EPCOT’s 2023 regular park hours are comparatively predictable, with a number of exceptions. This information covers not simply regular opening and shutting instances, but in addition Early Entry, Extended Evenings, rope drop, completely different schedules, and extra. Plus, ideas & methods for beating the crowds and avoiding instances of day when attendance is highest.
The very first thing it is advisable to know is that EPCOT park hours will likely be added to DisneyWorld.com’s 5-day calendar on a rolling foundation all through 2023, usually 60 days upfront. Walt Disney World additionally has a month-to-month calendar that isn’t as simple to search out, and this presently has hours launched a lot additional upfront.
Walt Disney World usually releases template or placeholder hours earlier than extending these based mostly on attendance and resort occupancy projections. For some time, the preliminary launch of park hours was nearly meaningless, as each single park and date would see extensions. This is less-pronounced of a apply now, and the hours which can be launched are very often the ultimate hours. This is very true at EPCOT.
At current, there isn’t a single date on the 2023 calendars the place EPCOT’s park hours deviate. EPCOT is open from 9 am till 9 pm day by day, which incorporates each the brand new neighborhoods on the entrance of the park that had been previously Future World and World Showcase. On some busy weekends and holidays, count on EPCOT to increase its closing time to 10 pm. However, that has but to happen this 12 months.
Moving ahead the opening time to eight or 8:30 am can also be doable. That occurred throughout busy dates final Spring Break and through different peak intervals. One factor not to count on is World Showcase to have a delayed opening time, because it did previously. Now that Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are two of the most well-liked sights in EPCOT, it’s secure to imagine that World Showcase will proceed opening with the entrance of the park.
Regardless of whether or not hours are prolonged, it’s widespread for Harmonious or EPCOT Forever to start at park closing time. That means 9 pm on evenings when the park closes then. These two nighttime spectaculars every final about 20 minutes, after which there’s a mass exodus from EPCOT.
While Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios even have enormous crowds leaving after the fireworks and Fantasmic, that is often extra pronounced at EPCOT. There’s one nighttime spectacular and after it ends, the park is closed. (Magic Kingdom now often has a niche between the tip of its fireworks and park closing time, however when it doesn’t, the identical downside is much more pronounced there.)
The excellent news is which you could keep away from this crushing crowd just by lingering. One of the explanations we advocate areas deep in World Showcase in our EPCOT Fireworks Viewing Guide isn’t just for seeing the present from the very best angle, but in addition as a result of that places you in an ideal spot to do a gradual stroll out.
Even in case you take your time leaving, you’ll discover a continued regular stream of friends. This is largely as a result of it’s extremely widespread for desk service eating places in World Showcase to supply Advance Dining Reservations proper up till park closing at EPCOT. This means you will discover ADRs till about 8:50 pm on nights when the park closes at 9 pm. Each of those meals take about an hour, so friends eating at these eating places are leaving over a full hour after parking closing.
If you’re frightened about transportation again to your resort, don’t. Officially, transportation to the theme parks begins roughly 2 hours previous to park opening time and runs till roughly 1 hour after the parks shut. This is the data you’ll discover on Walt Disney World’s web site, and what Cast Members will let you know.
It is true that the Skyliner and boats open and shut in line with their posted schedules on the pertinent inns and EPCOT. So the Skyliner truly does shut at no matter time indicated on the signage outdoors the park. However, that’s not true of all transportation.
Unofficially, transportation after park closing continues so long as persons are contained in the park. Sometimes it’s nearer to 2 hours after the parks shut when transportation ends. Cast Members are methodical about clearing the parks and radio to bus drivers to ensure they stick round till all the stragglers are accounted for.
EPCOT is often the park that takes the longest to clear. This is because of its mixture of its sprawling measurement and longer meal providers, particularly when Monsieur Paul and Takumi-Tei are seating friends later. There’s additionally the fact that EPCOT is the “drinking park” and it might take inebriated friends longer to make their approach in the direction of the exit.
We have left Walt Disney World theme parks lengthy after park closing many, many instances and have by no means had a problem. If something, delaying departure so long as doable is the very best plan of action. You get to take pleasure in park closing serenity and usually tend to have a bus all to your self!
One caveat right here is for these staying within the Skyliner or Crescent Lake Resorts–in case you linger too late on the entrance of the park, you will be unable to exit out of International Gateway in World Showcase. Instead, you’ll be herded in the direction of the bus stops on the entrance, and need to take a bus–even to the inns inside strolling distance of World Showcase. (We’ve additionally had this occur to us quite a lot of instances!)
Now let’s flip to the expanded EPCOT park hours for friends of on-site inns. These are Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours, which have changed Extra Magic Hours within the morning and at evening. If you’re unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the morning possibility, be taught extra in our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World.
Early Entry is fairly helpful at EPCOT, particularly in case you’re coming from Crescent Lake or the Skyliner and thus coming into through International Gateway. If you in the direction of the entrance of the pack and transfer shortly, this usually permits you to knock out Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After earlier than the EPCOT formally opens. We desire this over utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at EPCOT. (See Early Entry v. Genie+ at EPCOT for a full runthrough of how a lot you may accomplish.)
Extended Evening Hours are usually held at EPCOT on Mondays. This 2-hour providing for choose on-site resort friends is massively advantageous, and is a pleasant strategy to do EPCOT. (See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for extra about eligibility and technique.)
The decrease experience depend and extra apparent high priorities means wait instances for the EPCOT headliners don’t fall as dramatically as these at Magic Kingdom. On high of that, if even one experience is down, it might throw an actual monkey wrench into issues. See our Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT Strategy & Report for a have a look at what we achieved throughout one in all these nights. Unlike Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT doesn’t supply the ‘After Hours’ upcharge occasion.
With the ‘special hours’ out of the best way, let’s flip again to a standard day at EPCOT. The very first thing it is advisable to do is be up at 7 am (significantly) for the very best probability of experiencing Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the most recent blockbuster attraction at Walt Disney World. This makes use of a digital queue, which might be entered at 7 am or 1 pm.
It’s not so simple as it’d sound. See How to Ride Guardians of Galaxy Cosmic Rewind & Virtual Queue Strategy for ideas & methods to enhance your odds of scoring a spot within the digital queue.
Arriving for normal rope drop (official park opening time) at EPCOT isn’t the tip of the world. You’ll nonetheless have success and have the ability to save time at each attraction besides Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure–so save that for both mid-morning or the tip of the evening. (See our Ride Guide to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for the very best instances to beat the lengthy traces there.)
Most friends enter EPCOT by means of the entrance entrance and do that portion of the park first. As such, the entrance of EPCOT empties out within the night hours, as a result of friends eat and drink across the World Showcase, and safe spots for the nighttime spectacular. Hitting front-of-park sights throughout the previous couple of hours of the day generally is a easy transfer, particularly because it’s not crucial that you simply get a entrance row view for Harmonious.
It’s additionally price noting that not all sights begin working at park opening time. The most notable examples are movies in World Showcase and meet & greets. Then there’s Impressions de France, which is much and away the very best movie in EPCOT. This solely is proven from 6:30 pm to eight:45 pm–that is primarily a ‘secret’ aimed toward refined audiences within the night hours.
There are additionally World Showcase leisure acts that carry out in line with schedules, with the majority of performances occurring through the center of the day. These add large ambiance to EPCOT and are price watching. Rather than actively searching for them out, we advocate stumbling upon this leisure whereas perusing World Showcase at your leisure.
Another quirk to the working hours at EPCOT is competition season. This now encompasses many of the 12 months, save for a handful of weeks in between the tip of every occasion and begin of the following one. There are a whole lot of scheduling quirks for these festivals, however the large factor to know is that the meals cubicles round World Showcase and elsewhere are open from 11 am till park closing.
As for the calendar of those occasions, the cycle begins with the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts, which often runs from mid-January till late February. The EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival follows, operating from early March till early July. The flagship occasion, EPCOT’s International Food & Wine Festival, goes from mid-July till the weekend earlier than Thanksgiving. Finally, the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays begins a couple of week after that ends and continues by means of December 30.
When it involves the interaction of park technique & hours, an alternative choice is Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at EPCOT. This might be very helpful for doing Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Test Track, and Soarin’ Around the World–particularly in case you don’t have entry to Early Entry or Extended Evening Hours. The large draw back to Genie+ at EPCOT is backtracking–it’s an enormous park and these 4 headliners are scattered across the park. You will probably find yourself strolling extra if utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
To that time, for EPCOT technique & planning perception see the next posts:
Ultimately, that ought to cowl what it is advisable to learn about park hours at EPCOT. Now it must also be clear why there’s rather a lot to know past simply the fundamentals that EPCOT presently retains park hours of 9 am to 9 pm. Many regular friends will see that, present up between 9 am and 10 am, do the park front-to-back, and encounter lengthy traces in consequence.
EPCOT is the right park for going towards the grain, zigging once they zag. If you’re capable of reap the benefits of Early Entry, that offers you an amazing benefit. Ditto in case you begin in World Showcase or are prepared to bounce round to reap the benefits of crowd stream dynamics at EPCOT. This is Walt Disney World’s large “local’s park” and might be extremely congested in consequence, however you may usually keep away from the crowds with a little bit of planning and environment friendly touring technique.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about inns on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To get monetary savings on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips publish takes a novel have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the very best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every thing it is advisable to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider regular park hours in 2023 at EPCOT? Prefer to reach very first thing for Early Entry, later within the morning, afternoon, or night? How do you reap the benefits of the group dynamics at EPCOT to keep away from lengthy traces? Do you agree or disagree with something in our information to park hours at EPCOT? Any questions we may help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!