Our last family trip was in Dec 2018, so I thought I would share a few observations from our trip this past week. During the week, crowds were very low and expectedly higher on the weekend but still manageable with fastpass.
The biggest difference I noticed was watching HEA and fireworks. The last few times we have been this process seems to have changed everytime. There are now new areas of taped out "walkways" that we use to watch HEA from. We did not secure a spot to watch the show ahead of time, and once it started cast members would not allow us in any of the areas we normally use as they are now "walkways" only. This left us behind trees, umbrellas, etc. We were simply unable to find a standing spot for 4 people where we could see the castle projections, so we elected to leave and beat the crowds out of the park. Im not complaining at all, as we should have set out a spot 30 min-1hr early. However this is a very notable change. Many of the older maps "best fireworks viewing locations" are no longer relevant if not updated for these "walkway" areas.
Epcot is a mess with lots of construction walls, no way around it. We followed the crowd out of the park exit without paying good attention to all of the changes and found ourselves near the bus/monorail and had to go BACK THROUGH security just to exit via the parking lot. That being said, you can still have a very enjoyable time in Epcot, just be mindful it is under heavy construction and there are lots of traffic changes and starbucks is closed (worth mentioning I think).
We took advantage of EMH on one day to visit HS and Toy Story Land and Smugglers Run (single rider) were all walk on for 3 hours straight. Watching the sun come up in the park was definitely worth the experience and I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity if you can as it is unlikely to happen again. We arrived at the park at 6am, and to our surprise they were not charging for parking at that hour! Not sure if that is ongoing or not but we were surprised by it.
Hope that helps someone with their planning
The biggest difference I noticed was watching HEA and fireworks. The last few times we have been this process seems to have changed everytime. There are now new areas of taped out "walkways" that we use to watch HEA from. We did not secure a spot to watch the show ahead of time, and once it started cast members would not allow us in any of the areas we normally use as they are now "walkways" only. This left us behind trees, umbrellas, etc. We were simply unable to find a standing spot for 4 people where we could see the castle projections, so we elected to leave and beat the crowds out of the park. Im not complaining at all, as we should have set out a spot 30 min-1hr early. However this is a very notable change. Many of the older maps "best fireworks viewing locations" are no longer relevant if not updated for these "walkway" areas.
Epcot is a mess with lots of construction walls, no way around it. We followed the crowd out of the park exit without paying good attention to all of the changes and found ourselves near the bus/monorail and had to go BACK THROUGH security just to exit via the parking lot. That being said, you can still have a very enjoyable time in Epcot, just be mindful it is under heavy construction and there are lots of traffic changes and starbucks is closed (worth mentioning I think).
We took advantage of EMH on one day to visit HS and Toy Story Land and Smugglers Run (single rider) were all walk on for 3 hours straight. Watching the sun come up in the park was definitely worth the experience and I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity if you can as it is unlikely to happen again. We arrived at the park at 6am, and to our surprise they were not charging for parking at that hour! Not sure if that is ongoing or not but we were surprised by it.
Hope that helps someone with their planning
