How Long Do You Spend in Each Pavilion of the World Showcase?

[cbg1027]

I know a lot of that depends on how much that particular country interests you, but on average, how long do you spend in each pavilion?

I'm trying to make a touring plan for Epcot. We will have a couple of hours 1 evening and a whole day. I was trying to figure out how many countries we could see that evening so I know what to plan for our full day.

 

[I_believe_in_pixies]

We can complete the whole thing in around 2-3 hours. We ride the rides in Mexico and Norway, do a little shopping in France and Japan and China, basically skip the American pavilion. If there are character out we will wait and see them and my girls make their masks along the way.

Nick

 

[KellyNY]

I know a lot of that depends on how much that particular country interests you, but on average, how long do you spend in each pavilion?

I'm trying to make a touring plan for Epcot. We will have a couple of hours 1 evening and a whole day. I was trying to figure out how many countries we could see that evening so I know what to plan for our full day.

Oh boy, we live in Japan pavilion. We eat, shop, watch show, it takes like 2 hours. In other countries anywhere between fast 10 min walk by and 1 hour.

 

[geogat]

On average I would go with 20 minutes per country. Some may be just a drive-by, but others have rides(Mexico, Norway) and other have shows(America, China, Canada). If we choose to do the rides and the shows, expect to spend 3-4 hours. If you are not planning on doing all of them the time will shrink. Also, if you have children they may want to do a mask. Each country has a sport to decorate a spot on a paper mask. It is a fun thing for kids to do. That could add on a little more time.

 

[ErinInCT]

Are you planning on eating at EPCOT on the evening you'll be there? If so, I'd say do the countries around your restaurant. Personally EPCOT is a day and a half for us to do both FW and WS. My kids LOVE doing the masks and getting penny presses. We also love the shows and lots of characters in WS too. So we spend more time in WS vs FW. It just seems more relaxed there too so you don't feel the frantic-ness that you may feel at MK.

But a day and an evening should be fine unless the majority of your evening will be spent eating dinner.

 

[koolaidmoms]

I tend to look at each country and decide what there is to do and what I want to see to plan the time. For my family we take 1 full day in the countries but then we treat it like a school lesson for our children.

 

[Tinkerbell2B]

We generally give Epcot 2 days when we go for 1 week. Granted those aren't two entire days. We like to be there for rope drop for Future World and devote the majority of the day to Future World only. On day two, we can of course sleep in since the World Showcase doesn't open up till later or do those favorite rides like TT and Soarin over again then head to the countries for a casual stroll around the lake and end the evening with Illuminations. Wish I had a trip on the agenda!! To me, planning is all part of the fun!!

 

[cbg1027]

Ideally I'd like to devote 2 days to Epcot, but we're limited on time, so I made our two day park MK. So we have an evening and a full day for Epcot.

The cast is me, 24 yrs, and my friend Mark, 28. So no need to do the Kidcot stops. We will NOT be eating in the park when we go for just the evening.

We have a 7:05 ADR for Le Cellier on the full day.

What I'm mostly trying to figure is how many countries we can knock out on when we go in the evening. I'm guessing we'll arrive around 6:30 and the park closes at 9:30. We will NOT try to see Illuminations that night, we'll save it for after dinner on our full day.

 

[Dervis]

We actually spend a minimum of 20 minutes in each country, just taking in the scenery and checking out the gift shops. We spend alot more time in Japan, cause...well....I'm an Anime nerd. We usually get some pastrys in France, and this year, maybe some margaritas in Mexico? And for whatever reason, we really love Morocco.

 

[Alesia]

We started in the UK at 11:00 and were rushing through France at 8:30 to see Illuminations. We probably could've gotten through a bit quicker if we hadn't had our daughter with us.

 

[Lora]

We usually spend 2-3 afternoons/evenings in WS. I get a time schedule of the live entertainment and plan our trek around the countries accordingly. Last week, we started in Japan and Morocco - just browsing in the shops. We were just waiting for the starting time of the Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure. Then we went to Italy to see Sergio, and on to China to see the acrobats. The only food we grabbed in WS that day was a pretzel in Germany. That took about 3 hours.

Last night we arrived in WS around 3pm, we started in Japan and watched/bought at the oyster counter (a first for us), then we waited about 10-15 min. to see the candy lady. We stopped in Germany at their F&W booth for snacks and then to China for the movie. We rode Maelstrom and the Mexico boat ride. We browsed the shops along the way and got a couple more snacks (including cheese soup in Canada). Again, this took us about 4 hours - but we enter from the International Gateway, so we don't have quite as much walking to do to get to some of the countries.

We didn't stay for Illuminations either night. We had already done that on a previous day.

 

[pomcoach]

Wow Lora,
Thanks for the update! Sounds like you are having a great time!

 

[hookedonears]

This would be a maximum if you really took your time and tried to do it all with large crowds. This also includes wait times for shows.
Mexico - with ride - 30 - 45min.
Norway - with ride and show (all depends upon ride line) - 30-1 hour.
China - with show - 30 -45 min.
Germany - 10 min.
Italy - 10 min.
USA - skip
Morocco - 10 min.
Japan - 10 min.
France - 10 min.
Great Britain - with concert and or character meeting - 20-30min.
Canada - with show 30 -45min.
Couple minute walk between each pavillion, so max 4-5 hours, with lunch or dinner 6 hours.

 

[btuftee]

Ignoring the rides in Mexico and Norway for the moment, I would say you need a good 20-30 minutes to really appreciate each country, all the shops and interesting spots. Don't forget the movies in Canada, France, and China, and the theater show in America.

If you want to see each attraction/movie, and walk through all of the shops and exhibits, you'll need at least at least a day and a half (a "day" being WS's hours of 11am-9pm) to really do it right. Also, that doesn't include dining - you're really missing out if you don't dine a bit too.

To answer your more specific question, if I had a few hours in one evening, and a whole day, I would probably start touring in Mexico. If it's not terribly busy, you should be able to see everything in Mexico, China, and Norway in one evening (though you might be rushing through the huge gift shop in China, and wouldn't have time for a sit-down meal). The next day, I'd start at the other end of WS (Canada) and work around. Even on fairly busy days, the only attraction in WS that really has any appreciable line is Maelstrom in Norway.

By doing things in that order, i.e. working counterclockwise from Canada to Germany, your last two stops (Germany and Italy) don't have any rides or shows, just food and shopping. So if you're running short on time on your second day, you're missing less. That assumes, of course, that you don't have a special interest in one or more of the countries. We personally love to spend time in Japan and China for the landscaping, architecture, shopping, etc., so it really takes us a long time to get through WS. In fact, with as many trips as we've taken, we still haven't been inside every shop and seen every little nook and cranny, so don't expect to see it all.

 

[LittleGreekAlexandra]

I spend 2 hours+ in Japan, about an hour in Norway (bakery is awesome!!), other than that on average I spend 20 minutes max in each country, I walk through US and UK. I used to skip Italy until I recently rediscovered their chocolate shop!

 

[PoohsFan1]

We like to take our time in the WS, between the food, shopping, KidCot Stations, and the Kim Possible Adventure we could be there for a good 45 minutes or longer (if we are not eating at a TS restaurant), if we are eating then it will definately be around the 2 hour range. My whole family loves WS and we spend more time there then we do in FW.

 

[2cats1kid]

Allow time to see the drummers in Japan. That is our single favourite thing in the whole of WS - those guys and gals are awesome!

The candy lady in Japan is good to watch, if a little creepy!

 

[SydneyFalco]

I spend as much time as I can. I really couldn't guess. I love China, Morocco and Japan in particular. I don't do any movies, but I always do the Amer. Experience. Not counting meal time, I'd say it take at least two afternoons to do to my satisfaction. 7 hours divided by 11 countries, so about 40 minutes a country. For some it's probably more like 30 minutes.

I just realized that, by pure chance and because of our staid methodology, Italy is getting regularly shafted by my group. We start from one direction on the first day, from the other on the next. For some reason, going from the Mexico direction, we're always more pooped (cause we always do the Mexico side first and its always after a morning of Future World? I dunno...). By the time we're done with China, it feels like time to either quit or get to the American Experience.

Poor, poor Italy.

 

[kaligal]

I spend most of my time in Morocco, Mexico and Canada.

I like to see the movies in France and China every few trips...China has the better movie, IMO, but you can sit down in France. I like the boat ride in Norway. I like to eat in Italy or Germany on occasion.

Japan, England and America bore me. I walk through England and past Japan. Sometimes I eat in America. But that's it for those.

 

[PatsMom]

We sort of plan our World Showcase around the live entertainment schedule so we end up doing some backtracking. We also allot two days to Epcot. The World Showcase Players are great - they have shows in England and Italy and were also in Japan on the days Miyuki was not when we were there in September/October. We do the movies and the two boat rides. France has an amazing show called Serveur Amusant that we try to make sure we catch.

And we don't get the skip the American Adventure - we try to catch the Voices of Liberty and then we do the show.