Ideas For Epcot?

[LISA STETLER]

Does anyone have a plan on doing Epcot in 2 days, 2 adults only. First day will be early EMH and the 2nd day will be the late EMH. Which park takes more time? We do want to see and do all. We also want to experience the F&W festival. We already have dinner reserved both nights in the park at 5 and plan on doing Illuminations one night minimum. I want to make sure we take full advantage of the EMH to get the park done in 2 days.

15 days till Disney!!!

 

[jctwizzer]

Two days should be plenty. In Future World, we like Universe of Energy, Mission Space, Test Track, Crush, Honey I Shrunk....., Soarin' (multiple times); Kristos, Jammitors..

In World Showcase, get a schedule and see all the shows you can...we like
Off Kilter, Mo Rockin', Chineses acrobats, Japanese drummers, German entertainers...you'll need to eat there for that one; British Invasion, World Showcase players---Italy and Gr. Britain; various films of France, Canada, China; Norway and Mexico boat rides.

If times get slow, go out the Intl Gate and walk over to Boardwalk, Yacht Club etc....try Beaches N Cream for ice cream treats.

Along with Food and Wine, that should help!! JMHO

 

[Daryl]

The three ideas I can offer are:
1)be sure to arrive at morning EMH rope drop!
2)Do Soarin and Test track First.
3)GET A FAST PASS for your preferred version of Mission Space.

My only other thought is to get a Fast Pass before lunch for Nemo.

I realize that doesn't get you far...anyone else?

 

[PotNoodle]

Yes, definitely do Soarin first followed by Test Track and then Mission Space.

I'd use the first few hours doing all the rides and shows before using the afternoon to take it easy and stroll around the World Showcase.

 

[Got Quattro?]

Epcot has to be split over at least 2 days.

Day 1
get there early, do soarin, test track, space, honey I shrunk the audience....stay focussed on future world...then leave.

Day 2
get there around 3:00 or so. Go catch anything you may have missed at future world...then move to the world showcase. Hit them 1 by one and by the time you are done, it will be time to stake out a place for illuminations.

 

[BFIrrera]

My planning is usually a little from column A and a little from column B for both days:

Day one. In Future World do the big ticket (Fastpass) things FIRST: Soarin', Test Track, Mission: Space. Squeeze in Spaceship Earth and Listen to the Land (which you should probably do right after Soarin' to save on walking). Depending on time, you may want to do either the Imagination Pavillion or Ellen's Energy Adventure.

If it's getting to be about 1:30pm-2pm, head over to the World Showcase.

Since we stay on property at Boardwalk, our usual touring that first day (which I can't wait...it'll be October 19th this year) is to first do Canada and UK (seeing shows...Off Kilter are great as are the British Invasion and the World Showcase Players) and then stepping out the international gateway to the Boardwalk and resting for a little while in our room (usually from about 3:30/4 til about 5:30/6 when we'll need to get ready for dinner). We return, explore France, Morrocco and Japan (eat your sitdown dinner on this side of the lagoon that first night...I recommend the Restaurant Marrakesh and Le Cellier, but I've been told Rose and Crown is great if you specifically want good seating for Illuminations and we will be trying the Teppanyaki on this coming trip!).

That second day: while everyone else is doing all the big stuff, we start our morning in Living Seas (though it may be more crowded now with the new ride...fingers crossed that there will be a soft opening when we are there) and go to Innoventions (again, the crowds aren't as bad 'cause everyone else is on Soarin' and Test Track).

After exploring Innoventions (and not feeling rushed 'cause you've done all but one more pavillion, you could then do either Imagination or Ellen (depending on which of the two you chose the first day...do the other).

Now, check the times guide...you may be able to catch a performance of Kristos or the JAMMitors before heading to World Showcase!

As you enter World Showcase, either work your way from Mexico to American Adventure or take the ferryboat to the back of World Showcase and start at American Adventure and work your way to Mexico (I've not done the latter...do they still have this ferry?)...

Since you should have already seen Illuminations the night before, you can go back to Future World at night, enjoying all the lit up pavillions, reriding any favorites over there and also enjoying the fountain show (it's much better at night when it's all lit up!).

Shopping in Mousegears also seemed to be less crowded during Illuminations on our last trip...

 

[lbarnes]

We stuck with Future World for one day and World Showcase for the other. For our Future World day, we stayed until around 4:00 and then went someplace else for evening activities. We did pretty much everything except Mission Space. For the WS day, we repeated a few things at FW early in the morning (before WS opened), and then spent the whole day and evening at WS. We ate lunch at Cantina de San Angel and supper at LeCellier.

Be sure and take in the entertainment shows like Off Kilter, British Invasion, etc. They are really good. There is just so much atmosphere at Epcot! I love all the shops in WS. The items in the shops come from the actual countries they represent.

Don't forget an elephant ear at Boulangerie Patisserie! My DD13's fav is the cheesecake there.

 

[btuftee]

Two days is enough time to do Epcot, though you may be rushed if you watch every film and linger in every shop in World showcase. If you just stick to rides and the big ticket shows (Honey I Shrunk the Audience, American Adventure), you'll be fine. I might even suggest avoiding the morning EMH, because the park will be extra crowded for the rest of that entire day. Evening EMH doesn't tend to overcrowd the park until later at night. You'll find that you can get more done on a non-morning-EMH day in a park overall, than a morning EMH one. Plus, if you're like me, it's a real drag to get up an extra hour early on my supposed vacation!

I'd just arrive at 8:30am on your first morning at Epcot, so you're ready to roll at the park opening. Break right once you're past Spaceship earth, and head for Soarin' (just follow the mob!). Get in the standby line, ride it, then grab fastpasses for a later return on your exit (they should be handing out FPs by then). Cross over to Test Track, and ride it. Then do Mission Space if you want to (shouldn't be too crowded yet). By this time, you should be ready to return to the Soarin' FP line - if not, do TT again. Then do Soarin', and the rest of The Land.

That takes care of the big-ticket, long line stuff at Epcot. Enjoy the rest of the morning in Future World, seeing what you want to. You should be able to knock off all of FW by the afternoon. Alternatively, you can do the West side of FW (Seas, Land, Imagination), then walk to World Showcase around lunchtime and go counterclockwise around the world. Since it's lunchtime, you can hit some F&W booths too. See as much of WS as you can, eat dinner at your 5pm ADR, hit some shops and maybe ride spaceship earth, TT, or Soarin' again on your way out of the park.

On day two, arrive in the afternoon and hit what you missed the other day in Future World. Then go to WS starting in Mexico, and work your way clockwise around WS. Mexico and Norway have the only rides in WS, and really only the Maelstrom will have any wait in line. During the evening EMH, you'll be able to ride all of the popular rides and attractions, but it may get crowded. Ideally by now, you'll have done every ride and the major shows, so you can pick and choose what you want to repeat.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We often split Epcot over two days. All that going back and forth in Future world takes a while - espcially if you use fast passes. I'd definitely fastpass Soarin', the new Nemo ride (if it's open then), and Test Track (we ride twice). You should take advantage of single rider lines too.

If you are doing EMH hours, you should easily be able to go on TT, M:S, more than once. It also depends considerably on when you are going as to how crowded the parks are going to be, and how difficult it will be to get around. Our favorite Epcot ride (for some reason) is the Norway ride, but we always skip the film at the end.

We don't usually see any of the music shows too much. We somtimes stop for a few minutes of a show if it's going on while we're there - the Chinese acrobats, the candy lady in Japan, the Japanese drummers, etc.
We prefer to spend a little extra time browsing the stores. You don't have to buy a lot to enjoy seeing the huge variety of items for sale. Also, there are characters tucked away in some the nether parts of Future World. As adults, you might not want to stand for half an hour to see Mickey, but if there's no line...and Pooh, Tigger and Eyore are all together, why not? It's also a worthwhile place just to look at all the deatils. WE often share snacks at the various quick eateries. WE also usually skip many of the 360 films (Canada, China, France). They cn be REAL sleepers. On our last trip, we saw the France film. It was just about to start. About 3/4ths through, I started getting sleepy - pretty scenery, but classical music in a dark environment...I looked around. About 60% of the audience also either had their eyes closed or were fighting to keep them open! Several others were playing with their cell phones.


For the food and wine festival, we found a number of the lines to be pretty long. Sadly enough. I mean, I'd taste certain things if the line was short, but I have no intention of waiting two hours just to taste a couple ounces of free wine. The line looked that long! For ten dollars I can get an entire bottle at the wine store. Ya' know what I mean? One notable exception was the beer booth. We only waited a few minutes, and they gave you several different beers..we were bad though and skipped outbeofre the very end of the presentation. Luckily they seated us in the back corner so our departure went largely unseen.

If you finish seeing future world on your first day, and still have time, I'd encourage you to make a foray into WS. If, on your second day, the crowds get to be too much, or you finish WS ahead of time or whatever....know that there's a back exit out of Epcot. It's not too far to go to MGM from their. You could also walk around the Boardwalk too, and then hop back into Epcot.

Last, we do like to take time to appreciate the beautiful landscaping of Epcot. All over Epcot there are treasures to be seen.

 

[Simba22]

Nothing to post that you haven't already read - but DBF and I are very excited to have 2 full days to devote to Epcot on our December trip. We have been to WDW 3 times and still have yet to see and do everything.

 

[cybrkitn]

Epcot has to be split over at least 2 days.

Day 1
get there early, do soarin, test track, space, honey I shrunk the audience....stay focussed on future world...then leave.

Day 2
get there around 3:00 or so. Go catch anything you may have missed at future world...then move to the world showcase. Hit them 1 by one and by the time you are done, it will be time to stake out a place for illuminations.

We're doing something similar to what you mentioned above.

First Day:
-Future World in the morning, getting as much in as we can.
-Lunch at Coral Reef
-Head over to World Showcase, get as much done as we can before dinner in Mexico. Try to finish up so that we can find a good place to watch Illuminations.

Second Day (EMH Night):
-Get to Epcot a little later. Picking up rental car before hand.
-Finish anything we missed in FW and/or go a second time on what we liked.
- Can't remember what we are doing for lunch
-Finish World Showcase. We're not staying for the EMH.
-Leave early to get back to Pop so we can get ready to go to Medieval Times for dinner.

 

[clonetothebone]

Do Future World for the morning EMH making sure to catch Soarin, Test Track and Mission Space early. Since you will be leaving in 15 days this should be close enough to possibly catching a soft opening of The Seas with Nemo and Friends (AP holders get to try it OCT 13 - 15) so I would check that out also. You won't have any trouble seeing all you want in Future World in one day.

On the second day I would suggest being reading to start touring at 11 am when World Showcase opens. I know someone said to wait until 3 pm but you will have trouble seeing all of the live entertainment if you don't allow enough time and to me the live entertainment is what makes World Showcase a great place to visit. The Voices of Liberty last show is often as early as 4:15pm and many of the other entertainers are finished by 6 pm. That is my one gripe with World Showcase...if they are going to have the place open then have the performers performing the entire time so you can fit them all in.

 

[LISA STETLER]

I feel the same way about WS. I am assuming that you can still see alot during night EMH just not the movies and shows? I had read somewhere that half of WS was closed off at night.

 

[EpcotMatt]

We also want to experience the F&W festival. We already have dinner reserved both nights in the park at 5 and plan on doing Illuminations one night minimum.

Just an idea, but you may want to skip one of the dinner ressies. From personal experience, when we plan on hitting the F&W, there are so many stands & foods & such that we really didn't need a full-out dinner. If we did do that, we found that we either had to skip some of the F & W stands to keep our appetite up or not even come close to finishing our sit-down dinner. So now if we're doing the F & W, no sit-down dinner for us.

 

[LISA STETLER]

I hear ya but we have the DDP so it is a must. We can just limit the F&W booths to lunchtime and only get what really is most appealing.

 

[honeybee30]

We are doing WS the 1st day (arriving around 11am). Then FW the 2nd day (arriving first thing in the am), followed by an evening at the Boardwalk. Epcot is so wonderful. We can never spend enough there. If you've never been, you're going to love the F&W festival.

 

[EpcotMatt]

I hear ya but we have the DDP so it is a must. We can just limit the F&W booths to lunchtime and only get what really is most appealing.

Couldn't you save one of the sit-downs, hit the F & W, & then use that extra credit for one of the fancier 2-credit sit-downs?

 

[akaDaddy]

If you trip is within the next few weeks, you will have no problem in Epcot.

We returned 9-23-06 from 10 days and the crowds in all the parks were very low. We visited Epcot on four different days and each day my daughter had to ride Mission Space and Soarin. Before noon, we never waited more than 10 minutes for either ride. When we arrived in late afternoon, we did fastpass Soarin while we ate a snack at Sunshine Seasons but even then the Standby line said 20 minutes.

The countries were empty in mid-afternoon. That's a great time to see them, especially if you want to see the characters. Both my daughters spent at least 3-5 minutes on the bench in front of France with Belle and Aurora one afternoon without interuption. Talk about a magic moment!

Like most of the post, I'd advise you to hit the rides early as well as take in the living seas as early as possible. But this time of year, the crowds are low during the week and you can easily see three times more than in the summer.

Have a great trip!

 

[LISA STETLER]

If you trip is within the next few weeks, you will have no problem in Epcot.

We returned 9-23-06 from 10 days and the crowds in all the parks were very low. We visited Epcot on four different days and each day my daughter had to ride Mission Space and Soarin. Before noon, we never waited more than 10 minutes for either ride. When we arrived in late afternoon, we did fastpass Soarin while we ate a snack at Sunshine Seasons but even then the Standby line said 20 minutes.

The countries were empty in mid-afternoon. That's a great time to see them, especially if you want to see the characters. Both my daughters spent at least 3-5 minutes on the bench in front of France with Belle and Aurora one afternoon without interuption. Talk about a magic moment!

Like most of the post, I'd advise you to hit the rides early as well as take in the living seas as early as possible. But this time of year, the crowds are low during the week and you can easily see three times more than in the summer.

Have a great trip!

Thanks, that is good to hear since we leave the 14th. Can you tell me if all of Epcot is open during the late EMH? I had read somewhere that one side of WS was closed off in the evening. I am aware that you can do a few of the rides there but not sure if we can view the films and see the rest of WS. I would rather leave that part to later in the day and spend the am hrs concentrating on FW as you suggested and then grab lunch and maybe finish FW and do WS on another day that offers the late EMH and spend the entire day and night there.