Please help me with Epcot strategy

[brentm77]

My wife and I are traveling to Epcot in early December for a quick getaway (with a day at Animal Kingdom and an evening at the Christmas Party). We don't plan to ride many rides at Epcot, as we have done everything except for Guardians and are just going for the atmosphere, Candlelight Processional, and food. We do have Genie+ added to our tickets (bought them early in the year), so we figure we can use it for the few rides we want to ride.

But I have a couple of items we want to do for sure, in this order:
1) Ride Guardians (I don't care if we have to pay for LL or use virtual queue, getting on is priority number 1)
2) Get a Genie+ reservation for Frozen.

We did Remy twice on our last visit, so it isn't really on our radar as important. But my wife loves the Frozen ride.

If buying a LL is not a big deal for me, do I go straight to that before trying VQ. Or am I pretty much guaranteed it won't sell out of LL in the few seconds it will take to find out if we get a VQ? Am I correct that VQ and LL both are made available at 7:00 AM still?

How quickly does Genie+ for frozen go? If I move straight to that right after we get either a VQ or LL for guardians, will there still be availability for the day?

Any other tips for making sure my app is running and ready to go? I've don't VQ in the past, but it's been a year.

Also - we didn't start visiting WDW until the last few years and it seems like we miss stuff at Epcot every time. If there are any cool nooks or shops you like that most people miss, we would love to hear them. This visit is all about exploring the park for us.

Thanks!

 

[Tom_E_D]

My wife and I are traveling to Epcot in early December for a quick getaway (with a day at Animal Kingdom and an evening at the Christmas Party). We don't plan to ride many rides at Epcot, as we have done everything except for Guardians and are just going for the atmosphere, Candlelight Processional, and food. We do have Genie+ added to our tickets (bought them early in the year), so we figure we can use it for the few rides we want to ride.

But I have a couple of items we want to do for sure, in this order:
1) Ride Guardians (I don't care if we have to pay for LL or use virtual queue, getting on is priority number 1)
2) Get a Genie+ reservation for Frozen.

We did Remy twice on our last visit, so it isn't really on our radar as important. But my wife loves the Frozen ride.

If buying a LL is not a big deal for me, do I go straight to that before trying VQ. Or am I pretty much guaranteed it won't sell out of LL in the few seconds it will take to find out if we get a VQ? Am I correct that VQ and LL both are made available at 7:00 AM still?

How quickly does Genie+ for frozen go? If I move straight to that right after we get either a VQ or LL for guardians, will there still be availability for the day?

Any other tips for making sure my app is running and ready to go? I've don't VQ in the past, but it's been a year.

Also - we didn't start visiting WDW until the last few years and it seems like we miss stuff at Epcot every time. If there are any cool nooks or shops you like that most people miss, we would love to hear them. This visit is all about exploring the park for us.

Thanks!

ILLs for Guardians have almost always lasted past 8:30, even during Thanksgiving week. You shouldn't have any problem getting one right after missing out on a Virtual Queue boarding group. See the fourth graph on this webpage: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/epcot/guardiansofthegalaxycosmicrewind/

Frozen Ever After should likewise be easy to get right after you book your boarding group or ILL for Guardians. It's been lasting past 9:00, usually well past. See this webpage for when that has been selling out: https://www.genieplushelper.com/genie-plus-helper/epcot/

 

[projectx3]

1. Get boarding group for Guardians
2. Buy an ILL for Guardians
3. Get a Frozen LL.

Yes, you'll want to ride Guardians twice. The boarding groups go VERY fast, so that is priority number 1. After that, while the ILL and a Frozen LL will be completely distributed early, you have some wiggle room.

 

[brentm77]

ILLs for Guardians have almost always lasted past 8:30, even during Thanksgiving week. You shouldn't have any problem getting one right after missing out on a Virtual Queue boarding group. See the fourth graph on this webpage: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/epcot/guardiansofthegalaxycosmicrewind/

Frozen Ever After should likewise be easy to get right after you book your boarding group or ILL for Guardians. It's been lasting past 9:00, usually well past. See this webpage for when that has been selling out: https://www.genieplushelper.com/genie-plus-helper/epcot/

That was seriously helpful information that I didn't know existed. Thanks!

1. Get boarding group for Guardians
2. Buy an ILL for Guardians
3. Get a Frozen LL.

Yes, you'll want to ride Guardians twice. The boarding groups go VERY fast, so that is priority number 1. After that, while the ILL and a Frozen LL will be completely distributed early, you have some wiggle room.

Perfect - we will try to ride it twice then (if we are successful with VQ). Thanks!

 

[Figvention]

That was seriously helpful information that I didn't know existed. Thanks!



Perfect - we will try to ride it twice then (if we are successful with VQ). Thanks!

Please let us know, very much in the same boat with my family.

 

[brentm77]

Please let us know, very much in the same boat with my family.

Will do. We will be there the weekend after this one.

 

[RunDisney Matriarch]

It sounds like you've got a fun day ahead of you! With Frozen, if your Genie+ selection winds up being first thing in the morning just be warned that the seats can be very wet (from the pre-open run through splashes). I'd wait until near the end of your return window if you land the first hour -- we learned that from experience.
Here are a few things we have on our Epcot Christmas checklist that you might enjoy: watching the Gospel celebration choir at the front of the World Showcase, eating fire roasted chestnuts (available near Test Track), riding Living with the Land at night to see its Christmas light overlay, trying the Macaron lollipop from the Le Marche De Noel in France, and looking for the Chip and Dale figures in the World Showcase for the Christmas tree spree scavenger hunt.
Have a great time and Merry Christmas!

 

[set88]

It sounds like you've got a fun day ahead of you! With Frozen, if your Genie+ selection winds up being first thing in the morning just be warned that the seats can be very wet (from the pre-open run through splashes). I'd wait until near the end of your return window if you land the first hour -- we learned that from experience.
Here are a few things we have on our Epcot Christmas checklist that you might enjoy: watching the Gospel celebration choir at the front of the World Showcase, eating fire roasted chestnuts (available near Test Track), riding Living with the Land at night to see its Christmas light overlay, trying the Macaron lollipop from the Le Marche De Noel in France, and looking for the Chip and Dale figures in the World Showcase for the Christmas tree spree scavenger hunt.
Have a great time and Merry Christmas!

So funny you should mention the Frozen seats being wet early... we did a rope drop for Frozen and hubby wound up sitting in cold water... he was not pleased and almost swore off riding again! We did ride again in the afternoon and didn't get wet or encounter wet seats. I never thought about that being related to the time we rode it. Good to know for the future.

 

[brentm77]

It sounds like you've got a fun day ahead of you! With Frozen, if your Genie+ selection winds up being first thing in the morning just be warned that the seats can be very wet (from the pre-open run through splashes). I'd wait until near the end of your return window if you land the first hour -- we learned that from experience.
Here are a few things we have on our Epcot Christmas checklist that you might enjoy: watching the Gospel celebration choir at the front of the World Showcase, eating fire roasted chestnuts (available near Test Track), riding Living with the Land at night to see its Christmas light overlay, trying the Macaron lollipop from the Le Marche De Noel in France, and looking for the Chip and Dale figures in the World Showcase for the Christmas tree spree scavenger hunt.
Have a great time and Merry Christmas!

Thank you so much! Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[CynBeth]

Try to catch some of the holiday storytellers as well.