entry to Epcot for Illuminations

[mketting]

I read somewhere that the gates to epcot are open to non ticket holders just before the Illunmimations so that people staying in the resort can go in and watch the show. Is this true?

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I'm fairly sure that someone else posted that it's not true.

I don't know exact procedures at Epcot, but I do know that at AK, we require tickets to get into the park, right up until the time that we close and stop letting people in.

 

[NMAmy]

I don't think so but I could be wrong. We took the boat over from the Dolphin just before Illuminations on our trip in March. The captain kept asking us if we were SURE we wanted to go to Epcot, then we got stuck in boat traffic to get to the International Gateway (there were a lot of empty boats waiting to take folks back) and our captain had to radio in and have some get out of the way so we could disembark. We had to put our AP's through the turnstile to enter. We arrived minutes before Illuminations began.

 

[mketting]

thanks. Thought it sounded to good to be true. Are there any other ways to see Illuminations?

 

[DebbieB]

I heard they used to do that but don't anymore.

If you stand right outside the gate area, you can see part of it by looking under the bridge. You can also see some of it by standing on the bridge by ESPN that the boats go under. Not as good as being inside, but probably better than wasting a PH day.

 

[ErinInCT]

Just got back & we went to EPCOT about 15 min b4 Illuminations. We had to use our ticket & go thru the bag search area.