Epcot Advice

[kimluvswdw]

I need some advice on Epcot. My family and I go there on every trip but after about 2 hours we are bored and ready to leave. So many people on this board have raved about Epcot, so it leads me to believe that we must be missing something there. I would love to hear about somthings that we should do while we are there besides TestTrack, Mission Space, or Soarin. (Love those rides). Thanks, Kim

19 days until we will be at the Fort. Can't wait!!!!!!!

 

[Ghost]

Bored after 2 hours in EPCOT???

I love the place. How about looking around the lands, the shops, talk or meet CM's from other parts of the world, view all the movies, Illuminations, great places to eat, looking at the special shows that take place all over the countries (China acrobats, Japan drums, etc..)

There is so much more then only rides...

Enjoy your stay at EPCOT

 

[hezreck]

We go to Epcot every trip. Usually 4 or 5 times each trip. We go during slow season when the other parks close early, so we end almost every day at Epcot. We also spend at least 2 full days there. So far we have never been bored with it. We spend most of our time in the World Showcase and we even have a DD8. The times we were there, she was 3 1/2 and 6. She loves this park! It's her favorite. She always does the Kidcot stations and gets a passport. So while she is doing her mask, My DH and I take turns exploring the shops. It's so nice, to just get a beer from one of the countries and stroll around checking everything out.

We do the rides, but that is not the reason to go to this park. If you are basing it all on rides, you will be bored and disappointed. That's not what this park is about. For us, it's the best park, because you can slow down and not have to rush from one ride to the next. It's so relaxing after spending the day at MK cramming it all in just to go to EPCOT, get dinner, and watch Illumintations. All at a leisurely pace.

Take another slower look and you won't be disappointed. Have a great trip.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

EPCOT is our favorite park! Have you explored Innoventions? Walked the garden in Canada? Seen the British Invasion, the Jamminators or Off Kilter? Sampled the beer in Germany? a French pastry? A Moroccan feast complete with belly dancers? Have you watched the candy lady in Japan create her confections? Or the acrobats in China balance on one another?

EPCOT is pretty tame in comparison to the other parks. If you're looking for thrills and chills, it's not going to appeal to you very much. Not everyone enjoys it. It's all a matter of personal taste. I don't "get" AK, but there are others who can visit it more than once during their vacation. To each, his own.

 

[ImagineEar]

Try being there when the Park opens and get all the big attractions (TT, MS, S) done by the time World Showcase opens at 11am. Then plan to be in the countries when they open. It is a calm and peacful time to explore all tha WS has to offer.
Don't know the ages of your kids - but - but chances are they would enjoy collecting stamps from each country in the Passport Books they sell - or coloring a mask and collecting charms from each country at the "Kidcot" stations. The good thing about this is that the Kidcot stations are tucked into each country, so finding them forces you to explore all the nooks and cranies you might have otherwise missed.
Charaters have meet and greets inside their native countries ie: Pooh and Gang inside England, Belle inside France.
Don't miss "Miyuki" aka The Candy Lady in Japan - she creates amazing animal lolipops from balls of sugar right before your eyes...get to her booth 15 minutes early and she will be sure to make you one. Tin toy Museum tucked in the rear of Japan is very cool as well.
Browze inside the mexican pavillion and do the boat ride - stroll through the butterfly garden and boxwood maze in England then find a bench and wait for the Beatle cover band "the British Invasion" to start.
I could go on and on. For many years my family did not appreciate Epcot / World Showcase either so I can understand where you are coming from. The way we learned to love it was by making a commitment to spend more time there and using the Entertainment Guide to seek out all the wonderful little things that happen around the World. Give Epcot a Chance!

 

[ffugitive]

Based on the rides you identified, my guess is that you like big rides and heavy sensory stimulation, and the "other stuff" Epcot has to offer does not jump out at you as being fun. A few words of advice. First, relax and hang out with your family - you're in Disney World, which is 10x better than being at home or worse, at work. Second, try to enjoy the park more from an intellectual perspective. Check out all of the exhibits after the rides and in Innoventions - take your time, learn something and challenge your mind. We always spend quite a bit of time in Imageworks in Imagination - great musical exhibits for kids and adults. Also, it is fun to send free Disney e-mails to friends and to pose for photos with Disney characters with outrageous backgrounds (e.g., skydiving, scubadiving). In between, enjoy doses of thrills with the rides you mentioned (I personally can ride Test Track 10 times in a day). Third, go with an empty stomach and leave stuffed to the gills. Enjoy an ethnic food item or drink in each of the countries. Unless you're "experienced,", drinks around the world is almost impossible to accomplish - I gave it up long ago. But you can modify the game based on your capacity (e.g., you and your significant other can share one in each country). THEN go back and do Test Track - this alone can make or a blast! Also, don't miss the rides and attractions in the countries (e.g., Mexico, Norway, Canada) - they are very cool.

 

[AmyBWV99]

Epcot is DH's favorite park. When the rush of the vacation starts getting tiring, we love to go to the R&C grab a small table by the window, sit and talk, drink and eat their fruit and cheese trays. So relaxing!

 

[bishop1989]

We love to walk around the lands and explore the shops.
It is great to ask the CM's about where they are from, etc and get good ideas on future travel plans.
We enjoy eating at San Angel near the water and just enjoying the atmsophere.
Picking up a tie in Italy or cologne in France.
So much to see.
My 8 yr old gets a new kimona from China every year to sleep in. LOL

 

[tiff211]

Thanks for starting this thread, OP! I have felt the same way but I think I may actually be excited to try Epcot again!!!!

 

[Ava]

EPCOT is, with the exception of the few thrill rides you mentioned, a much slower-paced park than MK. It's all about learning & exploring, and has a lot of (IMO) interesting things to offer.

In Future World, check out the Living Seas pavilion. It's one of my favorites, I always go to see the manatees. (I know manatees are not that exciting to native Floridians, but to us northerners they are pretty cool.) They also have a Finding Nemo section there now. If your kids are young (or maybe even if they aren't), they will probably get a kick out of seeing real Nemos and Dorys. Ellen's Energy Adventure in the Universe of Energy pavilion is another one I like. It's long (45 minutes total) but it includes two different movies (one of which is almost like a simulator ride because the screen is so big) and a ride through a prehistoric jungle. It's a nice way to take a break, but still be doing a ride at the same time.

I could spend a whole day eating my way around World Showcase, lol. Try some snacks from various countries, check out the shops. There's always some kind of entertainment going on too. My personal favorites are the Japanese drummers and the Chinese acrobats, they do some really amazing things. I also love the Maelstrom ride in the Norway pavilion. I won't give away what it does, but there's a little thrill involved.

EPCOT is one of my favorite parks, I highly recommend you give it a chance and really explore it.

 

[mickeymousemom]

Epcot is also our favorite park(well..maybe not for DD 2)! My DD's are 12, 16 and 2 and we have been going for 5 years as a family. DD's love this park, and even though DD 16 is a thrill ride junkie, she has no problem spending AT LEAST one full day in Epcot(this is our main park and we usually spend a couple full days there).
I know I'm repeating others, but maybe you need to hear over and over what the rest of us love to convince you to seek out more things. Besides the thrill rides(as thrilling as they can get in Epcot) in FW, try relaxing a bit and going thru Innoventions, checking out the aquarium in Living Seas, go to the ImageStation and send goofy emails to friends and family. Visit Club Cool(is this what it's now called??)...the old Ice Station Cool...and try all the different drinks...people watch and laugh as guests try the Beverly for the first time. People watch EVERYWHERE. Head over to WS(our favorite part of the park) and S L O W L Y stroll through each country, enjoyinh every nook and cranny. If you have younger kids, do the Kidcot stations. Buy a passport book at the first gift shop and have it stamped in each country you visit. Try the counter service restuarants in the countries that have them(most do)...check out the CS menus on Allearsnet.com ahead of time, then buy things in each country and share them. Go thru the shops. Just by doing this you'll learn so much about each country. What kinds of candies they eat, what things are made in each country. Buy a small pkg of candy from each country and share them later or give as gifts to friends back home. Check out the Mexican marketplace, the Norwegian Stade Church and the Viking ship, i have a hard time telling you what to do in China because for some reason we pass it by most of the time(note to self: EXPLORE CHINA), Check out the shops in Germany..I love these shops and I always get a glass of wine and some candy there(and we LOVE to eat at the Biergarten). There's the candy lady in Japan, and Kaki Gori too(like a snow cone, only better), the living statues in Italy, the belly dancers in Morocco(this is a great pavilion to stroll thru also), the balancing chair guy thingy show in France(and the pastries there...also in Italy).....Try a snack thing of the Fish and Chips in the UK from Yorkshire Co. Fish Shop(and get a Guinness to go with it)...the garden and maze in the UK along with The British Invasion(awesome!!..I just saw them and almost threw my undergarments up there!! )....Must see OffKilter on the stage between the UK and Canada...we loved them so much last year that we bought a CD! I'm sure I forgot many things, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. We have learned thru the years to slow down at WDW and enjoy everything. All the little details that make these parks the greatest. We've done all the major stuff and worn ourselves out doing it all. No more. We take our time, smell the roses(and the jasmine...yum)...Its so much better that way!
Have a good time....enjoy EPCOT!

 

[Belle1111]

My family loves Epcot! There's so much to do that's hands-on. Innoventions, The Land, The Living Seas, Imagination, etc. We always plan at least two days for it and usually walk over (when we stay at BC/YC) for Illuminations if we're out of another park. I hope you'll give it another try, but keep in mind it may just not be your families favorite.

 

[missymagic]

I used to feel the same way about Epcot. Untill I got to go one day by myself and actually not have the girls saying how nored the were afer they got their mask piece.

My girls only like to go to get the mask pieces. They do not enjoy going into the countries not enough stimulation for them.

The enjoy the inoventions and the interactive projects and rides of course.

 

[mdoc]

Epcot is my favorite. Two attractions I didn't visit the first time we were there that I now love are Spaceship Earth and Ellen's energy Adventure. My kids love Journey into the Imagination with Figment and the Kodak display it empties into (with the ability to manipulate pictures of themselves). They also like Honey I Shrunk the Audience (although that one does little for me). We like the Living Seas, especially the manatee exhibit and when they feed the fish. We like Body Wars (similar to Star Tours at MGM). I'm sure there's lots more I'm not mentioning (in addition to the big 3, of course), and that's just in Future World. We could spend hours in the World Showcase, too.

 

[cleo]

I second everything everyone else has said regarding slowing down and enjoying the hundreds of wonderful touches all over the park, including (especially?) talking to the Cast Members, who are absolutely delightful and seem very happy to talk about their homeland.

Just as a quick note, someone mentioned Living Statues, who are no longer there. They are a great loss (just wonderful!) but Serveur Amusant in France and Sergio in Italy have taken their place and are good fun to watch, too.

I cannot imagine being bored in Epcot, especially after twilight. It's just beautiful. My 13 year old chose it as the park he would visit if he could only visit one, which I think says a lot.

 

[Leota]

Another Epcot Lover chiming in here. Everyone covered things so well, it's hard to add.... Epcot just has a feeling about it that we love. We go to Epcot pretty much every day of our trips, no matter how long they are.We just can't get enough of it!
While we love the attractions (DS 17, is completely addicted to Mission:Space & I am a Soarin Fanatic) Epcot is all about discovery. It's about the little things, the exhibits, the live entertainment, the shops, the interaction with folks from around the World, music, the taste, the smell....

If you are going looking to hop from ride to ride, Epcot isn't for you. If you want to explore the World with all your senses, you won't get bored at Epcot....

 

[mickeymousemom]

Ya know..I think I knew that the living statues were no longer there, but I swore i had read posts stating that others had seen them from time to time, but in a different area...maybe not, and i hate to see them go!

And how could I forget to mention Illuminations in my post! I wouldn't miss it!

Either way, your family just may be the gotta go, go,go type and can't do the slowdown..it may be that Epcot will be your least favorite park, just like AK is ours. That's what's so great about Disney....there's something for everyone!

 

[imlazar]

Believe it or not my boys (5/3) liked Epcot the best of all the parks. They loved the world of energy ride with Ellen, the boat ride in "The Land", Crush's experience in "the living seas", and everything in the immagination zone (hone i shrunk the audience & figment's journey). Spaceship earth was fun as well.

The kids also reallly love innovations, especially the "find the fire hazzard" game and the robot racing challenge.

The kids also liked the rides in mexico and norway, and the german restaurant was about our favorite dining experience outside of Hoop Dee Doo.

Finally the loved the kidcot activities and getting their mask stamped at each country.

I'm looking forward to when they will be willing to go on soarin and the test track (my 5yr old did it last year and won't go back on it).

 

[WDW LOVR]

Epcot is our favorite also. Our kids liked it the least when they were young (before they even had the kidcot stations) but now it's their favorite also. Some days we go there we do nothing but run from watching the Moroccan's to the British Invasion to Off Kilter.

My wife and I just did a 4 night trip and went to Epcot every day. The only other park we went to was AK, and that was just to ride EE, which was down, so we ate lunch and went to Epcot.

We only rode Soarin once, the Maelstrom 3 times and the ride in Mexico once. The rest of the time we sat on benches and enjoyed the atmosphere, shopped at a leisurely pace, talked to CM's, had a mini-meet at the Rose and Crown with some other Disboarders, enjoyed the bands and ate at all our favorite places: Fish + Chips, Tangerine Cafe (3 times), Sushi in Japan, LeCellier. It was one of the best trips we've ever taken.

 

[Yookeroo]

The Living Statues are gone? They were the best thing in the park.