Here now...my initial thoughts on epcot, crowd level 8

[Susan Storm]

I just have spent the first half of our day here at Epcot. It's a crowd level 8 on touring plans. We arrived at rope drop. Here are my thoughts so far, in case it would help anyone else coming around this time.

You have to get here at rope drop to do very much. Lines have been crazy! We went straight to test track and waited half an hour to board. Everyone loved it

The epcot baby care center is amazing. Even with all the people in the park, I had the whole place to myself with my baby. The quiet, air conditioned nursing room was wonderful, and the high chairs for feeding snacks are so nice.

People have no problem shoving their way in front of you here now. I have encountered lots of rude, mostly younger people who are shoving in front of families to cut into lines.

I don't know how anyone could stay without an afternoon break, particularly with babies. My little guy was miserable by noon so I left the park to bring him back for a nap. He's 1.

Heres what we got done from 9 am to noon, in case this helps anyone:

I did Test track, then did a rider swap with my mom with it, while I took my baby to the care center. Then we did the seas with Nemo and friends, soarin with fastpass, and spaceship earth with fastpass.

All in all, it's been okay. Very busy and hot and lots of pushy people, but I guess that's what I should expect coming in the summer.

 

[awilliams4]

Thanks for the update.

 

[erosenst]

We were at Epcot today as well. Got there about 9:40 on a 9a opening day.

* The lines for bag check were backed up almost to the monorail exit, and the lines themselves were very disorganized. Each checker has a table, and works from both side, so in theory there should be two lines per checker. In reality, there were many more 'haphazard' lines that somewhat sorted themselves out as one got closer to the tables.

* We had almost no wait at the tapstyles. However, this was the third time out of three park entries this week where we should have been able to walk right up, but couldn't because someone was engaged in a long and confused conversation with the cast member working the tapstyle. It seems like there should be 'if you have questions, Bob would be happy to address them over there' person available.

* We had a 5 minute wait for Living with the Land (DD11 loves it for reasons DH and I don't understand), then walked right to Soarin for our 10:25 FP. The stand-by time was 110 minutes, and people were still entering. We were done at 11a.

* Walked over to Figment. No surprise - no wait.

* Changed Nemo FP to 11:35 and walked on.

* Walked through Mouse Gears, then to World Showcase. By this time is was hot. I mean REALLY REALLY hot. We've been here this week the last two years as well - this time was notably hotter. Shopped a bit through Norway, then went to 12:45 Via Napoli ADR. Had a relaxing lunch with great service there. Waitress thanked us for being so nice/friendly - third meal since our Sat arrival that someone has said 'you're so nice - so many groups are rude'. It must really be an issue, but seems so odd to me.

* Walked over to Japan and shopped for a bit. By now it was 'truly miserable' hot. Went to France to have a cold drink, then walked back to monorail. Did I mention miserable hot?

* Having said how hot it was, we didn't find it crowded. We had to wait a minute to get a seat in the Patisserie at France, but nominal line to get a drink. It wasn't hard to get in shops, in the country plazas, etc. It may be that it was hot enough to send a lot of people home.

 

[lugnut33]

The highs are only in the upper 80's, but when it's truly hot there it'll be in the low to mid 90's. It's the dew point in the 70's that makes it uncomfortable.

 

[stinkpickle]

Yeah, I stopped by Epcot real quick yesterday morning before leaving town. It really reminded me of why I like to avoid visiting this time of year.