About 3 hours at Epcot... best plan??

[Elias1901]

So my group and I decided that we would hit up Epcot after we finish up at Blizzard Beach for the day. We probably will make it to Epcot by 4 to 4:30 PM, possibly earlier if we decide we’re done with the water park early... but we are planning to get our money’s worth there without rushing. We will have to leave Epcot around 7:30 PM or so to make our dinner reservation at the California Grill, though. So we will have at least 3 hours to utilize at minimum, more if we’re lucky/leave sooner. This will be a Thursday and the park will have had an Extra Magic Hour in the morning, should that influence anything.

We’re considering coming in through the International Gateway and grabbing (late) lunch at the new Regal Eagle Smokehouse since it is a quick service and won’t need an ADR. I know my group will probably want to queue for Frozen Ever After and possibly hit *at least* Spaceship Earth on the way out.

For being arriving here at this midpoint of the day, just before the early parts of the dinner hours arrive, what would be our best plan of attack in terms of attractions? Honestly, our only attractions we would care about doing if we can are Frozen Ever After, Test Track, Soarin’ Around the World, Mission: SPACE, Spaceship Earth and MAYBE Journey into Imagination with Figment (guilty pleasure due to the original attraction, the Figment character and, of course, the music).

I realize we won’t get all that done in about 3 hours... but I’m just looking for a best recommendation for a strategy here. BE AWARE that we WILL NOT be able to have any FastPass+ selections set up as I am using my Cast Member Guest Passes for my group this day and have already reached our allotment for FP+ on other days of our trip.

Any tips or best-laid strategies to get the most done?

 

[CastAStone]

After eating you will have 2.5 hours at best.

If FEA is critical, do that first. it’s on the way to the rest of the park. It will take an hour standby at best.
Then I’d suggest Test Track via single rider, followed by Mission Space. At that point it’s probably 7? Check MDE and pick whatever of the other 3 you can squeeze in.

 

[Calee]

When are you going? That will make a difference. Also is it before the spaceship earth refurb?

 

[sharonabe]

BE AWARE that we WILL NOT be able to have any FastPass+ selections set up as I am using my Cast Member Guest Passes for my group this day and have already reached our allotment for FP+ on other days of our trip.

Can you still get day-of FP one at a time? If so, I'd see what's available that morning and make my plan around that.

 

[DWillowBay]

I, personally, wouldn't waste time eating 'lunch' around 4:00. Grab something at BB while you're there and maximize your EPCOT time. I don't know when the Spaceship Earth Refurb is scheduled to begin, so that might not be available to you. But..if you want FEA, that should be your immediate 'go to' as the line can be long.

 

[HuskieJohn]

Just putting this out there...

I saw your other post (MK departure day) and wonder with the Cali reservation what do you think of making this your MK day? That way you can go to MK, have less traveling time to get to dinner, then AFTER dinner you can go back to MK and close out the park by getting in line on 7DMT just before park close.

Then your departure day you can RD EPCOT without as much pressure as MK.

 

[gharter]

I agree with a PP, while you can't get FPs ahead of time, I would try and get FPs for your EPCOT afternoon as soon as possible that day.
FEA and TT most likely will not have FP available.
But, you should be able to get a Soarin, Spaceship Earth (if it hasn't closed for refurb yet) and Mission Space.
Agree with going in the IG, lunch, then standby line at FEA.
After that, its what you could get for FPs.

 

[Jonfw2]

Good suggestions, all. The only thing I would add is to keep an eye on Soarin's wait time- there are sometimes surprising random periods where it drops to below 30 minutes. If it does, I'd go straight there.

 

[Elias1901]

Woah! Thanks for all the replies!! I’ll try and respond to everyone as best as I can here...

After eating you will have 2.5 hours at best.

If FEA is critical, do that first. it’s on the way to the rest of the park. It will take an hour standby at best.
Then I’d suggest Test Track via single rider, followed by Mission Space. At that point it’s probably 7? Check MDE and pick whatever of the other 3 you can squeeze in.

Good plan here! Test Track might require being done via single rider, for sure...

When are you going? That will make a difference. Also is it before the spaceship earth refurb?

March. There’s no indication I’ve seen that Spaceship Earth will be closed as of that time... I’ve even got a FP+ for it on our other full day at Epcot.

Can you still get day-of FP one at a time? If so, I'd see what's available that morning and make my plan around that.

Honestly? No clue. I certainly will attempt to snag us some day-of FP+ and see what happens then... I wouldn’t bank on it though as I seem to recall asking the CM I spoke to about why my Guest Passes weren’t letting me book any more than 4 days of passes for my entire trip and being disappointed not only by that but the fact that I couldn’t make any day-of FP+ either, as I believe that was my very next question... I will try, though!!

I, personally, wouldn't waste time eating 'lunch' around 4:00. Grab something at BB while you're there and maximize your EPCOT time. I don't know when the Spaceship Earth Refurb is scheduled to begin, so that might not be available to you. But..if you want FEA, that should be your immediate 'go to' as the line can be long.

That might be a good idea! Also I think we’ll be fine for Spaceship Earth, we’re going in March and I’ve FP+ for it on another day, as I mentioned above. I do agree FEA will be our first stop, it honestly is really our only actual priority...

Just putting this out there...

I saw your other post (MK departure day) and wonder with the Cali reservation what do you think of making this your MK day? That way you can go to MK, have less traveling time to get to dinner, then AFTER dinner you can go back to MK and close out the park by getting in line on 7DMT just before park close.

Then your departure day you can RD EPCOT without as much pressure as MK.

I honestly will consider this but I’m not sure how it would work with the California Grill ADR we have at 9:25 PM. MK is only open til 9 PM and we wanted to see Happily Ever After from the viewing deck before dinner (heard this was allowed to be done before dinner too, so long as the reservation is around then). But yeah, making it back into the park isn’t an option obviously.

That said, it may be worth a re-think to do MK instead before heading to the Contemporary. Though, we would have to head over around 8:20 PM-ish I’d imagine, to allow time to check-in for the meal and make sure we have a good place on the upper deck to view the fireworks from at 9 PM...

I agree with a PP, while you can't get FPs ahead of time, I would try and get FPs for your EPCOT afternoon as soon as possible that day.
FEA and TT most likely will not have FP available.
But, you should be able to get a Soarin, Spaceship Earth (if it hasn't closed for refurb yet) and Mission Space.
Agree with going in the IG, lunch, then standby line at FEA.
After that, its what you could get for FPs.

I’ll take a look at the whole day-of FP+ in person, as I said above. Hopefully it will work out to be allowed... fingers crossed!

Good suggestions, all. The only thing I would add is to keep an eye on Soarin's wait time- there are sometimes surprising random periods where it drops to below 30 minutes. If it does, I'd go straight there.

Oh! Great tip on Soarin’ there!!