How much time at Epcot with your preschooler?

[atilley01]

I'm just wondering how long people with younger kids tour Epcot. How long in Future World and how long do you spend in the World Showcase? Do your kids get restless or do they always find something to interest them? Do they enjoy Illuminations or do they crash long before?

Thanks!

 

[robndani]

My kids are 5 and have LOVED Epcot since they were little. They loved Nemo, Turtle Talk, and the aquarium. They even like Living with the Land (they call it the fruit ride)! They love Soarin' and now Test Track, but hate the Figment ride (LOL). There's so much to see in WS, we haven't even explored it all. They love the little shows, the fountains, riding the boat back and forth, playing the drums and wandering inside Mexico (and the boat ride in there). They also have a bunch of KidCot stops where the kids can color and have the CMs write their names in different languages. We easily spend 2 full days there, although it usually ends up being 1 full day and 2 half days. We will stay for Illuminations if we haven't been there all day. If the F&W Festival is going on, even better!!! ENJOY!

 

[ktlm]

We allocated 1 day for EPCOT on DD's first trip when she was 2 years old. We were there from open to close and did not feel like we had enough time. She loved EPCOT!!! She is 9 now, and we have been every year since that first trip, and we always spend 2 days at EPCOT. It still is by far her favorite park other than MK. Lots of characters, including Princesses to meet and greet in World Showcase, performers throughout WS, the boat ride in Mexico, Agent P adventures throughout WS; lunch or dinner with the German band at Biergarten, Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, Living with the Land, Figment, play areas after some of the rides, aquarium, Spaceship Earth, Club Cool, Innovations, Soarin (if tall enough), Test Track (if tall enough), Mission Space (the green easy side if tall enough); Kid Cot stations and passports to get stamped at every country; Pick-A-Pearl and I'm sure a lot more that I am forgetting

 

[limpy]

There is lots to do in Epcot, as mentioned above, but my 20 month old crashed well before illuminations, even with a midday nap.

 

[caracarn]

We never had a problem with our kids in Epcot regardless of age. They always loved doing the masks at the Kidcot stations and as long as we kept moving around there was something to keep their attention. Had to be careful in some of the shops when they were toddlers as they got the grabbies, but we usually would spend 2-3 days out of 10 in Epcot and never had issues.

 

[JZCubed]

I'm just wondering how long people with younger kids tour Epcot. How long in Future World and how long do you spend in the World Showcase? Do your kids get restless or do they always find something to interest them? Do they enjoy Illuminations or do they crash long before?

Thanks!

Rule of thumb in the Guidebooks is that young children have 4 hours (excluding meal time).

We followed that rule, for the most part, and had reasonable success in the Parks.

There are Kidcot drawing areas in (just about?) each country to occupy the children.

Maybe not enough toys for the kids, but the open space makes it enjoyable for little-ones to roam a bit.

Drums in what should be Africa. Live entertainment throughout.

It may not be the best part of a Disney vacation, but little kids need downtime from rides too.

 

[TempleOT]

On our last trip we only spent one day in EPCOT and most of it in future world. When we did the showcase, we did the 2 rides, spent some time in the Japan store, and the kdis did a few of the kidcot spots. We also got them passports to fill out as we went around, but we didn't end up getting as far as I had hoped. Hopefully we will get some more time in this time around.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Epcot is always a two day park for us. We split it east and west and do half of future world and half the counties each day. when my middle child was three epcot was his favorite. Last trip I felt my 15 month handled Epcot better than the other parks. Maybe because we were indoors more often?

 

[Rhetts1stWDW]

We used Epcot as our park to let our toddler "adjust" to WDW. He can be a little nervous/anxious about new things and we thought Epcot's slower pace would be a good start to our trip rather than throwing him into MK day1. We think this was very successful. The rides we went on (Nemo, Living with the Land, 3 Caballeros boat) were all tame and he could stay in our laps. There was also a ton of room for him to roam and explore on his own without being overwhelmed.

Epcot has always been a favorite for me so I definitely don't mind spending an extra day or two exploring.

 

[jolene63]

We took both of our kids to Disney World for the first time when they turned three. They both enjoyed Epcot and we actually couldn't see and do all that we wanted. Now my kids are 11 and 8 and they still love Epcot. We are going to spend 2.5 days there on our next trip. The one thing I would recommend for little ones is Turtle Talk with Crush. For some reason, we missed this on our first couple of visits. It's so cute and a must for each time we go now.