Should I skip EPCOT with little ones?

jraymond503

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Taking my kids ages 6, 4, and 2 in Nov. We are thinking of skipping EPCOT since there doesn't seem to be a ton geared towards them.

What do you think? Is there a full days worth of things for kids this age there? If so what??
 
It's a personal choice. We always took our kids, but they were into science, geography, etc. On the other hand, I know many people who don't take young children.
 
I think it is what you parents make of it. If you love it and get into it your kids will too. Epcot is my husbands favorite park and I was always just o.k. with going there, but now I love it so much because he does. Our kids get excited over whatver we do so they will love EPCOT too.
 


Since Epcot is my favorite, I may be a little biased, but we have always taken our children to Epcot, even when they were very small (they are 9 & 6 now).

Epcot has The Seas with Nemo, Turtle Talk, Journey into Imagination w/Figment (and the play area afterwards), Universe of Energy, Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, and then the two boat rides in Mexico and Norway. Those rides alone will take you at least half a day. Throw in time spent eating and maybe one lap around the World Showcase to check out various performers at the pavilion and you can easily do a full day. And all of those things are totally appropriate and entertaining for people of any age.

I say go for it! (But then again, I could go to Epcot every day of my trip and be totally happy...:cloud9:)
 
we spent half the day at Epcot. Started with the Princess Breakfast in Norway, then off to some rides. We rode Soarin, Nemo, and Test Track and also did Turtle Talk with Crush. We walked through the countries and then got on the monorail to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the afternoon. My kids at the time were 7,4,2,2 so Epcot was not as much fun for them as other parks. I think when they are a little older that they will enjoy it more.
 
DS loved EP at 2.5 and 3 and he can't wait to go back this fall. He loves the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk. He just loves the seas period. Walking around world showcase is something else he enjoyed doing. The kidcot fun stops also gave him something to do as well.
 


We are heag down in November with 3 kids...7, 3 and 3months. We have 2 days planned at Epcot. My oldest loves World Showcase. There are awesome opportunites for character interactions, and she loves tasting the different foods, the KidCot stations and wants to try the KimPossible Adventure. The other day we will do Test Track, Soarin', the Land, Living Seas, Innoventions (which we never have done before), etc.

I say defintely take them if you have the time. When our oldest was 3 we spent one day there and she had a blast.
 
We love Epcot!!!!!! My kids LOVE Epcot, they did when they were 4, when they were 5 and 6!

Spaceship Earth
Nemo
Turtle Talk
Mission Space Green
Test Track
Soarin
Imagination
Maelstrom
Donald's River Ride
Kidcot
Kim Possible
Princess Breakfast in Norway
Farmer Mickey's Garden Grill in the Land

Kids love to explore, and there are tons of things for little ones to do at Epcot. Yes, even in WS. My boys loved the maze in England, the waterfall trail in Canada, the train in Germany, the fish ponds, etc etc etc.

I wholeheartedly (kindly) disagree when people say that Epcot is not for kids. Epcot is our bag, baby!:laughing:

Have a great trip:wizard:
 
We spent 2 days in Epcot with a 4 yr old and 19 month old. There is a lot to interest them, as a pp noted, and we love to explore the countries. Also, the character interaction is great!

My older DD loves the passport and the kidcot stations. Here is a great link to info about that.

We haven't done it yet, but would your kids like the Kim Possible mission? We might try that the next time around.
 
Our 5 year old likes Epcot better than the MK. He loves all the things listed above and he loves the entertainment. Our 13 and 11 yr olds like it too. We are skipping AK and DHS so we can spend more time there actually.
 
I think it is a personal choice. My little ones absolutely love Epcot. Next to Magic Kingdom, it is probably a favorite. There is a load for them to do and they love seeing all of the sights.
 
Don't skip it- especially with 2 little girls. World Showcase has a ton of Disney princesses to visit with usually pretty short lines. We took DD (now 4) at age 2 and age 3, and other than MK Epcot was BY FAR her favorite park. In fact, after her 1st trip when we were at Epcot from open to close and did not have enough time, we have spent 2 days there on the other 2 WDW trips we have taken with her.

Epcot is about exploring rather than just running from ride to ride(although it has some pretty great rides!). There is so much to keep the little ones entertained. You are getting some pretty good lists below. The Nemo and Imagination rides have areas after them with lots of things for the little ones to explore. In addition to the things listed below, my DD really likes to stop and watch the entertainers throughout World showcase like the Chinese Acrobats; the juggler; and the guys who balance on chairs. I can't even tell you how many times we have ridden that Donald Duck boat ride in Mexico with DD. She gets off and immediately wants to ride again. She also loves the Toy store in the UK because there is a train table to play with inside. It's hard to get her out of there, so DH usually takes that opportunity to go over to the Rose and Crown pub to try a beer while I keep an eye on DD.
 
Our son loved Epcot at every age and as a teenager still does. You might want to consider trying it and if it doesn't work out, go to another park if you have a hopper or just go swimming or to Downtown Disney for a while if you don't.
 
I would never skip Epcot...for young children off the top of my head...
Finding Nemo, the ride
Turtle Talk with Crush
A Gazillion activities in the innovations building
Figment's Journey into imagination, the imagination lab
Honey, I shrunk the audience
Meet & Greets with the Fab Four and most of the Princesses
KidCot mask making stations at all the countries in the world
Kim Possible Save the World Misions
Spaceship Earth
 
I am an adult now but the first time I went to Disney I was 6 months old and we went almost every year when I was in elementary school. I never remember a time that Epcot wasn't my favourite park, it was especially my favourite when I was young, unfortunately now its getting a bit dated and what was very futuristic is now not so much but its still a fun park none the less. I would personally skip world showcase with kids though, we never did much there when I was young and the last trip I had I decided I needed to see the whole thing, we broke it up into 2 days because it got a bit boring and so we went to do some of the other epcot rides half way through the day. I remember I also didn't like world showcase when I was young because standing for the movies in the theater in the rounds really hurt my legs since I was too short to use the leaners
 
We didn't really do the World Showcase too much when they were that small. We kinda breezed through it, but there is a lot to do in the Future World side.
 
We spend quite a lot of time at Epcot. We have since our first trip with our oldest DD at 18months. There really is so much to do and I feel like it's the park that the kids can have a little freedom in. There is just so much room...all the walkways are large, the people are spread out more, and you can actually let your kids go a little (not too much, but more than other parks).
 
My kids had just turned 3 and 5 before our last trip in 2008. They both really enjoyed Epcot.

They enjoyed Nemo and Imagination. Suprisingly the both enjoyed the Ellen Energy Adventure ride. They also like Maelstrom and the ride in Mexico. But most of all they enjoyed meeting the various characters in the different countries - Sleeping Beauty and Belle and the Beast in France, Jasmin and Aladdin in Morroco, Mulan in China, Sombrero Donald in Mexico, etc.

We also went to the princess dinner at Akerhaus.

If choosing between Magic Kingdom and Epcot for little kids I would certainly choose the Magic Kingdom. But if you can do Epcot I am pretty sure your kids would enjoy it.
 
Do you have to skip a park? My opinion is that IF you have to skip one of the parks Epcot is the one to skip with little ones.
 

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