Epcot Advice

[AggieTexan]

I'd appreciate some advice on my plan for Epcot. We will be there on a TGM Green day, and according to the TP crowd calendar, it's a very low crowd day.

My original plan was to be there for Rope Drop, FP Soarin' first thing & then ride TT, which worked very well for us in the past. However, over the weekend I made a reservation for the Around the World Segway tour from 8:30-10:30. I'm excited about the tour, but it does mean we have to re-think the day. Questions...if I FP Soarin' at about 10:30, what would be a reasonable time to expect to ride? What about TT...what time do they usually run out of FPs on a fairly low-crowd day. We'd like to leave the park about 3 or 3:30 for a break and dinner.

Here's my plan...could you please tell me if this looks realistic, or do I need to cut some things? The items in red are things I would cut first. Thanks!

1.Segway tour(8:30-10:30).
2.FP for Soarin'
3.Living with the Land
4.Journey into Imagination with Figment
5.Captain EO
6.United Kingdom Pavilion -- Noon Lunch ADR at the Rose & Crown Pub.
7.FP for Test Track (around 1:30)?
8.Spaceship Earth
9.Soarin' -- Use FPs
10.Ellen's Energy Adventure 11.Innoventions -- Sum of All Thrills
12.Mission: Space Green
13.Test Track -- Use FPs
14.Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
15.Norway Pavilion -- Maelstrom.
16.China Pavilion -- Wonders of China.
17.American Adventure Pavilion -- See The American Adventure.
18.France Pavilion -- Impressions de France

Return to BWI after leaving the France Pavillion. Dinner ADR at Flying Fish at 6:15. Return to park via the International Gateway after dinner.

19.Canada Pavilion -- See O Canada! 20.IllumiNations

 

[lroger01]

I can't answer your question specifically but I may have a solution to getting the information. If you sign up for the Lines app from Touring Plans.com you can use it before you arrive to help plan your day. Just find an upcoming day the TGM also lists as green. At 10:30 Disney time, check the FP return for Soarin' and see if it's agreeable for you. When at Disney on your Segway tour, you can check the app during breaks and easily know if you're on track or not. It could help you enjoy your tour more if you know the times are going your way.

Another option is to see if you can grab Fast Passes before you actually start the tour. The first part of the Segway tour is learning to ride the thing. If you don't start heading to World Showcase until after 9am, you could ask the CM leading it if you could run for FP. I'm sure others on the tour would want to do that too. It woudn't delay the tour as a restroom stop is done before you leave for WS. Also the "free ride" time in the Italy area can be shortened if "everyone" wants to get passes.

 

[Babbletrish]

The items in red are things I would cut first. Thanks!

1.Segway tour(8:30-10:30).
2.FP for Soarin'
3.Living with the Land
4.Journey into Imagination with Figment
5.Captain EO
6.United Kingdom Pavilion -- Noon Lunch ADR at the Rose & Crown Pub.
7.FP for Test Track (around 1:30)?
8.Spaceship Earth
9.Soarin' -- Use FPs
10.Ellen's Energy Adventure 11.Innoventions -- Sum of All Thrills
12.Mission: Space Green
13.Test Track -- Use FPs
14.Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
15.Norway Pavilion -- Maelstrom.
16.China Pavilion -- Wonders of China.
17.American Adventure Pavilion -- See The American Adventure.
18.France Pavilion -- Impressions de France

Return to BWI after leaving the France Pavillion. Dinner ADR at Flying Fish at 6:15. Return to park via the International Gateway after dinner.

19.Canada Pavilion -- See O Canada! 20.IllumiNations

I'd cut "Journey into Imagination" and "Energy". The World Showcase films are very nice -- if it's been a while since you've seen them. At my age, I rather like just walking around the different "lands" instead.

(So happy to see "EO" as a must-do up there! )

 

[lsenquiz]

do you have any children? If you do and they are young then I would add Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush.

 

[AggieTexan]

I can't answer your question specifically but I may have a solution to getting the information. If you sign up for the Lines app from Touring Plans.com you can use it before you arrive to help plan your day. Just find an upcoming day the TGM also lists as green. At 10:30 Disney time, check the FP return for Soarin' and see if it's agreeable for you. When at Disney on your Segway tour, you can check the app during breaks and easily know if you're on track or not. It could help you enjoy your tour more if you know the times are going your way.

Another option is to see if you can grab Fast Passes before you actually start the tour. The first part of the Segway tour is learning to ride the thing. If you don't start heading to World Showcase until after 9am, you could ask the CM leading it if you could run for FP. I'm sure others on the tour would want to do that too. It woudn't delay the tour as a restroom stop is done before you leave for WS. Also the "free ride" time in the Italy area can be shortened if "everyone" wants to get passes.

Good idea! I have the Lines app, and I hadn't even thought about using it to help in this situation. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I'll have a minute to grab my Soarin' FP before we head off on the tour. Is the FP machine still inside the Land Pavillion?

do you have any children? If you do and they are young then I would add Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush.

No, it's just us!

 

[lroger01]

Is the FP machine still inside the Land Pavillion?

Yes, you have to go inside. I'd just ask when you first show up for the tour. I'm sure it's a common question. Heck, they might even have a CM take everyone's tickets and run and get them or something.

 

[lsenquiz]

However, over the weekend I made a reservation for the Around the World Segway tour from 8:30-10:30

You will love this tour. My husband and I did this two years ago and learned more about the worlds than we had visiting Epcot over the previous 10 years!

 

[DSLRuser]

Journey into imagination is a must see. the line is always short, and kids love it. the skunk smell is a riot for my 4 year old.

In the grand scheme, it is a 15 min diversion and another attraction off your list.

 

[SignMeUp]

I think you may find it difficult to get a FP for Soarin, ride the Land and Imagination, AND see Capt EO before your noon ADR. Then say you're done with lunch around 1:30pm... you only have 2 hours left to do everything else on your list. Ellen's Energy Adventure is 45 min and riding Soarin' always seems to take forever, even in the FP line. Is this your only Epcot day?

 

[jjsdad]

Thats a lot to get done between 10:45 and 6:00. I agree you may want to cut out ellens universe of energy. It is a cool ride/movie but it is very long.

 

[Balt ravens fan]

That's a long list - Sum of all Thrills could have a long line because only about 14 people do it at one time. I would prioritize the list and hit the things I really want to do first and then go from there.

I think realistically you can get about 3/4 of your list done, but if you book it aroud the park maybe you can get it all done - but will you enjoy it?

Good luck!

 

[stargazertechie]

Cut Ellen, ride Test Track as single riders, and you should be good!

 

[Laurabearz]

You will not be able to run and grab fast passes before the Segway tour.

 

[AggieTexan]

Thanks for your suggestions everybody. I think we'll be fine, at least as far as our major "must-dos." I used the lines app this morning to try to get an idea of what a FP return time for Soarin' might be. At 10:32, the return time for Soarin' was 12:30, and the single rider line for TT was only 11 minutes. According to TP, the park crowd for Epcot today is 9.7, and it's projected at 2.3 on our day, so I can probably adjust those times down slightly, but it at least gave me an idea.

 

[sharonabe]

Is your noon ADR at Rose and Crown a must do? I think if you drop that in favor of Sunshine Seasons in FW, you can easily get everything (except maybe Ellen's Energy) on your list done before 6:00 p.m. But your post says you want to leave the park around 3:30 for a break. Keeping that ADR will definitely cut back on what you can do before 3:30. That's not a short walk. Even on a slow day crowd wise, you can only walk so fast, and you are going from the side of FW to near the International Gateway back to the very front of FW and then back to WS.

That just seems like a lot of walking back and forth to me and I'd rather get FW done before heading back to WS.

 

[AggieTexan]

Is your noon ADR at Rose and Crown a must do? I think if you drop that in favor of Sunshine Seasons in FW, you can easily get everything (except maybe Ellen's Energy) on your list done before 6:00 p.m. But your post says you want to leave the park around 3:30 for a break. Keeping that ADR will definitely cut back on what you can do before 3:30. That's not a short walk. Even on a slow day crowd wise, you can only walk so fast, and you are going from the side of FW to near the International Gateway back to the very front of FW and then back to WS.

That just seems like a lot of walking back and forth to me and I'd rather get FW done before heading back to WS.

Yeah, Rose & Crown is pretty much a must-do...it's the one ADR of the trip my DH really wanted.

As for the walking back & forth...we've done it before. It's not ideal, but it doesn't bother us that much either. On our last trip, we entered through the International Gateway for rope drop, did Soarin', walked back to the IG to meet my mom, and walked back to the Land & Sunshine Seasons before 11:00! Later in the day (after dinner) we walked my mom back to the Yacht Club, then returned for IllumiNations, so I know about the long walk!

Since we'll be spending the morning touring the nations by Segway, we probably will spend more time in Future World than usual. We've done all the major attractions at Epcot at least once, so this may end up being a pick & choose our favorites day! Sum of all Thrills will be new to us, so I'd like to fit that in if the wait's not too bad.