Critique my Epcot Touring Plan Please

[Jennytoon]

I didn't even notice that some of the attractions close at 7 - thanks for letting me know!

How long do the boats take, is it fairly quick to get from 1 side to the other?

In my experience, they are reasonably quick to get across and certainly way quicker than walking once you are on the boat, however we never take them unless we either see them pulling up or they are there already. This is because unless you are going literally 180 degrees, when you add in the sometimes significant wait they are not quicker than walking. That said, I believe rlovew was suggesting to use them if you get partway around and DD is not enjoying all the walking, so in that case they would definitely be the way to go as time is not the main consideration.

 

[finedice]

If you she is not enjoying world showcase then when you get to friendship boats take them and head over to innoventions for awhile and then head back out starting at Mexico and you will end up at America/Japan by the time to find an Illuminations spot.

How long do the boats take, is it fairly quick to get from 1 side to the other?

This sort of back and forth from one end of EPCOT and back (twice), is precisely what I learned to avoid, boats or not. I can recall days when I would get to the America pavilion, and look across the lake at Spaceship Earth - and say "Ugh - I have to walk all the way back there". Just sayin'... plan your steps at EPCOT carefully - If you have never been - it is huge and there is little shade outside.

 

[JimmyV]

9:00 RD - TT (we'll make sure DD doesn't spend too much time after the ride with the cars, so we can keep moving)

At the risk of sounding harsh, in my opinion this is exactly the wrong approach to take at Epcot. It is a park of exploration and discovery. Not an amusement park where you rush from ride to ride. Your DD is likely to engage in things that in a million years you would not have predicted. Let her. Don't cut short the "now" thing so that you can hurry off to the "next" thing. I don't think you have built in nearly as much time as you will need for the exploratory wonder that will capture a six year old. Which brings me to:

Nemo
Turtle Talk
The Seas
~ will this give us enough time for these 3 before our breakfast ADR?
ADR 10:45 breakfast at Akershus

At the outset, you built in "more time at The Living Seas" because DD loves sea life. Now? If you start Test Track at 9:00 you may not finish before 9:30. You ride Nemo and do Turtle Talk. You are up to 10:00. Your ADR is a 15 minute walk away and you will want to check in 10 minutes before that time. That means leaving The Living Seas by 10:20. There is no way that 20 minutes from 10:00 to 10:20 is enough time to explore and enjoy the pavilion, especially with a child who loves sea life. When our DD was that age, we spent over an hour at the Livng Seas and sometimes double that. I don't think you are fully appreciating the "Gee! I had no idea that she would be that interested in this" factor of Epcot. When you see the spark in her eyes, you won't want to pull her away from things that interest her just so that you can move to the next thing to "check that box". And this is especially true at Innoventions. You could spend 90 minutes to 2 hours there. I think that Jennytoon sums it up nicely.

My kids love Innoventions, and we somehow never seem to get enough time there (reading the comments in this thread I would have never guessed that we are so much in the minority). I think leaving it to the end and maybe skipping altogether is a good idea, much better than going in and then having to rush off to something else if it turns out DD loves it.

Which brings me to another point -- you should be aware that there are pavilions associated with some of the rides and it's easy to find yourself with a kid who wants to spend more time there, similar to what you plan with extra time after Nemo to spend in the Seas pavilion. If you find yourself near Mission Space with a short wait time, there is a little tunnel playground as you come out, my kids always want to spend time there. Even if you don't want to ride, you can get there through the gift shop and it's a good cure for "I've waited in lines and gone on rides and just need some normal climbing around to get me past my overstimulation". Same thing as you exit SE, there is an area with lots of fun interactive games and the like, it's easy to drop a half-hour here. If you're not willing to go with the flow and allow time for these areas if DD wants to spend it, you might consider having an exit strategy prepared. Or they can be good places to come back to if you decide you've had enough walking in WS.

 

[lily2521]

At the risk of sounding harsh, in my opinion this is exactly the wrong approach to take at Epcot. It is a park of exploration and discovery. Not an amusement park where you rush from ride to ride. Your DD is likely to engage in things that in a million years you would not have predicted. Let her. Don't cut short the "now" thing so that you can hurry off to the "next" thing. I don't think you have built in nearly as much time as you will need for the exploratory wonder that will capture a six year old.

Not harsh, honest...and I appreciate that!

I've actually re-evaluated my entire Epcot day because of things like this. I think I've gotten too caught up in the planning.

So...at risk of changing things once again, I've moved our Akershus breakfast to lunch. That will allow us more time in Future World, lots of time for the seas, lots of time for the cars at TT, and no rushing to get to an ADR. We're going to RD Soarin', then go to the seas/Nemo/Turtle Talk, then have a FP for TT. Even with all of that, we won't be rushed for our lunch reservation. After lunch, if DD wants to stay in FW for a while, great, if she wants to head out to WS, great.

Thanks to everyone here for the advice, it's helped a lot. I never thought our Epcot day would be so hard to plan!

 

[rlovew]

I didn't even notice that some of the attractions close at 7 - thanks for letting me know!

How long do the boats take, is it fairly quick to get from 1 side to the other?

It depends on where they are once you get on them and they leave maybe 5 minutes but they only run about every 20-30 min- not the fastest mode but it saves lots of walking.

 

[lauradis]

I would switch Akershus to lunch time if the rides and furture world are important to your family.

Epcot is more of a 2 day park, because of all the walking.

 

[lily2521]

I would switch Akershus to lunch time if the rides and furture world are important to your family.

Epcot is more of a 2 day park, because of all the walking.

That's exactly what I did, switched Akershus to lunch so we have more time in future world, plenty of time to do things before our reservation, and we can head out to WS after lunch. ..we do only have 1 Epcot day, so I'm much happier, and less stressed, with this plan. Thanks

 

[lauradis]

That's exactly what I did, switched Akershus to lunch so we have more time in future world, plenty of time to do things before our reservation, and we can head out to WS after lunch. ..we do only have 1 Epcot day, so I'm much happier, and less stressed, with this plan. Thanks

If you only have one its going to be all about picking what are the must do's. good luck