As scrappinginontario said, the way to use Disney transportation to get to Epcot's main entrance is to walk to Art of Animation and take the bus from there. However, that is not what I would do in your situation. I would take the skyliner to Epcot's International Gateway and go first to Frozen Ever After at rope drop. While people entering from the main entrance have a slight edge on getting to Soarin', those entering from the IG have an edge (again slight) in getting to FEA. The wait times later in the day aren't too much different between the two rides, although I saw that Frozen had longer average times over the Memorial Day weekend. (See the article here.) With the late opening time, so many people arrive at Epcot for rope drop that it will be hard to go on multiple headliner rides before the lines build either way.I’ll be staying at Pop Century next week and have park tickets for Epcot. I haven’t been to Disney here in the US in 7 years (have been to Tokyo DisneySea since) so I don’t really have any strategy per se. I’m a total newb!
—The main “big ticket” and/or long wait attractions we want to ride are Soarin’ and Frozen Ever After. The others (Spaceship Earth, etc.) don’t require running at road drop.
—Our plan was to take the skyliner from Pop Century to Epcot before the park opens. However, I see that the SkyLiner drops off in the International Gateway, which is a bit far from Soarin. Would it make more sense to take a different mode of transportation (does another form of transportation drop off at the main entrance, and would this be a faster location from which to head to Soarin’?)
—If not, is entering from the Gateway, walking to Soarin, and then trying to head to Frozen feasible?
thanks!!