Epcot – The forgotten Park!

I always think Epcot is a bit of a boring more aimed at adults park, until we get to Epcot and I remember it does actually have some really cool rides and features to it.

When searching for Epcot facts I found out that Epcot actually stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. It opened in 1982 and covers 300 acres making it twice the size of the Magic Kingdom.

Masks are still required in all indoor areas including on rides.

All information & exchange rates are correct at the time of our visit (27th November)

Epcot Parking

For a car it is $25 (£18.75) standard or $50 (£37.50) for express
For a larger vehicle it is $30 (£22.50)

We aren’t sure what they class as a larger vehicle as we have a 15 seater mini bus and were charged the car rate!

The car parks are great though they are all named – We were in Imagine – and the row you are in is clearly marked at the end of the row.

Take a photo of the board or drop a pin on your google maps if you need help remembering where you parked.

Entry to Epcot

As with all the other parks you enter via the automated barriers, just scan your pass and fingerprint wait for the green light and in you go!

The queues were pretty long today (Saturday) but it is Thanksgiving / Black Friday weekend so this was to be expected.

Quick dining

The food is ‘China’ was amazing – The children’s meals again were more than enough for me (4 Chicken in batter pieces, rice, carrots and Sweet & Sour sauce) and Gaz had a Chicken fried rice which was a huge portion served with Broccoli and a spring roll.

Queue times

Although the park was crazy busy the queues weren’t too awful overall.

We did queue an hour for Frozen Ever After and it was worth the wait and avoided a couple that were just too long for the littles.

The countries section was really busy so I think this is where most visitors head too.

Rides

Frozen ever after

This has to be one of the best rides here – even the queue is filled with frozen theming, including going through the store where Anna meets Kristoff in Frozen which has this cute feature (see video)

The Seas with Nemo & Friends

The Nemo ride is really sweet, it isn’t very long but when you exit the ride it takes you into the Aquarium area where you will find the Coral Reef, Invertebrate, Sea turtle and Sharks & Rays sections where you can find out more about all of these.

Gran Fiesta Tour

We almost missed this, you could easily walk past it and not even realise there was a ride inside the Mexican building.

This is another boat ride that takes you past the diners at San Angel Inn Restaurante and round the Mexican Pavilion guided by Donald Duck and his 2 amigo’s.

At the end you’ll see the skies above you lit up with digital fireworks it was so pretty!

Mission : Space

In here you will find a Green and an Orange mission – Green is recommended for first timers or those who aren’t sure about the additional features on the Orange mission.

Of course we thought we would head straight into the Orange one, how bad could it be?

Well, take it this way, they have sick bags to hand and they were almost needed. I love coasters and all sorts of theme park rides but this one genuinely turned my stomach and I though I was going to be sick.

It probably wasn’t the best idea for me to ride as I have been suffering with vertigo as its not only a simulator but it spins to recreate the feeling of the rocket launching.

If you have littles with you if you go through the gift shop where you exit the ride you’ll find a seating area with a small play area! I can’t see this listed on the app under any of the sections.

Turtle Talk with Crush

This is actually one of my favourite attractions for the kids – It’s really interactive and the littles get to sit up front while the adults sit back on the benches.

Oscar really loved it and Mia got chosen to ask Crush a question.

Journey into Imagination with Figment

Again I love this one for the kids, it’s a little bit crazy and they love it. Join Figment (of your imagination) on a journey round the factory and his home.

Learning all about your senses, at the ned is a [scaled down] sensory area where you can make music with your hands, play games by moving your body and also a photo area.

There were a lot more activities in this area when we visited in 2019 so hopefully they will come back soon!

Photos

Most of the photos you will get here will be from walkabout photographers, Frozen was the only ride photo we got here and it was auto added to our app.

As I was videoing the ride the photo is just me with my phone in front of my face – whoops!

The boys got some good princess pose photos in front of the Epcot entrance though

The Countries

At the back part of Epcot park you will find areas dedicated to Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Morocco, Japan, the United States, Italy, Germany, China, Norway and Mexico.

Epcot Characters

Characters were few and far between at Epcot, We did see an unattended Piglet on the loose over between Imagination and Nemo though!

You could also catch a glimpse of Santa if you were lucky, before he heads off to the North Pole to get all those presents ready

Coral Reef Restaurant

Although we didn’t get chance to visit (fully booked!) we did go here in 2019 and it was such a cool experience I couldn’t finish this post off without giving it a mention.

One wall of this restaurant looks straight into the giant tank where sea creatures are kept. You get to watch them all swimming round while you have your food, the kids loved it!

The food was good too (although on the expensive side) We definitely would have booked in here again if we had been able too.

We didn’t visit Living with the land, Soarin’ around the world or Test track as the queues were just too long by the time we got round to them and the littles were tired and bored of queues (around 45-60 mins) and we didn’t go on Spaceship Earth as we did this last time we were here and although it was good, we didn’t think we needed to do it again!

We probably won’t be back here this year even though we missed a few rides, we aren’t overly fussed about missing them.

As always if you have any questions feel free to ask away!

ChrissyJ xxx