Epcot with a 3 year old

[Trinity88]

I'm starting to plan our Epcot day(s) and need some advice. I have a 3 year, 8 year old, and 10 year old. I had originally planned for 2 days at Epcot, but I'm starting to think 1 day will be enough. I don't think my 3 year old is going to enjoy wandering through the World Showcase, she has a very short attention span. She'll like Agent P I think, but I'm curious as to what others with preschoolers have done at Epcot, especially in the WS.

 

[Fantastic4]

We have a DD8 and DS6. There isn't a lot that appeals to us right now at these ages. We have done a morning and an afternoon there and find its enough for them. Next trip will likely be a couple mornings to get Soar'n and a few others in before the crowds but I don't see us doing a lot there until they are a bit older.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

How about the Kidcot stations? They get a stick with a cardboard Duffy the Bear on it. They can color the bear any way they want. Then in each country, they go to the station and the Cast Member will stamp something special to their country on the child's bear. Great free souvenir, too!

There's the boat ride in Mexico, which is Donald and the 3 Caballeros. Very calm, but cute for little ones.

For all three, trying doing a "treat" around the world. Let them pick a small candy or other goodie in each country--great way to get them into gift shops if you want to look around!

There are also character meetings through the World Showcase. I'm sure there's a listing somewhere. But there may be some characters that they're interested in and may not see in other places. I know in past years, we've seen Alladin and Jasmine, Mary Poppins, and Dopey!

 

[smitch425]

We spend 3 days there now, but even when the kids were 2 and 4, one day was never enough! Our kids loved both boat rides in the WS (Norway and Mexico), and there are characters EVERYWHERE in the WS. Agent P is a blast, and there are a lot of great shops to explore, as well. Your little one may enjoy playing the drums near the bead outpost, and there are a lot of entertainment acts to be found.

 

[mulan1123]

I was going to say that the Agent I is probably the only thing that may appeal to young children, unless there is a character meet and greet in the different pavilions at WS.

Norway has a ride (I can't remember the name of it)...

They have a couple rides at Epcot like the Finding Nemo ride (and there's sort of an aquarium attraction where there's fish, manta rays, small sharks, a dolphin) , and the Figment ride and there's hands-on stuff for kids, and the Meet-n-Greet area...

 

[ariel326]

Our plan for Epcot is
FUTURE WORLD:
The Seas - DS loves fish and aquariums so we could spend an hour there easily, also Nemo and Turtle Talk

The Land- the boat ride is enjoyable
Spceship Earth
Imgination - if there is not wait
Soarin and Test Track- he is tall enough for both. We'll see if he interested
Innovations- Once agin- we will follow his lead, if he is interested we could spend lots of time there.

World Showcase:
Boat Ride at Mexico
Kidcot stations
Character Meet and Greets
a treat at every country
Maelstrom - if he is interested

He loves fun music and street shows so I am really not worried about it
We will be skipping the 360 movies though.

I think 1 day will be plenty and we are going with the attitude of, what we see we see.

 

[ariel326]

The great thing about a 3 year old, is it doesn't take much to impress them- so a calm boat ride can be met with just as much excitement as a big ride.

 

[Canooknic]

Our boys were 4 on our last trip (their first ever WDW trip) and they looooved Epcot.
I'm pretty sure they would have spent all day in Crush's Turtle Talk, they loved Soarin' and spent hours in WS. They tried lots of different foods and enjoyed looking at the different buildings and in the stores. They weren't interested in Agent P or the Duffy masks but had an amazing time

We are going there for our first day on our upcoming trip (with an added surprise of going to Beaches & Cream for a Kitchen Sink lunch!!!!)

 

[ucfknight]

Your plan sounds pretty good. One thing you may want to add is O Canada!, the Circle-Vision 360 film. It is more lighthearted than the other movies in World Showcase (hosted by Martin Short so that should give you an idea of the tone), so it keeps the interest of the little ones better.

 

[happy2012]

Epcot is amazing, my DH & my fave! We plan Future World for one day & World Showcase for 1 day [sometimes 2] Epcot is the double the size of the other theme parks so take the time to enjoy it! The kids learn SOO MUCH & enjoy every bit of it! It's not a thrill ride sorta place, while there are a couple. It's totally amazing & different than any other park on earth! So take the time, enjoy the beauty of the park & enjoy!!!! & I took my son @ 1 1/2,loved it 2 1/2 he loved it & @ 3 1/2 he still loves it!!!

 

[LostMason]

My son was 2 1/2 when we went to Disney last February. Now, almost a year later, the only thing he actually remembers from the trip is the Canada movie. Go figure.

What we liked about Epcot is that there were a lot of neat things to see that were ok for short attention spans--the nemo ride was a big hit, as were all of the "shows" in the world showcase area--drummers, musicians, etc. They loved the boat ride in Mexico, Norway was a little scary, though.

 

[Hoodie]

My then three year old really liked EPCOT. He loved Nemo and The Seas. Loved Crush, Loved the Imagination pavillion. He was tall enough for Soarin and Test Track, but we didn't brave it. He LOVED Innovations. We could barely get him out of there.

By the time we went to WS, he was pretty exhausted. Then he was happy to sit back in his stroller, close the hood, and chill. He fell asleep for a bit. It was actually good down time as opposed to the other parks where he was bouncing around a lot.

We actually had planned extra time at MK and DHS thinking he would be bored at Epcot, but shortly after we arrived for our second day at DHS, he asked to go back to Epcot to "see Nemo."

 

[ktlm]

EPCOT has by far been DD's (7) favorite park other than MK since she was 2. At age 2, we made the mistake of only doing 1 day there and it was not enough. Since then, we have done 2 EPCOT days every trip. As far as agent P (and its predecessor Kim Possible), I would say 3 is probably too young to get into it. DD got interested in that at age 5. She might enjoy running around watching the 8 year old, and might like the special effects, but as far as actually watching the videos on the communicator and figuring out the clues, I don't think she will have the patience, or be quite up to doing that just yet.

As far as World Showcase- at age 3, DD would have ridden the Donald Duck boat ride inside Mexico in circles all day and been perfectly happy (there is rarely a line for it- but we imposed a 5 time in a row limit! ). She also loved all the entertainers- juggler, bands, balancing act, acrobats, drummers, and stopping to watch them. There are a ton of characters throughout world showcase- Donald, Snow White, Mulan, Belle, Jasmine and Aladdin, Pooh and Tigger, Mary Poppins, Alice, Aurora. DD also liked shopping around WS even at a young age, but then she was born a shopper I think! Surprisingly, at age 3, she loved the movie in China because it was big and all around her. The kid-cot stations are a big hit- currently they have a choice of whether to pick a Duffy or a Perry to decorate. They decorate those with markers. Then, they can take them to the Kid-Cot stations in each other country and they will get a stamp on them from that country. The person at the Kid-Cot station is from that country and they sometimes will teach them a word or two or expression from the country- and might even hand write something for them. Instead of stamping the back, you can also buy a passport ($10 I think), and the kids can take that to each country for stamps etc. There is a small bush maze in the UK that DD loved running through when she was small.

 

[MSSANDRA]

My boys both loved Epcot from very young ages. Future world has soooo many things both big and little to do. At three he might be tall enough for soaring and TT, both huge hits with my boys. They also liked the living with the land boat ride, nemo, crush, spaceship earth, innovations (can take a whole afternoon if you let it), Ellen's energy ride (dinosaurs in a much less scary ride than AK), the figment ride (is it still there? missed it last trip) and last but not least the very cool lighted sidewalk!!!!!

In WS, it is so fun to see the entertainers on the streets. There was this guy balancing chairs once that totally impressed my 5 year old. We always do both boat rides and skip most of the movies. A few different snacks to share and taste, and running into a lot of characters without a lot of lines is very cool for kids. I like a lot of pictures in WS because there are not such exciting rides to be dashing for and the kids don't mind stopping to get a picture made. One nice and one silly pose make it extra fun!!!

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

We took my daughter December of 2012 when she was 2 and 3 quarters. She actually enjoyed a lot of Epcot. She was absolutely fascinated by Spaceship Earth and wanted to do that a lot. Same with Living with the Land and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We watched some of the street performers in World Showcase and Sergio in Italy was her favorite. He gets the kids involved in his show and if your child is the youngest in the crowd, she will almost assuredly be one of the ones who throws a ball into this net (my daughter was and felt so special). She also enjoyed the musical acts of Off Kilter, Mo Rockin, and the the drummers in Japan (forgive me but their name escapes me at the moment). Akershus was her favorite meal of the trip and she still talks about Ariel taking her by the hand and being her partner during the parade. She like Maelstrom, but did get a bit startled by the standing polar bear the first time she rode it.

 

[bastos]

We had two days in EPCOT in 2009 - and it was too much. On the other hand, we spent only one full day this past year - and MISSED a ton. A rainstorm canceled our character appearances - and threw us off for the rest of the day. BIG time disappointments among our kids.

Perhaps a day and a half?

 

[letsgoreds]

There is TON to do at Epcot. What is hard to factor in are the games that Disney adds at the exit of many of the rides (Mission Space, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth come to mind).

One thing that my kids always love, and I enjoy watching them play with are the jumping fountains outside of Imagination. Kids from 3 to 103 seem to always enjoy this stripped down fun.

DS8 (also when he was 6) FAVORITE thing to do is Sum of All Thrills at one of the Innoventions. DS3 really enjoyed exploring all of the other exhibits in the same hall, so easy handle. They also offer child swap, which helps.

DS3 couldn't ride Mission Space, but enjoyed the small climbing area at the exit...so just walk through the giftshop and past the big gaming wall (that is fun to do as a family, but didn't hold DS3 attention).

I will say that the CMs really wanted DS3 to be 40 on all of the rides. One CM even told DS3 to raise his hands as high as he could. It helps them stand tall.

I didn't expect that he would make it, but we just gave it a shot. He measured taller at WDW than he did at home. This made life a lot easier.

If not, take FULL advantage of the child swap feature at many of the rides.

For us, Agent P was too slow moving on a warm day. We did one or two missions and were out. Felt a little outdated, especially when compared to SOTMK at MK (also free and you get free collectible cards/maps). My boys are both big P&F fans, but it never really clicked for them (or us).

 

[Trinity88]

Thanks so much for all the feedback! I think my issue is that *I've* never done the World Showcase, so I don't really know what's there. But you've given me lots of ideas. And she would totally love a boat ride - that type of thing holds her attention. With Agent P I was more thinking she would enjoy tagging along with her sisters.

I think I'll plan 2 days, but also plan another MK day just in case.

 

[kam1011]

We are big Epcot fans. (My kids today are 7, 5, and 4.) We don't spend a lot of time in the World Showcase. We usually hit up the princess/Alice/Mary Poppins meet and greets each half hour or so (from Canada towards Mexico) and sort-of-kind-of look at stuff as we go through. We ride Mexico 16 times, Nemo 32 times, and Spaceship Earth 19 times, approximately. While the big people go on Soarin and Test Track, the little ones up the count on Spaceship Earth and Nemo. (We travel exclusively in the summer.)

 

[MomofIndigo]

We have gone when DD was 2 and 3 and EPCOT is her favorite park.

She loved Figment, Nemo, "the space ball", but also the characters she saw there. We did some of the kidcot stations at WS but the Japanese drum show was her favorite along with both Boat rides. We spent a good deal of time too at the hedge maze in the UK pavilion just letting her run around with other kids. They had belly dancers at the Morrocan Pavillion that just fascinated DD that she started dancing with them.

We havent been in over a year and when someone mentions EPCOT she starts dancing and telling us about the drums there.