2002 Epcot One-Day Touring Plan

In this session, let's explore a one-day touring plan for Epcot Center, which is based on the experiences of many guests who have recently visited Epcot.

West side of Future World.

As with all touring plans, there is no guarantee this one works exactly as described. Such factors as crowd levels, time of year, park and attraction operating hours, and weather can work singly or together to throw off the best plans.

As always, I encourage everyone to customize any WDW trip-planning advice to fit their family's needs.

Assumptions

There may be other assumptions discussed as we navigate through the park, but let's assume the following:

• Breakfast - eaten before you arrive at the theme park to avoid having to allocate time for it inside the park.
• Priority seating - made well beforehand for both lunch and dinner to help us navigate efficiently through the park.
• Epcot operating hours - are from 9:00a.m. to 9:00p.m. for a 12-hour window for an optimal a one-day plan for this park.
• Ages of party - made up of children no younger than 10 years old. Most guests have noticed only about 35% of Epcot holds the interest of children younger than 10. Also, for our plan we require a lot of energy and stamina, this plan may not be ideal for young children.
• Popular attractions - Visiting to the most popular attractions, and attending at the Tapestry of Dreams parade and Illuminations.

Tapestry of Dreams (photo by Sheila Hagen).

• Minor attractions - Due to time constraints certain minor attractions are not included in the tour but may be added to the tour if time allows.
• Shopping - is not mentioned in this plan. If you want to shop during this plan, assume you can take time in between activities in this plan.

Touring Factors

Over the last several years, there have been some changes in Epcot that have caused many guests to adjust their touring plans. Let's take a look at these factors now so we can better understand their influence on our own touring plan.

In the mid '90s the Epcot Center operating hours changed, with staggered hours having Future World opening one hour before World Showcase. Thus if you wanted to experience the World Showcase pavilions before their Future World counterparts you were out of luck.

The current operating hours call for touring plans to begin in Future World.

Another factor to consider when touring Epcot is Test Track. This attraction, although riddled with all kinds of bugs during its first year of operation, has become the most popular attraction in the theme park. Therefore it is usually the number one target for most plans and should be your absolute number one priority for all one-day touring plans of this park.

GM's Test Track (photo by Karl Buiter).

One more factor is the introduction of an Epcot parade. Parade viewing can take a chunk out of your time because of the need to find a good viewing time well before the parade start time. Our plan will include Tapestry of Dreams, the current Epcot parade.

Finally, as we mentioned in our Magic Kingdom one-day touring plan, whenever possible Fastpass will play a part in our touring plan

Attraction Order

The following attractions are generally recognized as the most popular Epcot attractions:

• Illuminations
• Test Track
• The Maelstrom
• Universe of Energy
• Honey I Shrunk the Audience
• Body Wars
• Tapestry of Dreams
• Spaceship of Earth
• American Adventure
• Journey Into Your Imagination

Our touring plan does not allow you to visit these attractions in the same order, but the plan does cover them all. We will also include other minor attractions but will focus on these major attractions first.

The Imagination Pavilion.

Morning Tour

1. We arrive at the front gate at least 30 minutes before the official opening time. WDW theme parks have been known to open their gates early.
2. Since Test Track is the hot attraction, head right over to the attraction and hopefully find a short line. Assuming you have not wasted any time, the wait for Test Track should be no more than 20 minutes. If the line is too long, grab a Fastpass and maybe do some (preferably Mouse Gear).
3. After a spin on Test Track, backtrack to the Wonders of Life Pavilion and take in Body Wars, another popular ride. While in the Wonders of Life Pavilion, consider going on such minor attractions as Cranium Command or the Making of Me.
4. After visiting both Test Track and Wonders of Life (Body Wars), begin walking in a counterclockwise direction around the theme park.
5. Ellen's Energy Adventure in the Universe of Energy is the next stop. Since this show starts every 17 minutes, the wait should be no more than that same amount. The attraction is 45 minutes long.
6. After leaving The Universe of Energy, take in Spaceship Earth. Since this is a continuous-loading attraction, disregard any long line, as you will be in your vehicle in no time.
7. It's time to head over to the Land Pavilion. For this plan let's assuming that you have made priority seating arrangements for the Garden Grill. Depending on how efficient the day has been so far, enjoy one or more of the attractions in The Land Pavilion before lunch. Keep in mind that one attraction, Living with the Land, offers Fastpass.
8. Although you can substitute The Living Seas for the Land Pavilion if you prefer, be aware that some guests report that The Living Seas has lost its spark in recent years and is not too high on many touring plans.

The Afternoon Tour

The Land Pavilion.

1. After lunch and a visit to The Land (or The Living Seas), head over to Imagination, and unless the show is beginning in 15 minutes or less, grab a Fastpass to "Honey I Shrunk the Audience," then visit Figment on Journey Into Your Imagination.
2. After a visit to Imagination, begin to navigate through World Showcase. For this one-day tour, I highly recommend dinner at a World Showcase restaurant. Note that dinner arrangements at Mexico, Norway, China, Germany or Italy dictates starting a World Showcase tour in Canada. Conversely, dinner arrangements made for any other country calls for the tour to begin in Mexico. The idea is to not start at your dinner destination but to work your way towards the restaurant.
3. Let's assume that your dinner arrangements are for Germany for a time two hours before Tapestry of Dreams. This allows for an enjoyable meal and also allow time to locate a spot for viewing the parade.
4. Let's begin our tour at Mexico and Norway. If the Maelstrom has a long line, grab a Fastpass and go to El Rio del Tiempo in Mexico. After a visit to Mexico, take in The Maelstrom.
5. I am not including the Wonders of China, O Canada! and Impressions de France in this tour as those attractions have not maintained high popularity. This is not to say that these films cannot be seen on our tour. They are just not on our list of major attractions.
6. After visiting Norway and Mexico, head over to the American Adventure.
7. After the American Adventure we check our watch for time. If we have extra time we can take in those minor attractions. If time is not on our side then we go to dinner.
8. Plan on finishing your meal at least 30 minutes before the beginning of Tapestry of Dreams and if possible, even 45 minutes before the parade. We find an area between Germany and Japan to watch Tapestry of Dreams.
9. Once Tapestry has finished, immediately look for an area to watch Illuminations.
10. After Illuminations, you might want to do some shopping as you leave World Showcase and enter Future World.

Omissions

There are obvious omissions of minor attractions to this plan, but these may be substituted for some of the attractions in our plan. Note that our plan tries to minimize backtracking as much as possible.

Innoventions remains a popular, but "minor" attraction.

One particular omission that a majority of guests had mentioned was Innoventions. For some reason this attraction was hardly mentioned in touring plans. You may feel differently and if you prefer, add a visit to Innoventions where time allows.

The Perfect Plan?

This one-day touring plan is by no means perfect. You should always consider customizing to your own preference. A one-day tour of Epcot is not an optimal way to experience the wonders of this theme park, and is quite a challenge.

Our discussion is, at best, an attempt to help those with time constraints to visit the most popular attractions offered by the park.

Next time; a different challenge as we visit the Disney/MGM Studios theme park

Class dismissed.

CREDIT:

Photos on this page by Brian Bennett unless otherwise noted

Here's a list of the trip reports that Mike has written that are part of MousePlanet's archives!

Michael Scopa -- August 1999 -- Walt Disney World (CSR)

Michael J. Scopa -- July 1997 -- Walt Disney World (WL/CBR)

Mike Scopa -- July 1994 -- Walt Disney World (WL / CBR)

Also, don't miss Lani Teshima's column, "The Trip Planner" for more travel planning information!

Brian Bennett, author of MousePlanet's WDW Trip Planning Guide (and publisher of the Disney Trip Report Archive), writes:

The first Disney trip report that I ever read was a report by Mike Scopa that I downloaded from the America Online travel library in late 1994. The report was a detailed description of the Scopa family's trip to WDW in the summer of that year.

As soon as I was done reading it, I was hooked.

I picked my own brain and documented my own trips and the things I'd learned from my own experiences. Then, in 1995 I actually wrote a report as the trip unfolded. I took a laptop with me and spent some time in the evenings documenting what had happened that day. (I've repeated that process for my own reports ever since.)

In July 1996, I started my Disney trip planning Web site. Besides including my own reports, I asked for permission from the authors of several other reports and added them to the offering. Since then, the number of reports has expanded greatly. In 1997, I added an information summary for each report to make it easier to sort through the reports that are available.

I still 'blame' Mike for hooking me on this Disney habit.

Thanks Mike!

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