Is Epcot your "Half Day" Park Now?

[dreynolds1982]

Not in the slightest. I could spend all day just wandering around WS alone! Exploring all of the shops, back alleys (Canada/Morocco), etc. I mean if you're going just for rides, yeah they don't have a ton to offer, but Epcot is probably my favorite park overall and certainly worth a full day for me.

 

[sharadoc]

Taking the opposite opinion here. Disney is not rides to me, it's all the experiences. On our next trip, we have 4 days scheduled in Epcot (with breaks) so we can do everything. Nothing much is different, just having to walk past walls at Epcot.

 

[MrsDuck]

EPCOT is most definitely our half day park. DHS can be too. Never MK or AK!

 

[raraavis]

Ours used to be Animal Kingdom. Kind of still is - but I'd argue its more of a 3/4 day park for us.

I'm thinking it has to be Epcot for a while....... It only has 3 "rides" we go on - Test Track, Soarin' & Spaceship Earth. The rest we use Epcot for is dining.

It can't get renovated fast enough for us!

And TT will be down for renovations in January and February 2020, so you only have 2 rides you're interested in if you're going during that time (we are).

I love Epcot; it's really close to being my favorite park. I don't go to Epcot for the rides; I go for World Showcase. I prefer to go when there aren't any festivals either. That being said, I am not sure how we'll tour Epcot on our next trip in Feb 2020 because we'll have my almost 5 year old with us. I've never toured it with a kid. All the things I love about Epcot would be very boring for a 5 year. We're still going to go of course, but it might be a half day park for us just this time.

 

[Claire82013]

For me, EPCOT is not a half day park. My next trip will be all adults, and we spend on planning half a day just eating and drinking around World Showcase. If you only want to do Future World, it's probably only half a day at most, but if you have any adults in your group who like to snack or drink, spending time in World Showcase is a must do. AK is about 3/4 a day for us on the next trip because I'm going with someone who doesn't care for animals, meaning we can skip basically all of the trails.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Since I've never taken my time around World Showcase and I'm doing a ton of Star Wars GE stuff, it's actually Animal Kingdom taking the hit on this vacation. And I could easily make it a full day park. But I want to enjoy the Festival of the Holidays at EPCOT as well as really & truly take in World Showcase, so I have 1.5 days there (first day is AK then hop to EPCOT).

But after my foray into DHS for so many days I'll make it up on the next trip. Even with Star Wars (which I am a fan), I feel it's easier to "walk away" from DHS than AK, if that makes sense.

 

[Brewerfan101]

We just got back (Sept 20 - 27), and I'd say for me none would be 1/2 day, but that really can depend on what you want to experience.
At AK, you've got FOP, Safari, Rapids, Everest, Dinosaur, + all the Shows (which we didn't even see), not to mention the Tiger and Gorilla walks. And the Architecture in the Areas of Africa and Asia, down to Wires hanging out of electrical boxes is wonderful.

HS offers 3 rides in TSL, Millennium Falcon, Star Tours, ToT and RnRC, + a show or 2.

MK definitely not a 1/2 day.

Epcot, I love the WS, and with Int'l Food and Wine we could have spent so much time (and money, ha ha) just strolling and people watching. My regret is we didn't take as much time to just "stroll".

It really depends on whether you are just going to do Rides, and/or experience more than just that. Admittedly, I find it's difficult to not do Rides, slow down and just take time to enjoy some of the simple things. For example, I really enjoyed early a.m. at MK just having a Starbucks coffee and sitting at Casey's at an outdoor table listening to songs like "The Trolley Song" (from Meet Me in St Louis). I'd love to go during Christmas Decor, and just "soak" in the atmosphere (well, and do some Rides Too).

My goal is to just SLOW Down and Enjoy, Plus, I'm getting too Old to enjoy the Rides I use to ride back to back, i.e. Expedition Everest.

 

[disneyseniors]

Epcot has always been a half day park for us. We love SE, Soarin, LWTL, Nemo, and I love to shop in Mouse Gear. I always find what I am looking for there. WS never held interest for us, except for the wonderful restaurants there. It seems like a big shopping mall to us. Isn't it wonderful that we all don't care for the same things all the time?
HS has never been a half day park for us. When the Osborn Lights were going on, we went to HS twice a day for a couple of days, just to see those beautiful lights. We love the atmosphere there. TOT, IMO, is one of the best attractions at WDW.

 

[Lovetherodent]

AK was our half day park. If you go at RD and don't head for Pandora, you can get a lot done quickly! Once Pandora opened and the herds thinned a bit, we started going back after dark for an hour or two just to see Pandora at night. We don't really do the rides as simulators make 2 of us sick and 1 of us just can't see 3D effects for some reason. Might be a byproduct of her lazy eye or lasik...who knows?

HS was a half day park because we find the shows...underwhelming. Love the rides and the atmosphere, though. I've only got a half day planned on our next trip, but we might hit it a second time on arrival day.

Epcot is our favorite. Even with the construction, it won't be a half day for us. We'll hit it several times on the next trip. I'm hoping SE will still be functional when we go in March (but I doubt it), and it's possible we take a break from WDW until it's open again.

 

[Rob Montagnese]

Half day at Epcot except during the Christmas holiday.

 

[Oneanne]

EPCOT is my half day everyday park... I usually spend my evenings there. DHS has long been my half day park, but with GE now open I'm sure I'll spend more time there.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Admittedly, I find it's difficult to not do Rides, slow down and just take time to enjoy some of the simple things. For example, I really enjoyed early a.m. at MK just having a Starbucks coffee and sitting at Casey's at an outdoor table listening to songs like "The Trolley Song" (from Meet Me in St Louis). I'd love to go during Christmas Decor, and just "soak" in the atmosphere (well, and do some Rides Too).

My goal is to just SLOW Down and Enjoy, Plus, I'm getting too Old to enjoy the Rides I use to ride back to back, i.e. Expedition Everest.

This is one of the things I appreciated about the streetmosphere entertainment they've been cutting back. Wandering into the band in AK (gone), the Muppets show at MK (gone), drummers at Japan (cut back), etc. really helped to slow things down and take the stress off inherent in a WDW trip.

 

[MomOTwins]

If you just want rides, then Epcot (currently) is really not a full day park, but it definitely is for us. We do the rides in the morning but then explore world showcase. We never run out of things to do or see. I love seeing the circlevision videos, buying a treat at one of the bakeries or ice cream shops, exploring the shops and the lands. My kids never get bored either. They will spend an hour just watching the Germany train village or running around in the maze in England. And we love riding the Mexico boat ride with no wait over and over. We also do midday breaks though, so a full day for us is not rope drop to close.

AK has become a full day park for us despite the fact that I don't want it to be. It is always uncomfortably hot there and I don't find it nearly as interesting as MK or Epcot, but now with Pandora we are usually stuck there all day waiting for an evening fastpass.

HS has always been my half day park . I HATE that everywhere you look it is just concrete. No shady paths or interesting landscaping, just buildings and streets. We would go in the afternoon, ride ToT, Star Tours, and one of the toy story land rides (I don't really like the shows), and then watch Fantasmic, and that's it. Star Wars land will very likely make it a full day park for us, since it has more of the Epcot-like wandering and exploring.

 

[Brewerfan101]

HS has always been my half day park . I HATE that everywhere you look it is just concrete. No shady paths or interesting landscaping, just buildings and streets. We would go in the afternoon, ride ToT, Star Tours, and one of the toy story land rides (I don't really like the shows), and then watch Fantasmic, and that's it. Star Wars land will very likely make it a full day park for us, since it has more of the Epcot-like wandering and exploring.

I Agree, HS overall is not very visually interesting. But at least Galaxy's Edge and TSL (albeit not shady) have some visual interest. Visually, I Love AK, Epcot (WS), and Main Street at MK, as well as Frontierland and Liberty Square.

 

[chimoe]

I have to say AK was our 1/2 day park last year and will also be this year when we go.

HS I feel could be a 1/2 day park If you don’t do any shows. But that will not be the case with the new additions between now and next year.


At the end of the day long term the only park truly lacking in investment is AK. Besides pandora Addition years ago there is nothing in the pipeline for this park.

 

[only hope]

I find Epcot to be pretty boring now. There’s a few things I like but thw things I liked most are all gone. Norway ride (I dislike Frozen), band in America, an interesting Test Track that isn’t just black paint everywhere, a live guide on Living with the Land, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, the design your own track simulator, and a Soarin that was mostly real photography and not distorted. And now my favorite film (Canada) is gone too, as well as the dancing fountain. I only go now for special events, and even then it’s usually a half day. Overpriced food whether sit down or booths is not a draw for me.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We don’t have any half-day parks. AK and DHS are full day parks. MK and Epcot are both multi day parks for us.

we take our time and enjoy ‘extras’, not just the rides. Disney is so much more than just rides to us. My 10yo has taught me to slow down and enjoy things like scavenger hunts, shows, architecture, fountains, streetsmospgere and more!! We also enjoy exploring the resorts when we’re there for dining.

 

[teachmedis]

Epcot and AK are the parks we spend the least time in. We always take a midday break, and the go back in the evening but Epcot and Ak are the two we'll basically leave after dinner, even after taking a midday break. This year I'll try to see the night time shows. Unless it's still Epcot Forever when we get there, then maybe not.

 

[rflorek]

We have 2 days planned there due to the F&WF, but without that, I still take at least a day to walk around and enjoy. HS & AK used to be my half day parks, but with all of the changes, not anymore.

 

[igrsod]

None of the parks have been, or probably will be 1/2 day parks for me. I especially have never understood AK, that's always the first park I spend 2 days at. There's still waaaay more than enough for me for a full day in each park.

We always do 2 full days in each park on each of our vacations. We just love all the details in all the parks. We do the rides, we eat the food, we see the shows, we stop to see the things that just pop up during the day, we shop in the stores. We just take our time and enjoy our day... no rushing...
Some of our favourite memories have been things we've just fell into along the way, just hanging out in the parks.
Everyone has their own style of touring Disney. We go at about once a year, so to us we love to see the changes, while we fill our hearts with the comfort of our home. That works for us.