Epcot strategy after PPO breakfast?

[azarine]

We have an 8:15 am ADR for Garden Grill on March 22 (9 am park open). We have Frozen FP for 11:10 am (and Mission Space at 9:10, Turtle Talk 10:10 am). Wondering what our best strategy for Test Track and Soarin is. I’d read to do TT right after breakfast and then Soarin, but have also read that TT tends to go down a lot first thing.

Thanks for any help!

 

[sharonabe]

We have an 8:15 am ADR for Garden Grill on March 22 (9 am park open). We have Frozen FP for 11:10 am (and Mission Space at 9:10, Turtle Talk 10:10 am). Wondering what our best strategy for Test Track and Soarin is. I’d read to do TT right after breakfast and then Soarin, but have also read that TT tends to go down a lot first thing.

Thanks for any help!

Personally, I'd move the PPO to a late breakfast, and here's why. You're right there at Soarin', so it makes sense to ride Soarin' as soon as you're done. BUT, you need to be done before 9:00 a.m. to beat the rope drop crowd, so you'll have to rush your breakfast. Then, once you're finished with Soarin and get to TT, the line there will have already built up, so you'll have at least a 30 min wait. Your 9:10 FP for MS is a little tight, but you might still make it.

If you do it the other way and go to TT, you need to finish breakfast even earlier because you have to hike across the park to get to TT. Then you hike back to Soarin' and then you hike back again to make your FP for MS. That's a lot of walking back and forth.

You don't need a FP for Turtle Talk, and if you can move Frozen to just a bit later, I'd try for an ADR around 10:30. That gives you plenty of time to do TT, Mission Space, and Soarin' and then head to breakfast. BUT getting that ADR at this point, is going to be difficult.

 

[CastAStone]

I'd show up at 7:45 for breakfast in hopes that they seat you sooner (there's a decent chance they will, but no guarantees) to attempt to avoid the rushed-breakfast scenario @sharonabe lays out above. If you get there at 8:15, it is possible that you will not be sat until the first tables turn around 8:30.

Unless you all are willing to ride Test Track single rider, if you are out of breakfast by 8:53, I'd book it to Test Track. The difference in wait times between TT and Soarin will approach an hour for most of the day. Then Soarin should be the very last thing you do in the park, as during festivals, wait times on Soarin typically start to slowly drop after lunch, and continue to slowly drop until park close.

 

[Sara_H]

I'd show up at 7:45 for breakfast in hopes that they seat you sooner (there's a decent chance they will, but no guarantees) to attempt to avoid the rushed-breakfast scenario @sharonabe lays out above. If you get there at 8:15, it is possible that you will not be sat until the first tables turn around 8:30.

One downside to that plan is last week we had 8:05 reservations at Garden Grill and security didn't start letting anybody from the International Gateway in the park until 8:00.

 

[CastAStone]

One downside to that plan is last week we had 8:05 reservations at Garden Grill and security didn't start letting anybody from the International Gateway in the park until 8:00.

Oh that's a bummer! Everything I've ever read says 7:45 but you know how articles are vs real world experience...I've done PPO at several parks but not Epcot.

 

[Ladcassidy]

One downside to that plan is last week we had 8:05 reservations at Garden Grill and security didn't start letting anybody from the International Gateway in the park until 8:00.

We've had this same experience at Epcot several times (both at the main gate and at International Gateway). We just do our best to get to the front of the pack once the gates open and hope to be seated quickly once we hit the restaurant -- Akershus in our case. Then we race over to Test Track for a quick ride or two before the line gets too long.

 

[TEM1234]

We haven’t don’t a PPO since skyline opened, but one of our favorite things to do is to go to Garden Grill- we were let in the past (from the front) at 7:45 and were at Garden Grill by 8. When we sit we tell wait staff we are trying to do a PPO Soarin and they advise us to be outside soaring at 8:45. We can then usually get back to back rides in and leave soaring as the rope drop crowd arrives. If you only did one ride on soarin you could then book over to TT. We usually arrange for a FP for test track though as we have a couple of littles who were too small to ride both and my husband would linger over breakfast with them while we rode Soarin.

 

[Sara_H]

Oh that's a bummer! Everything I've ever read says 7:45 but you know how articles are vs real world experience...I've done PPO at several parks but not Epcot.

I always read 7:45 too and that's when we got there but apparently they weren't feeling generous last Tuesday. We made it and were seated quickly so it wasn't a big deal but it would have been nice to not have to power walk to get there.

 

[Leigh L]

One downside to that plan is last week we had 8:05 reservations at Garden Grill and security didn't start letting anybody from the International Gateway in the park until 8:00.

We had the same experience on this past Tuesday from the front gate at Epcot. We were actually a few minutes late for our 8 a.m. due to this (and a late bus from CSR too! The ADR line was long by the time we arrived). Also before we even walked up to GG, our name was being called out and others there before us were standing off to the side. Made me wonder if they've started enforcing ADR times and not seating when people arrive. This was our first time at GG so not sure, but I've read that people are often let in at 8 a.m. for PPO (various restaurants) even if they have, say an 8:40 ADR.

It appeared we were seated before people that arrived before us - unless maybe those groups to the side were waiting for additional people in their party to arrive.

 

[tobikaye]

Just an FYI, but for PPO, if there are vehicles or construction that still has to be moved, they will not let you in until it is all clear. With as much changes about to happen at Epcot, I would expect that this may happen more frequently that they do not let people in as early for PPO ADRs.

I know that once at MK, we were held an additional 5-10 minutes due to vehicles on Main Street before they let in PPO ADRs and tours.

 

[CastAStone]

but I've read that people are often let in at 8 a.m. for PPO (various restaurants) even if they have, say an 8:40 ADR.

The way they do it is they want the servers to have time with each table without people waiting at the table forever. So they stagger the start times. But it's not like you're waiting for a table to clear. So if a server is ready and you're there, they're seating you. I don't understand how the prioritization works, but it's clear based on my personal experience that it's not just the time that you have your reservation for, how early you check in bumps you up the list some amount (assuming everyone ahead of you didn't check in first).

 

[azarine]

Thank you all so much for the info, dang it my plan doesn’t look good anymore so we really don’t care about Garden Grill- I was just trying to get a head start on rope drop crowds what’s our best option to do TT and Soarin with minimal wait? We don’t want to stay late this day, but I do have another evening planned at World Showcase- we could try for a 4th FP that evening for TT or Soarin.

We will be at BW so entering through the IG if that makes a difference.

 

[brockash]

We have an 8:15 am ADR for Garden Grill on March 22 (9 am park open). We have Frozen FP for 11:10 am (and Mission Space at 9:10, Turtle Talk 10:10 am). Wondering what our best strategy for Test Track and Soarin is. I’d read to do TT right after breakfast and then Soarin, but have also read that TT tends to go down a lot first thing.

Thanks for any help!

I'd try to switch your Frozen fastpass for Test Track. It does go down a lot and this way if it goes down you'll still be able to ride it f/p at some point as long as it comes back up. I'd do PPO breakfast try to be out of there by 845. ride Soarin and book it over to Frozen. That's what we've done the last few years and it's worked pretty well.

 

[katiec786]

We had an 8:05 PPO at GG last September - we didn't realise security didn't open until 7:45 so we were sat outside at 7:20 - that explains why we had the Epcot bus to ourselves!
We got to GG just a couple minutes before 8am and they seated us right away - our server actually asked us if we had FPs for Soarin, and when we said no he said well we're going to set you up, GG guests can ride between 8:40 and 8:50 before the park opens - as it was just 2 of us we were finished with breakfast by 8:40 so we zipped downstairs, had a perfect ride on Soarin, then made a bee-line to TT just as the rope drop crowds were arriving, we were right in the thick of it, but including designing the car we maybe waited 30-35 min max.
If you can get to GG a bit early, I think you'll have a good chance of making it work!

 

[CastAStone]

Popping back in to say that with the new closure of the middle of Future World, it’s now at least a 15 minute walk to TT from The Land. Sorry.

 

[lisa cameron]

We have a PPO for Garden Grill and FP for Test Track. After we do Soarin after breakfast, we plan on booking it to Frozen. Lines for Frozen seem to be shorter at park open than at TT.

 

[azarine]

Thanks so much for the heads up. We changed our FP to Test Track at 11. We plan to do breakfast then Soarin ASAP, then Frozen. Fingers crossed! Also have an Epcot evening the day before so we could try for a Frozen 4th FP. Anybody know if those are ever available?

 

[azarine]

We have a PPO for Garden Grill and FP for Test Track. After we do Soarin after breakfast, we plan on booking it to Frozen. Lines for Frozen seem to be shorter at park open than at TT.

When is your trip? Would love to hear how this goes for you!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Thanks so much for the heads up. We changed our FP to Test Track at 11. We plan to do breakfast then Soarin ASAP, then Frozen. Fingers crossed! Also have an Epcot evening the day before so we could try for a Frozen 4th FP. Anybody know if those are ever available?

They are sometimes available, but you are much more likely to score a same day FP for Soarin.

 

[WhitneyMB]

I just want to add that the servers at GG are great. Just let them know you want to pay for the meal ASAP when you sit down and you can do it (It's a fixed price anyway). Because it's breakfast, we took about 35 minutes to eat last time we did a PPO breakfast here and this seemed like plenty of time