Epcot itinerary help please

[mrsincredible3]

Hi, we will be visiting over spring break and are planning one full day at epcot with Ds6 and Ds1. What is there to do from the flower and garden festival ? Are there events from this that would require additional time during our day at epcot. I heard there is a butterfly house - where is that located? Do we need like a couple of hours to view all of the festival stuff? I am asking because we have one very packed schedule that day and want to know if maybe we need another morning or afternoon to do all of this. Here is what we have planned, and we would like to explore the flower festival stuff a bit if it's worth doing.

Arrive 9am
Spaceship earth
Nemo ride
Turtle talk
Seas tanks (how much time should we allow to do this? Older ds loves animals and sea creatures and will want to see everything. How long will it take to see this whole pavilion?)
Figment ride
Maelstrom
Lunch at les Halle's in France
Japan for shopping/ pick a pearl
Germany for karamel kuche snack, trains, Snow White
Test track FP + at 3pm
Soaring FP + at 4pm
Living with the land ride
Garden grill dinner at 5:20pm
Return to hotel with two very tired children!

Is our plan feasible? If we want to enjoy the flower and garden festival events do we need more epcot time? Thanks. Any suggestions welcome. And yes I have FP + for both soarin and test track and haven't figured out what to use my third FP for yet, so any suggestions welcome. Thanks so much!

Also my science loving six year old would probably enjoy energy adventure and innoventions and mission space, but they didn't sound toddler friendly so I thought we'd skip them as we were really trying to spend only one day at epcot. Are these worth adding a second day to see? We have one day planned for each ak and HS, two days at MK, two relaxing days at AKL planned. Thanks. Our first trip, don't know when well be back.

 

[kmb584]

Hi, we will be visiting over spring break and are planning one full day at epcot with Ds6 and Ds1. What is there to do from the flower and garden festival ? Are there events from this that would require additional time during our day at epcot. I heard there is a butterfly house - where is that located? Do we need like a couple of hours to view all of the festival stuff? I am asking because we have one very packed schedule that day and want to know if maybe we need another morning or afternoon to do all of this. Here is what we have planned, and we would like to explore the flower festival stuff a bit if it's worth doing.

Arrive 9am
Spaceship earth
Nemo ride
Turtle talk
Seas tanks (how much time should we allow to do this? Older ds loves animals and sea creatures and will want to see everything. How long will it take to see this whole pavilion?)
Figment ride
Maelstrom
Lunch at les Halle's in France
Japan for shopping/ pick a pearl
Germany for karamel kuche snack, trains, Snow White
Test track FP + at 3pm
Soaring FP + at 4pm
Living with the land ride
Garden grill dinner at 5:20pm
Return to hotel with two very tired children!

Is our plan feasible? If we want to enjoy the flower and garden festival events do we need more epcot time? Thanks. Any suggestions welcome. And yes I have FP + for both soarin and test track and haven't figured out what to use my third FP for yet, so any suggestions welcome. Thanks so much!

I'd relocate Spaceship Earth to later in the day, possibly even as you're leaving the park. It's the first attraction people see when entering Epcot and the crowds tend to swarm in the morning.

The Seas can take as long as you want it to. When DD5 is exploring we can easily spend at least 45 minutes looking around. When other family (plus DD) is in an insanely long queue for Soarin' I can easily spend upwards of 60-75 minutes in there.

Overall, the plan is definitely feasible. If you plan to take your time looking at the F&G topiaries and kiosks, I'd probably allot a bit more time to do so (maybe 1-2 hours).

 

[bastos]

You might want to reconsider or refocus.

Unless something is strange, you might lose one or other of the fast passes if/when you try to add on the other one.

If you already HAVE both of them, I wouldn't touch ANYTHING!

 

[mrsincredible3]

I'd relocate Spaceship Earth to later in the day, possibly even as you're leaving the park. It's the first attraction people see when entering Epcot and the crowds tend to swarm in the morning.

The Seas can take as long as you want it to. When DD5 is exploring we can easily spend at least 45 minutes looking around. When other family (plus DD) is in an insanely long queue for Soarin' I can easily spend upwards of 60-75 minutes in there.

Overall, the plan is definitely feasible. If you plan to take your time looking at the F&G topiaries and kiosks, I'd probably allot a bit more time to do so (maybe 1-2 hours).

Thank you that was helpful. I will allot more time for the sea life tanks and I will try to hit spaceship earth as we exit the park. Good suggestions, thank you.

 

[agavegirl1]

You might want to reconsider or refocus.

Unless something is strange, you might lose one or other of the fast passes if/when you try to add on the other one.

If you already HAVE both of them, I wouldn't touch ANYTHING!

Agreed, if you have not yet made FP+ reservations, you cannot book both Soarin and Test Track. It is one or the other. So, if you haven't, head to Soarin first thing in the morning. Bypass Spaceship earth for later or substitute a FP+ for it where Soarin is in your plan.

 

[lizabu]

Test track and Soarin are both tier 1 so you can only FP one or the other. FP one, ride the other at RD. It makes you choose 2 tier 2 attractions so you can do spaceship earth, crush, the land, Nemo or I can't remember what else. Just get Soarin and test track in by riding at RD or FP or you will likely be disappointed. We FP Soarin and rode test track at RD. Right after we went to character spot because it's right there and there was a 5 minute wait. We had FP for land and Nemo later on. I don't care about most of the other tier 2 attractions. You probably have time to do everything you didn't FP before WS opens. Then get over to Malstrom. I think the Frozen princesses are drawing people over. We didn't do it early. By the time we got there it was a 70 minute wait. I wasn't going to wait 70 minutes for that ride.

ETA- characters are a real time sucker too. Try to be at least 10 minutes early.

 

[purple figment]

If your older son is an Agent P/Phineas & Ferb fan he might want to try one (or more) of the Agent P adventures in WS.

 

[naturalinsp]

Arrive 9am
Spaceship earth
Nemo ride
Turtle talk
Seas tanks (how much time should we allow to do this? Older ds loves animals and sea creatures and will want to see everything. How long will it take to see this whole pavilion?)
Figment ride
Maelstrom
Lunch at les Halle's in France
Japan for shopping/ pick a pearl
Germany for karamel kuche snack, trains, Snow White
Test track FP + at 3pm
Soaring FP + at 4pm
Living with the land ride
Garden grill dinner at 5:20pm
Return to hotel with two very tired children!


Ben to Disney many times and love Epcot.

Is there any reason you picked lunch in France. With the pavilions you will be visiting you will walk 3/4 of the way around the WS, then starting back. A lot of walking with kids in tow. Shopping is great in Japan, and pick a pearl is a lot of fun, but if you are not set on doing those things I would concentrate on looking around the pavilions on the east side of WS. After rushing to Maelstrom, you could look around Norway or do an Agent P. Mexico is fun too. The shopping in China is not as good as Japan, but comparable for browsing. Just thinking if you limit your walking you may have more time and energy.

 

[mrsincredible3]

Arrive 9am
Spaceship earth
Nemo ride
Turtle talk
Seas tanks (how much time should we allow to do this? Older ds loves animals and sea creatures and will want to see everything. How long will it take to see this whole pavilion?)
Figment ride
Maelstrom
Lunch at les Halle's in France
Japan for shopping/ pick a pearl
Germany for karamel kuche snack, trains, Snow White
Test track FP + at 3pm
Soaring FP + at 4pm
Living with the land ride
Garden grill dinner at 5:20pm
Return to hotel with two very tired children!


Ben to Disney many times and love Epcot.

Is there any reason you picked lunch in France. With the pavilions you will be visiting you will walk 3/4 of the way around the WS, then starting back. A lot of walking with kids in tow. Shopping is great in Japan, and pick a pearl is a lot of fun, but if you are not set on doing those things I would concentrate on looking around the pavilions on the east side of WS. After rushing to Maelstrom, you could look around Norway or do an Agent P. Mexico is fun too. The shopping in China is not as good as Japan, but comparable for browsing. Just thinking if you limit your walking you may have more time and energy.

Well, dh has had very little input on our trip but literally the only thing he requested was lunch at the French bakery (he loooooves pastry!). I realize it will be extra walking and then doubling back. He picked that and ds picked garden grill for dinner. I have played with the plan a lot and I can't figure out a better way to incorporate everything. I was trying to get to maelstrom earlier in the day. If I go all the way around the showcase, I think by the time I hit maelstrom around 2pm there will be a long line and this is a must for us. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[naturalinsp]

If France is a must then you are right to do Maelstrom earlier. But I've found that ride to be a little hard to predict for wait times, and I haven't been back since FP+.

I think it is hard to fix Epcot into one day, especially with little Kids.

Only two other options I see:

1# Return to AKL (my favorite hotel, great pick) for a nap and rest. Just getting out of the crowds allows a decompress. Then return to Epcot later in the early evening when the crowds have died down. The bus ride is not bad. When DW and I had a DD5-12 and a DS1-8 we always took a break in the middle of the day. It is hard for people to think they are getting their moneys worth if they leave the park, but rested kids are more fun. I have seen a lot of meltdowns with young children in the early evening. AKL pool is a lot of fun too.

#2 Add a half day to Epcot. My children love science and have loved FW and WS since a very young age. We always spend at least 1.5 days in Epcot on a 4 day trip. We will cut it from AK or DHS. Those parks are smaller and easier to see in a 1/2 day.

We have even hopped all 4 parks in one day, great times!

 

[lizabu]

Well, dh has had very little input on our trip but literally the only thing he requested was lunch at the French bakery (he loooooves pastry!). I realize it will be extra walking and then doubling back. He picked that and ds picked garden grill for dinner. I have played with the plan a lot and I can't figure out a better way to incorporate everything. I was trying to get to maelstrom earlier in the day. If I go all the way around the showcase, I think by the time I hit maelstrom around 2pm there will be a long line and this is a must for us. Thanks for your suggestions.

The Friendship boats are good for getting from one end of WS to the other too don't forget. We used them when we just wanted to get to the other end and couldn't take anymore walking.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I love the seas tanks. I can stand there forever looking at the manatees. They are mesmerizing for some reason. (And I am not an animal person).