Is Epcot not a good choice young children?

[aaronlisar]

Hello, taking the family in August and we want to visit all of the parks but I'm wondering if our son will get bored with Epcot. There doesnt seem like there is much of anything that he can do there. Has anybody skipped Epcot with their young child?

 

[kilee]

You didn't mention what age your child was.

However we take our son to Epcot all the time (he's 12 now but started back quite a few years ago). We also recently took our toddler neice as well.

Both have always had a great time. My son loves the rides (Test Track and Mission Space). He also loves the hands on activities throughout Future World. As for World Showcase. He loves the fact that in each country there are "hands-on" activities to try. Meaning many of the shops have items out for display to try, and he really enjoys that.

As for my toddler neice, well she LOVED coloring the masks. Also, we had to tear her away from the Living Sea's. There was a lot of room for her to "run" here too.

I would never hesitate to take children to Epcot, there is so much there to do for them. I think it's often mistaken for an "adults park", but that is truly just a misconception.

 

[donnabc]

Actually took my 5 yo son a couple months ago and out of AK, MK and Epcot, Epcot was his FAVORITE....go figure :thewave:
His favorite place were the hands on things (two buildings...can't recall the name of the place)...spent HOURS there.
The countries have a KIDCOT station at each one where the kids get to color a tag to put on their mask...if you get the tags from each country, you get a prize...he was also facinated by the employees talking in their own language...

We also bought the epcot passport which was a good $10 purchase. There are stickers for each country and at the kidcot station we had the person stamp the book and write a message in their lanuage (the stickers were the best part for him)

GOOD LUCK

 

[henrylovespooh]

I love EPCOT (mainly the World Showcase) so I am a little biased.

At 2, my son loved to make the masks at the Kid Posts in the World Showcase and he liked the ride where you ride up into the sphere. He really liked the Revoluntionary War-era band at the US pavillion and the man playing the accordion in Germany. There are also drum players in Japan and other entertainers throughout the park. We liked that the bus of characters went through the World Showcase and the kids got to see more characters than in MK with smaller lines. Also, in the England Pavillion we saw the Winnie the Pooh characters, which was nice. The Brother Bear characters were in the Canada pavillion. There is a little train set along the World Showcase that my son watched for about 15 minutes.

It is very relaxing to walk around the World Showcase and have a snack here and there. My kids enjoyed that. We are going next month (son is 3 1/2 and daughter is 2) and definitely plan to go there again.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

:thewave::thewave:
Here's another vote for Epcot! My boys love it!

 

[sters]

Hello, taking the family in August and we want to visit all of the parks but I'm wondering if our son will get bored with Epcot. There doesnt seem like there is much of anything that he can do there. Has anybody skipped Epcot with their young child?

Depends on your kids, of course. When I took my 18 month old (scardy cat), Epcot was his favorite park and it has continued to be a favorite, rivaling only the Magic Kingdom. There are now two playgrounds, one inside at the exit of Mission Space along the order of McDonalds/Chuck E Cheese, only with a space theme and way better. The other is a very cool boat outside of the Norway pavillion. They also loved the squirting water play areas and managed to get themselves thorughly soaked. THe Imagination pavillion, along with the play area at the conclusion of the ride, was a must see and must-do-often on our last trip, as was Spaceship Earth... although my youngest on that trip was 3 years old. There are two character meals... one with Mickey/Chip n Dale at the Land pavillion restaurant, which is an interesting restaurant as it slowly spins. And then there is the princess one in Noway which is also very nice. What's that place with the many yucky soda samples... something "cool?" THat was a lot of fun, too!!! In Germany there is an extensive minature train exhibit that the kids adored. My kids were very VERY amused by the street performers in Great Britain... they were very silly and fun. And Illuminations was a hit, as long as your kids aren't frightened by the noise of fireworks. The many shows in the countries can be enjoyed by parents while their kids nap in their strollers, something that cannot be said for other theme parks. And, depending again on the interests of your kids, might also be enjoyed by the kids. My middle son was FASCINATED to the point of fixation by the drums in CHina. And the living statue? What a HOOT! We have some great video of my son's interaction with the statue. There is also the kidcot stations, where they can make a mask and stamp their passports, which is pretty cool for them as well. As well as miscellaneous characters roaming about. Go!

 

[aaronlisar]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that he will be two when we go. Thanks for the replies.

 

[IWANNAGOBACK!]

My two are 8yoDD and 4yoDS and it is their favorite park. Between Innoventions and the Kidstops at each country, and the toy train setup by Germany (my 4yo will stand there and watch them for hours!) And they both love Test Track too! So I feel EPCOT is great, it's my favorite park myself!

 

[alacazander]

Last year my son was 2 1/2 and he loved it! Future and world show case. I wouldn't skip it. You'll enjoy it and so will he! Go!

 

[MarkLem]

We would never think of skipping Epcot with our 9, 7, 3 year olds. They all enjoy it as much as any other park. It doesn't have the plethora of kiddie rides that MK has, but there is as much to do there as any other parks.

 

[lclark0621]

We are taking our DS (21 months) to Epcot in April.

There is a lot for kids to do there. I know my DS is going to love the Living Seas (big fish buff...LOL), Journey into Imagination, Spaceship Earth, etc.

Plus my DS loves looking in stores & seeing people.

Make it fun, get them interested in the people you see, sing songs as you walk around World Showcase, etc.

The CMs in Epcot are usually always great with kids. They also have different craft stuff set up in each country for kids.

Our friends' boys are 4 & 6 (3 & 5 last time they were there) & they love Epcot to.

 

[DisneyPhD]

It really depends on how much time you have, if you are going for a week DO IT. I would never skip Epcot and our next trip we are staying at BCV and plan to be at Epcot a bit (we will have 2 preschoolers, just a month shy of 4 and 2 babies in our group.)

As many people mentioned, there is a lot of fun stuff for kids, but no "big ticket" atractions for kid. This makes for a laid back relaxed kind of day, just expolreing and seeing what you find.

Don't miss the living seas, it is great for that age and they have a new little known attraction called "turtle Talk with Crush" from Nemo. It is a "must sea" pun intened!

Garden Grill at the land is currenlty closed (CM dinner that is great.) This will be the 1st trip we don't go there.

One rather good point is if you start skipping Epcot at this age it might be harder to get them to go when the are older and have more of their own ideas. This sets them up to see that there is all kinds of fun at WDW, not just MK.

We went last year with the same group (but the kids were almost 3 instead of 4) and we felt we didn't spend enough time at Epcot.

There really is alot to do there.

 

[Bellefan66]

Everyone is different. My kids were 15,12 and 5 and they liked it the least of the parks. Hubby and I LOVED it. The kids couldn't wait to get back to MGM and MK.
We are planning a trip in 2006 and I'm hoping to spend one night w/ my sister and her hubby and me and my hubby and NO kids. Just taking it all in and enjoying some great food and drinks with no one begging to go ride a ride.

 

[WDW LOVR]

I think the earlier you get your kids started going to Epcot and the more time you spend there interacting with the CMs from the different countries the more your kids will like it.

When our boys were young they thought Epcot was just Ok. They liked going there, but would get bored after about half a day. Now that they're older Epcot is their favorite park.