Epcot -> AK or AK -> Epcot - which would you choose?

[Huskyfan860]

I'll be staying at the Dolphin from May 11th-15th, and I've got Saturday May 13th penciled in for Epcot & Animal Kingdom. We did our last trip at the end of 2021 and we realized that we weren't big fans of either the rides in Pandora, so we're thinking a 1/2 day is the most we'd need at AK.

I know that Epcot gets busy later in the day on the weekends due to the Flower & Garden festival, but I also know that Animal Kingdom closes earlier and things like the Safari are best experienced early in the morning.

Given that, and assuming that we'll take advantage of ILL$, Genie+ (with stacking, a trick we learned in 2021), and Early Entry - would you start at Epcot and hop to AK, or start at AK and hop to Epcot?

 

[scrappinginontario]

We would choose AK > Epcot for a few reasons.

1. The animals on the safari are more active in the AM so a better time to ride.
2. AK gets very hot in the afternoon. We prefer to tour there in the morning.
3. AK is normally open earlier and Epcot later. AK first allows us to go there early in AM, rest at resort then to Epcot after the heat of the day has passed.
4. Epcot has so many great food choices! We like to be there for supper either to eat at a quick service or even the food booths

 

[Melissa622]

Is Saturday your only option as the day for this? I would say 100% start at AK and hop to Epcot, mostly because it's open later and you'd be there for the night show. However, Saturday night is a popular time for locals to go to the festivals, so it's probably the most crowded Epcot will be all week.

 

[Huskyfan860]

Is Saturday your only option as the day for this? I would say 100% start at AK and hop to Epcot, mostly because it's open later and you'd be there for the night show. However, Saturday night is a popular time for locals to go to the festivals, so it's probably the most crowded Epcot will be all week.

Not necessarily - we could do AK & Epcot on Friday and then go to DHS on Saturday instead. I figured Friday night would be just as busy but that might be a bad assumption.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

What do you want to accomplish to ride at epcot? If you want to hit a lot of headliners and don't really care to ride FOP at AK, I would start your day at Epcot, hop to AK and return to Epcot. You'll have easy access in the morning to Epcot from the IG so you could hit up Remy/Frozen if those are your morning RD rides, can easily head out of world showcase and explore some, eat, head to AK and spend a few hours and return to Ep. Not a ton is open around WS in the mornings so you'll miss a good bit but you can hit up some other attractions before heading to AK. Yes, later in the day on weekends, it does get busy and AK does tend to get super hot later in the day. However, if you don't care to do the headliners at epcot, then start your day at AK, hit your must does and bounce over to Epcot. For us, even with riding EE and FoP, AK is done for us inside of 4 hours most visits. We enjoy it but it's our least favorite park right now.

 

[Huskyfan860]

What do you want to accomplish to ride at epcot? If you want to hit a lot of headliners and don't really care to ride FOP at AK, I would start your day at Epcot, hop to AK and return to Epcot. You'll have easy access in the morning to Epcot from the IG so you could hit up Remy/Frozen if those are your morning RD rides, can easily head out of world showcase and explore some, eat, head to AK and spend a few hours and return to Ep. Not a ton is open around WS in the mornings so you'll miss a good bit but you can hit up some other attractions before heading to AK. Yes, later in the day on weekends, it does get busy and AK does tend to get super hot later in the day. However, if you don't care to do the headliners at epcot, then start your day at AK, hit your must does and bounce over to Epcot. For us, even with riding EE and FoP, AK is done for us inside of 4 hours most visits. We enjoy it but it's our least favorite park right now.

We'll definitely want to ride the headliners so if I start at AK, I'd plan on buying an ILL$ for Guardians and stack Genie+ rides for our Epcot arrival once I get through the AK rides. I'm kind of okay with having a break back at the hotel in-between lunch and park hopping to Epcot, if need be. We'll also likely be hopping to Epcot at least one other day since we can walk to it, so that might be another chance to sneak a ride or two in.