Our one-day EPCOT itinerary offers an excellent and efficient plan to spend a day exploring Walt Disney World’s second park. From racing around Test Track or soaring around the world, this itinerary will allow you to experience everything that EPCOT has to offer.
Since this is Walt Disney World, we recommend staying onsite. If money is no problem, we recommend one of the Crescent Lake Resorts. These resorts are the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts and the Boardwalk Resort. Staying onsite allows for ease of access and Early Morning Magic Hours. Magic Hours allow hotel guests to enter the park a full hour earlier than non-hotel guests.
Stella and I have stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. Both resorts are about a five minute walk from the International Gateway entrance into EPCOT. Both resorts are excellent and offer a ton of great amenities. Please read our review of the Yacht Club HERE and the Beach Club HERE for more information.
Notes
Fast Pass+ is an absolute necessity. At EPCOT, Fast Pass+ is broken up into tiers (unlike Magic Kingdom). Here is the list below:
Tier One:
- Soarin’ Around the World
- TeSt Track
- Frozen Ever After
- EPCOT Character Spot
- EPCOT Forever Fireworks
Tier Two:
- Mission Space
- Living with the Land
- the Seas with Nemo and Friends
- Spaceship Earth
- Journey Into Imagination with Figment
- Tutle Talk with Crush
- Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
60 days out, guests can select ONE Fast Pass+ from Tier One and TWO from Tier Two. When we select our Fast Passes, we select a Fast Pass+ for Test Track from Tier One. For Tier Two, we select Spaceship Earth and Mission Space.
We are able to ride the other Tier One attractions throughout the day. The Tier Two attractions usually have short lines and are easy to experience. Don’t waste a Fast Pass on the other Tier Two attractions. Mission Space and Spaceship Earth are the most popular. And Test Track is the best Tier One attraction.
For simplicity, we’ll assume you scored Fast Passes for Test Track, Spaceship Earth and Mission Space for the following times for a 8AM opening:
- 9:30AM – 10:30AM: Test Track
- 10:30AM – 11:30AM: Spaceship Earth
- 11:30AM – 12:30PM: Mission Space
Like Magic Kingdom, we recommend utilizing your first Fast Pass about an hour and a half after park opening as the park is slow in the morning. Rather than burn a Fast Pass early, this time is better utilized to ride attractions with slow wait times.
Morning: E-Ticket Attractions
Like our Disneyland One-Day Itinerary, we recommend knocking off EPCOT’s E-Ticket attractions in the morning. E-Ticket is Disney speak for big name attractions. At EPCOT, that includes all the Tier One Fast Pass+ attractions. Since we scored a Fast Pass for Test Track, we need to ride standby for the other ones.
With your resort hotel in the Crescent Lake Area, it will be easy to ride Frozen Ever After. With a park opening of 8AM, we recommend you arrive at the International Gateway entrance by 7:45AM. It is a 15 minute walk to Frozen Ever After from this entrance (World Showcase usually opens at 11AM).
By the time you get through security, scan your ticket and make the long walk around World Showcase to Norway, it will be 8AM. At this time, you can enter the Frozen attraction entrance and practically board the boat to Arendelle. I assess you should be in and off the ride in about twenty minutes. For simplicity, we’ll say it’s 8:30AM.
Once you leave Frozen, I would immediately head towards Future World for Soarin’ Around the World. Soarin is popular and can easily have long lines. Hustle over to Soarin. It is the same version as California, Shanghai and Tokyo. If you are from one of those areas, I would just skip it.
If you ride it, I will estimate you will walk off the ride between 9AM – 9:15AM. Since you have until 10:30AM to cash in your Test Track Fast Pass, walk over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. The pavilion hosting Nemo is right next to Soarin and is a quick walk. If you leave Soarin at 9:15AM, we will assess you will be off Nemo by 10AM. Now, it is time for Test Track.
Test Track is the BEST attraction at EPCOT and one of the best at Walt Disney World. Guests can create and build their own vehicle in a preshow area before “testing” it out once they board their ride vehicle.
The ride vehicle will make maneuvers to test the functionality of your vehicle. Once the maneuvers are completed, you’ll head outside and “race”. The ride vehicle will shoot 0 to 60 in seconds and zoom around the track. Since the attraction is sponsored by Chevrolet, several Chevrolet prototype vehicles can be seen at the bottom of the track. And its so much fun.
The race ends way too quickly for my liking and before you know it, you’re off. Once you exit the station, you enter a huge pavilion where you can continue to work on your vehicle. By this time, Test Track usually has a 45-60 minute standby line.
We’ll assess its 10:45AM. Before riding Spaceship Earth, hop on Journey into Imagination with Figment. The attraction is close to Test Track and usually has a 5-10 minute standby wait time. The attraction is a shell of its former self but it’s still enjoyable. Ride it, see Figment, laugh at Eric Idle and have nightmares of Eric Idle as a moon.
Once you finish with Figment and think about the Dream Finder, it’s time to cash in on your Spaceship Earth Fast Pass. Head on to the massive “golf ball”, the show building for Spaceship Earth.
Scan your magic band and board your ride vehicle. Spaceship Earth is a slow moving journey through the history of communication. We will see cavemen, ancient Egyptians, Romans, an American Civil War printing press and the invention of computer code.
Try not to fall asleep as you learn the importance of communication throughout human history. It’s an intersting attraction but definitely starting to show its age.
Once you finish with Spaceship Earth, it’s time for Mission Space! Mission Space is about 5-10 minutes from Spaceship Earth, right across from Test Track and the new Guardians of the Galaxy Roller coaster (currently under construction).
Mission Space offers two ride options. Green for no spinning and Orange for spinning. As older adults, we opt for green. With too much spinning, I tend not to feel good and have problems once I enter World Showcase.
Mission Space is like the predecessor to Smuggler’s Run. With four people to a ride vehicle, each one has a roll and must press a button as they travel through space. It’s alright but not a bad attraction. It was better when Gary Sinise was in it.
Lunch and World Showcase
Once you finish with Mission Space, it’s time for World Showcase. Famous for its “drink around the world” adventure, World Showcase is like a permanent world’s fair with 11 different host countries.
Each country hosts a variety of restaurants, gift shops and some even have a ride (like Frozen Ever After in Norway). The castmembers in each country are usually Disney College Program students from that country. Germans run the German Pavilion, Norwegians run the Norway Pavilion and so on.
Since each country hosts at least one restaurant, there is a ton of different food options for lunch. Personally, we enjoy the Biergarten Restaurant in Germany and Via Napoli in Italy. Biergarten is a buffet themed to Oktoberfest complete with steins of German beer and a live band! Via Napoli serves excellent Italian pizza. Both accept advanced dining reservations 180 days out.
Once you eat, it’s time to explore the world. Since you used all three of your Fast Passes, you can get more for EPCOT’s attractions. But, if you followed our itinerary, you already rode all the best attractions. I would instead focus on exploring World Showcase. However, if you can score a Fast Pass for the fireworks, go ahead and do that. Now, let’s explore the world!
World Showcase hosts the following countries:
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- France
- Morocco
- Japan
- The American Adventure
- Italy
- Germany
- China
- Norway
- Mexico
Each country hosts a sit down restaurant, counter service resturant, gift shop and possibly an attraction. Canada, France and China each have a Circle Vision film. Norway hosts the Frozen Ever After attraction and Mexico has a boat ride in its pyramid.
In the future, France will host the Ratatouille attraction from Disneyland Paris and the United Kingdom will host a Marry Poppins attraction.
Drinking Around the World
EPCOT and World Showcase are exceptionally famous for their “drinking around the world”. Everyday, amazing human beings attempt to buy a drink at all 11 countries. Some even buy a “passport” where they can receive a stamp proving their visited and bought a beverage from that country.
Stella and I have done it twice. It’s a lot. I’ll say that again, it’s a lot. Drinking around the world is not easy. It takes a toll on you both mentally and physically. If this is something you want to do, plan ahead and devote plenty of time for drinking and hydrating. Each country has a cart selling readily available alcohol. Buy it, drink it, hydrate and move on. Once you finish, you will join an elite club of drunk tourists. Congratulations!
Evening: Eat and Fireworks
There isn’t much to add for EPCOT in the evening. More than likely, you’ll be continuing your journey around the world. Again, continue to check your phone for any available Fast Passes you might want to use on attractions back in Future World.
We also recommend finding a place for dinner. You can use our recommendations from lunch or head back to your resort hotel. The Crescent Lake resorts and the surrounding boardwalk offer plenty of options for dinner. Plus, it’s a quick walk from World Showcase.
The fireworks show usually starts around 9PM or 9:30PM. If you scored a Fast Pass, you’ll have a great view of the show by the Mexico Pavillion. If not, plan to stake out a spot 30-45 minutes ahead. The show takes place in the massive lagoon in the middle of World Showcase so it’s easy to find a spot.
Once the show is over, say goodbye and head out. It was a good day. Busy, but definitely a good day.
Conclusion
Although EPCOT is over 300 arches, it’s easy to see everything in one day. The park does not host many attractions and you can easily ride all of the major ones before lunch. Just follow our Fast Pass+ strategy above and you’ll be set.
If it’s a slow day, it will be even easier to hit all the attractions in the morning. If it’s a busier day, still plan to ride the major attractions first in the morning. The morning, when the park opens, is always the best time to knock off major attractions before the park becomes too crowded.
Once you finish with the attractions, head to World Showcase and spend the rest of the day exploring all eleven countries. You can continue to try to find Fast Passes on your phone but we recommend spending the rest of the day in World Showcase as it’s a long walk back to attractions and World Showcase has a lot to offer.
Thoughts?
Thank you for reading our EPCOT One-Day Itinerary! We hope this will help when you plan your journey to EPCOT. Be sure to read our Via Napoli Review HERE and our guide EPCOT: Drinking Around the World HERE!
How was Test Track? Did you drink around the world? Have you ever climbed the pyramid after a few drinks? Let us know in the comments below!
