EPCOT with a 7 year old

[maranara]

We're starting to plan my daughter's first trip to Disney! She will be 7 when we travel and I'm torn about how to do EPCOT. When my husband & went (just the 2 of us...way back in 2003) we did 2 days in EPCOT - basically treated it like 2 parks and did World Showcase one day and Future World the other with a little hopping back and forth. He thinks we should do it like that again - that there's just too much to see in 1 day. I'm torn - part of me thinks that we can do it in 1 (and shorten our trip by a day...saving that extra night in the hotel/a day of tickets) and part of me thinks we should budget 2 days and spread those through the trip as basically rest days since we won't be in the park all day either time. Interested to hear what others have done. THANKS!

 

[ktlm]

My DD (10) has absolutely loved EPCOT since she was 2 years old. We did one day when she was 2 and it was not enough and we have done 2 days every year since. My DD can spend an entire day meeting princesses and other characters and doing the Agent P missions in World Showcase. The Agent P missions are perfect for a 7 year old, even if she does not know who Phineas and Ferb are, and even more so if she does. I think they are in 7 countries, and they can take 20 to 30 minutes each depending on your pace. You can do as few or as many of the countries as you want, but once DD was hooked she was begging to keep doing them. Even spending 2 days every trip, we still haven't found the 45 minutes to budget to do Ellen's Energy Adventure!

 

[msmama]

EPCOT has been my sons favorite park since since he was a baby so we could totally spend 2 days there. But you don't necessarily need them either.

If you do go with 2 then I would suggest breaking them up into right side be left side instead of future world/world showcase. That way you get a little bit of everything each day. I also like doing shorter days and then having more time back at the resort.

 

[Heidi K]

We definitely see Epcot as a two day park. I agree, the 7-year-old will love the Agent P adventures.

Another advantage of two days at Epcot is you get to try more of their restaurants!

I also like the right side/left side touring idea.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

My son will turn 7 on Tuesday, and will be 8 when we take him to WDW for the first time next year. I think he'll love EPCOT. He gets really fascinated with other cultures, and has been on a kick about China for a while. I think if you teach her some fun and cool facts about the countries featured in the WSP, she will get excited about seeing the artifacts and the food and the people from those countries. It can be a lot of fun for kiddos if you frame it the right way.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

Also- DH and I just had the "how many days at EPCOT" debate the other day when planning our next trip. I vote two for EPCOT, two for MK. AK is still just a one day park, and even when Avatar Land is done, I don't know... My kids won't get the references, but it could still absolutely blow our minds, but I still couldn't imagine that making it a two day event. HS is yet to be seen. But definitely I vote two days to do EPCOT "right."

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

My DD(9) is not a big fan. She loves Test Track, Soarin' (will it be open when you are there?), Journey Into the Imagination, and Spaceship Earth. But she has no interest in World Showcase, apart from the Mexican boat ride.

Last week, I managed to get her into the Chinese movie and the Norwegian bakery before she was just done.

Obviously, kids are very different and it depends on their interests. For us, Epcot is typically a one day park. Morning at FW, an hour or two dragging her reluctantly through World Showcase, a trip to the Coca Cola Club Cool, then back for a repeat of a few rides in FW.

 

[maranara]

Thanks! That's all really helpful. I think we'll plan on 2 days. We've found that she loves any sort of scavenger hunt type activity - it's how we manage to go see art museums and historical things that kids don't usually love. The Agent P adventure sounds right up her alley, as does sampling food at every country. (when the husband & I went pre-kids we ate a snack in every country instead of a meal that day and it was awesome!) We'll be there at the end of January/beginning of February 2017 so I'm assuming that Soarin will be open along with the new Frozen ride (which will be a can't miss for a 7 year old girl!). Am also hoping that there will be a spot to meet her favorite character from Frozen...SVEN.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

Love the idea of snacking at each country! We only ate full meals at the restaurants in EPCOT, which limits your options. If you snack and sample all day (or go for two days and sample both days), you get such a more diverse dining experience. I think we'll do this too.

 

[veggirl]

We're going in July with DD(8) and DS(6) and planning two days. Mostly because DH and I have never been and really want the 2 days at EP. We're doing this our first two days (and first time at WDW) so I think that will help (i.e. they won't know about MK yet so maybe they'll enjoy WS more?).

 

[rg35]

Depending on how much walking you are up for, and how much energy your child has, it is possible to do Epcot in a single day. We did this last year with our 7 year old triplets. In the morning we did future world, including the "Behind the Seeds" tour at living with the land. Full disclosure, we still rented Disney strollers for them on our last trip. If they were walking it don't think it would have been possible.

The kids got Duffy passports, and there are stations at each country in the world showcase where they can have them stamped, and where a cast member will do a little doodle or write something in their native language. This was a lot of fun for them

I also dispute calling Animal Kingdom a single day park. It's not. If you have no interest in doing both nature walkthroughs, seeing all the shows and taking time to enjoy the Dinoland attractions, then perhaps yes. If you really only want to ride Everest, Kali River Rapids, Safari and Dinosaur, then maybe yes it's a "half day park". But there is more to do in AK than a single day allows for, especially when you consider the timing of the shows, which makes it difficult to impossible to see all of them in a single visit.

 

[piglet1979]

Our first and second trip we did EPCOT in 1 day. We barely saw much of the World Showcase. This last time we did break it up a little bit more. One of the days was just EPCOT and we did 2 other days in the afternoon. One day after Animal Kingdom and the other was a half day at MK/EPCOT. We did get to see much more of the World Showcase but we still have not really seen much on the side with Canada. We seem to always start at Mexico. If you can afford I would do the 2 days.

There are a few things we do with our kids in the World Showcase. We have do the Kid Cot stations. They love coloring the Duffy and seeing their name in the different languages. We also do the Phineas and Ferb Agent P game. It is like a scavenger hunt game with a phone. You daughter may need some help with it but it is a lot of fun for adults to do too. We also stop to see the characters.