Epcot or not?

[Gumbo4x4]

Epcot was the park we least looked forward to & it ended up being one of our favorites. You need to try it once IMO.

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

Epcot all the way! I'm not a fan at nighttime (drunk people + bad lighting = grumpy me), but I love it during the day. It's worth going at least once.

 

[ChelleFeegan]

I love Universal. I also love DC (not going this year due to the cost, I didn't quite reach my bonus at work!). But I love Epcot. I have to visit it at least three times on each trip (though we go for 14 days).

I love WS - I love losing myself in the countries, walking round the shops, educating myself. I love the fact that even though its crowded, it never feels it... weaving through the back streets of Morocco is just heaven on a hot, crowded day. I love the rides; test track being my DH favourite (it has to be the first ride of the holiday!), I love ice creams from France, and watching the fantastic waiters, I love club cool, and I love spending a good ten minutes watching the dancing fountain. I love figment, and spaceship earth, I love the performers around the world, I love the walkway that lights up at night, and the colours the SE turns in the dusk, I love the smells of Epcot and the warm breeze as you pass under the walkway next to mousegears heading to Mission Space and TT. I love the sunlight dancing off the water, and the monorail silently passing over head. I love Soarin' over California with my legs swinging. I love cruising a long in a boat, and learning about the land.

I love Epcot. Everything.

(other than the car park... I always think I've parked closer than we have, and decide we aren't taking the tram and end up feeling like I am melting by the time I get to the gate..)

 

[RustManFan]

we have skipped DHS on more than one trip but NEVER EVER Epcot!

 

[dizzyr]

I love Universal. I also love DC (not going this year due to the cost, I didn't quite reach my bonus at work!). But I love Epcot. I have to visit it at least three times on each trip (though we go for 14 days).

I love WS - I love losing myself in the countries, walking round the shops, educating myself. I love the fact that even though its crowded, it never feels it... weaving through the back streets of Morocco is just heaven on a hot, crowded day. I love the rides; test track being my DH favourite (it has to be the first ride of the holiday!), I love ice creams from France, and watching the fantastic waiters, I love club cool, and I love spending a good ten minutes watching the dancing fountain. I love figment, and spaceship earth, I love the performers around the world, I love the walkway that lights up at night, and the colours the SE turns in the dusk, I love the smells of Epcot and the warm breeze as you pass under the walkway next to mousegears heading to Mission Space and TT. I love the sunlight dancing off the water, and the monorail silently passing over head. I love Soarin' over California with my legs swinging. I love cruising a long in a boat, and learning about the land.

I love Epcot. Everything.

(other than the car park... I always think I've parked closer than we have, and decide we aren't taking the tram and end up feeling like I am melting by the time I get to the gate..)

This makes me want to run to Epcot right now!!

 

[dizzyr]

Ok now that you've all convinced me not to skip it - what's some of your favorite not necessarily in the brochures kind of thing to do there. What should I know that I wouldn't know if I wasn't reading the Dis?

 

[Planogirl]

Ok now that you've all convinced me not to skip it - what's some of your favorite not necessarily in the brochures kind of thing to do there. What should I know that I wouldn't know if I wasn't reading the Dis?

Someone already mentioned Club Cool but make that one a priority. It's great fun to try the different drinks and be sure to have your camera ready when someone first tries Beverly.

Poke around in the nations. There are some museums and neat rooms hidden in a few of them.

Check out the shops even if you don't like to shop. Some are really nice.

 

[Cee]

Epcot is my favorite so my vote is "Yay".

 

[tobikaye]

Take the time to explore the areas in WS. Some of the places go father back than most people realize. WS is a great place to do character greets as sometimes there are 2 or 3 near each other and you can go through them quickly. Also talk to the CMs in WS about things they find different than where they are from and what is similar.

Personally, I have had to stop at Karamell Kuche in the Germany Pavilion every time I am there since it opened. My personal favorite is the milk chocolate covered strawberries with caramel drizzle.

As for FW, there are the attractions, my favorites are Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, and Test Track. Living with the Land hold a special place in my heart from my first visit in 1985. Everything in Epcot seemed so futuristic then.

 

[disnut8]

We are heading to WDW in January and it will be our second no trip. The first one we had 4 days and did two at MK and one at AK and HS. This time we'll be there for 6 days and I was thinking of doing 2 at MK, one at each of the other 3 and leaving the last for whichever one we wanted more time at.

Now I'm thinking of giving up Epcot to do either universal (never been), discovery cove (loved loved loved it) or another day at one of the other three parks.

It will be me, my dh and my two girls 13 and 10. We like rides but couldn't be called ride people as we usually pick the shows, parades, people watching and characters (although I do plan on doing more rides this time around).

So to Epcot or not???

The bolded part screams to me - yes, do Epcot! While World Showcase doesn't have a parade, there are three movies to see (China, France, Canada) and a very nicely done American Adventure. None of which need FastPasses. But, the best thing is to just walk round, poke into shops, get some snacks and drinks (tea in China maybe?), see characters, and really sit down in the African Outpost section, watch the kids play the drums, maybe see some storytellers and people watch (there is a food stand there). Or, go back to the Liberty Inn outside seating area with a drink or a snack and relax.

You can also go into Future World and do Ellen's Energy Adventure which is a long inside attraction that you don't need a FastPass for. The Imagination Pavilion will probably be good as well. And, on your way out, go into Spaceship Earth since it's a quick loading attraction and will probably have a short wait later in the day.

You could do FastPasses for Soarin' and Mission:Space if you want "rides".

 

[aretha30]

We love Epcot, our 7 and 12 yr old boys love to explore the world showcase. We never skip it, we never spend a whole day there either though. We have hoppers and spend the morning or afternoon there. Our upcoming trip we have three 1/2 days planned to be there.

 

[dizzyr]

I still can't see park hoppers being worth it for us. I understand the concept (flexibility, ability to make ADR's based on where you want not where you are etc) but I just couldn't see us leaving one park and going to another because there's so much we haven't seen yet that even spending full days in one park won't be enough so I can't see us giving up the travel time to go to another one in the same day. It would maybe be handy for the last two days so we could do a day and a half at each park instead of picking two of them to do two days at but that's not worth buying them for the whole trip. Am I missing something?

 

[dizzyr]

The bolded part screams to me - yes, do Epcot! While World Showcase doesn't have a parade, there are three movies to see (China, France, Canada) and a very nicely done American Adventure. None of which need FastPasses. But, the best thing is to just walk round, poke into shops, get some snacks and drinks (tea in China maybe?), see characters, and really sit down in the African Outpost section, watch the kids play the drums, maybe see some storytellers and people watch (there is a food stand there). Or, go back to the Liberty Inn outside seating area with a drink or a snack and relax.

This sounds so much like a day we'd enjoy I especially love the drums and storytelling. My kids spent a ton of time playing the instruments at AK last time - we had to drag them away.

 

[marty5406]

Epcot is our favorite park, its also great for teens

 

[bbjunkie]

I still can't see park hoppers being worth it for us. I understand the concept (flexibility, ability to make ADR's based on where you want not where you are etc) but I just couldn't see us leaving one park and going to another because there's so much we haven't seen yet that even spending full days in one park won't be enough so I can't see us giving up the travel time to go to another one in the same day. It would maybe be handy for the last two days so we could do a day and a half at each park instead of picking two of them to do two days at but that's not worth buying them for the whole trip. Am I missing something?

I think the value of Park Hoppers lies with a mid-day break in combination with staying on-site, especially if you are going when it is hot.

If you are staying in a Disney resort and would like to take advantage of EMH, you can go to that park from EMH rope drop until it starts to get crowded, around 11:30 or so. Then, you can go back to your resort for a few hours to relax, nap, get lunch, play around in the pools, etc. In the evening, when the weather has cooled and you are refreshed, you head back out to a different park. You want to be in a different park than the one you started in with EMH because conventional wisdom says (and it has been proven over and over) that the park with the EMH are significantly more crowded later in the day. This is partially because many people don't have park hoppers, and once they have headed to the EMH park in the morning, they are stuck with only that park for the day.

 

[dizzyr]

I think the value of Park Hoppers lies with a mid-day break in combination with staying on-site, especially if you are going when it is hot.

If you are staying in a Disney resort and would like to take advantage of EMH, you can go to that park from EMH rope drop until it starts to get crowded, around 11:30 or so. Then, you can go back to your resort for a few hours to relax, nap, get lunch, play around in the pools, etc. In the evening, when the weather has cooled and you are refreshed, you head back out to a different park. You want to be in a different park than the one you started in with EMH because conventional wisdom says (and it has been proven over and over) that the park with the EMH are significantly more crowded later in the day. This is partially because many people don't have park hoppers, and once they have headed to the EMH park in the morning, they are stuck with only that park for the day.

That makes sense to me in theory but I can't see us taking a break during the day. On our last trip we either hung around the resort in the morning and then went to the park, went to the park early and then relaxed in the evening or did a full day. I guess if we had more time then it would make sense but with only four days on our last trip and six on this one the time to go back and forth to the park and resort or park and park is just doesn't seem worth it to me. Also we went in November last time and January this time so heat and crowds which would be a factor in wanting to take a mid take break aren't an issue. I just want to make sure there wasn't something about it I was missing.

 

[Mamato2cutekiddos]

Epcot is wonderful. It's a highlight of our trips. In fact we've given up AK days in favor of more Epcot time and/or USF days. I love the pace of Epcot, everything about it. It's wonderful.

 

[MasterGracey84]

Anything is worth trying once...

 

[CdnKayDee]

We skipped AK our first trip and went on the second and it really made that trip just like the first one. Everything was brand new all over again. So I would go to Epcot.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

We are heading to WDW in January and it will be our second no trip. The first one we had 4 days and did two at MK and one at AK and HS. This time we'll be there for 6 days and I was thinking of doing 2 at MK, one at each of the other 3 and leaving the last for whichever one we wanted more time at.

Now I'm thinking of giving up Epcot to do either universal (never been), discovery cove (loved loved loved it) or another day at one of the other three parks.

It will be me, my dh and my two girls 13 and 10. We like rides but couldn't be called ride people as we usually pick the shows, parades, people watching and characters (although I do plan on doing more rides this time around).

So to Epcot or not???

Epcot is my favorite park so you know my answer.