Countries in Epcot

[KimmiP]

There is actually a really cool museum in the back of Japan. When we went a couple of years ago it was showing Japanese Anime and how some of the characters were based on old Japanese legends. DH and I really enjoyed it.

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

I think the disboards can read my mind. Yesterday I was wondering about this exact same thing as well as wondering when Off Kilter was performing-I looked and found these posts within seconds! I really hope our boys are old enough now to let us slow down and explore the countries a little more this year!!

 

[RnbwSktles]

2 - ADRs - I would suggest Biergarten for either lunch or dinner. Check the entertainment schedule for when the band plays and set up your seating for about 15-25 minutes before the band starts. That will give you enough time to get seated and have your first plate before the show begins.

I 2nd the Biergarten suggestion, however I might make my ADR even sooner if you really want to see the band. When I went in January, we waited at least 30 mins after we checked in to get seated. The band had already started by then. Luckily, they came back on again near the end of our meal.

Also, I didn't catch the time of year you are planning to go. If it's during the Flower & Garden Festival, Food & Wine, or during Christmas, there are additional things to eat and see!

 

[Kimosabe]

...Here's what we normally do...I would first go next door to Norway and get FP's for Maelstrom, and then go back to Mexico...

Italy - Not much there....

US - Is completely boring to us, we normally skip the pavilion completely. You may want to watch the show, alot of people like it....

France - There are normally several street performers around. We just stroll through the shop and move on. You may want to watch the film. It's pretty good....

We have found that the food at the countries in the World Showcase is very inconsistent.

MAELSTROM FP - Remember that the FP system is now totally different than before, so you'll need to reserve any FP in advance (even if first thing that morning when you enter the park). Maelstrom has also been put into the same tier as Soarin' and Test Track for some illogical reason, so you might do just as well to get in the standby line and try to use that particular initial FP on something in Future World earlier in the day. Might could then get one of the new add-on FP's for Maelstrom later.

ITALY - Via Napoli is a great restaurant and worthy of lunch or dinner ADR.

US - Check the schedule for the Voices of Liberty singing group. It's worth planning some time around (at least to me).

FRANCE - Film is perfect for mid-afternoon stop/rest. Easy to fall asleep after spending a few hours strolling around WS, but if you can stay awake, it's a beautiful film with great music. If you fall asleep...well, that's OK too!

FOOD IN THE WS - Among the parks, I would bet that 80% of guests would say that EPCOT (and specifically, the World Showcase) has the best park food as a whole. I would agree that there are some great places out that "back door" toward the BC/YC/BW/S/D area (Yachtsman or Il Mulino are on my short list), but if wanting to stay in the parks, we have not found a place that we just hate.

On the whole, you can end up spending some solid time in WS just exploring as you go and stopping to watch the entertainment in each country.

 

[DizDaD7]

Everything people have mentioned sounds great. We generally go down for 8 Or 9 nights and Epcot we always visit for at least 2 1/2 days.

A couple of things to add.
1) for great entertainment, @Italy make sure to see the ziti sisters. They're so funny. @ Mexico if eating outside, keep an eye out for the mariachi band. And also @ UK, I saw someone mentioned the band that plays (in the garden area) they're excellent. Highly recommend . But don't forget about The Players who perform" King Arthur n the knights of the round table.....Way entertaining. .....remember the word Rubbish..LoL

Also one thing we like to do even without the kids, is the Perry the platypus/ phineas and ferb spy game. Its actually quite fun looking for clues to help find Dr. Doofinshmertz. And save the day. I believe you can pick up this cell phone/ game at 2 or 3 of the countries.

 

[brielise]

We could, and have, easily spend a full day in the WS! Especially on our honeymoon, we plan to spend a lot of time drinking and eating 'around the world'. We find it relaxing to just sit and relax on a bench along the water with some pastries from France and some beer from Germany... then maybe have dinner in Italy (Via Napoli).

 

[SnowWhite09]

There is actually a really cool museum in the back of Japan. When we went a couple of years ago it was showing Japanese Anime and how some of the characters were based on old Japanese legends. DH and I really enjoyed it.

Awesome - we will check this out! Thank you!

I think the disboards can read my mind. Yesterday I was wondering about this exact same thing as well as wondering when Off Kilter was performing-I looked and found these posts within seconds! I really hope our boys are old enough now to let us slow down and explore the countries a little more this year!!

LOL - too funny. I love when that happens. Maybe your boys are old enough to do some things in Future World for a while while the parents wander through the World Showcase?

I 2nd the Biergarten suggestion, however I might make my ADR even sooner if you really want to see the band. When I went in January, we waited at least 30 mins after we checked in to get seated. The band had already started by then. Luckily, they came back on again near the end of our meal.

Thanks for the advice on this!

Also, I didn't catch the time of year you are planning to go. If it's during the Flower & Garden Festival, Food & Wine, or during Christmas, there are additional things to eat and see!

At this stage we are going in late June/early July next year so will miss all of these things unless we change and can go sometime in January 2015.

MAELSTROM FP - Remember that the FP system is now totally different than before, so you'll need to reserve any FP in advance (even if first thing that morning when you enter the park). Maelstrom has also been put into the same tier as Soarin' and Test Track for some illogical reason, so you might do just as well to get in the standby line and try to use that particular initial FP on something in Future World earlier in the day. Might could then get one of the new add-on FP's for Maelstrom later.

ITALY - Via Napoli is a great restaurant and worthy of lunch or dinner ADR.

US - Check the schedule for the Voices of Liberty singing group. It's worth planning some time around (at least to me).

FRANCE - Film is perfect for mid-afternoon stop/rest. Easy to fall asleep after spending a few hours strolling around WS, but if you can stay awake, it's a beautiful film with great music. If you fall asleep...well, that's OK too!

FOOD IN THE WS - Among the parks, I would bet that 80% of guests would say that EPCOT (and specifically, the World Showcase) has the best park food as a whole. I would agree that there are some great places out that "back door" toward the BC/YC/BW/S/D area (Yachtsman or Il Mulino are on my short list), but if wanting to stay in the parks, we have not found a place that we just hate.

On the whole, you can end up spending some solid time in WS just exploring as you go and stopping to watch the entertainment in each country.

Thanks so much for all of this advice - greatly appreciated!

Everything people have mentioned sounds great. We generally go down for 8 Or 9 nights and Epcot we always visit for at least 2 1/2 days.

A couple of things to add.
1) for great entertainment, @Italy make sure to see the ziti sisters. They're so funny. @ Mexico if eating outside, keep an eye out for the mariachi band. And also @ UK, I saw someone mentioned the band that plays (in the garden area) they're excellent. Highly recommend . But don't forget about The Players who perform" King Arthur n the knights of the round table.....Way entertaining. .....remember the word Rubbish..LoL

Also one thing we like to do even without the kids, is the Perry the platypus/ phineas and ferb spy game. Its actually quite fun looking for clues to help find Dr. Doofinshmertz. And save the day. I believe you can pick up this cell phone/ game at 2 or 3 of the countries.

Such great information - thanks!

We could, and have, easily spend a full day in the WS! Especially on our honeymoon, we plan to spend a lot of time drinking and eating 'around the world'. We find it relaxing to just sit and relax on a bench along the water with some pastries from France and some beer from Germany... then maybe have dinner in Italy (Via Napoli).

That's the plan for us too - we took our daughter on our first "honeymoon" so this is the real honeymoon 6 years later! Thanks!

 

[gailinroch]

If I had to pick my favorite part of all of WDW, it would be WS. I just love being there. There are a couple of things others have not mentioned that we love-

The patisserie in France opens at 9 am. It is magical to get there early before 11 am - there is no one around and you can sit outside in that beautiful "street" eating the most delicious pastries for breakfast. If you are entering from the International Gateway, it's a must do, imo.

The cs fish and chips in England is fabulous. At peak lunch or dinner times, you will see people waiting for tables to the right of the kiosk, down the hill. But strangely, we find that the courtyard to the left of the Rose and Crown always has tables available and it's lovely there. Last time, we were making our way through the countries and stopped at France to get desserts. They put them in a nice box, we made our way to England, got our fish and chips and had them in the courtyard followed by our French desserts.

Another thing we love in England is the British Revolution that plays most late afternoons and evenings in the area behind the stores. They are sooooo good! The group they used to have, played mostly Beatles, but these guys do all kinds of British originated music.

 

[srauseo]

I would agree that you could spend a lot of time in the World Showcase and still not see everything. I love all the films - especially the French one. I think the Morocco pavilion is often overlooked because there is no "attraction". For some reason, it always feels about ten degrees cooler when I walk in there, even though you are still outside. The tile work is amazing and the shops are great. And I also agree that the music/improv/mime/acrobatic acts are usually well worth the time. Off Kilter is a huge favorite of ours!

 

[CinderElsa]

Everything people have mentioned sounds great. We generally go down for 8 Or 9 nights and Epcot we always visit for at least 2 1/2 days.

A couple of things to add.
1) for great entertainment, @Italy make sure to see the ziti sisters. They're so funny. @ Mexico if eating outside, keep an eye out for the mariachi band. And also @ UK, I saw someone mentioned the band that plays (in the garden area) they're excellent. Highly recommend . But don't forget about The Players who perform" King Arthur n the knights of the round table.....Way entertaining. .....remember the word Rubbish..LoL

Also one thing we like to do even without the kids, is the Perry the platypus/ phineas and ferb spy game. Its actually quite fun looking for clues to help find Dr. Doofinshmertz. And save the day. I believe you can pick up this cell phone/ game at 2 or 3 of the countries.

Ziti Sisters are gone now.

 

[Sven]

for our family, we used about 6 hours to visit them all. we like the shops, we take pictures in them and all of that stuff. if you just want to see the inside, you can do it in about 2 hours.

 

[elaine amj]

I've only gone with my kids...but one of our early trips we actually ended up doing 5 mostly half-days at Epcot - it was wonderful.

I'd love to wander around Epcot with my DH. For us, we're not so big into shopping or drinking but we enjoy the shows, atmosphere, etc. One day it would be fun to have the time to take the ferry across the lake. We always seem to be in enough of a time crunch to choose to walk instead.

For meals, we loved Le Cellier (although now it is 2 TS, we might not return). Biergarten was good too - but my DH isn't as big into German food so he didn't care for it as much. I'd love to try Coral Reef in the future. Teppan Edo was lots of fun. I also really enjoyed the TS place in France. The baguettes were so yummy. And of course, lots of treats from the patiserrie.

What I do is check out the schedule online then make a list of all the roving entertainment, etc with all their scheduled start times. Then I can arrange how we walk around WS based on the shows.

For the countries:

Canada- movie and strolling in the very pretty gardens
UK- really enjoyed the English gardens. It was fun to do the character meets hidden at the back. Really enjoyed the street entertainment we caught one day. Have not had a chance to sit and listen to Off Kilter.
France- Loved the movie. The roving street entertainment is great fun too.
Morocco- Really enjoyed poking around in Morocco. Completely missed it our first couple of trips. When we were there, Jasmine was not there for her meet so we got to take lots of fun photos on the flying carpet in the meet location.
Japan- I've only spent limited time at the Koi ponds and would love more time here. The drummer show is always fun too.
USA-Really love the Voices of Liberty. Have not seen the marching band thing yet though. Always there at the wrong times.
Italy- I need to spend some time here next trip. Haven't explored this one much.
Germany- I have fun checking out the trains. The cuckoo clock is also cute.
Norway- Maelstrom and movie. Also a little mini museum that has been updated since I've been there. and of course, photos with trolls
China- Acrobats! (are they still performing?) And mini museum and movie. The shops at the back are cool too if you manage to make your way down there.
Mexico- The ride and indoor courtyard. Also a mini museum at the entrance.

Love Epcot!!

 

[SnowWhite09]

If I had to pick my favorite part of all of WDW, it would be WS. I just love being there. There are a couple of things others have not mentioned that we love-

The patisserie in France opens at 9 am. It is magical to get there early before 11 am - there is no one around and you can sit outside in that beautiful "street" eating the most delicious pastries for breakfast. If you are entering from the International Gateway, it's a must do, imo.

So excited about this - yummy!


The cs fish and chips in England is fabulous. At peak lunch or dinner times, you will see people waiting for tables to the right of the kiosk, down the hill. But strangely, we find that the courtyard to the left of the Rose and Crown always has tables available and it's lovely there. Last time, we were making our way through the countries and stopped at France to get desserts. They put them in a nice box, we made our way to England, got our fish and chips and had them in the courtyard followed by our French desserts.

Amazing - this is a great tip!

Another thing we love in England is the British Revolution that plays most late afternoons and evenings in the area behind the stores. They are sooooo good! The group they used to have, played mostly Beatles, but these guys do all kinds of British originated music.

Looking forward to this!

I would agree that you could spend a lot of time in the World Showcase and still not see everything. I love all the films - especially the French one. I think the Morocco pavilion is often overlooked because there is no "attraction". For some reason, it always feels about ten degrees cooler when I walk in there, even though you are still outside. The tile work is amazing and the shops are great. And I also agree that the music/improv/mime/acrobatic acts are usually well worth the time. Off Kilter is a huge favorite of ours!

Can't wait to see Morocco - we had to walk straight passed it last time

Ziti Sisters are gone now.

Wait a shame

 

[SnowWhite09]

for our family, we used about 6 hours to visit them all. we like the shops, we take pictures in them and all of that stuff. if you just want to see the inside, you can do it in about 2 hours.

Thanks!

I've only gone with my kids...but one of our early trips we actually ended up doing 5 mostly half-days at Epcot - it was wonderful.

I'd love to wander around Epcot with my DH. For us, we're not so big into shopping or drinking but we enjoy the shows, atmosphere, etc. One day it would be fun to have the time to take the ferry across the lake. We always seem to be in enough of a time crunch to choose to walk instead.

I haven't heard of this ferry - where does it go from and to?

For meals, we loved Le Cellier (although now it is 2 TS, we might not return). Biergarten was good too - but my DH isn't as big into German food so he didn't care for it as much. I'd love to try Coral Reef in the future. Teppan Edo was lots of fun. I also really enjoyed the TS place in France. The baguettes were so yummy. And of course, lots of treats from the patiserrie.

So looking forward to the patisserie!

What I do is check out the schedule online then make a list of all the roving entertainment, etc with all their scheduled start times. Then I can arrange how we walk around WS based on the shows.

Good idea!

For the countries:

Canada- movie and strolling in the very pretty gardens
UK- really enjoyed the English gardens. It was fun to do the character meets hidden at the back. Really enjoyed the street entertainment we caught one day. Have not had a chance to sit and listen to Off Kilter.
France- Loved the movie. The roving street entertainment is great fun too.
Morocco- Really enjoyed poking around in Morocco. Completely missed it our first couple of trips. When we were there, Jasmine was not there for her meet so we got to take lots of fun photos on the flying carpet in the meet location.
Japan- I've only spent limited time at the Koi ponds and would love more time here. The drummer show is always fun too.
USA-Really love the Voices of Liberty. Have not seen the marching band thing yet though. Always there at the wrong times.
Italy- I need to spend some time here next trip. Haven't explored this one much.
Germany- I have fun checking out the trains. The cuckoo clock is also cute.
Norway- Maelstrom and movie. Also a little mini museum that has been updated since I've been there. and of course, photos with trolls
China- Acrobats! (are they still performing?) And mini museum and movie. The shops at the back are cool too if you manage to make your way down there.
Mexico- The ride and indoor courtyard. Also a mini museum at the entrance.

Love Epcot!!

This all sounds fantastic!