EP Touring Help

[smooreo]

This is only our second WDW trip and a lot has changed since 2012!!

An EP touring plan is driving me crazy a bit. I'm not comfortable with how much we can get done and if our FP will help or hinder us.

December 4th. Crowd level seems moderate from what info I can find. There are 6 of us (me, dh, ds 13, dd 10, my parents).

RD (9am open)
Joy/Sadness (must do for dd)
Soarin' (standby)
Mission Space (with FP 10 - 11)
Spaceship Earth (with FP 11:05 - 12:05)
Turtle Talk or Nemo if time

Lunch - Les Chefs 12:50

Meet Anna/Elsa
FEA (with FP3:10 - 4:10)
Living Seas etc on the way out.

What else can we add in or move around?

Thanks for your help!

 

[rwdavis2]

I would do Soarin first. By doing the meet and greet first the wait might be pretty long. The movies in the Imagination pavilion can be pretty funny. You will be on that side of the park for Living Seas. Keep an eye out for live entertainment while in the World Showcase.

 

[GlennN]

No Test Track for any of the group? (My personal favorite ride). Also, how about the countries? Will you be doing another park day at Epcot?

 

[smooreo]

No TT (at least for now). The kids would rather do Soarin' and use the FP for FEA (or at least my daughter would!).

What can I expect for lines for Joy and Sadness? I put them first as I read they are very slow and waits get long. Hopefully we can be one of the first and then get to Soarin'.

We will visit some of the countries after lunch and before Anna/Elsa and FEA. I think the kids want to take a boat ride (from Morocco to Canada) and then visit Mexico.

Do the rest of the times match up? Can I add in the Pixar movies somewhere? Will there be time for Seas/Crush before lunch?

 

[sharonabe]

We will visit some of the countries after lunch and before Anna/Elsa and FEA. I think the kids want to take a boat ride (from Morocco to Canada) and then visit Mexico.

That's a long walk from the Canada boat dock over to Mexico which is directly across the lagoon. I guess if you're at France, it's still closer than walking around, but just beware, you're not that close.

 

[mesaboy2]

That's a long walk from the Canada boat dock over to Mexico which is directly across the lagoon. I guess if you're at France, it's still closer than walking around, but just beware, you're not that close.

Not that far, both countries are on either side of Showcase Plaza.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Do the indoor boat ride in Mexico. The movies in China and France are excellent, as is the American Adventure show.

Check the time guides or MDE for info on the entertainment playing live that day. I'm a big fan of Bodh'aktan (Celtic rock), Margret Almer (German yodeling) and Matsuriza (Japanese drummers) and try to see them if I'm near where they are playing.

 

[Ava]

I would save Turtle Talk/Nemo for on your way out, since you plan to do Living Seas then any way. Just head towards World Showcase after Spaceship Earth to save yourselves some extra walking. Depending on time you could either stop at the Imagination Pavilion since it’s on the same side right before you get to WS, or explore Canada/UK/France while you wait for your lunch reservation.

 

[10CJ]

I think it is okay to do Joy and Sadness first. You might wait a little longer for Soarin, but if that is how you want to start of the day, go for it. I feel like you are doing a lot of walking back and forth. I would try to flip the Mission Space and Spaceship Earth Fastpasses if possible. I think you could potentially fit some of the Seas stuff in between Soarin and Spaceship Earth if you flipped them and pushed them back a little. I would probably try for Spaceship Earth around 10:45 and Mission Space around 11:45.

I think you could potentially do the boat ride before lunch to go from Canada to Morocco.

 

[smooreo]

Thanks so much! I can't switch SE and MS. Would it work to change SE to around 4:30 FP and then get Crush, Nemo, and Pixar after Mission Space? Not sure how long FEA takes and what the walk would be back to SE on the way out. Or skip SE all together? We didn't do it last time either.

I'm getting worried that it's our first park day and we're already there later than I wanted to be. My 10 year old needs her sleep!

 

[Klayfish]

Thanks so much! I can't switch SE and MS. Would it work to change SE to around 4:30 FP and then get Crush, Nemo, and Pixar after Mission Space? Not sure how long FEA takes and what the walk would be back to SE on the way out. Or skip SE all together? We didn't do it last time either.

I'm getting worried that it's our first park day and we're already there later than I wanted to be. My 10 year old needs her sleep!

Are you saying move SE to 4:30, so that you can fit Crush, Nemo and Pixar in after MS and before your 12:50pm lunch? So you're talking about a time window of roughly 10:00 or 10:30am to 12:50pm? That's 2.5 hours or more...frankly you'll be bored if all you do in that amount of time is Crush, Nemo and Pixar. Those combined should take no more than an hour, maybe 75 minutes depending on how you hit the timing of Crush and Pixar. You could also do Figment and Living with the Land while you're in that section of the park. Those rides are usually a straight walk on, or 15 minutes at most. They can spike at times, but not often. If it is spiked above 15 minutes, just skip it and come back later.

My DD10 likes her sleep too, but from your schedule you should be out of the park by 5pm roughly. How early does she go to bed?

 

[smooreo]

Are you saying move SE to 4:30, so that you can fit Crush, Nemo and Pixar in after MS and before your 12:50pm lunch? So you're talking about a time window of roughly 10:00 or 10:30am to 12:50pm? That's 2.5 hours or more...frankly you'll be bored if all you do in that amount of time is Crush, Nemo and Pixar. Those combined should take no more than an hour, maybe 75 minutes depending on how you hit the timing of Crush and Pixar. You could also do Figment and Living with the Land while you're in that section of the park. Those rides are usually a straight walk on, or 15 minutes at most. They can spike at times, but not often. If it is spiked above 15 minutes, just skip it and come back later.

My DD10 likes her sleep too, but from your schedule you should be out of the park by 5pm roughly. How early does she go to bed?

Thanks so much! I think it makes more sense to fit in everything else we want to do before we hit the world showcase. We can also take our time a bit and rest and enjoy.

I was hoping to leave the park so we had enough time to swim/relax at the resort for a bit. I think if we're still at EP by 5 we'd probably stay for dinner. Don't worry....she doesn't go to bed that early but I'd like to have her in bed by 8 as we're doing RD at MK the next morning.

 

[Klayfish]

Thanks so much! I think it makes more sense to fit in everything else we want to do before we hit the world showcase. We can also take our time a bit and rest and enjoy.

I was hoping to leave the park so we had enough time to swim/relax at the resort for a bit. I think if we're still at EP by 5 we'd probably stay for dinner. Don't worry....she doesn't go to bed that early but I'd like to have her in bed by 8 as we're doing RD at MK the next morning.

I was just busting your chops on the bedtime...I've got a pair of 10 year olds. DD10 likes her sleep. Her twin brother does too, but he'll stay up later.

Epcot is "funny" with the rides and the wait times. It's the one park where the ride wait times can rise/fall so fast. FEA, TT, Soarin', J&S meet/greet almost always have a line. But things like SE, MS, Nemo, Land, Figment, Mexico ride are really weird. The majority of the time, they have a minimal...if any...wait. But once in a while, they'll suddenly spike. Then just as fast, they'll drop back down. So we never get in the line for them if the wait is more than 15 minutes...or if we want to ride it we just grab a FP+. You can grab any of those as a 4th, 5th, 20th FP+ super easy. If it's 1pm, the odds are very good I can get one with a FP+ window starting at 1:05pm.

FEA standby line is very short before 11am, should be 10 minutes or less. Soarin' also has minimal wait for the first 20 minutes the park is open. TT...if you aren't in standby line by 9:05am, forget it.

Between knowing which rides to get on first and how to use FP+ to our advantage, Epcot is the one park we can "conquer" every ride there and be done in the early afternoon.

 

[Ava]

Everything in Future World except Test Track & Soarin' (and maybe Mission Space) will be a walk on after 5pm. Anything you don't have time for in the morning before your lunch reservation, you could easily hit on the way out. Test Track has a single rider line that usually moves pretty fast if anyone in your party is interested in doing that. My DW & DD8 did it on our trip last month and were off the ride w/in about 20 minutes (because single rider bypasses the part where you create a car).