The Resorts Gal Guide to EPCOT

This guide shares our most popular planning information for Epcot. We begin with a brief overview highlighting Epcot’s history. We then discuss each section of the park, attractions, entertainment, characters, dining, and other planning aspects.

Toward the bottom of the page, you’ll find a magazine-style list of articles starting with our pavilion series. These articles detail the pavilions at the front of the park and each country in the World Showcase. We discuss what to expect regarding each area’s rides, dining, and shopping. Epcot is a tremendous park, and we try to highlight the unique aspects of each country.

After that, we list our attraction articles. These articles provide specifics for each attraction, including eligibility for early theme park hours, extended hours, and height requirements. We also provide tips and walkthrough experiences with photos of each ride.

Lastly, we have entertainment, character, festival, and planning resources for Epcot. We hope this guide is helpful when planning your Walt Disney World vacation.

EPCOT History

EPCOT opened on October 1, 1982, as the second of the Walt Disney World theme parks. At the time, it was named EPCOT Center, with EPCOT being an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt Disney’s original idea for EPCOT was to be a residential neighborhood called the Florida Project. However, that idea never came to fruition. Imagineers took some of Walt’s ideas and concepts into consideration when creating the park. Over time, and given the park’s popularity, the name Epcot stuck, and the “center” was dropped.

EPCOT Areas and Countries

Formerly Future World and the World Showcase, the park is now broken into four unique worlds.

• World Celebration
• World Discovery
• World Nature
• World Showcase

You can select any of the following countries in the World Showcase to read the entire review:

• Mexico Pavilion
• Norway Pavilion
• China Pavilion
• Germany Pavilion
• Italy Pavilion
• American Adventure Pavilion
• Japan Pavilion
• Morocco Pavilion
• France Pavilion
• United Kingdom Pavilion
• Canada Pavilion

Learn More>> Epcot World Showcase Complete Guide

You might also like to read our other pavilion reviews:

• The Imagination Pavilion at EPCOT
• The Seas Pavilion at EPCOT
• The Land Pavilion at EPCOT

EPCOT Attractions

Here is a list of attractions and entertainment at Epcot.

• World Celebration
  • Spaceship Earth
  • Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
  • Journey Into Imagination with Figment
  • Meet Mickey and Friends
• World Discovery
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
  • Mission: SPACE (Green or Orange)
    • Advanced Training Lab
  • Test Track (Under Major Refurb)
• World Nature
  • Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana
  • Awesome Planet
  • Soarin’ Around the World
  • Living with the Land
  • The Seas with Nemo and Friends
  • Turtle Talk with Crush

• World Showcase
  • Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
  • Meet Anna and Elsa at the Royal Sommerhus
  • Mexico Folk Art Gallery
  • Frozen Ever After
  • Stave Church Gallery
  • Reflections of China
  • The American Adventure
  • American Heritage Gallery
  • Portraits of Courage Limited-Time Exhibit
  • Bijutsu-kan Gallery
  • Gallery of Arts and History
  • Palais du Cinema
    • Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along
    • Impressions de France
  • Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
  • Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360

Are you looking for a cheat sheet? Make sure to get a copy of our free Epcot ride spreadsheet. It has a tab for the other three parks and will help you with the planning process.

Walt Disney World Resort and select other hotel guests can participate in early entry to Epcot each day. The park opens 30 minutes before the scheduled opening. We have a list of eligible hotels for early theme park entry.

Click Here for Disney’s Ride Refurbishment Calendar (This will give you an idea of whether or not any attractions will be closed during your vacation.)

Learn More>> The Complete Guide to Epcot Attractions, Rides, and Entertainment

EPCOT Entertainment Offerings

Here are a few of the significant entertainment offerings at EPCOT.

• Luminous The Symphony of Us is the park’s nighttime fireworks offering. Times for each night’s performance are listed in the entertainment section of the My Disney Experience app. Guests gather around the World Showcase Lagoon each evening for this special performance. We have a separate guide with our favorite viewing locations for Luminous: The Symphony of Us.
• Disney Ducktales World Showcase Adventure: Discover a series of mysteries throughout the World Showcase. Use the Play Disney Parks mobile app to help solve them!
• KIDCOT Fun Stops: Each country in the World Showcase has a small activity where children can participate.

EPCOT also offers many unique entertainment offerings in the World Showcase. On the day of your visit, the My Disney Experience app will list the times for most performances, several of which offer live music.

• Atlas Fusion (Morocco Pavilion)
• Command Performance (United Kingdom Pavilion)
• Entertainment at Canada Mill State (Canada Pavilion)
• Entertainment at Germany Gazebo (Germany Pavilion)
• Forces of Nature by AntiGravity (World Celebration)
• JAMMitors (World Celebration)
• Mariachi Cobre (Mexico Pavilion)
• Marimba de las Americas (Mexico Pavilion)
• Matsuriza (Japan Pavilion)
• Sergio (Italy Pavilion)
• Voices of Liberty (American Adventure)

EPCOT Festivals

Epcot is home to four festivals throughout the year:

• Epcot International Food and Wine Festival
• Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival
• Epcot International Festival of the Arts
• Epcot International Festival of the Holidays

Learn More>> A Complete Guide to Epcot Festivals

Attractions with a Height Requirement at EPCOT

The following attractions have a height requirement:

• Mission: Space Green (40″)
• Soarin’ Around the World (40″)
• Test Track (40″)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (42″)
• Mission: Space Orange (44″)

Attractions with Lightning Lanes

The following attractions require an individual Lightning Lane Single Pass purchase to skip the standby queue.

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

The following attractions are part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass:

• Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
• Frozen Ever After
• Journey into Imagination with Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE – Green
• Mission: SPACE – Orange
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track (Closed for Extensive Refurbishment)
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends
• Turtle Talk with Crush

Learn More>> Everything You Need to Know About Lightning Lanes at Disney World

Where Should We Head First?

This decision will primarily be based on where you enter the park. Guests who enter near the International Gateway tend to head to the France Pavilion to experience Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, a trackless dark ride. However, there are no other attractions near this area. So, you will be somewhat isolated afterward and have to walk to the front of the park like everyone else. What hotels use the International Gateway entrance?

• Disney’s Beach Club Resort
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• Disney’s Swan and Dolphin Resorts
• Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
• Disney’s Riviera Resort
• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort

Most guests who enter at the park’s main entrance tend to go directly to Test Track or Frozen Ever After.

Characters

Epcot is an excellent park for meeting characters. A Mickey and Friends meet-and-greet is available in the World Celebration area of the park. Guests can meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy at this location.

We cover character meet-and-greets extensively in our Epcot Character Guide. That guide lists every character who meets in the park regularly. We update it often. With so many character meet-and-greets, we can’t list them all here. But a few highlights include:

• Meeting Disney Princesses at Epcot
• Meet Anna and Elsa at the Royal Sommerhus
• Meet Winnie the Pooh at Epcot

Again, these are only a few of the characters who meet in the park. Our character guide offers a comprehensive list.

Dining at EPCOT

From quick service to table service restaurants, Epcot has many dining options. Each country offers some sort of cuisine specific to its region. For instance, guests can pick up a treat like school bread in the Norway Pavilion. Or you might order a gigantic pizza from Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria in the Italy Pavilion. Guests looking for a classic steak dinner might try Le Cellier Steakhouse in the Canada Pavilion. Nine Dragons offers Asian cuisine in the China Pavilion, or you might prefer to have a chef prepare your food in front of you at a restaurant like Teppan Edo in the Japan Pavilion.

Our favorite quick service is Regal Eagle Smokehouse in the American Adventure. We also sometimes grab a bite to eat at Connections Cafe toward the front of the park in the World Celebration area.

When planning dining at Epcot, you’ll want to consider the time of year you’re visiting and whether or not you’ll want to partake in the festival offerings. Epcot has four festivals throughout the year, each offering various booths with special food selections. Some guests opt to eat their way through Epcot, sacrificing dining reservations for festival food. Others might prefer the break that a sit-down meal provides. Just keep in mind that it’s difficult to do both. Guests who plan too many dining reservations might regret it later. Or, if you don’t care for eating out of a cardboard box every 50 feet, you might wish you’d planned a more formal meal.

Tickets, Transportation, and Parking

Tickets for Epcot can be purchased online or through an authorized travel agent or reseller. We use Firefly Travels for all of our reservations. If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel, you might prefer to book a room plus ticket package instead of purchasing individual tickets.

Bus, monorail, Skyliner, or boat transportation is provided from Disney World Resort Hotels to Epcot. Bus service is also offered from Epcot to Disney’s Animal Kingdom (after 10:00 a.m.). Guests will need to walk, boat, or take the Skyliner from Epcot to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. For Magic Kingdom, you will need to take the Epcot monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center. Then, you’ll transfer to the Express monorail.

You cannot take a bus from Epcot to Disney Springs. To get to Disney Springs, exit at the International Gateway and walk (or boat) to Disney’s Boardwalk Inn or Beach Club. Then, take a bus from either hotel to Disney Springs.

Annual Passholders and guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort can enjoy complimentary parking at Epcot. Other guests will have to pay for parking. You can read more in our guide to parking at Walt Disney World. Courtesy trams are provided from the parking lot to Epcot’s main entrance. Don’t forget to take a photo of where you parked or use the car locator in the My Disney Experience app.

Learn More>> EPCOT Transportation Map