How much time to allow for World Showcase?

[AJ1983]

Hi everyone, I was wondering how many hours I should devote to World Showcase at EPCOT? We walked around the entire thing last May, and got some pictures. This time I would like to get a few more pics of things I missed, meet some characters I cannot meet elsewhere, explore the Norway, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany Pavillions, and do Maelstrom.

I am thinking 3-4 hours should be plenty of time to cover that? Opinions? I think we did it in less than two hours last time without any characters or Maelstrom.

Thanks everyone

 

[Kimosabe]

3-4 hours is not much time if you're truly wanting to explore World Showcase. We enjoy some of the films, listening to Voices of Liberty, stopping for some of the country-specific sidewalk entertainment and, of course, snacking our way around the world (if not actually stopping to eat a proper meal, which we usually try to do for at least one meal). Throw in potential rides in Norway and Mexico, and see a few characters, and you've knocked out a full afternoon pretty easily. It is easy to take the size of World Showcase for granted...until you're halfway around and realize how much further it is to the other end!

I have been guilty before of declaring EPCOT as my least favorite park (or at least the current version) and assuming we could fly through the whole park in less than a day. My wife loves it, so for her birthday last year, I agreed to spend a full day there with no complaining. Much to my surprise, we ran out of time before we ran out of stuff to do, and much of that was in World Showcase.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We do 3 hours usually unless we are eating there. Then it's closer to 5 hours.

We also don't do all of the movies each trip, we alternate them. We have done one Kim Possible mission, got passports stamped, took plenty of pictures and met Mary Poppins and Snow White in the 3 hour time frame.
I think we hit both characters at the perfect time otherwise I'm sure it would have been 4 hours with the waiting.

 

[DHSbutcher]

We can walk around the world barely stopping at anything in an hour, but sometimes we enjoy the walk and people watching , so we'll walk around it a couple times stopping at different things every time, or throwing in some future world stuff in the mix. Allow as much time as you have to spend there. A couple hours to a full day or two, its really all up to you. Everyone does different things there.

 

[NavyDad]

Hi everyone, I was wondering how many hours I should devote to World Showcase at EPCOT? We walked around the entire thing last May, and got some pictures. This time I would like to get a few more pics of things I missed, meet some characters I cannot meet elsewhere, explore the Norway, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany Pavillions, and do Maelstrom.

I am thinking 3-4 hours should be plenty of time to cover that? Opinions? I think we did it in less than two hours last time without any characters or Maelstrom.

Thanks everyone

This one REALLY depends....

Our first trip we spent a couple of hours and were not that impressed.

We later spent 3-4 hours and the more time we spent the more things we found to look at but the kids got tired of it around 3 hours.

This last trip we had hoppers and decided to make reservations at a different country each evening and spent a couple of hours per night exploring different areas.

Our In-laws spent an entire afternoon at WS and only were able to see half of it. They like to take pics, read every sign, shop, eat and smell the flowers.

 

[Alesia]

My family needs at least 12 to 16 hours. 3 to 4 hours would only get us through a few countries. Heck, when my daughter was 9, she spent well over an hour just playing with the toys in the china pavilion.

 

[ktlm]

Depends on how much you want to do and how many characters you want to see. We usually hit a TS lunch there between 12:00 and 12:30, and after that we stay at WS until closing. We start at one end and work our way around. Sometimes that isn't even enough time to get from one end to the other. Now that the Agent P missions are there and DD likes those, we definitely can't make it through all of WS and do all the missions in that time period. DD usually wants to see all the characters, and those can be a huge time suck (Belle and Jasmine/Aladdin usually have long lines- we've seen the lines cut-off more than once before they even come out. We usually get in line for them about 20 minutes before they come out and we are never the first in line. I'd say we probably spend 30 minutes each on them, and sometimes more). We also explore all the shops, stop to watch some of the entertainers, ride the Mexico and Malestrom rides, see a movie or two, have a drink or two, DD likes to get a passport and get it stamped at every Kidcot station, etc.

 

[shelemm]

World Showcase is as much about the entertainment as anything else. So if you want to see the World Showcase Players, Server Amusant. Sergio, Taiko Drummers, and the Chinese acrobats, then you'll need to spend more time.

 

[figment_jii]

I agree that it really depends on how much you want to do and how much you want to explore each pavilion. Given that you want to meet characters and do Malestrom, I'd say that four hours is not going to be enough. I'd probably plan on spending an entire day in WS at least to get through your list of things.

 

[foreverdis]

Both of my kids, now 25 and almost 15, have loved Epcot the most since they first went to WDW. They would easily chose WS over MK, lol!

So, we can spend a whole day in WS...looking at exhibits, watching the entertainment, looking in shops, riding and eating! Give yourself enough time to see as much of it as you can!

 

[starlionblue]

When I went, the Norwegian and French pavilions were the most crowded so I'd pick one of the two and go there first, then set a schedule for the rest of WS. One annoying thing: it's in a circle so you can't cut across the lake. I really wished they had built a bridge across. And the show they hold outside each "nation" is always fascinating and worth watching so try to find out when they're held and pick one or two. WS is big so you won't be able to see it all in one day without skipping some stuff.

 

[Hopefully]

My family needs at least 12 to 16 hours. 3 to 4 hours would only get us through a few countries. Heck, when my daughter was 9, she spent well over an hour just playing with the toys in the china pavilion.

At least this for us too. World Showcase is a close 2nd to MK as our favorite WDW park. But we will do MK in one day and WS over several afternoon/evenings. The food offerings are wonderful and there is so much to see.
Slow down, smell the roses and enjoy!!

 

[over50visits]

Hi everyone, I was wondering how many hours I should devote to World Showcase at EPCOT? We walked around the entire thing last May, and got some pictures. This time I would like to get a few more pics of things I missed, meet some characters I cannot meet elsewhere, explore the Norway, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany Pavillions, and do Maelstrom.

I am thinking 3-4 hours should be plenty of time to cover that? Opinions? I think we did it in less than two hours last time without any characters or Maelstrom.

Thanks everyone

I think a huge part of the answer is how much you like to shop. World Showcase is a fantastically themed shopping mall with an upscale huge food court (spread out over everywhere), so if you want to enjoy the great buildings and decorations, you can do it in a couple of hours. If you want to shop or sample cuisine from different countries, it could take all day.

 

[KelleyK75]

We were just there a few weeks ago & I wanted to make the loop around just to take some pictures & get pictures of the topiarys for the Flower & Garden fest. It was close to 2 hours for us to do this. And we only walked on the outside of everything & only took pictures. It's a lot further to walk around than you might think. I'd leave more than 2 hours if you want to do anything at any of the countries.

 

[disnemma]

It really depends on you and how much time you take to explore each pavilion. We usually spend 4-5 hours in WS, but we've been many times. Some pavilions we hop right through, but some, like Japan, we spend a lot of time in. However, we don't really do any characters, and the two rides (The Three Caballeros and Maelstrom) are usually walk-ons or less than 15 minute waits.