EPCOT’s 2023 regular park hours are comparatively predictable, with a couple of exceptions. This information covers not simply regular opening and shutting occasions, but additionally Early Entry, Extended Evenings, rope drop, completely different schedules, and extra. Plus, ideas & tips for beating the crowds and avoiding occasions of day when attendance is highest.
The very first thing it’s good 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, sometimes 60 days upfront. Walt Disney World additionally has a month-to-month calendar that isn’t as straightforward to search out, and this at the moment has hours launched a lot additional upfront.
Walt Disney World sometimes releases template or placeholder hours earlier than extending these primarily based on attendance and resort occupancy projections. For some time, the preliminary launch of park hours was virtually meaningless, as each single park and date would see extensions. This is less-pronounced of a observe now, and the hours which can be launched are very often the ultimate hours. This is particularly 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 have been previously Future World and World Showcase. On some busy weekends and holidays, anticipate EPCOT to increase its closing time to 10 pm. However, that has but to happen this yr.
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 durations. One factor not to anticipate 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 points of interest in EPCOT, it’s protected 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 large crowds leaving after the fireworks and Fantasmic, that is normally extra pronounced at EPCOT. There’s one nighttime spectacular and after it ends, the park is closed. (Magic Kingdom now normally 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 can keep away from this crushing crowd just by lingering. One of the explanations we advocate places deep in World Showcase in our EPCOT Fireworks Viewing Guide isn’t just for seeing the present from the very best angle, but additionally as a result of that places you in an incredible spot to do a sluggish stroll out.
Even should you take your time leaving, you’ll discover a continued regular stream of visitors. 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 visitors 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 response to their posted schedules on the pertinent inns and EPCOT. So the Skyliner really 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 the entire stragglers are accounted for.
EPCOT is normally the park that takes the longest to clear. This is because of its mixture of its sprawling dimension and longer meal providers, particularly when Monsieur Paul and Takumi-Tei are seating visitors later. There’s additionally the truth that EPCOT is the “drinking park” and it may take inebriated visitors longer to make their method in the direction of the exit.
We have left Walt Disney World theme parks lengthy after park closing many, many occasions 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 get pleasure from 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–should 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 should take a bus–even to the inns inside strolling distance of World Showcase. (We’ve additionally had this occur to us various occasions!)
Now let’s flip to the expanded EPCOT park hours for visitors 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 useful at EPCOT, particularly should 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 sometimes lets you knock out Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After earlier than the EPCOT formally opens. We favor 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’ll be able to accomplish.)
Extended Evening Hours are sometimes held at EPCOT on Mondays. This 2-hour providing for choose on-site resort visitors is vastly advantageous, and is a pleasant option to do EPCOT. (See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for extra about eligibility and technique.)
The decrease experience rely and extra apparent prime priorities means wait occasions for the EPCOT headliners don’t fall as dramatically as these at Magic Kingdom. On prime of that, if even one experience is down, it may throw an actual monkey wrench into issues. See our Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT Strategy & Report for a have a look at what we completed throughout one in all these nights. Unlike Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT doesn’t provide the ‘After Hours’ upcharge occasion.
With the ‘special hours’ out of the best way, let’s flip again to a traditional day at EPCOT. The very first thing it’s good to do is be up at 7 am (severely) 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 & tips to enhance your odds of scoring a spot within the digital queue.
Arriving for normal rope drop (official park opening time) at EPCOT is just not the tip of the world. You’ll nonetheless have success and be capable 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 occasions to beat the lengthy traces there.)
Most visitors enter EPCOT by way 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 visitors eat and drink across the World Showcase, and safe spots for the nighttime spectacular. Hitting front-of-park points of interest throughout the previous few hours of the day could be a easy transfer, particularly because it’s not crucial that you just get a entrance row view for Harmonious.
It’s additionally price noting that not all points of interest 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 subtle audiences within the night hours.
There are additionally World Showcase leisure acts that carry out in response to schedules, with the majority of performances occurring throughout the center of the day. These add super environment 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 yr, save for a handful of weeks in between the tip of every occasion and begin of the subsequent one. There are a number 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 normally 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 few week after that ends and continues by way of December 30.
When it involves the interaction of park technique & hours, another 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 should 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’s good to find out about park hours at EPCOT. Now it also needs to be clear why there’s so much to know past simply the fundamentals that EPCOT at the moment retains park hours of 9 am to 9 pm. Many regular visitors 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 in a position to reap the benefits of Early Entry, that offers you an incredible benefit. Ditto should you begin in World Showcase or are prepared to bounce round to reap the benefits of crowd movement dynamics at EPCOT. This is Walt Disney World’s large “local’s park” and might be extremely congested in consequence, however you’ll be able to sometimes 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 lower your expenses on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips put up takes a singular have a look at intelligent gadgets 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 little thing it’s good 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 gang 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 will help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!