Festival of the Holidays - What to do in World Showcase before 11 am?

[Artygal90]

We plan to rope-drop Epcot on Friday 12/6 and head straight for Frozen. After that we plan on Impressions de France, Remy (hoping the single rider line is still operating then!), and breakfast at Les Halles Boulangerie. I figure it will be 10 am by the time we are done with all that as a best case scenario.

What else should we plan on being able to do in World Showcase then? Will any of the Festival of the Holidays performances be running yet? Character meets? We are going to Epcot on Friday specifically to try and experience World Showcase without super-crazy weekend crowds I’ve read about. We are hopping to Hollywood Studios around 3 pm.

We plan to do the Future World rides Saturday afternoon and evening between the Candlelight Processional and fireworks - I’m hoping the crowds will be mostly in World Showcase at that time? Any advice is appreciated!

 

[scrappinginontario]

This is a pretty aggressive list to accomplish in 90 minutes. If you are towards the front of the crowd your wait for Frozen should be minimal but the walk to Remy is 12 mins and the wait once there will likely be 30+ mins. Impressions de France has an 18 min wait time. Add in eating and I’m almost positive you won’t be done by 10AM - probably closer to 11AM.

There are character meets operating at that time.

 

[DWillowBay]

Don't underestimate that HUNDREDS of your closest friends will also be headed toward Frozen. As the Moderator said, I might be blown away if you can accomplish all that by 10am. Just telling you so that you can set reasonable expectations. I think you'll be closer to the 11am open time for Showcase than you think. However, I hope you have a great EPCOT day!

 

[bethy]

I hope it's OK if I pop onto your thread and post that we are Epcot newbies going on 12/18 and I had no idea the World Showcase doesn't open till 11! Our main goals for the day are to to tour WS, VQ Guardians and go to the Candlelight Processional. I presume the front of the park is open at rope drop? If so I think we'll enjoy perusing the exhibits there - esp as Epcot newbies.

 

[summerlvr]

I hope it's OK if I pop onto your thread and post that we are Epcot newbies going on 12/18 and I had no idea the World Showcase doesn't open till 11! Our main goals for the day are to to tour WS, VQ Guardians and go to the Candlelight Processional. I presume the front of the park is open at rope drop? If so I think we'll enjoy perusing the exhibits there - esp as Epcot newbies.

World Showcase opens with the rest of the park and all rides will be operating. Some of the shops don't open until later. The Holiday Food Booths open at 11.

 

[bethy]

World Showcase opens with the rest of the park and all rides will be operating. Some of the shops don't open until later. The Holiday Food Booths open at 11.

Oh OK thank you for the clarification!!

 

[Artygal90]

This is a pretty aggressive list to accomplish in 90 minutes. If you are towards the front of the crowd your wait for Frozen should be minimal but the walk to Remy is 12 mins and the wait once there will likely be 30+ mins. Impressions de France has an 18 min wait time. Add in eating and I’m almost positive you won’t be done by 10AM - probably closer to 11AM.

There are character meets operating at that time.

I am an optimist I'm prepared for it to take longer, just wondering what we could possibly do *if* everything goes perfectly to plan (we walk right on Frozen, zip over to the first showing of Impressions de France, single rider line is operating on Remy and is a short wait, AND Les Halles isn't a crazy long line).

Don't underestimate that HUNDREDS of your closest friends will also be headed toward Frozen. As the Moderator said, I might be blown away if you can accomplish all that by 10am. Just telling you so that you can set reasonable expectations. I think you'll be closer to the 11am open time for Showcase than you think. However, I hope you have a great EPCOT day!

I'm really good at throwing elbows Just kidding, we'll hope to be at the front of the pack but not stressed if we aren't!

I hope it's OK if I pop onto your thread and post that we are Epcot newbies going on 12/18 and I had no idea the World Showcase doesn't open till 11! Our main goals for the day are to to tour WS, VQ Guardians and go to the Candlelight Processional. I presume the front of the park is open at rope drop? If so I think we'll enjoy perusing the exhibits there - esp as Epcot newbies.

It's ok, you're not alone - my sister actually was confused why I wanted to start in World Showcase for our first Epcot morning. On her last Epcot trip, World Showcase was roped off for the first couple hours and she couldn't even walk through the pavilions. I think it's only since they've opened more rides inside the pavilions that WS is more accessible in the morning.

 

[kdka421]

Looking at the holiday storyteller times from last year (this years times aren't announced yet), a couple of them actually started before 11 - specifically the Hanukkah storyteller and Pere Noel in France.