Epcot Touring Plan Opinions

[taythecray]

First timer to Epcot here Our trip isn't for a while but I have been looking at different ways to tackle the park and wanted everyone's opinion or personal experiences on how to tour the park "best". Sadly we will only have 1 day so I know we can't hit everything, but we have a couple things picked out that we really want to do, and we will be at rope drop. I'm basically just looking for suggestions on how to go about hitting as much as we can. Also, is there a difference crowd-wise depending on when you head to world showcase? I was going back and forth between:
A) Doing all of future world first and then heading to world showcase when we're done
B) Doing future world until world showcase opens at 11, touring the showcase, and then heading back to future world
I've heard crowds are better after 5 in future world. True? Our "must-dos" in future world are test track, soarin, seas with nemo, innoventions east/west, and mission space. Thanks for any and all input!

 

[Cando86]

I always follow the "crowds are better after 5pm in Future World advice. I've read that most people arrive after 10am, spend a few hours in Future World and then head to World Showcase later in the day (thus the lower crowds in Future World after 5pm). We always get there at rope drop, spend a couple hours in Future World and then when crowds start getting heavier head to World Showcase, then back to FW around 4/5 to use FPs. Seems to work the best for us!

 

[minnie mum]

Its true that the crowds are lighter after 5 in FW, but the only thing I see on the OPs list that could be a time suck are the 2 Innoventions. Everything else could easily be done by 11:00, using FP. RD Soarin with FP, single rider line TT, then a FP for MS and Nemo. Grab a 4th FP for later for SSE if you want. Innoventions closes at 7:00 I believe.

The OP could tour WS from 11:00-6 then return to FW for Innoventions and maybe SSE. Not sure where they would squeeze in dinner if they plan on seeing Illuminations.

 

[taythecray]

I always follow the "crowds are better after 5pm in Future World advice. I've read that most people arrive after 10am, spend a few hours in Future World and then head to World Showcase later in the day (thus the lower crowds in Future World after 5pm). We always get there at rope drop, spend a couple hours in Future World and then when crowds start getting heavier head to World Showcase, then back to FW around 4/5 to use FPs. Seems to work the best for us!

That's what I have heard too. Good to hear it works for you!

Its true that the crowds are lighter after 5 in FW, but the only thing I see on the OPs list that could be a time suck are the 2 Innoventions. Everything else could easily be done by 11:00, using FP. RD Soarin with FP, single rider line TT, then a FP for MS and Nemo. Grab a 4th FP for later for SSE if you want. Innoventions closes at 7:00 I believe.

The OP could tour WS from 11:00-6 then return to FW for Innoventions and maybe SSE. Not sure where they would squeeze in dinner if they plan on seeing Illuminations.

Thanks for the suggestions! I don't think we'll be stopping to watch any of the videos in WS, just looking around and maybe catching some acts so I'm not sure how much time we'll need. We were thinking about doing dinner from 7-8 and then finding our spot for Illuminations. SSE is something we'll do if there's extra time but not on our can't miss list.