Thoughts on Arrival Day Plan for Epcot?

[bozley0621]

Our plane lands at 8:25 am on May 1 and I plan to take an Uber/Lyft straight to Epcot. I’m hoping to arrive by 9 or shortly after. What do you think of the feasibility of the plan below? Our FPs are scheduled for MK that evening, so all attractions will be done standby.

- Spaceship Earth (I know we should ideally do TT first, but I don’t want it to be the first ride of our trip.)
- Test Track (Will the wait still be under 60 minutes at this point? We would normally do single rider, but I don’t want to split up yet.)
- Frozen Ever After (This is one of my favorite queues, so I never mind waiting, but I’m hoping the wait will be under an hour.)
- Three Caballeros
- 12:20 lunch at San Angel Inn (estimating an hour to eat)
- Figment
- Living with the Land
- Soarin’

I’m hoping to be off of Soarin’ by 2:30/3. After Soarin’, I think we’ll be ready to head to our hotel - POFQ. We’ll have been up since 4 am (let’s face it, I will not sleep the night before out of excitement) and will need a nap before we venture out to MK between 6 and 7.

 

[Meglen]

I would not make any hard plans for the first day. It will just stress you out if something goes wrong. Imo take the ride to Epcot and just enjoy your time and go on the rides you want if the waits are not crazy.

 

[N Shah]

You wont get in before 9. You have to wait for security too. The drive, along with traffic, can easily take 45 minutes. Landing at 8:25, means you get out of the airport by 9. Then you go to the park, itll be about 10.

Soarin is hardest for FP, I think.

 

[hes122]

I think that's an ambitious plan. I don't know that you'll be able to get in all 3 headliner attractions done in that time frame. Like PP said, there's very little chance that you'll arrive by park opening.

 

[Meglen]

Like N Shah said you can't assume to be out of the airport at a time and be at Epcot at a time. Your plan kinda falls apart right away if your plane lands late or you hit traffic, or if lines are super long since you will be after rope drop.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but park hopping on arrival day is probably not a good idea. Even if you take an Uber you're looking at getting to your hotel closer to 10, getting inside of Epcot at 11 (if all goes smoothly).

If it were me I would dump this plan. Eat lunch at your resort and rest before heading to MK.

ETA: missed the part about going straight to Epcot. Apologies. What about carry ons?

 

[KenHutch]

Another person like Megien we never plan anything on arrival day. To many unknown factors can effect your plans. The only thing we so is schedule a dinner at Ohana for 20:00 hours or later but since we arrive in the monrings it tends to go O.K. the girls tend to treat check in days as a pool day.

 

[bozley0621]

I would not make any hard plans for the first day. It will just stress you out if something goes wrong. Imo take the ride to Epcot and just enjoy your time and go on the rides you want if the waits are not crazy.

This is sound advice. That being said, part of the excitement for me (or I should say, part of how I deal with the excitement), is to plan and discuss.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Disney plan that didn’t change somewhat or get overhauled, so having to adapt to some degree is always expected.

You wont get in before 9. You have to wait for security too. The drive, along with traffic, can easily take 45 minutes. Landing at 8:25, means you get out of the airport by 9. Then you go to the park, itll be about 10.

Soarin is hardest for FP, I think.

Thanks for that timing tidbit, this is my first trip going straight to a park from the airport.

Are you saying Soarin’ will be hardest to do without FP?

 

[sharonabe]

Our plane lands at 8:25 am on May 1 and I plan to take an Uber/Lyft straight to Epcot. I’m hoping to arrive by 9 or shortly after. What do you think of the feasibility of the plan below? Our FPs are scheduled for MK that evening, so all attractions will be done standby.

- Spaceship Earth (I know we should ideally do TT first, but I don’t want it to be the first ride of our trip.)
- Test Track (Will the wait still be under 60 minutes at this point? We would normally do single rider, but I don’t want to split up yet.)
- Frozen Ever After (This is one of my favorite queues, so I never mind waiting, but I’m hoping the wait will be under an hour.)
- Three Caballeros
- 12:20 lunch at San Angel Inn (estimating an hour to eat)
- Figment
- Living with the Land
- Soarin’

I’m hoping to be off of Soarin’ by 2:30/3. After Soarin’, I think we’ll be ready to head to our hotel - POFQ. We’ll have been up since 4 am (let’s face it, I will not sleep the night before out of excitement) and will need a nap before we venture out to MK between 6 and 7.

I would push all of this back to an arrival at EP around 10:00. That means SE should be a walk-on. TT could easily have an hour wait, so you may have to do single rider if you want to ride. FEA is a wild card. Check wait times on the app around 10:30-45 for a few days and see what you might be facing. I think you'll still make the 12:20 lunch, and you'll probably be off Soarin' by 3:00-30. That's not going to give you much time for a nap. You'll want to be headed back out by 5:30-45 just to get to MK and make it for your FP+ time window.

What are you doing with your luggage?

 

[MrsDuck]

I'll echo the others who say this is an ambitious plan. I think you'll be able to do MOST of this assuming all goes according to plan. Maybe not Soarin'...

 

[DisneyWishes14]

This is sound advice. That being said, part of the excitement for me (or I should say, part of how I deal with the excitement), is to plan and discuss.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Disney plan that didn’t change somewhat or get overhauled, so having to adapt to some degree is always expected.




Thanks for that timing tidbit, this is my first trip going straight to a park from the airport.

Are you saying Soarin’ will be hardest to do without FP?

Keep in mind, when you land, unless you are at the very front of the plane, you have to wait to disembark. You then have to walk through the terminal, take the shuttle to the main terminal and walk to the ground transportation area. You are allowing 35 minutes to do all of that and drive to EP, which, with no traffic, is a 30 minute drive in and of itself, so I don't think a 9:00 am arrival time is realistic. We always take private transportation from MCO and bring carry-ons and, on a good day with little traffic, it's about an hour from disembarking to arriving at WDW. That's if no one requires a bathroom break when we get off the plane and we are at the front of the plane. So, if you're lucky, you are driving into EP around 9:30 am. You then have to go through bag check, security and the entrance - perhaps 9:45 am before you are in line for SE. I would just be prepared to not get all of this done within the time frame you've allowed and abandon ship if need be. I think trying to get 3 Tier 1's in, with a TS lunch and no FP+ in a four to five hour time frame isn't very realistic. Keep in mind, both SE and LwtL are both 20 minute rides, so, with possible waits, they are going to take up an hour of your EP time.

 

[gharter]

Just curious, but what are you doing with your luggage if you are going straight to the park? Even if its only a carryon bag.
As others have said, the plan while aggressive is doable if everything works.

By the time you get to TT, the wait could easily be an hour or more. The single rider line will save you time.
FEA also will have a fair line by the time you get to it.
Soarin' and LWtL is usually a shorter line by afternon.

It could work, but seems overly stressful, unless you aren't worried about missing some of the attractions.

 

[focusondisney]

Yea, trying to get 2 headliners + 2 other rides in by 12:20 with no fastpasses & arriving after opening is probably too ambitious. Security at Epcot seems to move slower for some reason. Personally, I can’t imagine any way you will be inside the park before 9:30. And Spaceship Earth will have a wait in the morning. Maybe only 15 - 20 minutes, but I haven’t seen it as a walk on in the morning for years. I know it is a busy day today, but the wait is posted as 25 minutes right now at 9:55. It might be a walk on later, but not in the morning. You may not even be out of there til after 10. I would count on Test Track being at least 45 minute wait, again, right now it has a 60 minute posted wait time. FEA will be at least 30 minutes by the time you get done with that.

And I am wondering what you are doing with your luggage too. Remember that if you have any kind of carry on: no rolling bags & you will have to open every zipper & have everything searched at security. Plus May 1st is the start of stricter stroller guidelines so I would expect a little slow down at security because of that as they work those kinks out.

 

[kiramay]

It’s ambitious and you may disappointed. We always do a park on arrival day for a meal and our 3 fastpasses, and anything else is bonus, plus an early bedtime (because like you, we will be up at 4 am that morning).

I’d either skip the hopping and do Epcot or MK, or lower your expectations for Epcot. You’ll be able to easily do the less popular rides but you may only get in one headliner, depending on lines. (Eta right now at 10:12 am TT is 60 minutes, Frozen is 55, Soarin 50, and Spaceship Earth 30 minutes).

And to echo others, what do you plan to do with luggage? ME is not a luggage service so you’ll have to ride the ME or collect your own bags. The park lockers aren’t big enough to store suitcases....

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

My guess is the OP is letting DME deal with luggage. Once you’ve signed up, they don’t check to see if you’ve boarded the bus before collecting your luggage.

 

[SaintsManiac]

My guess is the OP is letting DME deal with luggage. Once you’ve signed up, they don’t check to see if you’ve boarded the bus before collecting your luggage.

I think technically that's a no no, but I know people do it all the time.

My question is about the carry on luggage, but I guess they aren't bringing any.

 

[maryj11]

This is sound advice. That being said, part of the excitement for me (or I should say, part of how I deal with the excitement), is to plan and discuss.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Disney plan that didn’t change somewhat or get overhauled, so having to adapt to some degree is always expected.




Thanks for that timing tidbit, this is my first trip going straight to a park from the airport.

Are you saying Soarin’ will be hardest to do without FP?

I would say TT and Frozen are the hardest to do without FP. They added a new theater to Soarin which has helped with wait times. It will still be a long wait if going in after 9:30

 

[maryj11]

Go to the bottom of this page and it will give you an idea of wait times.
https://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/ep_cheatsheet_fall_2018.pdf

 

[bozley0621]

Thanks for the input so far everyone. I’ll plan to be at Epcot by 10, rather than 9.

I’ll leave it up to Hubbs how important it is to ride TT, I could take it or leave it. We prefer the Radiator Springs Racers version in California Adventure. If he wants to ride it, then single rider it is!

“Must-dos” between Hubbs and I are Spaceship Earth, Frozen, and Soarin’. The others are enjoyable, but it certainly won’t ruin the day if we can’t ride. Even not doing the must-dos won’t be catastrophic.

13 sleeps!

 

[Meglen]

If you love to plan have a great time you seem to be ok with plans changing so that's good the luggage is prolly your only issue now. Have a great time !