Entering IG to EPCOT--effect your tour plan?

[nameless]

Hi everyone!
I am staying at the BWI in April Unfortunately this is an extremely busy time as you all know. I have never stayed at an EPCOT resort before so I never used the IG. I am just wondering, in your past experiences how has this effected your tour of the park? Did it put you behind all the people entering via front gate, and if so do you have any tips that worked for you? We are DH, myself, DS13, and DS10 and of course head straight for the major attractions( TT, MS, Soarin). Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[NJBlackBerry]

We normally stay in that area (Epcot resorts) and always use the IG. Yes, it adds about 5-6 minutes on the trip to FutureWorld, but it has never stopped us from doing Soarin' or Test Track. Go in through the IG, head to Soarin', get Fast Passes and ride Test Track if you can't immediately get onto Soarin'. Shouldn't be too bad.

 

[jaysue]

Another thing you can do is to send DH to be the FP runner for Soarin - the rest of you head to TT and DH can go in the single line when he catches up

cheers
jaysue

 

[Timon]

I had asked this question back in September before our October trip and didn't get too much info so now I am going to pass along what we experienced.

On two separate days, walking from BCV, we arrived at the IG entrance at 8:50 am and both days they didn't drop the rope until 9:03 and 9:04 am!!

I was slightly peeved as they KNOW it takes about 10 minutes to get to FW and I felt like they were kinda punishing the people who are paying extra to stay onsite nearby and had to go through the back way.

By the time we got to Soarin to get Fast Pass, the standby line was 30 mins!!!

By the time we ran over to TT, the stand by line was 25 mins.

In all of our previous trips, we had drove to Epcot, got to the gates by 8:50 am and were ON TT before 9 am!!


It's not a huge deal but you will be slightly behind others who are entering the front gates.


Hope that helps!

 

[Leota]

I usually stay in the Epcot area & never have trouble with IG entry. We are at the IG by 8:45 on days we want to be there for opening. It has always opened at 9:00 & it only takes us maybe 5 minutes to walk to Soarin'. We usually grab a FP for Soarin', then go in the standby line with a 10 minute wait & then over to TT for a FP & Single Rider.
That strategy worked for us in April for AP Preview of Soarin', in August and also December all of last year.

 

[ImagineEar]

Ditto to the above comments about getting there behind the Main entrace crowd - but not so far behind that it's going to have a huge impact on your day.
I have 2 things to add:
1 - I would definitely send someone over to Soarin' to get FP's and get on the TT line right away. That line is notoriously slow...much slower than the time they post anyway. Even some of the FP's that we have gotten here have taken us about 30 minutes.
2- Take one morning to take advantage of being able to linger in the countries before they open to the Main Gate crowd. Since World Showcase does not open until 11am it's a nice peaceful time to explore all the nooks and cranies. Wander through the butterfly garden and the maze in England etc. This is how I actually came to love WS. - before we just rushed through in order to say we did it!