Epcot the night we arrive - JUST for the food? haha

[Picabo]

We will be arriving on Dec 5th (Sat) for 8nts. I only have one day at Epcot figured in b/c our kids are age 2 1/2 and not quite 4 so my guess is they'll prefer MG over Epcot. I'm thinking of going to Epcot on the evening we arrive for an early dinner in WS. (Staying at Poly - should arrive to Poly by 1230ish) My thinking was a quick rest for the girls (If they aren't too excited to rest) and then head over to Epcot. My problem is that I have too many meals we want to try there and only one Epcot day! haha (Akerhaus bkfst, Beirgarten OR Teppan Edo and a few CS places.

Now I suppose the other option would be to go early to Akerhaus (on our Epcot Day), have a mid-day lunch at the CS places and then back in the evening (after a mid-day rest) to go to Teppan Edo. Not sure we can manage another buffet in one day. Any thoughts???

Do we try to go to Epcot on arrival day and still have time to make it an early night for the girls? (It'll be a busy day with travel so my initial thought was to not do any parks that day)

THANKS!

 

[OKW Lover]

We would do it in a heartbeat. But then we're adults, have AP's and really enjoy Epcot at night. In your case though, I'd think it better to get the girls off to sleep early so I'd think more along the lines of eating at the Poly, or perhaps Chef Mickey's that night.

 

[annnewjerz]

Do you have a hopper and do you have any planned days off? I would definitely say you can do the Princess breakfast in the morning of your Epcot day, along with a CS lunch and a late TS dinner at Teppan Edo (unless you are all extremely light eaters).

With 9 days in The World, if you have hoppers and since you are staying on the monorail line, it would be really easy to hop back to Epcot for dinner one night on a day off, or even from DHS to Epcot for dinner one night. Personally, I would just schedule a second day in Epcot because you will be there for a long trip---but that's just me!

 

[Picabo]

Do you have a hopper and do you have any planned days off? I would definitely say you can do the Princess breakfast in the morning of your Epcot day, along with a CS lunch and a late TS dinner at Teppan Edo (unless you are all extremely light eaters).

With 9 days in The World, if you have hoppers and since you are staying on the monorail line, it would be really easy to hop back to Epcot for dinner one night on a day off, or even from DHS to Epcot for dinner one night. Personally, I would just schedule a second day in Epcot because you will be there for a long trip---but that's just me!

No I'm fairly certain we won't do hoppers. We're going early Dec and parks close, for the most part at 7pm plus our kids are normally sound asleep by 730p. The tentative plan is 2 1/2 days at MK, 1/2 day at resort, 1Epcot, 1MGM, 1 AK, 1 day resort/DTD and that brings us to our 7 full days (8nts). We have plenty of non-park dinners we'd like to do that we don't really "need" to go to Epcot after another park aside from maybe the night we arrive. Just not suer if that's starting out the trip too rushed. We plan to do Kona, Ohana, Cape May Cafe for other dinners.

 

[minie_meese]

I love EPCOT and so do our kids but it is a long walk from the main entrance of EPCOT back to Japan. I would do it with just adults but not sure if I would travel to the back of EPCOT with 2 little ones for just dinner. I'd probably let the kids play on the beach for a while in the afternoon on that first day and do Chef Mickey's character meal for dinner. We stayed at the Poly 2 weeks ago and our two 5 yr olds and 2 yr old nephew loved the beach. They also loved watching the fireworks from the beach. The Poly has a sushi bar in the evening near Kona if you want something Japanese (no hibachi though).

We were at EPCOT for most of a day and ate at Teppan Edo with our little ones two weeks ago and they really enjoyed it. If you decide to do it your first day you might consider allowing an extra hour or so to stop at a few of the countries on the way to Japan to break up the walk and make it more enjoyable for all of you. There are Kidcot stations at each of the countries where the kids can colors masks. Our kids look forward to this each trip. EPCOT is one of their favorite places. You could stop at Canada, United Kingdom, Morocco and France. All are really nice and in the UK you will probably see Winne the Pooh and friends near the Kidcot station. We've also seen the characters from Beauty and the Beast near France, and the Aladdin charaters on Morocco. Our kids also like the entertainer in France who balances on stacked chairs. We seem to run into this every trip.

The Poly is a great place to stay with little ones. Ours loved taking the boat directly to the Magic Kingdom from the beach. The Poly is a short walk to the Transportation and Ticket Center where you can pick up the EPCOT monorail or you can take the monorail to the T&T Center.

Hope you have a great trip.

 

[distherapy]

I think that sounds like a great plan. We have 4 yo twins and they would do well with that plan (and would have at 3, too). You arrive early enough in the day that you won't feel rushed. I would plan an early dinner and then be in bed pretty early that night. It will be exciting for them to start the trip with a long monorail ride, too! Since you'll be traveling in sort of "off" times during the day, be sure to ask a CM at the TTC if you can ride in the front of the monorail to Epcot.