EPCOT ride strategy

[juju12345]

I am going to Disney World in January and am trying to plan my EPCOT day. I was able to get a Frozen Ever After fastpass for 12:15-1:15. I went ahead and booked Spaceship Earth 9-10am and Nemo 10-11am for that morning. I really want to ride Soarin because I haven't seen the new one, but I can't fastpass it since I have the Frozen one that afternoon. Will I have to ropedrop Soarin and make a mad dash straight there or would I be able to do Spaceship Earth first so I won't have to backtrack? I'd like to do Test Track too, but it's not a deal breaker if I can't do it- hoping I can single rider that one at some point. I've got 3 kids and we don't wait in lines over 20 minutes usually.

 

[EdmondD]

Personally, I'd make a beeline to Soarin and then come back to Spaceship Earth. Backtracking isn't ideal, but in the grand scheme of things in terms of how much one walks in Epcot, it's a small bit of out-of-the-wayness.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The backtrack really isn't serious. The earlier you make it to Soarin' the better.

Do TT via single-rider for best results.

Try to flop your FP+ a little and I'd do it this order:

Soarin'
Nemo (FP+)
Spaceship Earth (FP+)
TT single rider
Mission Space

MS probably won't need a FP+ to be honest

 

[juju12345]

@_auroraborealis_ @EdmondD Thank you so much! Sounds like a good plan!

 

[thebs19]

We just returned from a trip and did 2 Epcot mornings with different strategies. In the first, we had FEA fastpasses for later and did a Soarin' Rope Drop and then a TT single rider for my son and I (we were separated obviously). That worked out great.

The second day we had Soaring fast passes and so we did FEA, and it was insane. Fair warning, we were about 5-10 minutes behind Rope Drop, but the line backed into China by the time we got to Norway and wound up waiting about 50 minutes. By the time we got over to TT, even the single rider line said 45 minutes. We skipped it.

I'd heavily recommend Soarin at Rope Drop, then TT, and save FEA for a later FP which you can incorporate into your tour around World Showcase instead of trying to go back and forth from FW and WS.

 

[ghtx]

Depending on how busy it is, how fast you walk, and how close you are out the gate at RD, you might not make it to Spaceship Earth after hitting Soarin at RD. If you could (and you should be able to), I'd try to push Spaceship Earth back until say 11-12. Then right after Soarin you could either try for TT or stick around and ride The Land with little wait.

 

[Anonny]

Today, November 28, we entered Epcot just before 9:00 opening without any fast passes.

Walked to Test Track, but it was already posted as 30 minute wait. We trekked across to Soarin' and the wait was less than 15 minutes. That third theater really helps!

Unless you are going during a January holiday, you should have little or no problem with crowds.

 

[juju12345]

Thanks! We are going Jan. 21-28th, so nothing going on at that time frame that I know of. I'm hoping for low crowds.

 

[Anonny]

Thanks! We are going Jan. 21-28th, so nothing going on at that time frame that I know of. I'm hoping for low crowds.

That's a great time! Might be too cool for the pool, depending on your tolerance. Enjoy!

 

[DVCcurious]

Today, November 28, we entered Epcot just before 9:00 opening without any fast passes.

Walked to Test Track, but it was already posted as 30 minute wait.

Test Track always posts a 30 minute wait at 9AM. Even on crowd level 1 days it will say 30 minutes. The wait could be much less than 30 minutes, but unfortunately you can't see the line so you don't really know.

 

[scrapquitler]

I am going to Disney World in January and am trying to plan my EPCOT day. I was able to get a Frozen Ever After fastpass for 12:15-1:15. I went ahead and booked Spaceship Earth 9-10am and Nemo 10-11am for that morning. I really want to ride Soarin because I haven't seen the new one, but I can't fastpass it since I have the Frozen one that afternoon. Will I have to ropedrop Soarin and make a mad dash straight there or would I be able to do Spaceship Earth first so I won't have to backtrack? I'd like to do Test Track too, but it's not a deal breaker if I can't do it- hoping I can single rider that one at some point. I've got 3 kids and we don't wait in lines over 20 minutes usually.

We always wait to do Spaceship Earth as we exit the park. It seems to get jammed up a bit in the morning because it's the first thing people see when they are entering the park so we avoid it then. We wait to do it on the way out because the line usually seems shorter and we don't want to circle back in the middle of the day.

 

[Babs1975]

Were there today. Our plan worked perfectly. Did TT at rd, then went to Soarin. It was only a 10 minute wait. They let us in the park early so we were done with TT by 9:00. Then we continued on with our fast passes.
Were able to ride Soarin and TT twice today. TT once at rd, then a 4th FP for it later. And Soarin once as our 2nd ride after rd, then had a fp for it too. You may be able to get both of these in and do your 9 am fp. We did.