Strategy When Staying in the EPCOT Area

[McFlea]

When you're staying in an EPCOT area resort, with park hoppers, do you typically start at another park and end at EPCOT?
We will be a party of 2 with 3-day PH for a long weekend in May (13-16). We have been several times, and the focus for this weekend is to experience what is new since we were last there in 2019 (Remy, RotR, MMRR, Skyliner), visit some old favorites and enjoy F&G in the evenings. I'm thinking this:
Arrive MCO 10:00 AM Friday 5/13 AK then EP
Sat 5/14 HS all day (if needed) hop to EP if time allows
Sun 5/15 MK until 4:30 close then hop to EP
Mon 5/16 check out day, no parks
TP has overall crowds at 4,6,4 for those 3 days
Does this general strategy make sense? TIA!

 

[lockets]

Are you going to buy Genie+ and/or ILL?

 

[McFlea]

Sorry, I forgot that detail. Yes, ILL for FOP and RotR. Plan to purchase FOP from the airport Friday morning. Will have Genie+ Saturday and Sunday. Also not opposed to purchasing ILL for Remy, but will try standby at the end of the first night first and see how that goes.

 

[twinsmomvj]

Following for responses... also wondering!

 

[Transferteck]

What I love is to ride the skyliner to Epcot from RIV, take a boat to Hollywood studios, then take skyliner to joffery’s at CB, walk back to RIV and enjoy pool. When tired of pool, repeat.
All joking aside anything you choose to do will be fun. Have a great time.

 

[wendy3]

Our favorite resorts are Epcot resorts because location, location, location. We always fly and stay at least a week because it's such a hassle to get there from SD. Our first night on our travel day is always Epcot, and our last night before we fly out is always Epcot. We also plan a full Epcot day and head to Disney Springs for the evening that day. Then whenever we wrap up our park-of-the-day we head into Epcot to end the evening. Except for MK when we usually stay until park close for the fireworks. So, yes! I think your plan is solid Have a great time!!

 

[McFlea]

Thank you for the responses! DH and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary on this trip - our first one, in about that long, without our kids. All the trips we took with our family we stayed at POR, which we love, but are very excited to be back at a Deluxe resort. I’m especially excited for the proximity to two parks. Thank you, Wendy, for confirming it’s a great location!

 

[Sweettears]

My favorite place to stay as well. The location didn’t dictate which parks I visited but with park hoppers I was always able to go to Epcot for dinners etc…

Also it’s location was always nice to stop in for a libation in the afternoon. Often have walked through Epcot to use the monorail to MK as well

 

[lockets]

Sorry, I forgot that detail. Yes, ILL for FOP and RotR. Plan to purchase FOP from the airport Friday morning. Will have Genie+ Saturday and Sunday. Also not opposed to purchasing ILL for Remy, but will try standby at the end of the first night first and see how that goes.

That sounds like a good plan! I'm guessing that you're planning to use ILL and G+ with a focus more on the parks you're starting at as it's not needed as much at Epcot. So that makes sense.

Another strategy people use, for instance on an MK or HS day, is they rope drop Epcot and stack a bunch of post-2 PM rides in a row for MK and HS to be able to go there and hit the rides that are harder to do standby and in a shorter period of time. Either way I think your plan makes sense since you're more focused on hitting the "new to you" rides, and it's also nice to end at Epcot because if you're going during a festival there are a lot of food booths, and if not there are a lot of restaurants.

For a lot more information on park hopping and Genie/ILL strategy there's tons of information at these links:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/everything-park-hopping-please-read-post-1.3828708/

 

[loves to dive]

I always spend part of my trip at an Epcot resort, sometimes I do a split stay, sometimes I do the entire stay. Mostly I stay at Swan/Dolphin but have stayed at all the resorts there.

We usually do arrival day at Epcot, mostly because we are almost always there during a festival, we drive down and only snack in the car on the way, arrive between 1 and 3 and are hungry. We always hop and always hop to Epcot at some point during the day. I have been known to start my day at MK, hop over to Epcot for some snacking at some booths then walk over to HS. Or start my day at any of the other parks and do the same thing. We never start our day at Epcot, it just opens too late now days for that. I've even accidently done 4 parks more than once. By accidently I mean I didn't plan to (easier done in the before times when you didn't have to wait until 2 to hop). Once I started my day at AK, did what I wanted to, hopped over to HS where I intended to spend the rest of the night, decided to hop to MK to see the FWs, Epcot was open later that night so I just hopped over there from MK. I've also done 4 parks by starting at AK, hopping to Epcot for some snacks, hopped on the monorail to MK for some shopping, back to the resort then walked over to HS. Of course, doing that 4 park hop I didn't really ride a lot of rides was just wandering around.

 

[shortster]

Our last trip we stayed at Beach Club and we did exactly what you are planning. Caveat that it was pre-COVID and pre-Genie. But we loved hitting Epcot in the evenings, and had great success riding some headliners during Illuminations. With 3 nights, you could catch Harmonious and then use another night to ride.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

First day is always fish and chips, soarin, and then a couple other Epcot rides. After that we will often do MK or HS and come back through Epcot in the evenings just to wander in world showcase (sometimes just mom and dad). There’s a reason we all love BC!

 

[bakerworld]

When we're staying by Epcot we usually begin at HS and hop to Epcot in the evening. Later in the trip we'll sleep in and start at Epcot to hop to HS. Mostly we like to do Epcot later in the day because it gets so hot at Epcot as it seems to have the least amount of shaded walking area.