EPCOT for 4 and 5 year olds

[aprhj]

I have only been to EPCOT a few times, but never with children. What do you recommend at EPCOT for the small fries?

thank you in advance.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Finding Nemo ride (it's opened last year) and Turtle Talk with Crush are big hits with my DD. Oh and Soarin' and Test Track can be done by 4 year olds depending on their height. 4 & 5 year olds would probably enjoy doing the Kidcot stations at each country (little crafts).

 

[jenwolgey]

Finding Nemo ride (it's opened last year) and Turtle Talk with Crush are big hits with my DD. Oh and Soarin' and Test Track can be done by 4 year olds depending on their height. 4 & 5 year olds would probably enjoy doing the Kidcot stations at each country (little crafts).

Absolutely!

Also, the boat rides in The Land, Norway (parts are a little dark and scarey, my kids were always ok with it) and Mexico. The Jammitors in Future World, Innoventions, the acrobats in China, drums in Japan, Chair Act-is it in France or Italy? Eating in the buffet in Germany, the train setup in Germany...LOADS of stuff that is fun for kids. (Can you tell EPCOT is our family's favorite?)

 

[TJA]

There is a little Nemo ride, turtle talk with crush which is kind of like a show but it interacts with the kids, huge "acquariums," boat ride through greenhouses, imagination ride with figment, 3D show, energy/dinosaur show/ride, play and learning areas, cute boat ride in Mexico, boat ride in Norway about trolls which can be scary for little ones depending on the child, kidcot stations where the kids can do some coloring in each country. If your kids are daring, there are a couple rides you might want to try -- Soarin' and Test Track for 40" tall. Mission Space is for 44" tall.

If you want to do a fun meal for the kids, Coral Reef is a fun restaurant with a huge acquarium wall of fish, sharks, turtle, etc., for the kids to view while you eat. There is also a character meal at Garden Grill (we were thrilled with the food, but many people love it). Don't recall if your kids are girls or boys, but there is also a princess character meal in Norway. Japan is fun (and good food) where they cook right at your table.

 

[all4fun]

Ditto what the pp said. Also this article on the Dis HERE talks about "EPCOT for kids" goes over the things the pp's mentioned plus some. My ds (4, almost 5) really enjoys Epcot. He enjoyed most of the things the pp's already mentioned. He's over 44" tall now and loves both Soarin' (40" req.) and M:S (the less intense "Green", we don't do Orange or "frappe' " as dh jokingly calls it). When you get to the park, pick up a park guide and a times guide. The times guide will tell you when & where all the different entertainment opportunities (like Voices of Liberty at the American Pavilion, or the Candy Making Demonstration in Japan) will be. Also, if your kids can stay up late, the Illuminations fireworks show is worth the wait. I highly recommend it!

oh, and this year, we intend to let ds do the Junior Chef program at Living with the Land. We saw it going on last year but never had a chance to stop and have him participate, so we are going to make sure and make some time for it on this next trip.

hth!

 

[Fairyntraining]

This is a great interactive game place. They get to build a robot on the computer and then you race them. Afterwards you go and build one to take home, for free. It is fun to watch the assembly line of how the parts for the robot are made.

Our first trip to Disney we skipped over Epcot. We won't make that mistake again.

 

[Tramp68]

When we were there in July last year they were doing something called Kidcot. There was one set where they started with a mask on a stick and they got something from a station at each country and were able to decorate it with crayons and markers at the table (It was sponsored by sharpie) My 5 and 10 year old were determined to get every single country and spent time talking to the cast members there who talked about their native country to them.

There was another one scattered throughout the other buildings at EPCOT. I forget the theme, but it was along the same line. Again, it got them interested in going through every single building.

If you are lucky the DNA building will be open. I hear that it is only open a few weeks each year, but I also heard when we were there that it will not be reopening because they had no sponsor. I really do not understand why Disney NEEDS a sponsor to open an attraction....

Both of these activities are similar to the discovery stations that you find in Animal Kingdom, which was another hit for my kids....


Hope this helps...

 

[brymolmom]

My 4 and 5 year olds LOVE EPCOT.

Especially:
Soarin
Finding Nemo
Turtle Talk
Aquarium in The Sea Pavilion
Living with the Land boat ride
Junior Chef at The Land pavilion (make Nestle cookies with chef hats - cute)
Journey into the Imagination with Figment - playing in Kodak area at exit
Test Track
My 4 year old does NOT LIKE Honey I shrunk the Audience - so consider carefully for this one
Voices of Liberty in America
Acrobats in China
They like doing the passports (getting stamps in each country AND the native person will write child's name in that language- very cool) - but we usually don't have time to do ALL the countries.
The boat rides in Mexico and Norway are OK but not must do's

Oh and we LOVE the princess breakfast in Norway - one of our favorites.

Then we do Soarin and Test Track for as many fastpasses as we have accumulated during our day.

We LOVE EPCOT - have fun!

 

[jenb1023]

DD 4 1/2 loved Epcot this trip! She loved the Kidcot stops!

Two things I did not see mentioned are Passports and characters.

We bought dd a passport that she got stamped in each country at the Kidcot stations. They wrote a message in the Passport in their language and stamped it. Then it came with sticker photos from each country that DD placed in the passport.

There are also a number of character meet and greets in Epcot - especially in World Showcase. We met Jasmine, Aladdin and Genie in Morocco, Marie from Aristocats in France (Belle and Beast and Aurora were also in France). Mary Poppins and Eeyore and Pooh in England. Brother Bear characters were in Canada.