Is Epcot your "Half Day" Park Now?

[YawningDodo]

I don't have a half day park. Never have.

Granted, I always park hop, so I don't think I've ever spent a full day in one Disney park! But I spend the equivalent of at least a full day at each of the four over the course of the trip. Epcot and AK have always been parks where I spend a lot of time just strolling around looking at things, and AK was always my go-to park when I was in the College Program and at a loose end on my days off.

 

[Frozen2014]

On Touring Plans, I punched in a plan for us next summer. Had us starting at Epcot at 1pm (as day we get off from a cruise) and the rides/attractions alone took us to about 10pm....and that doesn't include any night shows such as Fantasmic or any of the worlds. So think we would be fine for a full day.

 

[FredPinsocket]

Not yet. Once Spaceship Earth closes for its overhaul (which is due to last for a while), then maybe. The amount of construction in the park seems a bit overwhelming. Epcot Forever doesn’t really do it for me, so I don’t feel any need to stay for that. Hopefully HarmonioUS is on the same level as Illuminations, but if that doesn’t measure up then I can see Epcot being a 3/4 day park until everything being built gets built.

 

[MadMadamMim1]

Nope. Epcot has a lot to offer food-wise, and with young kids they have Frozen, Turtle Talk, Nemo, lots of princesses to meet. We tend to stroll around Epcot instead of MK which is more of a mission!
AK is a full day usually, ending at dinner. MK two days.
HS completely skippable. Don’t care about Star Wars, not Toy Story fans, food is terrible. Skipping it completely next trip.

 

[James From Utah]

It absolutely is a half day park. If you rope drop you can hit all the rides before noon. Have lunch in a country and you've done everything.

 

[Jorjabelle]

I miss Innoventions, we used to spend easily an hour or more there. Building our own rollercoaster, doing the fire challenge (friends dad a fire chief), doing the recycling challenge. We used to book the Segway tours for us and our parents - got a really kick taking our dads out on the segways around the countries.

I can spend hours in the Land and the Living Seas. Talking to the scientists and researchers. The behind the seeds tour is a great, geeky science experience. Watching the dolphin intelligence testing and research and the manatee care is my jam.

Then, heading into the countries after a stop by Figment to be inspired. Seeing the movies in different countries, exploring the different cultural offerings, doing the American Experience - a fantastic show, exploring the artifacts before the show, listening to the Voices of Liberty in the atrium is just a special, restful way to take in American history and reflect on how cool of a place we live in.

Old fans of the Kim Possible challenge - now Phineas and Ferb and possibly soon to be Ducktales? A woo hoo! We are puzzlers and enjoy the agent Epcot challenges along with SOTMK and Pirates in MK.

While some things have been cut from Epcot, there’s still some great wonderful moments that we love to explore and inspire our family.

 

[gorkt]

Sort of. I have only a morning planned for future world, but multiple nights planned for Food and Wine. My favorite part of Epcot is World Showcase and that remains pretty intact throughout the renovations.

 

[Rach3975]

Depends. I could easily spend a full day at any of the parks. But reality doesn't usually work out that way--we often need to plan one half day park due to arrival or wanting a day to sleep in and go to the parks later. That planned half day park has always been AK so far. As far as Epcot goes, the kids usually ask to leave well before DH and I are ready. (In their defense, we've had bad luck with our 2 Epcot days . They were young and worn out on our 2016 visit and the crowds were terrible during our 2018 trip.) DH and I are excited to finally be able to spend a full day at Epcot in 3 weeks! (And if all the construction convinces others that it's a half day park and crowds are low, you won't hear us complain!)

 

[rpb718]

In all our trips, especially ones within the last 5 years, we've literally spents days in EPCOT and never left WS save for a quick trip over to Soarin' or Mouse Gears or Starbucks. I was never a big fan of Mission Space or Test Track, and don't get me going on Figment. Glad we did SSE on our last trip as I'm pretty sure it will be down for our next one. And I miss Ellen's Energy Adventure.

 

[CBMom01]

It’s become a half day park for me. My son was never a fan of WS. Last trip i realized i was wasting park hopper $$ just to be able to eat dinner at Epcot.

AK is a full day park for me. I didn’t go to HS last trip. I’m going in early Dec and recently swapped out my Epcot day for HS. I’m going to park hop but doubt i’ll spend more than an evening at Epcot

 

[antlane]

For me, Epcot has been a half day park since 2015. Later half of the day preferably. Just never felt like there was enough to keep my interest a whole day. Mine used to be DAK as well, but now it’s a full day park easily.

 

[eco-muse]

Epcot and Hollywood Studios are both my half day parks.

 

[bryanb]

If Epcot were a checklist of rides, then it would easily be a half-day park. But I appreciate Epcot as a place for exploration. World Showcase still holds enough for a visitor to meander about and linger in each pavilion soaking in the atmosphere, shows, entertainers, shops, and foods. When there's a festival going on, there's even more to do with demonstrations and booths. Granted, this isn't everyone's idea of theme park fun.

Now having been to Epcot many many times, I don't find it as repeatable when there's not a festival going on. There are only so many times you can watch the same show again and again.* But Disney is doing exactly what it needs to do to modernize Epcot with all this construction, and I'm not going to criticize the great stuff they're doing to transform it. I would still not define it as a half-day park, as Epcot for me is the perfect hopper park. I love staying in the hotels right behind it, and visiting multiple times per trip to sample snacks, visit a few pavilions, and more.

*with exceptions, for me particularly the American Adventure is an example of that... but I'm a sucker for good old fashioned patriotism.

 

[monkyby87]

The thing is, despite all of the construction, nothing has really changed (yet) in terms of attractions at Epcot. Nothing has really closed that's of consequence in terms of things to do, and all of the major attractions are up and running. So if Epcot is currently a half-day park for people, it's probably always been that way. It wouldn't be due to the construction.

In truth, you could make any park a half-day, or full day, park depending on how you tour and what interests you.

 

[stinkpickle]

Nope. I'd drink there all day.

 

[mousefan73]

Nope. It's still a 2 day park for me. There's so much more than just rides there

Yup we go many times over a week. Heck we need a half a day just to get thru spaceship earth, Nemo etc. we do the aquarium and the post Spaceship earth stuff.

 

[Lumpy1106]

EPCOT Has the same problem it has always had - not enough rides, especially in WS. Ratatoulle and Mary Poppins will help, but it could really use at least one more ride on the WS side to justify the long walk around the lake. AK is really hot and not enough to do there either. We've rope dropped AK but we've never stayed until close.

That said...
On our last trip in 2018 HS was literally a 1/2 day park for us. We rope-dropped, did all the rides and 1/2 the shows, left for several hours (including DVC tour) came back and still found ourselves doing all of the character spots just to fill time. Mickeys RRR and opening both rides in SWGE will help but I think this will still be the park that needs more to do in 2020.

 

[OhhBother]

Heck no! We can easily spend a half-day just enjoying the aquarium at the Seas. And then there's so much to do and explore in World Showcase. We always make a point of catching at least a couple of Voices of Liberty performances.

We're headed to Disney next week, and we'll easily visit Epcot for a portion of four to five days - and not just for the coasters. We love it!

 

[kydisneyfans]

I have a 6 day stay coming soon and have divided up the schedule into half days due to long park hours. I am not a thrill ride person. The plan now is the following:

DHS 2 half day visits 1 morning, 1 evening
EP 4 half day visits(mainly for Eat to the Beat)1 morning, 3 evenings
MK 2 half day visits-1 morning, 1 evening(Halloween Party)
AK 3 half day visits(Love to wonder the trails, it's never the same visit twice)2 mornings, 1 evening
Disney Springs will be a partial/half day. Morning

A half day to me is around 6 hours. I find Epcot and AK to have the most relaxing things to explore.

 

[Nanceliz319]

we usually spend 2 days at EPCOT but not all day. We like to split world showcase down the middle. We like to go through the shops and watch the movies. We split future world also although with spaceship earth down while we are there and not interested in Seas too much, it will take less time. We also use to spend a good amount of time in innoventions (when it was full of attractions)
MK is usually 1.5 days and HS and AK each 1 day. This coming trip will more than likely be different with additions and closures.