Should we do Epcot?

[mawe370]

We have been to WDW twice, and never have been to Epcot. Are daughters are 2 1/2 & 5. Is there anything that small kids will enjoy. Or should we just stick to the other parks and not waste a day?
Thanks
Mawe

 

[Kewz1]

I think Epcot is a wonderful park! It gets a bad rap because it's "educational" but it's a fun place. I think your daughters would like quite a bit about it.

Don't forget to do the kid stops in each of the countries. Your little ones can color a mask and then take it to each country to get a stamp and a "wish" to attach to the mask. You can also purchase "passports" that have stickers for each coutry. Take it to the kid stops and they will write a greeting in their native language.

Check out the entertainment schedule. My kids love the Chinese actobats and the living statues ( I *think* they are in Italy now).

Also, characters do appear in the countries -- Alladin in Morocco, Belle in France, etc.

Eating pastries from France while watching Illuminations is a wonderful way to end an evening.

Definately read up on the park. All I mentioned is just in the World Showcase. There's plenty to do in Future World as well -- Journey into Imagination ride, The Living Seas (with a new Nemo section), Ice Cool Spot to taste soda from around the world. There is a single rider line for Test Track so you and hubby can take turns. Not sure if there in one for Mission Space. And of course, you have to take a ride on Spaceship Earth.

Chech out the menus and eat in one of the countries. We like the Biergarten and Rose & Crown.

I hope you give it a chance!

Kristen

 

[BevS97]

I posted this elsewhere when someone said that Epcot was not for kids - I could say it all again in a different way, but since this covers my thoughts on Epcot, it makes more sense to just copy it here.

Ask my DD what her favorite park is, and I can guarantee she will say 'Epricot' as she calls it. She went the first time at 3 1/2 and this last time she was 7 and she has loved it every single trip.

There is SO much for kids - from nice 'safe' rides that aren't scary - a big plus for her at 3 1/2 - Spaceship Earth is still one of her favorite rides because it's nice and safe. Journey into Imagination is fun, and for braver kids there is Honey I shrunk the audience. The Living Seas has an amazing aquarium, and Ellen has some cool dinosaurs (although not for my dd, too scary). Innovations has the newest arcade games, and did I mention Food Rocks in the Land (sadly now closed) and we haven't even made it to the water fountains on the way to World Showcase yet. Of course, we would have to pass the amazing performers by the fountain - not sure their name but they were doing some incredible acrobatics - Katie stood in awe for hours.

World Showcase is just a treasure trove of things to see and do - Katie loves the mask, so we get that and do some colouring in each country. She also likes the Mexico ride (kids have no taste...), Norways ride (although we have to close our eyes for the big troll), the playground in Norway is good. The Hofbrauhaus in Germany is really good fun, we had a fab meal in there and really enjoyed the show. Italy has a living statue which is always very entertaining. In Japan, we like the little shop, the mechanical toy museum, the people playing the drums, and the tappenyaki restaurant, Morrocco is good for meeting Jasmine and Aladdin, France is particularly good for pastries, not to mention Beauty and the Beast, and the UK have some fabulous street shows and you can meet Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh - you can also see the Beatles, so we finish off in Canada, where we all thoroughly enjoyed Off Kilter - in fact Katie still talks about them now.

So, really, I can't agree that there is nothing in Epcot for kids - there is TONS for kids, but it's a different kind of day, one best approached with an open mind and a decision to look for fun rather than rushing past everything to get in line for Test Track (which Katie at 7 loves) or Mission Space (maybe in a few years!)

We go to Epcot again and again, it's probably our favorite park. But, we don't get there at opening (well not usually), we tend to arrive around lunchtime and stay until Illuminations - that seems to work quite well for us.

 

[hezreck]

Both times that we have been to Disney (when DD was 3 1/2 and 7) we ended up spending 2 whole days at EPCOT. There is so much for kids to do. My DD loved the Kidcot stations and had to spend about 10-15 minutes at each of them. (She is very particular about her artwork, lol) We spent a good hour and a half just at Living Seas. Don't miss Turtle Talk with Crush. Great!! We also love Ellen's Universe of Energy and Honey i shrunk the Audience. I could go on and on, so I would recommend you definitely go to EPCOT.

 

[JanetDL]

Personally I think it depends on your kids. We just returned yesterday and had a GREAT time..but the one day we spent at Epcot my girls were pretty bored. They are 3 and 7 and there was very little for them to do that they enjoyed. We started off the day with the Princess Storybook Breakfast which was great fun. My 7 year old daughter liked the Kidcot stations and was all excited to get all the charms so she could get a prize (which was a box of Nerds candy...yuck). We did enjoy the Ice Cream Social at the Garden Grill and got to see a lot a characters on the Epcot Holiday character bus. However, my 3 year old daughter contined to say "I don't like this place, I want to play"...so we left at 3:30 after the Ice Cream Social and headed back to Magic Kingdom for rides...she was MUCH happier there!! I say try it and see what your kids think.

 

[JanaV]

I posted this last week after our trip:

I had to come and write about what a great time we had at Epcot! I really thought the kids were going to be bored, but we had the best time there. We started the day in Norway at the Princess breakfast - it's overpriced, but how can you not do it if you have a little girl? She could have gone home right then and would have been perfectly happy. Dd is 4 and Ds is 9. Ds loved Test Track and Mission Space, they were AWESOME! Dd loved talking to Crush at The Living Seas and she was actually one of the kids who did talk with him. It was extremely entertaining for all of us (and we had to go back again). Dd also had a blast making cookies at the Jr. Chef area in The Land. We did the Ice Cream Social and that was great (although more $$$$ than I had expected - my bad, I didn't check the prices too closely before I made the PS). We all went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience and were all perfectly happy spending time watching all of the fountains outside afterward. We went into the World Showcase and both kids insisted on making the Kidcot masks and had to go all the way around to get the special surprise when you get all of the charms. They were both obsessed with the project and still treasure the masks. Dd had a blast meeting all of the characters along the way and about had a heart attack when the big red double decker bus pulled up and all the characters got off. OH! And the candy lady in Japan was fantastic!! We got there early, were the second ones to arrive and both kids brought home animals on a stick. She was amazing. Ds was mesmerized by Illuminations and had to go back a second night to watch.

If you're thinking that kids won't have fun at Epcot, please reconsider! It was one of our best days!!!

 

[JanaV]

JanetDL - that's so odd! When my kids got the last of their Kidcot charms for the mask, the prize was a WDW poster. The kids loved it!! Maybe they ran out and used Nerds in a pinch? That really surprises me, you'd think they'd substitute something Disney!!

 

[JRoglitz]

How long did it take you to do all the mask stations in the World Showcase. Trying to plan times. Thanks!

 

[paigevz]

My two year old loved the boat rides.........he wanted to do Mexico twice.....it has "Small World"-type dolls in it, and with Small World closed, it was nice. He loved exploring all the gardens, the Japanese Koi pond, the miniature trains (can't remember which country they were in, but they're on the walk, you can't miss 'em)..........he liked the Kidcots. Those were all in World Showcase. In Future World, he liked Journey into Imagination with Figment, and got to meet Figment after the ride, he LOVED Turtle Talk with Crush and all the fishies at the Living Seas, he LOVED Circle of LIfe in the Land.........he liked the dinos in Ellen's Energy Adventure, he liked Ice Station Cool, he liked the fountains and the twinkly sidewalks.........and he adored Illuminations.
Epcot is my favorite park, and I love doing it with the kids.

 

[paigevz]

Oh, and the first mask station, where they decorate the mask with markers takes the longest...............depends on how much decorating your child likes to do..........my 2 year old spent a good 6-8 minutes, and my 9 year old about 15 minutes...............the rest of the stops only take about 5 min, including finding the stop........and that's a large estimate, usually was only 2-3 min. Just to get a stamp, pick a hang-tag and get it attached.

 

[swilphil]

Epcot's World Showcase is my favorite place to take my kids--2 1/2 and 4 1/2. They love the Kidcot stations and just being able to run around a little bit in the pavilions without having to wait in lines. There's a lot to look at and plenty of little nooks and crannies to explore. They loved Germany's train village. It has a bridge they can run over, chasing the trains. They also loved running through the Hedge maze around UK's Gazebo. Can you tell they like to RUN? UK also has a Pooh room in the Toy Shoppe. At the African Outpost, they could sit down and play the drums. The street entertainment was also nice, as you could stop and listen for a few minutes and then move on. We still haven't explored all of World Showcase. It seems to be a place that you have to read up on to know what to look for.

 

[JanaV]

The time needed to complete the masks will definitely depend on your kids and your family. You could do it really quickly, not much longer than it would take to walk around the WS, but my 4 y.o. could have spent hours at each stop improving her coloring. I enjoyed talking with all of the kids who come from the different countries to work at Epcot. They're sitting their at the Kidcot stops and I'm a chatty gal, so there was lots to talk about. Oh, and when we got to France, there was PAINT to use on the masks - forget about it!! Dd would have spent the whole day right there. Plus, there were characters to see in the different countries as we went through, so that added a lot of time to the trip around. Dd had to greet them all and get pictures and autographs.

 

[mjmcca]

We spent a few days in Epcot. My hubby is Moroccan so the kids loved to go to the sit down resturant there and have cous cous. It is not my sons favorite that would be Animal Kingdom but they did really like it.My kids were 2 1/2 and 4 when we went last