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One of the wonders of Disney is that families of all configurations can have a fantastic and memorable time. Whether you are traveling with young children and/or teenagers, as an adult couple, with friends, or with older family members, EPCOT (Walt Disney’s Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) and the Magic of Disney keeps even the most eclectic group happy all day!
Here are 10 tips for a successful family trip to EPCOT.
Check the Crowd Calendar
Check the Crowd Calendar (or ask your travel advisor!) and choose a low-crowd day. Considering it was Spring Break when I last traveled to EPCOT, I was pleasantly surprised at how relatively few people were there. We waited in NO LINES and we didn’t have to fight crowds at all. Checking the calendar and planning your visits to the Disney parks accordingly can make a significant difference in your vacation experience!
Use the FastPass System
Choose your Fast-Passes online ahead of time using MyDisneyExperience. For guests with Disney resort reservations, Fast Pass reservations can be made up to 60 days in advance of your travel. All other tickets can reserve Fast Passes up to 30 days in advance. This is one of many reasons to stay on Disney resort property! I booked Frozen Ever After on the DAY it became available to me and the earliest I could get was a 3:50pm FP reservation. Without it, we’d have had a 2-hour wait (which, honestly, we wouldn’t have done).
With the new MagicBand system, you can reserve 3 Fast Passes at first, then, when your last Fast Pass expires, you can reserve additional Fast Passes as available. You can choose 1 high-interest and 2 lower-interest rides and it limits your time ranges, so use this information to plan your progress in the park. (Be sure to make reservations for as early as possible in the day so that you can make more reservations once those three expire!)
While some rides really don’t need fast passes (like Living with The Land, or The Seas with Nemo and Friends), high-interest rides like Soarin’, Test Track, and Frozen Ever After can have very, very long wait times. Be sure to check out rides such as The Gran Fiesta inside the Aztec pyramid in Mexico and Journey into Imagination with Figment next to The Land. While they are not high-energy rides, sometimes a nice, quiet, immersive ride is what you need to catch your breath and take a load off your feet!
Take Care of Your Feet
Be very careful of the shoes you wear. Speaking of feet… It rains in Florida often – just about every day during the summer. Wear shoes that your feet are used to. Wear socks only if you’re certain it isn’t going to rain – and even then, take a change of socks. We use Blister Defense every morning to prevent friction – it is a life-saver!
My favorite shoes tend to be my Crocs Sandals, since getting wet isn’t an issue and they are so versatile and comfortable, but the Blister Defense is a must with any sandals (I’m speaking from experience!)! And be sure you don’t wear your Birkenstocks – unless you don’t mind them getting rained on!
Tip: If you forget the Blister Defense and band-aids, the First-Aid center to the left of the World Showcase entry will give you a free band-aid.
Arrive Early
Arrive at EPCOT about 45-50 minutes before opening to stand in the front of the lines. This means standing there talking to one another and people-watching for about 45 minutes before opening (there’s so much to look at and talk about that it’s really not that bad!) – but you’re on vacation, anyway, and this will save significant waiting in lines later, especially if you have planned your Fast Passes carefully!
Have a Plan
Using your Fast Pass reservations, plan your progress accordingly. For example, we had morning Fast Passes for Test Track, so we arrived at EPCOT at about 8:00, entered the park near the front of the line at the 9:00 entry time after standing in the entry lines to the right toward Future World West, then headed straight to Soarin’ when the park opened. We were on the second ride at Soarin’. (No Fast Passes needed!) Then we hit The Land, since it was in the same building, for its beautiful, educational, and relaxing ride through Disney’s own aquaculture farms – the foods from which they actually use in their restaurants! Then went to our 9:20 Fast Pass at Nemo and the Seas. After that, we leisurely headed across to Future World East in time for our early Fast Passes at Test Track. Easy Peasy (and no lines!)
Another tip for The Land: It’s a great place to take a load off your feet and relax when your group members start getting hot and tired!
Take Time to Enjoy It
Take time to enjoy the festivals, hidden Mickeys, and details. They are part of what make the Magic of Disney. Throughout the year, EPCOT holds a variety of different festivals. Last year, when we visited during Spring Break, there was, of course, the beverage “scavenger hunt” for adults, but also an Easter Egg hunt for families, with huge Easter Eggs, painted as Disney characters, hidden (though not impossibly so) throughout the park. Visitors could purchase a map and stickers for a few dollars to mark off each discovered egg.
Be sure, also, to actually enjoy the musicians and performers in the different “worlds”. My teenage son truly enjoyed these, especially the mariachi band, but he wouldn’t admit it if you asked. The smiles said it all, though.
EPCOT typically has some kind of activity like this to liven up the World Showcase, which otherwise stays true to tradition and the cultures represented there. If you’re up for a Hidden Mickey hunt in all the parks, check out The Hidden Mickeys of Walt Disney World, or for even more Disney Magic, The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World.
Club Cool
Stop in Club Cool for a free & refreshing taste of Coca-Cola varieties from around the world. My favorite is the Watermelon. My son would tempt you to try the Beverly. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you…)
When they open Club Cool, they’ll sometimes bring in the first child waiting outside before it actually opens and have them join in the “opening ceremony” – Joseph did it when he was younger and what a memory it made!
Enjoy the World Showcase
Take time to check out the “worlds” in the World Showcase. Many have rides (Mexico, Norway) or shows (Canada, America, China) and ALL have some amazing food! Don’t neglect the lagoon pontoon that can help get you from point-to-point with less walking, if that’s important to you or your schedule. They run every 15 minutes and it’s fun!
Expert Tip: Get some freshly-made Caramel Popcorn at Werther’s in Germany. TO DIE FOR!!
Canada Italy Norway
Break up your Day
As with every Disney park, consider breaking up the day, going at rope drop to get in on the busy rides, then retiring to your resort for a nap in the afternoon when the crowds are busy, hot, and cranky, then return in the evening (perhaps with dinner plans at one of the amazing restaurants here). The parents with young children have mostly gone back to their resorts for the night (unless they were the smart ones who took a nap in the middle of the day, like you will), and the crowds will generally have thinned.
Eats
- For vegetarians: Tangerine Cafe has a don’t-miss Vegetable Plate with Pita, hummus, couscous salad, falafel, and more – it is much more than I can eat in one sitting; a great plate for two to share.
- Inside The Land there is a varied food court where everyone is sure to find something to fill the tank before going out in the Florida sun – or rain.
- For tea lovers: Ok, not technically “eats,” but the Tea score in Great Britain carries Twining’s Cold Brew. I know you can totally get it online now, but long ago, in an EPCOT far, far away from where I live, this was the only place in the U.S. you could get it. So for me, the taste of Twining’s Cold Brew Peach Tea is the taste of Epcot. Memories are worth something, so I stock up every time I come!
- I’ll be posting a whole other Guide to eating in EPCOT – stay tuned!
We take pictures in front of Spaceship Earth each time we visit – it’s fun to see how the boys have grown over the years!
EPCOT is currently under some much-needed reconstruction in Future World, but don’t let that deter you from experiencing the cultures, rides, foods, sights, and sounds that both Future World and the World Showcase at EPCOT have to offer. It truly does have something for everyone!
