What You Should Know About EPCOT

EPCOT was the second of the Disney World theme parks to open, and up until the day it opened, it underwent several changes in concept. EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, and originally, Walt's vision for this park was that it be a working city that demonstrated how technology and smart planning could allow a city to run efficiently and cleanly. However, after Walt's death, this concept changed and the park first opened as more of an exposition, like a world's fair, and even that concept is evolving now. EPCOT is unique to Florida. You will find no equivalent at any other Disney theme park complex, though you can find comparable parks that take inspiration from EPCOT.

How to Get There

EPCOT is served by all of the Disney complimentary transportation options, and has a huge parking lot dedicated to the park if you are driving. The monorail runs to EPCOT from the Transportation and Ticket Center (transfers are necessary at the TTC to get to the monorail loop resorts or Magic Kingdom). Boats and Skyliner serve EPCOT from some EPCOT area resorts and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Buses run from the other 3 theme parks and resorts not served by the skyliner. Finally, EPCOT is walkable distance from Disney's Hollywood Studios and the resorts in between.

Because EPCOT is a very large park, there are two entrances. The busiest entrance is the main gate at the front of the park. The parking lot, buses, and monorail will let you off at this entrance, with the monorail station being the shortest walk to the turnstiles. If taking bus or driving, expect a somewhat longer walk from where you are dropped off to the turnstiles. It is not possible to walk to the front entrance of the park from another resort.

The second entrance is the International Gateway, situated between the lands of the United Kingdom and France in the World Showcase part of the park. This serves those arriving from EPCOT area resorts by boat, skyliner, or who just walked.

The closest resorts to EPCOT are the international gateway resorts that lie between EPCOT and Disney Hollywood Studios: Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk resort, the Swan and the Dolphin. From all of these, you can take a boat or walk to EPCOT. The Skyliner also serves resorts that are a little bit further and not walkable from EPCOT, but the Skyliner makes the route very short. These include Disney's Riviera Resort, Caribbean Beach Resort, and even further on Art of Animation and Pop Century resorts. Finally, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort deserves a shout out for being very convenient to EPCOT. It is not close to the park itself, but from the resort, one can easily walk to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then catch a monorail to EPCOT, making it a very efficient way of getting there.

Concept art for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind pavilion

Most Popular Attractions

EPCOT's most popular attractions are spread out in different parts of the park, which can impact your ability to rope drop them depending on which park entrance you used. They are:

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Test Track in World Discovery

• Soarin' in World Nature

• Remy's Ratatouille Adventure (France), and Frozen Ever After (Norway) in World Showcase

EPCOT is about more than just rides because of its exposition style. You will also find a fairly impressive aquarium at the Living Seas pavilion which never has a wait time because it's a walk through exhibit, and 11 pavilions representing different nations in World Showcase that host food and shops traditional to those nations. World Showcase becomes quite popular on evenings, especially on weekends, because it is attractive to locals who want to eat and drink "around the world".

A margarita in Mexico

What to Eat

EPCOT is a true dining destination. The front of the park hosts more traditional quick service meals and some inventive table service restaurants. The Coral Reef restaurant, for example, puts you under the water surface of the largest tank of the Living Seas pavilion's aquarium. Space 220 offers experimental and otherworldly food and drink in a simulated outer space setting. Both of these table service experiences are about more than the food, but the experience as well.

If you want something different and are going the quick service route, World Showcase offers lots of opportunities to dine on cuisine around the world. You can find great quick service food in most countries, and usually a table service restaurant in some countries. Some of the best quick service, in our opinion, are Boulangerie Patisserie Les Halles in the France pavilion, which is a charming pastry hall, and Tangierine Cafe in the Morocco pavilion where you can get falafel, hummus, and mint tea.

For table service in World showcase, the experience ranges from very good dining to exceptional once-in-a-lifetime experiences. There are few table service restaurants we would NOT put in the very good category in World Showcase. It just depends on what you want to try. We are fans of Rose & Crown in the UK pavilion, and Via Napoli in the Italy pavilion. Japan hosts an exceptional dining experience in the form of an omakase tasting at Takumi Tei, where food is art and you dine on dishes the chef prepares for you.

As you can see, EPCOT is a great park for dining. In addition to the permanent dining installations, EPCOT is also almost always hosting a festival and with festivals come temporary pavilions where you can get small bites, each in the $4-$8 range. Snacking around EPCOT is a thing, as well as drinking around EPCOT. World Showcase again lends itself very much to this as you can try drinks in each country. Some of the best stops when drinking are La Cava del Tequila in the Mexico pavilion, grabbing a sake in Japan (especially during a festival), and the Grand Marnier slushy in France. We also recommend the Tipsy Ducks in Love drink in China.

Concept art for HarmoniUS, EPCOT's current fireworks show

Parades and Fireworks

EPCOT does not host a parade at this time, though it did for a few brief months in 1999-2000. There simply isn't a very humane parade route for the performers. World Showcase promenade, the most obvious place for a parade, is 1.3 miles long, which may not seem very long until you take into account the Florida heat.

However, fireworks at EPCOT are not to be missed. They occur most nights right before park closing in the World Showcase Lagoon. There are good viewing spots from pretty much anywhere on the World Showcase promenade, so it is not absolutely necessary to show up early as you will see fireworks from anywhere on the promenade. However, there is a water and projection component, and the best view of that is the "front of the house" right where the bridge from World Celebration meets the World Showcase promenade. If you plan to view from there, be an hour to a half an hour early. You can also find less crowded spots at the far end of World Showcase in Japan and Italy.

General Lay of the Land

EPCOT is almost like two parks in one. If the main entrance is at the top, you can picture EPCOT as a butterfly on top of a circle. From the main entrance, you enter the body of the butterfly which is World Celebration and you will be facing the park's "wienie", Spaceship Earth (aka the Geosphere). From there, you can go left for World Discovery or right for World Nature. Crowds are a bit funneled to go to either World Discovery or World Nature from World Celebration, but once in either of those neighborhoods, the path stretches out again like the butterfly's wings.

Attractions are found inside of "pavilions" throughout EPCOT. World Nature and World Discovery both have three pavilions.

Going straight from Spaceship Earth down the body of the "butterfly", you will eventually meet World Showcase, which is situated around World Showcase Lagoon and is laid out with the 11 country's pavilions in a circle around the circular promenade.

The second entrance to the park, the International Gateway, is 2 countries to the right as facing World Showcase from World Celebration.

Below, we'll break down each neighborhood of EPCOT and the pavilions within.

• World Celebration- This is where you are when you enter via the main gate, and also serves as a hub between World Discovery and World Nature. The main attraction here is Spaceship Earth, inside the park's icon. There are two crescent shaped buildings to either side behind Spaceship Earth with shops and quick service foods, and a passage to World Nature or World Discovery.

• World Discovery - To the left of World Celebration is the "exploration" themed part of the park in World Discovery. Pavilions here include the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind pavilion, the Space pavilion (which houses the ride Mission: Space and the restaurant Space 220), and the Test Track pavilion.

• World Nature - To the right of World Celebration is the "natural science" part of the park. Pavilions here include the Living Seas pavilion which is like an aquarium that also houses The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush, the Land pavilion which houses Livin' With The Land and Soarin' as well as a quick service and table service restaurant, and the Imagination pavilion which houses Journey Into Imagination and a theater.

• World Showcase - By far the largest neighborhood of EPCOT, this consists of 11 pavilions representing different countries situated along a 1.3 mile round promenade around World Showcase Lagoon. The countries you can explore here are in clockwise order: Mexico, China, Norway, Germany, Italy, the American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, the UK, and Canada. Each country has dining and shops representative of the country, as well as a "village front" that represents architecture and icons of that country. Most countries have some form of live entertainment. Some countries include rides or shows. The second EPCOT entrance is between France and the UK on a waterway built to represent the English channel.

This picture shows how large World Showcase lagoon really is. You can see the Dolphin resort's peaked roof in the background.

Our Biggest Piece of Advice About This Park

The unofficial meaning of the acronym EPCOT is Every Person Comes Out Tired. Because of the World Showcase Lagoon, expect a lot of walking in this park, especially if you are trying to pack the entire park into one day. You can save your feet a little bit by using the Friendship Boats to cross World Showcase Lagoon from the far end if you can't make it around on your feet. Boats run from Germany to Mexico and Morocco to a dock between the UK and Canada.