Kids' favorite things at Epcot (besides TT and Soarin)?

[nessz79]

I realize that TT, Soarin, and Mission Space will be hits with kids.

We're taking our boys to WDW in April and it will be their first time at Epcot. What were your kids' favorite things at Epcot besides the big attractions? I am thinking instead of spending time trying to run to Toontown at opening at MK to get in line to see Mickey, we could spend some time at Epcot doing character visits. Any ideas on best times and places?

What about favorite exhibits, shows, etc?

Thanks in advance- I tried searching for an old thread on this, but was unable to find it.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

With kids, I definitely recommend the Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. The ride itself will draw them in because.... it's Nemo! However, make sure to stay and explore the aquarium. There are a lot of interactive exhibits and shows, like Turtle Talk with Crush and Bruce's playground.

My favorite childhood attraction was definitely Journey Into Imagination with Figment. However, the original attraction is long gone.... the new one isn't nearly as great, but it's still cute. The What If? Labs after will keep your kids entertained.

Honey I Shrunk the Audience can be kind of intense and scary.... I don't recommend it for young kids.

Innovations is a huge technological playground, but keep your kids out of there if you want to explore the rest of the park - it can keep them entertained for hours.

Spaceship Earth has recently been redone, but the animatronic characters still creep me out. It's interactive, though, and a park classic. Don't ride it as soon as you enter the park, though - lines are shortest in the evening.

As for World Showcase, Disney has done a lot to get kids excited about touring the countries. They've recently added a Kim Possible "mission." It's kind of like a scavenger hunt - good for older kids and teens. It involves texting, so if you don't have unlimited, avoid it. There's also the free masks that your kids can decorate and get stamps and tags at each country. China has the Chinese Acrobats - kids! The American Garden Theater often has neat touring shows, such as Blast and The Abba Generation - keep a watch out for guest performers. Norway and Mexico both have boat rides. Avoid the video after Norway's, though - borrrrrring!

Keep a watch out for the Jammitors throughout the park. They're a trash can band and a lot of fun for guests of all ages.

Epcot is known as the "adult" park, but it can actually be quite fun for kids. Hope your family has a fabulous time!

 

[all4fun]

Epcot has the character connection in FW where you can see several characters now. It is quite popular and we managed to just walk right by it several times this last trip, and it was quite crowded. We have been through the line in the past and it did move quite quickly though.

There are the masks that you can get at each country and the kids can color on. Each country has a different mask, and a different paper "charm" (for lack of a better word as I don't know what they actually call them) that hangs from the mask. We usually just pick up one mask and then ds will get the charms added to them as we visit different countries. FW also has the passport that is a necklace type of thing. I saw several kids with those but we never partook this trip.

Our ds loves the boat ride in Norway, for some reason. Mexico's is a favorite too.

Check your times guide for character greets and also for the different entertainment options in WS. One trip, we really enjoy Miyuki (candy lady) in Japan. She is great. Here's a video on youtube of her. The Taiko drummers are also fun to watch. There are acrobats in China usually, and France has 2 performers that stacks chairs about 10 high and stand on them. Breathtaking.

ETA: almost forgot, ds(5) also loves Figment and the Journey into Imagination ride (Imagination pavilion, near the LWTL pavilion).

Heres a link to the Epcot with Kids article here on the Dis. Lots of ideas there too.

hth!

 

[RMulieri]

Believe it or not my 4 yr olds favorite thing at Epcot was ..WORLD SHOWCASE.She loved the kidcot stops in each country, and was totally enthralled with the performers in each country( particularly...Miyuki the candy artist in Japan, The Japanese Taiko drummers, and the Chinese acrobats).She loved it so much we skipped AK and spent the extra time wandering WS.

 

[disneycruiser2007]

I would agree - Epcot was suprisingly very enjoyable for my kids. Especially after the crazy hectic pace of getting everything in at the Magic Kingdom and other parks, it was very relaxing for everyone to take time in the exhibits. Across from Innovations there is a character greeting building where a lot of the characters (Mickey, Donald, Pluto, etc) sign autographs, hug and pose for pictures for the kids (no princesses - so boys would like it).

Living with the Land was a really nice warm-up to some of the bigger rides, Mission Space, Soarin, especially if you have smaller boys.

Nemo and then Turtle Talk with Crush was a big hit with the kids. Afterwards there are large shark characters to see and pose in or with.

We liked going into Mexico to see the inside of the pyramid (take a look at the ceiling it's cool).

Like others said the Japanese drummers are cool.

If you've eaten your fill of Mickey ice cream bars from the other parks, Fife and Drum has really large ice creams (soft serve) that hit the spot for the whole family (American exhibit), since kids really seem to like ice cream. Food is pretty thematic once you get into the Epcot park since it's all about the different countries.

 

[fireworks fan]

My kids (5 and 2) loved lunch at the Garden Grill-we saw all of the characters at least 3 times Also, the kidcot stations in both Future World and World Showcase were a big hit. They also enjoyed Spaceship Earth, and the twinkling lights in the pavement by Spaceship Earth at night.

 

[LISAVWL]

About 2 years ago my oldest DS (14 at the time) and I had the three little kids DD4, DS3 & DS18 mo) for the afternoon at Epcot during the Food & Wine Festival. We had to think of a way to entertain them while we "snacked around the world". We came up with the "character scavenger hunt". Knowing that at different places around the World Showcase characters would be out, we made a game out of it. While the kids were looking all over the "country" for the characters, DS & I were able to get snacks and browse the countries. It was the best time! I saw parts of the World Showcase we never had time to see! My kids loved it and we did end up meeting quite a bit of characters and watching some great shows.
The kidcot stations are fun too. The kids get to decorate a mask and add charms & a stamp from each country as you walk around the World Showcase. We usually spend 2 afternoons doing this -- each day walking form the right/left to The American Adventure and then to the closest boat for a ride across the lake.
My kids love our "world traveling" days. They're still playing with their masks from our trip in October!

 

[momtomatthew]

DS (5) LOVES Turtle Talk with Crush and Spaceship Earth. He wanted to do those over and over again (along with TT). We went into the WS, but he wasn't too enthralled with it, other than the street performers we saw in England and France and the bongo drums

It's definately somewhere to linger- I'm sure your children will find lots to do-

 

[SmallWorld71]

Didn't read the other responses so I'm sure I'm duplicating, but here are DD5's favorite things at Epcot:

Future World:
-The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion: she enjoyed the ride, exhibits and Turtle Talk with Crush
-The Land Pavilion: besides Soarin she also like the Living with the Land ride
-Imagination Pavilion: she LOVED the play area they have in there
-Mission Space non-spinning side if they are tall enough and the little play area after
- She LOVED Spaceship Earth, be sure to hold them up high enough for the picture, we e-mailed ours to ourself; great free souvenir
-Test Track, in addition to the ride she loves to "drive" the show cars at the end and they are great for photo-ops

World Showcase:
-Boat rides in Mexico and Norway
-Decorating her mask at Kidcot stops
-Meeting the characters: IMHO this is by far the best place to meet characters in all of WDW, there is not the variety but the lines are much smaller; we actually had a private audience with Mushu for a while and later with Alice (definitely check your TIMES guide)
-The Chinese acrobats
-Illuminations

Next to MK, Epcot is my kids' favorite park. We spent 2 full days there and didn't see everything we wanted to. There is so much for kids!

ETA: if you want to see the main characters at Character Connection I would head there at opening while one adult grabs FP for Soarin. The lines there can really build up but you will get all the biggies (Mickey, Minnie etc. in one swoop.)

 

[XYSRUS]

My family cannot wait to try the Kim Possible thing!

 

[callahandisneyqueen]

Our kids loved the Seas and Nemo ride. They also loved walking through the world showcase to meet the characters. My 5 year old son loves to go to the firetruck and climb all over it in the innoventions building. The test track is another fun thing with kids altough we didn't get there last summer. The new ride in Mexico was fun as we're fans of the 3 caballeros.

 

[Tammysue5]

Of course besides all the things named... our family loves Innovations. (east and west) As another poster pointed out you can spend a great deal of time in there!!!! BUT.... we loved it... the family (6 of us) 'competed' at the Fire House Game... were we had to search the rooms of the house for fire hazards etc... in a certain amount of time. LOVED IT! The girls (6 & 9) played the "what's your problem" game show. They loved going up on stage and 'competing'. There are so many things to do, we made it the 1 thing we HAD to do at Epcot... planned a day just so we could try it all.


Kids also loved Nemo, Turtle Talk w/Crush... DD6 surprisely really enjoyed the "the Land" (I think that is what it is called) we saw pumpkins shapped like Mickey heads.... Eels, fish, etc.

We all decided our next vacation we will be 'taking our time' going around the World Showcase.

 

[Corjack]

My DD loved the Kidcot stops. She really got into it. She also liked Club Cool where you sample the Coke's from around the world.

And the Bakery in Norway and France!!

Jackie

 

[mlynn]

My girls loved Turtle Talk. But there favorite thing was The Trains in Germany. We couldn't get them to leave them.

 

[Mom2Nick]

My kids are young but they really do enjoy everything they see. They LOVE The Land pavillion. They get a big kick out of seeing them grow Mickey shaped pumpkins and the plants growing in mid air. They love EEA (which will be closed on our next trip). My oldest sone also loved teh trains in Germany. We usually try and find a bench and have a mid day rest right there so he can sit and stare at them.

One of the biggest thrills for them is at night in Epcot when the fountain "dances" and the fiber optics in the sidewalk are visible.

My kids are easily impressed

 

[nessz79]

Thanks- everyone has great ideas here! My kids are relatively easily amused as well so I know we'll have a great time.

I forgot how easy it is to run into characters around WS- we will definitely check the guide when we get there.

 

[Kae]

I think my kids love the relaxing atmostphere at epcot, every time we come back from WDW we always say we should of spent more time in Epcot. They love eating around the world, looking at the flowers & landscaping & of course IllumiNations- they used earplugs when they were younger.

Kae

 

[Bluetickmom]

Epcot is actually my DD's favorite park, and we spend the most time there. They love the boat ride in Mexico, but we are Caballero fans so we are partial. In fact we ride this about 10 times a trip, no exaggeration. They also really enjoyed the trains in Germany as well.

We did the masks and the passports. The passports were neat because they wrote a personal little sentence in their native language which thrilled my girls.

We also made a big deal about entering each country and getting the girls to point out what looks nteresting to them. My kids are a little out of the ordinary though in that they are and have always been interested in different cultures/countries and geography in general. We encourage it by looking at things on line leading up to the trip to get them excited. My little girls especially like to see pictures of kids their ages in native dress.


They liked the Koi pond in Japan and also the little toy museum there. We also picked oysters last trip and they each got a necklace. Word of warning to anyone who has a Hello Kitty fan, Beware the gift shop in Japan it is loaded!

I think we spend more time in Epcot than any other park. We spent so much time in the world showcase on the past trips that we still haven't done all that Epcot has to offer, i.e. Soarin, Living with the Land. Which I have insisted we do next trip.

Oh, and the Nemo ride they loved, I don't know how I almost forgot this one.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

The Nemo ride and Turtle Talk are definitely great for kids. Also, my kids spent a half hour getting themselves soaked in the jumping fountains at Imagination Pavilion.

 

[wendypooh]

I was going to say the Nestle Jr. Chef Program - but, it has been discontinued. Everything that has been mentioned is great for the kids. Epcot is my DS9's favorite park. One thing we/he really enjoyed was the behind the seeds tour - here is some info on it. It was really fun and very interesting.

http://allears.net/btp/tours.htm


Also, here are a couple of pages with info that you might find helpful.

http://allears.net/tp/ep/issue330.htm

http://allears.net/tp/ep/issue333.htm


Some pics of our trip -