1st Disney World Trip - Skipping Epcot ok?

[Angel Ariel]

I agree there is wonderful food and music. Which does not entertain young kids.

it may not have entertained your kids, and there's nothing wrong with that. That statement is not true for all young kids, though.

 

[matthewhavens]

My family will be headed to Disney World Dec 4th - 10th. We are staying at the Polynesian and are trying to finalize which parks we want to visit to so we can make our dining reservations. We have two kids, and at the time of the trip our son will be 5 and our daughter will be 1.

We definitely going to do 2 days at MK, 1 day at HS, and 1 day at AK. We have one other day to plan, and we are considering skipping Epcot altogether, most likely in favor of a 3rd day at MK.

Is this a good move? It doesn't seem like there's all that much at Epcot that would really appeal to us given the kids' ages. We don't have park hoppers, so it's just one park per day for us.

Appreciate any advice.

Yes - Epcot can be skipped with a 5 year old and a 1 year old. My kids are now 7 and 5 and we go to WDW almost annually. Epoct has never fully held their attention. There is so much to do at MK, you will definitely want the third day there. We will be heading back to WDW in November for 7 days and will only do one evening at Epcot.

 

[tlmadden73]

For my son's first trips to Disney (not mine) I have skipped Epcot both times with no hesitation.

It can be a very educational place, but I think kids need to be at least in elementary school to find the amazement of learning stuff there. The rides and shows are full of great info.

I wen there when I was 9 and it first opened and it was perfect timing (though it was VERY much more educational/World's Faire like then). I was fascinated at all the information and gobbled it. Even though it isn't like it used to be, I think my son will enjoy it when he is in elementary school.

For kids under 5? Meh. I feel there isn't enough there to entertain them .. plus there is very long walks between a lot of stuff. Sure .. the Frozen ride will be a big draw to young kids finally, but not sure that is enough yet.

Innoventions (most (if not all) of that is gone).
Spaceship Earth ..
Test Track, Mission Space, Soaring .. may not be able to ride it (depending on height).
World Showcase? A long, boring walk with no rides (except the new Frozen ride)
The Seas - perfect for kids, especially ones fascinated with animals .. but that is only one area.

 

[pa. dad]

I wouldn't skip it. It's actually a really cool park. In December they'll have the storytellers at each pavilion and all the different Christmas decorations for each country. Also, lots of good restaurants. My kids have always loved Epcot - even when they were little. We love Spaceship Earth and the Seas Pavilion has Turtle Talk with Crush that most small kids love - and the Nemo ride and lots of fish!

I would also keep in mind that in December, the Magic Kingdom will be closing early a lot of nights for the Christmas party so you may want another park that isn't closing at 7.

I agree. I think there's a lot more to do at epcot than at AK and way way more to do than at dHS. Even when my kids were younger, they found much to do in epcot and found many of the rides to be better than their descriptions sounded.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Add me to the "don't skip" camp.

The Christmas stuff in World Showcase is very cool, and the KidCot stations are good for smaller kids. There's also Agent P's World Showcase Adventure, although I think 5 is maybe a little young for that one? (I've never played it.)
As for Future World:
- Spaceship Earth has the interactive area at the end that kids tend to think is cool
- There's an indoor playground at the end of Mission Space (you can enter through the gift shop if not riding)
- Colortopia in Innoventions is fun
- Nemo/Turtle Talk are great attractions for little ones and the aquarium is awesome as well
- Figment is a cute ride for that age and the interactive play area at the exit isn't half bad
- Ellen's Energy Adventure and the Pixar Short Films are good places to take a rest, although Ellen's is super loud at times and a 1 year old might not like it, plus you can't leave during the attraction
- There's loads of character meets, including Baymax and Joy & Sadness
- The food's great

 

[ArwenMarie]

We would choose a third day at MK over a day at Epcot. But that's just us. Epcot is our least favorite Orlando park.

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

Our first 2 trips to Walt Disney back in 2001 & 2003 we went to Epcot in the hottest part of summer. We totally didn't get the draw of this park & the World area & thought it was boring.

Now, however, after many more trips which are usually in December Epcot has become my favorite park!

Soaring & test track are both great.

The area with the aquariums , Nemo & turtle talk is awesome! And Coral Reef is a neat place to eat.

Living with the Land is a neat ride for all ages & in the same area Garden Grill character breakfast is tops!!

The world has the cute little ride in Mexico, the Chinese area, Canada area & France all have things to watch & see. ( check the times list for the day)

Mexico has a meet Donald Duck area & there are lots more characters to meet.

Even the Coca-Cola place with different free sodas to try is fun.

I love Epcot it is not really just a park about rides but it is very neat to see.

 

[sharonabe]

Count me in with the "Don't skip it" crowd.

Your DS5 will LOVE the train layout in Germany! My boys would spend an hour there if we let them, but we never did. Usually 15-20 min.

Another FUN thing that entertained my boys to no end were the jumping water fountains outside the Imagination Pavilion. SO MUCH FUN!!!

And if you do happen to stay until it gets dark, be sure to look for the "fireworks" in the walkways around Innoventions.

 

[Huff]

it may not have entertained your kids, and there's nothing wrong with that. That statement is not true for all young kids, though.

I firmly believe that out of the 4 parks, Epcot ranks last as kids favorite park as a whole while ranking 1st or 2nd with adults. That doesn't mean there aren't some kids who do favor Epcot. You just do not see the mass numbers of families with small kids at Epcot as you do at the other parks. But yes, there are many kids who love Epcot. There isn't any general statement that could be applied to ALL.

 

[Mickfarland4]

I haven't been to WDW in many, many years...but, even as a kid, Epcot was my favorite park.

 

[LovePug]

Because it's the first trip, I wouldn't skip it.

This is my thought exactly. It's very hard to imagine skipping any park on a first trip because you just have no idea what it's like unless you've experienced it. I read and read and read before my first trip and still was blown away by all of WDW. Since you already are planning 2 days in MK, I would definitely include EPCOT in your plans.

 

[Jonestown000]

At the risk of repeating myself, I just want to say thanks again for all the opinions and perspectives. I have no idea what we'll do yet, but I've got a whole lot more info that will be helpful for talking through the plan with my wife.

On the brightside, it seems like we either hit all the parks and get to see all of Disney World and get to do the rides (and food!) at Epcot, or we have something fun and new to do for our next trip, which likely will be when my boy is 7 or 8 and may be a touch more interested, and my girl will be 3 or 4 and ready for all the princesses. I don't think there's a bad decision here!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

At the risk of repeating myself, I just want to say thanks again for all the opinions and perspectives. I have no idea what we'll do yet, but I've got a whole lot more info that will be helpful for talking through the plan with my wife.

On the brightside, it seems like we either hit all the parks and get to see all of Disney World and get to do the rides (and food!) at Epcot, or we have something fun and new to do for our next trip, which likely will be when my boy is 7 or 8 and may be a touch more interested, and my girl will be 3 or 4 and ready for all the princesses. I don't think there's a bad decision here!!

I hope you all have a wonderful trip, regardless of the decision you make!

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Our last trip in January, we spent 2.5 hours at Epcot and that was enough. We met Pooh and Tigger twice (the guy took bad pictures at first) but they aren't there anymore. We rode the caballeros and met donald, nemo 3 times and turtle talk and did one round on figment and played about 10-15 minutes in the area after figment.

If we didn't have hoppers, we would definitely skip.

 

[Dreamport]

Excellent outlook, OP! I haven't browsed through all of the responses you've received, but I do remember that even at 5 my father would take me back to Magic Kingdom after only an hour or two at Epcot (Mom's favorite park). When going back at age 8 and my sister 2, she was only slightly antsy while I enjoyed a lot (and that was well before Soarin' or Test Track). My input would be to skip this time and wait til both kiddos are older. Thankfully, you still have plenty of time to find out how well Animal Kingdom's nighttime schedule will fit in (maybe spend a second day there?) and could possibly schedule your FP+ for MK but keep an open mind to heading to Epcot after all while you're down there. Whatever you decide, I hope we get to hear about a magical trip come December!

 

[monkistan]

no no no no no.

 

[bjscheel]

For our first trip in 2005, we had 3 park days. My girls were 3 and 6. I was leaning toward 3 MK days, partly because I found the whole thing overwhelming and thought it would be easiest. I asked here and they talked me into putting an Epcot day in the middle. It was a nice change of pace for our little trip. I don't remember what all they did, but I know they made coffee filter butterflies at a station somewhere, colored the masks on a stick at the KidCot stations, met characters (it's where older DD fell in love with Goofy and he's still tops on her list), and played on a jungle gym. LOL now that doesn't seem like much, and I'm sure there were some rides involved, but I do remember it as being a fun day.

Like you said, either way it's a win for you. We didn't do HS or AK that trip, and it was still a success. And we had new things to do on our next trip.

 

[bshrewz90]

I wouldn't skip it, its one of my favorite parks and I think it is kid friendly! I'm not fond of HS and believe that would be the better to leave out but that is just my opinion =)

 

[MeetingMickeyin2006]

We did not enjoy Epcot at all, outside of Soarin'. We did not visit on our second trip in April, and we aren't visiting Epcot on our upcoming trip either, especially since Soarin' is down for refurb. The World Showcase is interesting, but I would rather have a second day in the MK or HS rather than waste a day on Epcot. Just my opinion.

 

[Ambear]

The mitsukoshi department store makes Epcot a must for me. Oh and figment.