Landing at 12:30. How long will we have in Epcot?

[maryj11]

I’m trying to decide if we should go to Epcot on arrival day mid June. Is it even worth getting a ticket for that day? We are only having 4 whole days. We just went in December, so it’s not that important to do everything at Epcot. We are going another day to Epcot and skipping AK this trip. Our flight lands at 12:30. There will be 2 adults and are staying at Pop.
If we do go to Epcot what’s your guess on how long we will have in the park with a closing of 9:00?

 

[sponica]

My personal rule of thumb is if I'm landing before noon or 1, I usually add the extra day. I think going from a 4 day to a 5 day is about 30 bucks a ticket, so I'd probably add the extra day.

 

[DisneyFive]

I normally budget 2.5 hours from landing to being in a park.

After landing:
Pick up bags
Secure transportation and travel to resort
Check in at resort, drop off bags
Travel to park

I’m guessing you could be there by 3pm and have 6 hours of park time. Personally that’s enough park time for us to go.

Dan

 

[CynBeth]

Be mindful there could be a flight delay.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

I'd probably add the extra day. You probably won't actually get there until 3ish, depending on where you're staying. If you're staying somewhere with easy Epcot access (particularly any of the Crescent Lake resorts) you'll be able to really maximize your time in park. That said Epcot closes the latest so you'd still get 6ish or maybe more hours of park time. I'd go for it.

 

[snikki]

I would add the day. If I were traveling with small kids I would not go to the park on arrival. But with two adults I would definitely go for it.

 

[k5xs]

How much time you will have in a park depends on how fast you can scoot through the airport, on whether you are just using carry-on luggage (encouraged), on what ground transportation you plan to use, on what day of the week you are arriving (weekday traffic can be bad even mid-day, especially on Fridays), and on how fast you can move at your resort to stow your bags with bell services and hop on the bus/SkyLiner/monorail/boat.

I would definitely do the extra day. As Sponica points out, the marginal cost of adding one day is minimal. Besides, we LOVE the excitement of first-day in the park!

 

[gregskellington]

With flights how they've been, I'm not personally adding those extra days for arrival this year. That arrival time is one I normally would have bought a ticket for, though.

 

[LeeLee'sMom]

I do the extra day, especially with the skyliner from POP to EPCOT, very efficient and you will have easily 6 hours of park time.

 

[sponica]

You could always add the day on the fly, see where you are when you land? It's not like Epcot generally "sells out" of park reservations.

 

[DisneyFive]

You could always add the day on the fly, see where you are when you land? It's not like Epcot generally "sells out" of park reservations.

Well now you need to set a date of when you are going to start using your tickets. Prior to their trip, If they don't include the Epcot day, could they still add a ticket to the day before they have their first park reservation?

 

[maryj11]

I normally budget 2.5 hours from landing to being in a park.

After landing:
Pick up bags
Secure transportation and travel to resort
Check in at resort, drop off bags
Travel to park

I’m guessing you could be there by 3pm and have 6 hours of park time. Personally that’s enough park time for us to go.

Dan

Yes 6 is plenty.

 

[maryj11]

How much time you will have in a park depends on how fast you can scoot through the airport, on whether you are just using carry-on luggage (encouraged), on what ground transportation you plan to use, on what day of the week you are arriving (weekday traffic can be bad even mid-day, especially on Fridays), and on how fast you can move at your resort to stow your bags with bell services and hop on the bus/SkyLiner/monorail/boat.

I would definitely do the extra day. As Sponica points out, the marginal cost of adding one day is minimal. Besides, we LOVE the excitement of first-day in the park!

We are arriving on a Monday with carry on bags only. I’m not sure what transportation we are using yet, but we are not renting a car.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Personally, I'd wait and add the day once there if you decide to go. There's no extra cost to add it once there and takes the pressure off.

Personally with 6 hours (expected) I'd go but would wait until we arrived and actually went to the park to add the extra day. You can add it anytime from the first day you use your ticket until park close the final day of your ticket.

 

[sponica]

Well now you need to set a date of when you are going to start using your tickets. Prior to their trip, If they don't include the Epcot day, could they still add a ticket to the day before they have their first park reservation?

I know when the tickets are packaged they are linked to the reservation length of stay. I'm not sure if the tickets are bought separately what happens.

 

[WEDWDW]

The super fast convenience of flying to and from Epcot via Disney Skyliner seals the deal.

To extend your Epcot time, you could get in line for Ratatouille at 8:59.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Be mindful there could be a flight delay.

Or a flight cancellation, or unruly passengers get you landed in BFE with a three hour re-clean for not following the mandates, or the bus\Uber breaks down on the interstate. We never park day on arrival day that late. Too many unknowns.

 

[Brian Noble]

I usually plan to pop into a park on arrival day, but I don't plan to do anything in particular while I am there. Epcot works really well for this. Future World tends to clear out in the afternoon, and there's usually a live entertainment offering or two worth seeing, at least that as true in the Before Times. Plus, during Festival season (which these days is pretty much year-round) it's easy to nosh on a few things from a kisok here or there. We don't stay all the way to the fireworks, because the travel day can be a little bit draining and we want to be refreshed for the next day.

Our trips are long enough that the extra day is not that much more money. I don't worry too much about it, and figure if I need to save money on the trip I can do it in other places.

 

[maryj11]

Personally, I'd wait and add the day once there if you decide to go. There's no extra cost to add it once there and takes the pressure off.

Personally with 6 hours (expected) I'd go but would wait until we arrived and actually went to the park to add the extra day. You can add it anytime from the first day you use your ticket until park close the final day of your ticket.

Yes good idea except with not having the ticket ahead of time we wouldn’t be able to get genie+ for Remy. My granddaughters favorite.

 

[maryj11]

I usually plan to pop into a park on arrival day, but I don't plan to do anything in particular while I am there. Epcot works really well for this. Future World tends to clear out in the afternoon, and there's usually a live entertainment offering or two worth seeing, at least that as true in the Before Times. Plus, during Festival season (which these days is pretty much year-round) it's easy to nosh on a few things from a kisok here or there. We don't stay all the way to the fireworks, because the travel day can be a little bit draining and we want to be refreshed for the next day.

Our trips are long enough that the extra day is not that much more money. I don't worry too much about it, and figure if I need to save money on the trip I can do it in other places.

The price would be 38.50 each adult. Our main reason to go on arrival would be to eat at our favorite restaurant, check out flower and garden and ride just a couple of our favorite rides. We can do genie + rides while at home since we will have a park ticket and reservations? That would be the one reason to have the park ticket ahead of time.