Could someone explain Epcot to me. 2 visits and I don't get it at all

[cmurray234]

This is the beauty of WDW to me. Every park strikes a slightly chord for people.

Don't worry if you don't love it. I don't love Animal Kingdom because I think that particular park is severely lacking in theming. Also there are only 2 attractions I really like there.

Epcot is my favorite park and Beach Club is my favorite resort because it's near Epcot. We have a science-y family. Innoventions is the first request we get from DD13 and DS11 as soon as we step foot in the gate.

They love the interactive features as Mission:Space and Spaceship Earth. We explore the aquarium. We love Living with the Land.

We enjoy the shows in the World Showcase and browsing to see what each country has to offer and the kids LOVE the Agent P missions. If we go for 9 or 10 days, we schedule 3 days there.

But with all of that being said, I certainly can understand why it doesn't appeal to everyone. It isn't very theme park-like. And if your kids have their hearts set on rides, it's going to be a little disappointing.

 

[hedberg1661]

As an AP holder and a obviously a Disney Frequent Flyer I must tell you that EC is my favorite park.

Why? I love all the culture, the nice walk around the lagoon, great fireworks show just to name a few non-attractions. As far as rides/attractions go Soarin is obviously hard to beat. TT, Spaceship Earth is a must, living with the land, etc.

You mentioned seeing the street performers and I think this is one of the most underrated aspects of EC...the entertainment you stumble upon/seek out. By far the best example of this is the Voices of Liberty at the American Adventure Pavilion. If you haven't seen them yet please check them out...I guarantee you will make this a must each and every trip to WDW. Their talent as a whole is really something to behold.

Having said all this I agree with you that EC isn't for everyone but I encourage everyone to go in with an open mind and seek out something different; something you normally wouldn't experience or learn. This is what makes EC truly great. Whether it is learning about plant life, or tasting different foods from around the world make your experience and eye opening one. And well if that doesn't work blast off on a mission to Mars. Orange side usually does the trick.

 

[kerplop]

We've been a few times and honestly? We don't care much for Epcot. We go for two weeks and we usually spend 1.5 days there at most. My partner loves The Seas and The Land and we both like Test Track and Soarin, but the other rides we don't care much about. I hate shopping and I'm not a huge sightseer, so for me the WS is good for a couple of hours at most and mostly I'm there for the food But as for it being a favorite? Nah not for us.

 

[frozengurl]

Been to DW twice, once in 2011 and once in 2013. First year we did a half day at Epcot with 2 kids under 7 (because of MNSSHP) and found we had just enough time to briefly walk in and out of most Pavillions, go on 3 rides, do Akershus and leave. The thing is, we didn't really see why we would need to spend much more time at Epcot, we felt we saw most of it. 2013 comes and we decide to spend a full day at Epcot with 3 kids (9, 3 and 1). Early lunch at Akershus so we wander the front area of Epcot until 11:00 and head for Norway. After lunch we walk clockwise around the lake and visit each Pavillion (again briefly for the most part) until we do the full circle. Besides seeing some great street performers along the way, we do almost nothing but light shopping at any Pavillion and spend only 15 minutes at each. We head to the entrance and finally find things to do (TT, Soarin, Mission Space) and leave again fairly underwhelmed. I'd like to know what I'm doing wrong. Everyone has such high opinions of Epcot but we never see it. We're happy everywhere else. MK is non stop rides all day. DHS is relaxing and watching as many shows as we can. AK is kind of a mix. But we have no idea what to do at Epcot. Honestly if it wasn't for the fact the girls love Akershus we'd probably just skip Epcot next time. Anyone know how we could adjust our Epcot plans next time to get more out of it?

I will be honest, Epcot has never really been a favorite park for us either! I really enjoy it with my DH because we can just stroll around the countries together and take it all in, but with my two DD's 6/3 we only spend half a day in Epcot! If you ever get a chance to do Epcot adults only, you might learn to appreciate it better. Some kids do love it but my kids really aren't fans so our time us spent in the other 3 parks!

 

[maddiebee]

Epcot is my boyfriends favorite park and my second fav. We both love to eat and drink and it's so nice to just stroll around the works showcase with a drink and check everything out. It also ends up being where I meet the most characters because we end up kind of stumbling upon them and my guy doesn't mind waiting in line as long as he can grab a beer . It's definitely the more relaxing park for us and there's just so much to explore and look at, with out even thinking about the rides. There's also just so many great opportunities for different foods, which we never feel bad about over indulging in because of how much walking we do in Epcot

 

[jon18uk]

Last trip we spent half an hour teaching kids diabolo in the shop in China! There are so many different parts to Epcot to see and do, you really can lose track of time and spend ages just on the little games. and Illuminations is a much better fireworks show than wishes.

 

[hedberg1661]

Last trip we spent half an hour teaching kids diabolo in the shop in China! There are so many different parts to Epcot to see and do, you really can lose track of time and spend ages just on the little games. and Illuminations is a much better fireworks show than wishes.

That is a great point. I think EC has the most to offer as far as education goes. AK a close second.

 

[shyjade]

I love Epcot and for me that is my 'stop and smell the roses' park. I love to look at everything in each Country, the architecture of the buildings, the gardens, etc. I like the rides too, but taking a leisurely stroll through Canada's garden while having a beer, eating a pastry in France, enjoying all the entertainment, I spend all day there.

Exactly! We buy park hoppers and go to Epcot almost every day during our 5-7 day trips. We finally experienced F&W last October and we're HOOKED! One night, we hopped over to Epcot, rode Soarin' & TT, then met friends for a nice dinner. Another evening, we hopped over and did a few rides, grabbed a margarita and watched Illuminations. Another morning, we arrived at 11am, grabbed a filet & cheese soup in Canada, then took the boat over to "the far side" and had an apple streusel dessert in Germany. Last year we went to MK twice, and Epcot 5 times. DD16 has always loved the park as much as I do.

 

[hedberg1661]

Exactly! We buy park hoppers and go to Epcot almost every day during our 5-7 day trips. We finally experienced F&W last October and we're HOOKED! One night, we hopped over to Epcot, rode Soarin' & TT, then met friends for a nice dinner. Another evening, we hopped over and did a few rides, grabbed a margarita and watched Illuminations. Another morning, we arrived at 11am, grabbed a filet & cheese soup in Canada, then took the boat over to "the far side" and had an apple streusel dessert in Germany. Last year we went to MK twice, and Epcot 5 times. DD16 has always loved the park as much as I do.

That is totally how I do EC. I am there almost everyday of my stay. Having said that I usually stay at BC so it is a 5 min walk and you are in.

 

[sunshinecruise]

Ha ha!!!! I know exactly what you mean...... Epcot is an acquired taste.... and just like you-----I didn't get it either. Then after many years......I discovered Innoventions and then.....I finally understood what Epcot was about. Oh- I think I completed about two trips before visiting The World Showcase too. I believe for some people----it takes more time to figure out and get what Epcot is all about. I still don't know what the slabs are in front though.

Let me start by saying, I can't wait until the slabs out front are gone. They have ruined the entrance to Epcot.

My dh and I like to go to Epcot during the Flower and Garden show, Christmas, and especially the Wine and Dine festival. We like all of the special speakers, events, and performers during these times.

Christmas is a great time to go with children, especially if you can go during the first two weeks of Dec when it is not too crowded. Each country is decorated and there are Santas or special people like the Three Kings in Mexico and they each tell about the Christmas traditions in their countries.

 

[hedberg1661]

Let me start by saying, I can't wait until the slabs out front are gone. They have ruined the entrance to Epcot.

My dh and I like to go to Epcot during the Flower and Garden show, Christmas, and especially the Wine and Dine festival. We like all of the special speakers, events, and performers during these times.

Christmas is a great time to go with children, especially if you can go during the first two weeks of Dec when it is not too crowded. Each country is decorated and there are Santas or special people like the Three Kings in Mexico and they each tell about the Christmas traditions in their countries.

I doubt they will get rid of the "slabs" as those contain photos guests purchased as a memory. There would be a lot of people banging on Disney's door if they did that.

 

[DontCallMeJunior]

I understand the slab argument and how it crowds the nice view and scenery. I have a picture on one of those slabs and if they were to get rid of them I wouldn't care too much. It'd be cool if I can claim the little picture for myself...but that would be extremely hard for Disney. It's been what? 15 years or so?

People might of moved, passed away (which makes the pictures being displayed more sentimental), or just downright not want the slabs taken down. Understandable. I personally wouldn't mind but that's just me. I also have a brick outside of Magic Kingdom.

My only qualms with EPCOT is that they'd update futureworld in a couple ways. Especially Innovations.

 

[hedberg1661]

I understand the slab argument and how it crowds the nice view and scenery. I have a picture on one of those slabs and if they were to get rid of them I wouldn't care too much. It'd be cool if I can claim the little picture for myself...but that would be extremely hard for Disney. It's been what? 15 years or so?

People might of moved, passed away (which makes the pictures being displayed more sentimental), or just downright not want the slabs taken down. Understandable. I personally wouldn't mind but that's just me. I also have a brick outside of Magic Kingdom.

My only qualms with EPCOT is that they'd update futureworld in a couple ways. Especially Innovations.

I agree that you can't really take the "slabs" down for a multitude of reasons. I must say that I am in one of the pictures on them so I would hate to see it go.

However, I think you bring up a much needed update...future world. This area could really be expanded and upgraded to really make EC a much more desirable park for some of the younger guests.

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

Finished reading through the posts and realized that while I would not have said that Epcot was our favorite park that we end up going there almost every day we are at WDW.

We go on the early opening days and then hop to another park in the afternoon. We eat our evening meal at Epcot several times during our stay.
I LOVE Illuminations and even if we haven't stepped foot into Epcot that day on many evenings we head there for the show.

I love Soaring - it is my favorite ride.

When we took our children (20 years ago) they loved Epcot. Recently when we took our grandchildren (ages 2 to 8 ) they did not seem as happy there. I think maybe when they are older they might enjoy it more.

 

[DisneyFive]

I think the take away here is that every family has their own taste in parks.

If someone doesn't like coffee, but you tell then that it's your favorite drink, it does nothing to make them like it any more.
Epcot is at the bottom of our list. Do we still like it? You bet, just not as much as the other parks. Epcot does have the ride that makes me feel like we've finally arrived to WDW: Soarin. Something about Soarin just screams WDW to me.

...and I'm TOTALLY with you all who would like to see those slabs gone from the entrance of Epcot. It was THE FIRST THING I noticed, that didn't like, during our first trip to Disney. I remember walking into Epcot and feeling like there were all these hard surfaces, with no clear logical path into the park due to it. Take them away and put a nice huge garden out front or a beautiful, innovative eye catching display of some kind...

Dan

 

[W.E.D.]

The problem with updating FW is that technology in the real world is improving and changing so quickly anymore. By the time they get a new pavillion completed it is already out-dated. You could go with things that are still on the far fringe of science, like Mission:Space. An actually trip to Mars is still quite a ways out there, so M:S has potential for many years to come.

 

[NavyDad]

I think the take away here is that every family has their own taste in parks.

If someone doesn't like coffee, but you tell then that it's your favorite drink, it does nothing to make them like it any more.
Epcot is at the bottom of our list. Do we still like it? You bet, just not as much as the other parks. Epcot does have the ride that makes me feel like we've finally arrived to WDW: Soarin. Something about Soarin just screams WDW to me.

...and I'm TOTALLY with you all who would like to see those slabs gone from the entrance of Epcot. It was THE FIRST THING I noticed, that didn't like, during our first trip to Disney. I remember walking into Epcot and feeling like there were all these hard surfaces, with no clear logical path into the park due to it. Take them away and put a nice huge garden out front or a beautiful, innovative eye catching display of some kind...

Dan

I do think people's tastes can change as they experience new things over time.

Our first trip in 2009 our girls were little and were Princess crazy! We really enjoyed MK. CRT was a great experience for our family and all of MK was a great mix of family friendly rides and magic for our girls. We spent more time at MK than the other parks 3 combined and we still wished we had more MK time.

That 2009 trip the family as a whole loved MK but was not crazy about Epcot and basically hated HS.

Now our kids are 15, 11, & 8. Now the whole family loves spending the evenings in WS and some of the kids favorite rides are at Epcot. We all love mix of shows and thrill rides at HS and honestly the kids are kind of tired of MK.

Our first trip we basically rushed through WS but now that we have been eating at a few countries each trip we have started exploring the pavilions and find cool new things to see and do each trip. So glad we slowed down and smelled the roses. We still like to be ride comandos some times, but honestly look forward to a nice relaxing walk around WS.

In 2009 we loved the thrill and excitement of the parade and watching Wishes at MK. Our last trip we couldn't stand the crush of people and enjoyed strolling around WS at night and Illuminations was a lot better for us.

Overall the parks all have something to offer. Some of them just take a little longer to grow on you...

 

[NavyDad]

The problem with updating FW is that technology in the real world is improving and changing so quickly anymore. By the time they get a new pavillion completed it is already out-dated. You could go with things that are still on the far fringe of science, like Mission:Space. An actually trip to Mars is still quite a ways out there, so M:S has potential for many years to come.

I don't think the old feel of FW will ever return to what it once was.

Keeping the themes of science and discovery is nice but maybe updating that area with new attractions or figuring out something to do with some of the unused space would be nice.

Also - Soarin is one of the most popular attractions. Why can they not upgrade the film. The quality seems to get worse and worse each time. Our last trip was June 2013 and the film reminded me of watching something elementary school on one of those old projectors. How expensive would it be to do the thing in digital Imax 3D ???

 

[DisneyFive]

I do think people's tastes can change as they experience new things over time.

Our first trip in 2009 our girls were little and were Princess crazy! We really enjoyed MK. CRT was a great experience for our family and all of MK was a great mix of family friendly rides and magic for our girls. We spent more time at MK than the other parks 3 combined and we still wished we had more MK time.

That 2009 trip the family as a whole loved MK but was not crazy about Epcot and basically hated HS.

Now our kids are 15, 11, & 8. Now the whole family loves spending the evenings in WS and some of the kids favorite rides are at Epcot. We all love mix of shows and thrill rides at HS and honestly the kids are kind of tired of MK.

Our first trip we basically rushed through WS but now that we have been eating at a few countries each trip we have started exploring the pavilions and find cool new things to see and do each trip. So glad we slowed down and smelled the roses. We still like to be ride comandos some times, but honestly look forward to a nice relaxing walk around WS.

In 2009 we loved the thrill and excitement of the parade and watching Wishes at MK. Our last trip we couldn't stand the crush of people and enjoyed strolling around WS at night and Illuminations was a lot better for us.

Overall the parks all have something to offer. Some of them just take a little longer to grow on you...

Good points. Epcot is growing on us too, even though it's still surpassed by the other parks. I can see it surpassing AK in the future. We actually added a unplanned morning to EP on our last trip to hit FW attractions again.

Our park favs have gone like this during our '10, '11, '12, and '13 trips:
'10: MK, AK, HS, EP
'11: MK, HS (big move up for HS), AK, EP
'12: Same
'13: MK, HS, but EP and AK are very, very close and AK has become a one day park for us. Heck, I'll have to ask my kids again. They may already prefer EP to AK.

Dan

 

[NavyDad]

Good points. Epcot is growing on us too, even though it's still surpassed by the other parks. I can see it surpassing AK in the future. We actually added a unplanned morning to EP on our last trip to hit FW attractions again.

Our park favs have gone like this during our '10, '11, '12, and '13 trips:
'10: MK, AK, HS, EP
'11: MK, HS (big move up for HS), AK, EP
'12: Same
'13: MK, HS, but EP and AK are very, very close and AK has become a one day park for us. Heck, I'll have to ask my kids again. They may already prefer EP to AK.

Dan

We love AK but it has been a half day park for us for the most part. One year (Sep 2012) we decided to stay and eat at Yak & Yeti at 5 PM. We didn't really pay attention to the park closing time. We had a great dinner and were shocked to come outside and find the entire park completely deserted and all the attractions closed. Talk about a bummer....

I know there has been much debate about the new Avatarland. I'm not going to give my opinion on it but I do think it will have the much needed effect of turning AK into an all day park with an exciting night-life. We'll see....