Visiting Epcot late August on an EMH morning when we are offsite...

[Penmac]

I am trying to firm up our park visits for our trip in late August. We will be in Orlando 8/21-8/28. This is our 5th yearly trip. Plans are tentavitely as follows:

8/22: Epcot (EMH are from 8-9, we do not have access since we are in an offsite condo).
8/23: MNSSHP
8/24: Pool day/ Disney springs for dinner
8/25: using an after 5pm pass at MK leftover from a previous trip. It expires end of year! MK is open until 10pm (latest hours of any park so best value for the ticket).
8/26: pool day
8/27: Universal, one and done.
8/28: flight home!

I am worried about visiting Epcot when there will be EMH. We had planned to walk on Frozen & meet Anna & Elsa at rope drop and try and get a morning FP for test track to use after. Frozen might be backed up with EMH and we don’t want to waste too much time there.

Our alternative would be using the day pass at Hollywood Studios instead but I’m worried about that park being totally off kilter that week with the opening of SWGE right after we depart. I’m also not convinced it is a full-day park for us. The tiered FP system worries me. Yes, Epcot has it as well but we’ve been there enough to know which rides will have reasonable wait times despite the tiered system. I simply don’t know enough about Hollywood studios. My 3-year old son is a huge Lightening McQueen fan, so there is that to consider as well. But, I’m thinking I could drive him over to visit the Cars theme land at Art of Animation and check that box?

My question is for anyone who has been to Epcot at this time of the year with EMH. Will it really affect our time in line that AM? Especially with Frozen. My previous experiences with this ride has been 5 to 10 minute wait at opening and almost no line for the characters. This is what I’m banking on so we can quickly move onto a morning fast pass after the fact. I know it’s not a perfect science, but only asking based on your experiences.

We actually went to Epcot a couple summers ago on a morning that had extra magic hours. It was an oversight on my part and it ended up being fine but we did have a fast pass to frozen so I didn’t pay attention to that line at 9am on that particular day.

Thanks! Appreciate any feedback.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Can you switch your Epcot day and your Universal day? EMH days are usually more crowded than other days and it's best to avoid them if you can't use them.

 

[MomOTwins]

We were at Epcot for EMH last August. Even though we got in line for Anna and Elsa at 8:40 (i.e., during EMH), the line was so long from all the EMH people camped out that we didn't actually meet the princesses until after 10am. The poor folks who arrived after EMH would have been at least 30/40 minutes behind where I was. So "walking on" to that meet and greet is not going to happen--you are looking at a 90+ minute wait if my experience holds true.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I would avoid Frozen at Epcot if you don't have a FP+ since the line will likely be back logged for EMH arrivals. Can you change your park days to avoid Epcot for EMH? SWGE doesn't open until 8/29. I tend to agree that it might be a bit off on traffic since you may have a lot of people trying to squeeze in last minute DHS visits before it opens. I also don't feel it's a full day park either so I'd rather use the day pass at a park that's more bang for your buck. The cars area at AofA is pretty cool, I really loved it and I'm not even a big Cars fan. I could see my girls at that age loving that whole area.

If changing days is non negotiable, I'd keep an eye on wait times in the app as you get closer to your trip and watch it especially on EMH days to see how the wait looks at your anticipated arrival time and plan from there. If you feel the wait will be too long, you can always try getting on at park closing. That's a good strategy as well.

 

[Penmac]

I would avoid Frozen at Epcot if you don't have a FP+ since the line will likely be back logged for EMH arrivals. Can you change your park days to avoid Epcot for EMH? SWGE doesn't open until 8/29. I tend to agree that it might be a bit off on traffic since you may have a lot of people trying to squeeze in last minute DHS visits before it opens. I also don't feel it's a full day park either so I'd rather use the day pass at a park that's more bang for your buck. The cars area at AofA is pretty cool, I really loved it and I'm not even a big Cars fan. I could see my girls at that age loving that whole area.

If changing days is non negotiable, I'd keep an eye on wait times in the app as you get closer to your trip and watch it especially on EMH days to see how the wait looks at your anticipated arrival time and plan from there. If you feel the wait will be too long, you can always try getting on at park closing. That's a good strategy as well.

I would avoid Frozen at Epcot if you don't have a FP+ since the line will likely be back logged for EMH arrivals. Can you change your park days to avoid Epcot for EMH? SWGE doesn't open until 8/29. I tend to agree that it might be a bit off on traffic since you may have a lot of people trying to squeeze in last minute DHS visits before it opens. I also don't feel it's a full day park either so I'd rather use the day pass at a park that's more bang for your buck. The cars area at AofA is pretty cool, I really loved it and I'm not even a big Cars fan. I could see my girls at that age loving that whole area.

If changing days is non negotiable, I'd keep an eye on wait times in the app as you get closer to your trip and watch it especially on EMH days to see how the wait looks at your anticipated arrival time and plan from there. If you feel the wait will be too long, you can always try getting on at park closing. That's a good strategy as well.

Great advice, thank you!

 

[Penmac]

Can you switch your Epcot day and your Universal day? EMH days are usually more crowded than other days and it's best to avoid them if you can't use them.

My sister and 2 year old niece are joining us for the first few nights. They are first-timers and want to do 2 days at Disney Parks only. We will do Universal with our kids after they fly home. I may look at shifting our plans a bit. Originally I wanted to do MK on the 22nd and skip the Halloween party, but they also have an after hours event from 10pm-1am that same night, so I think that will affect us too since we usually stay until close. It seems like there is no way to avoid some type of inconvenience these days with all the extra paid events they are offering. We will figure it out- we always do!