcase exclusively during F&W in 2013 on a Sunday and we had no issues, whether F&W has gotten more popular over the years. Or if I don't have a good baseline since I didn't visit FW at all (we had a late start and it was probably around 11a that we arrived at the park) as we were just taking our time in the exhibits.

 

[DFII]

Haha now I don't know what to think since I have people saying AVOID and "it doesn't affect crowds anymore."

Yes, Thursday is a morning EMH. So what I have gathered is that it will affect the headliners in the morning. So I just wonder whether the time saved by rope dropping Sunday would be worth the increased crowds over Thursday.

And since I did World Showcase exclusively during F&W in 2013 on a Sunday and we had no issues, whether F&W has gotten more popular over the years. Or if I don't have a good baseline since I didn't visit FW at all (we had a late start and it was probably around 11a that we arrived at the park) as we were just taking our time in the exhibits.

There’s no right answer other than you’ll enjoy yourself no matter which park you choose either day!

 

[BaymaxForever]

We went on a Thursday with AM EMH our last trip (September) and had a good experience. On a trip years ago we did our only Epcot day on a Saturday and I learned what a mistake that was! Wouldn’t do Epcot Fri-Sun. BTW, we are doing the Thursday at Epcot again this September.

Also agree with FW in the morning and WS from 11ish on.

I am again planning to do our AK day on Saturday with AM EMH like we did our last trip. I thought the 11-3 time was pretty busy (not overwhelmingly, though from pictures I’ve seen!), but we took a break at 2:30 and came back in the evening. I was pretty happy with how it worked last time.

 

[iujen94]

We went on a Thursday with AM EMH our last trip (September) and had a good experience. On a trip years ago we did our only Epcot day on a Saturday and I learned what a mistake that was! Wouldn’t do Epcot Fri-Sun. BTW, we are doing the Thursday at Epcot again this September.

Also agree with FW in the morning and WS from 11ish on.

I am again planning to do our AK day on Saturday with AM EMH like we did our last trip. I thought the 11-3 time was pretty busy (not overwhelmingly, though from pictures I’ve seen!), but we took a break at 2:30 and came back in the evening. I was pretty happy with how it worked last time.

Were you onsite such that you could take advantage of EMH? OP is offsite so will get into Epcot an hour after it opens.

 

[BaymaxForever]

Were you onsite such that you could take advantage of EMH? OP is offsite so will get into Epcot an hour after it opens.

That’s true, sorry, I missed that. We were onsite.

 

[ArielSparrow]

Yeah, I think I have now reached the territory where both are valid choices and I'm obsessing over and no matter how I plan it, I will probably continue to doubt my choices until the end of time lol.