The Themepark_Adventurers Guide to Epcot (tips and tricks) pt 1.

One of my favorite parks to visit at The Walt Disney World Resort is Epcot! The park of Walt’s wonders for the future and the ever changing life that we all live in. Now, trust me, I do enjoy my fair share of drinking around the world (as most people associate with this park), but Epcot holds a special place in my heart apart from all that. My Husband and I have enjoyed most of our park trips at Epcot, as well as our wedding reception near the france pavilion. Being able to frequent Disney and be able to experience things for myself, allows me to better understand the parks as well and provide a ton of tips and tricks to family, friends, and clients!

Coming up, we are going to dive into common myths about Epcot, as well as some great tips and tricks on getting the best experience in the park, as well as some things you may not know about!



Epcot is just for adults- FALSE! Epcot is for everyone, including families! Epcot has some of the best attractions when it comes to family rides, including Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, Test Track and Finding Nemo, just to name a few. Keep in mind, if you are looking to ride Guardians of the Galaxy, it is still under the virtual queue or lighting lane option.

Do I have to pay for lighting lane to ride Guardians of the Galaxy?- No! If you don't feel like paying for lighting lane, you still have a really good chance of riding Guardians, just set your alarm for 6:50am, log into your My Disney Experience Account and ensure that your entire party is selected under the virtual queue tab. Once everyone is selected, continue to refresh the page until 7:00 AM and wait until the “Join Virtual Queue” button becomes available. Once selected, more than likely you will be able to be a part of the first groups to join the queue. Didn’t make it into the first group, don't worry, a second chance will become available at 1pm, however, you WILL need to be at the park to gain access to the opportunity.

I want to go to Epcot during one of their festivals, but I don't know which one to check out.- While Epcot is known for its future innovations, they also are known for their year round festivals. Worried that you may not be attending Epcot during one of them? The chances of that are VERY slim. Epcot has 4 festivals throughout the year, the first one Festival of the Arts, starts in January and usually runs until the end of February. Soon after that The Flower and Garden Festival starts running from March until the beginning of July. Then, probably the most known festival in Epcot takes an early start, The Food and Wine Festival running from the end of July to mid November. The Festival of the Holidays caps out the year starting at the end of November and ending at the end of December. Each festival has its own style, featuring different food, drinks, and entertainment, making this park one to visit multiple times throughout the year.

What’s the best place to grab food at Epcot? - Ok, so this one is a loaded question. Epcot, in my opinion, sets itself apart from all the other parks at WDW when it comes to food. Not only does Epcot feature amazing food during its festivals, this park has over 11 unique dining experiences with high quality food and service that will give you a taste of multiple different cultures. Each country that is featured in Epcot has one to two dining options that showcase that country's food type, and that's not including the other amazing restaurants in the rest of the park! You could easily spend your entire vacation eating at this park alone and not be able to experience everything. So, what are my favorite spots to eat at in Epcot and get an amazing unique experience?

-The Garden Grill Restaurant *character dining*
- Chefs de France
- Via Napoli Ristorante
- Biergarten Restaurant
- Le Cellier Steakhouse

These are my personal top 5 favorite restaurants at Epcot, and trust me,
cutting it down to just 5 was REALLY hard. Before you head to Epcot,
definitely make time to talk with your TA about setting up dining
reservations for an absolutely amazing culinary experience.

What is the best time to visit Epcot? - This is a hard question to pinpoint simply because you can’t perfectly predict what a busy or non-busy day at Epcot will be.

What I have found though is that your weekdays during non holiday or summer times tend to be the slowest times to go, however I have been surprised during some non peak weekends as well! All in all it can be really hard to ensure you will have a crowd free park day, but stick to non holiday weekdays, and utilize the wait times in your My Disney Experience App to gauge it. If you're staying at an onsite resort, be sure to use your early park admission to get ahead of any crowds you may encounter and just don’t forget to have fun! A lot of times we can forget to enjoy the moments by over analyzing and planning every single thing. Some of my most fun park days are ones where I have a loose idea of what I want to do that day and I end up doing so much more than I planned just because things just fell into place.

Does Epcot have fireworks? - Yes, however this is a two fold question. Just recently after the 50th Anniversary, Disney replaced the beloved fireworks show Harmonious ( check out the Harmonious show using the link below to see what you may have missed!) with its previous show Epcot Forever. Now, personally, I could take Epcot Forever or leave it, I don’t feel like it is on the same level as Harmonious. I also may be a little biased as we had Harmonious during our wedding reception at Epcot. BUT, Disney just announced that they will be debuting a NEW fireworks show in late 2023. While we don’t have much to go on, it's safe to say that I think Disney will nail this show out of the park, and I for one can’t wait to see it!

https://youtu.be/iZxHFHx9HSw

I really hope that you are able to gather some information from this post, and I will be posting so much for information on some new things coming up around Epcot, like Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana, how to better get around the WDW Parks, ride information, food and drinks, and any other new exciting things that Disney has coming up. So stay tuned, and follow my TikTok page @Themepark_Adventurer for some additional content!