Is Epcot your "Half Day" Park Now?

[okilydokily]

I like Epcot, but it has always been my least favorite park. FW looks old and tired, and has been that way for 10 plus years, it is well maintained though and that helps, so glad they are doing the upgrades though. The entryway is going to be great, it was just a terrible entrance before, not inspiring like the other parks. The ride offerings are good, just not thrilling. Test track could be a thrill to some, but to me is so boring. I have owned a convertible. I have driven on the freeway over 70 MPH. That is much more exciting than the ride. It doesn't even feel like a car ride. Now that stitch is gone from MK, TT is my least favorite attraction. Too bad my kid loves it so much. SE is awesome though, will be sad to see it down for so long. With inoventions pretty well gone, there is so much less to see and do in the front of the park. I can't see spending much time there.

The WS is nice, but all the stores are just stores, they look the same and have the basically the same merchandise they had 10 years ago. I have never been gaga about Disney food either. It's okay, but if it wasn't for the location, I can't think of one restaurant that would survive if it wasn't in Disney, they just are not as good as people rave about (I have never been to V&A). Drinking is fun, but expensive. I like to stroll and people watch, but that gets too much when the park is busy.

 

[Moliphino]

Nope, we still spend the most time in Epcot. Though now that Illuminations is gone I may not feel the need to be there so many nights.

 

[goofyintoronto]

No, DHS is still my half-day park. I'm not into Star Wars, and since the Great Movie Ride closed, there isn't a lot in this park that interests me. I do like to stop by for a meal at Sci Fi and a ride on TSMM, so a half-day is about right.

Same here! I am not a fan of HS. I too only go for Toy Story Land and SciFi. Sometimes i'll shake it up and eat at 50's. But SciFi is my true love. But HS is definitely half day park for me.

 

[tguz]

None of the parks are half days for us. However, Epcot with kids and without kids changes for us. We went in 2017 with my 9 year old son and we did 1 day at Epcot, in 2018 my now Fiancee and I went alone and we were at Epcot a solid 2 full days, in 2019 we went with my now 11 year old son and were back to 1 day. We really enjoy the world showcase and spend time looking around and watching the band and the mariachi band. When we take my son, we kind of skim through the showcase and really just eat there, usually in Morocco. We did set our personal record at Soarin by riding it 6 times this trip.

 

[Retro Magic]

I don't have any half day parks. Honestly, I could spend a week in one park and still not have enough lol.

For so many Animal Kingdom is considered a half-day, but for me? I can spend a full day just taking in ALL the details or just sitting and relaxing by the yak and yeti water feature. The atmosphere is everything for me.

 

[tlmadden73]

Yes and no. I have this as my skippable park every trip, mainly because I have been going with small kids. The good rides have height requirements and the distance between attractions (stroller or not) is just tremendous. When we go .. we spend a full day there, but leave at dinner having done most of the kid-friendly things without boring them through World Showcase. I dont see that improving until all this construction is done. Ratatouille and the new sing along will help the families with small kids to move into the World Showcase -- so that should help make it a fuller day for some.

 

[kiford]

We've hardly ever spent any time in Future World for years other than to go into Mouse Gears. So it will have virtually no impact on our visit next month. We typically spend at least two days at Epcot just going through World Showcase along with some of the attractions plus whatever time we might spend at a festival and/or eating.

 

[Bradster1067]

We love Epcot, we spend the whole Morning in Future World doing rides then spend Lunch onwards going around World Showcase. We always spend the whole day there without feeling like we want to leave.

 

[sethschroeder]

It can't get renovated fast enough for us!

Nothing has changed

If you dont like Epoct? That's fine. If you don't want to deal with World Showcase? Great I see your point. There is a half day park in the making.

What I don't understand is that nothing has really closed at Epcot recently. Ellen? Sure that was a loss. Canada video is also under refurb right now but I doubt many were doing it every trip (same with France when that goes down). On the flip side we are actually gaining things at Epcot more so than losing.

Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along similar to the Frozen one in HS (Jan)
Canada/France will have new movies (Jan)
Remy’s Ratatouille (next Summer)

All the while Test Track will be down for 7 weeks in Jan/Feb and Spaceship Earth will go down sometime for extended refurb. Meaning you will exchange the new Beauty and the Beast for Test Track being down. Followed by Test Track coming back online. Followed by likely an exchange of Spaceship going down with Ratatouille coming online. So by July you have TT and gained BB + Rat for just Spaceship being down.

You are net equal or net positive in rides/attractions unless I am missing something.

Just editing to add: I agree it will be nice to have all the extra stuff and changes once the whole transformation is done.

 

[DadofChristaSonofRay]

Magic Kingdom always gets 2 full days when we visit. Most visits the other parks are about 3/4th day each. When the new attractions are done in Epcot and Studios they will become full day parks again for us, AK is about two more attractions from being a full day park IMHO.

 

[monkyby87]

Nothing has changed

If you dont like Epoct? That's fine. If you don't want to deal with World Showcase? Great I see your point. There is a half day park in the making.

What I don't understand is that nothing has really closed at Epcot recently. Ellen? Sure that was a loss. Canada video is also under refurb right now but I doubt many were doing it every trip (same with France when that goes down). On the flip side we are actually gaining things at Epcot more so than losing.

Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along similar to the Frozen one in HS (Jan)
Canada/France will have new movies (Jan)
Remy’s Ratatouille (next Summer)

All the while Test Track will be down for 7 weeks in Jan/Feb and Spaceship Earth will go down sometime for extended refurb. Meaning you will exchange the new Beauty and the Beast for Test Track being down. Followed by Test Track coming back online. Followed by likely an exchange of Spaceship going down with Ratatouille coming online. So by July you have TT and gained BB + Rat for just Spaceship being down.

You are net equal or net positive in rides/attractions unless I am missing something.

Just editing to add: I agree it will be nice to have all the extra stuff and changes once the whole transformation is done.

This is what I basically said earlier in the topic; while there's construction at the front entrance, no actual attractions or things to do have changed. Club Cool, but that's not anything. All of the rides and experiences are pretty much there aside from the very few you mentioned. If Epcot is a half-day park for people now, it probably always has been then.

 

[sethschroeder]

This is what I basically said earlier in the topic; while there's construction at the front entrance, no actual attractions or things to do have changed. Club Cool, but that's not anything. All of the rides and experiences are pretty much there aside from the very few you mentioned. If Epcot is a half-day park for people now, it probably always has been then.

Just shows you how much wasted space was in the park (that you still had to walk through) if they can close half the park and not impact anything.

 

[JARNJ3]

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.

I know! I am planning on going in January well & I saw the TT "out of order" notice - and thought - geez, is it really worth going into Epcot?

I have read the very interesting replies in this thread - it is exemplary of different strokes for different folks! I see World Showcase literally as a shopping mall & restaurants. I can skip that completely - as alas, I have become a lazy online shopper. If I had to pay by the park - I would hesitate to pay full price for Epcot. It is nice to have a hopper or AP to hop in for dinners.

But I find I am relatively bored there. This could be because I usually go in July, where we're either baking in an oven or participating in a shower with thousands of our closest friends . The walking is intense. And the shade is limited. And its boring..... Did I mention that? lol

I could easily spend a complete full day - open to close in one park only - MK. Maybe DHS (It helps that I anticipate loving Galaxy's Edge).

My 1/2 day definition is from opening to lunch.

My full day definition is opening to dinner.

Obviously a complete full day is open to close (which I rarely do any more - as part of my vacation is enjoying my resort).

 

[JARNJ3]

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.

This 1000% this!!!

And you are spot on with the Test Track description. The first time I rode it, it was cool. Now it is Boring, with a capital B. Only thing interesting about it, is looking to see who won the car stuff. I don't even make the car - the kids do

 

[JARNJ3]

This is what I basically said earlier in the topic; while there's construction at the front entrance, no actual attractions or things to do have changed. Club Cool, but that's not anything. All of the rides and experiences are pretty much there aside from the very few you mentioned. If Epcot is a half-day park for people now, it probably always has been then.

It used to have many more attractions. Wonders of Life, World of Motion, Horizons etc. It was a full day park for me then - the good ol' days. It's been a half day park for us for a while - but when I read that TT was going to be down, it spurred me to think that is going to be even worse.

So yeah - when all the renovations are said & done, hopefully, I'll want to spend more time there.

 

[Katie1174]

I love reading everyones different park style. As for my husband and I we could spend all day at most of the parks since we love many things about all of them, but since we get hoppers we do our fast-passes in the morning and then jump to another park for the afternoon or evening or even a third park so we dont usually spend the entire day in any park. But if we did, we love Epcot but mainly because we really enjoy eating in WS and I love going in and out of the shops and riding Soarin, so we run over there multiple times so we can see it all at a non rushed pace so it could easily be a whole day park. Our favorite park is AK right now and we could definitely spend all day there with the rides, shows, animal trails and Nomad lounge. MK could also easily be a full day for us with the rides and shops and HS I would be hard pressed to spend the whole day there. We do love ToT, SDD, TSMM and Rock n Roller coaster and even the outdoor lounge at HBD, but that doesn't take all day (At least it didnt since the tiers were different last May than they are now.)

 

[Louie7080]

Epcot is still a full day plus park for me when I go 5 or 6 days. I will still spend more time there than any other park, it's been my favorite for awhile and still is despite the walls and closures.

 

[PleasejointheFarque]

We love EPCOT, and do it in small chunks over 2 weeks, we are lucky to have that luxury, so we come in, do a few rides, eat, sit and people watch and then do it over again a few days later.
The only thing we avoid is the weekends as it is nuts.
Will be interesting to see how many new things at EPCOT we can find next September.

 

[jarestel]

We typically skip EPCOT altogether and have for years, so it's not even a half day park for us. But I am hoping this will change after the renovations are complete.

 

[kathy884]

Well I guess so. After skipping that park for decades we went last January and were there from 11:00 a.m. till 6:00 p.m. We had a lovely time. It was a last minute trip, planned the day before, and we got a 5 p.m. fastpass for test track. There were no other fastpasses available for anything we were interested in. We went to the Frozen attractions, then had a nice leisurely time going thru the various Pavilions, timing it perfectly for our fastpass. After than we waited in a pretty long, almost 45 minute standby line for Soarin. We love that ride, but actually preferred the previous film more (still totally worth doing to us). Then we headed back to our hotel. We were on a multiday trip with lots of theme parks, so wanted to pace ourselves anyway and seven hours at Epcot with a leisurely morning and a leisurely evening at our resort was perfect for us.

DS who is 24 who previously was not an Epcot fan is moving this up to be his second favorite Disney park behind the MK. To my surprise he really had fun touring the Pavilions.

Maybe I'm getting old, but a park that you want to spend about seven hours at sounds great to me. And at Disney, that actually sounds like a 1/2 day.