Are the Kidcot stations in Epcot open at night?

[JRoglitz]

Just wondering if the Kidcot stations in Epcot stay open after dark or just during the day?

 

[CarnotaurDad]

They are open the same times as the World Showcase so, yep, they are open at night as well. Lots of fun for our DD!

 

[JRoglitz]

Oh good! My daughter really wants to do this but the only time we can go is this Friday afternoon and evening and I was worried she wouldn't finish in time. Are the locations marked well?

 

[CarnotaurDad]

Some of the locations are marked well but some of them are a little tricky to find. In general, they are all located within one of the shops but some are farther back in the country than others.

Feel free to ask the first CM you see in a country and they will be able to direct you quickly.

It's a lot of fun for our DD.

 

[Advance The Man]

What are kidcots?

 

[CarnotaurDad]

Kidcots are stations within each of the countries where the kids can create and color a mask. A CM from each country sits at a table with chairs and works with the kids on the mask. It's a lot of fun for the kids to make their own masks and get a stamp at each country.

 

[Tinkerbelle99]

We highly recommen this activity too! Our DD loved it (4 yrs old at the time of trip), so did we. It was like a little adventure finding the kidcot locations within each country. She still enjoys playing with her mask now. We also had gotten her the Epcot Passport and having it signed by the CMs was another bonus. Lots of fun...

 

[HollyJoy]

All the stations are marked on the map, but not that clearly marked in the countries. We had to ask CM's for alot of them.

 

[madalex]

They are open the same times as the World Showcase so, yep, they are open at night as well. Lots of fun for our DD!

Actually, I thought the Kidcot stations closed at 8:00, even though World Showcase stays open until 9:00. Has that changed (e.g., that Kidcot stations are open until 9:00 as well)?

 

[mmccoy]

We did Kidcot in May/June. My five year-old loved it. Cool thing is, its free. At least, the mask is. The passport costs a few bucks.

As one poster said, some of the stations are a little hard to find. If I remember correctly, the Japanese Kidcot station was toward the back of the country's showcase, near the displays of the tin toys.

For an extra treat, have your children memorize "hello" in the respective languages. Because of a song he learned in pre-K, my son knew "hello" in Japanese. When he gave her his passport, he put his hands together, bowed, and said hello in Japanese. The CM was delighted, and spent a few extra moments with him. Cool moment for all of us.

The important thing is, give your kids time to enjoy the experience. Because we were pressed for time, we rushed through a couple of the countries. Our five year-old just wanted to sit and decorate his mask.

 

[Kapp]

making the masks through all of the different World Showcase countries. THe only bad this was when the lines at the tables would be long with most of the crowd being "tweens", teenagers and even some adults!

 

[Taratink]

Where does one buy the passports and pick up the masks?
Tara

 

[CarnotaurDad]

Madalex,

I'm not sure of the exact hours but I remember when we were there in December that our DD was able to do masks in a couple of countries after 8 PM. It's possible the official closing time is 8 but they stay open later if they want to.

 

[Russell]

Most of the stores have the passports. I know they are at the front entrance gift shop and the one at the international gateway. They are cool
because they have a button and stickers.

The stations are open the full hours. They can be hard to find--especially Japan! But searching for them is part of the fun. This is a great activity. I enjoy them because it gives the little ones a break from the walking and it allows the grown ups to talk with the cast members from other countries which is great fun. Epcot is our family's favorite park!

Now if they would just move the Wilderness Lodge to where the Beach Club is everything would be right in the world.

 

[puffinp51]

We did the entire world in Dec. w/ my DD (13, 10) and had a great time. I agree some of the locations are harder to find but all we did was ask and then found them easily. The one thing we forgot to do, and are kicking ourselves, is to take a picture at each station with the CM from the country. We bought the passports, have the stamps, and the 'charms' from each country - but no pictures!! Bummer. Guess we'll just have to go do it again!! Have a great time!!

M.K.

 

[mmccoy]

the masks are available at every Kidcot station. that way, you can start at any country.

Regarding pictures at the Kidcot stations, one of the great ideas we picked up from this board was to take a picture in each country, while wearing something from one of the stores in that country. In Norway, we took a picture of my sons and son-in-law in the female blond pigtail wigs. Pretty funny. the most difficult country to find something was France, oddly enough. No berets! Ultimately, we just took a picture of me holding a couple of Eiffel tower statues.

 

[slp87]

This is a favorite of my DD and we devote 1 afternoon of the trip just to go to the stations. It usually takes us about 2 hours. We start at Mexico at opening and work our way around. We've actually never hit any bad crowds. One trip I took a picture of her with each CM at the station and a picture of her wearing a hat representative of that country. Our last trip I took a picture of her with the CM and another of her holding a miniature flag from the country. We've already decided that next time we're going to get a picture of her holding the Mickey dressed in the country's clothes. One other fun thing we did was have each CM write something on the mask in his/her native language.

 

[cmonroe]

A small tangent.

While looking for the kidcot station in Japan, my DD 3.5 asked if she could have a japanese fan. She's only 3.5 so we agreed but to a fairly cheap one. We brought it up to the counter and the woman at the register asked my daughter's name. The woman then asked if she could have permission to write her name in Japanese on the fan. Our response was "Certainly!" My daughter was impressed that those "symbols" said her name in another language. If anyone is interested you might want to ask while you're there.