Epcot
Epcot Ball
This book’s coverage of Epcot should be treated like a “with little kids” supplement to a guide book covering the park. There is so much you need to know about Epcot that this book doesn’t cover.
But other guides neglect many of the questions parents with little kids have and this chapter zooms in on those questions.
Short Overview
Epcot is half Future World (the front) and half World Showcase (the back).
World Showcase
The World Showcase is my personal favorite place to be in Disney World.
Everything in the World Showcase is little kid friendly with one exception: The Maelstrom ride in Norway. It’s a dark boat ride with somewhat frightening scenes (a large troll, a polar bear, boat goes backwards for a bit and a surprise small boat drop while going backwards during the ride).
You can get a lot of mileage out of the World Showcase
Think of the World Showcase as eleven parks called “pavilions”. You could spend 1-2 hours at each one letting the kids explore. There’s fountains, gardens, stores, restaurants, galleries, street performers, alleys and characters throughout each one.
KidCot fun stops
These are craft stops for little kids in each country. The kids get handheld sign to color and get stamped in each country.
These stops are also excellent opportunities for your child to interact with a cast member from that country. (As in all the cast members in Japan are actually from Japan working at Epcot for one year)
This page at allears.net lists where to find all the stops.
Lots of characters
The World Showcase has a lot of characters– Pooh and friends, Mary Poppins, Alice, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Mulan, Snow White, Elsa and Anna, Aladdin and Jasmine, Donald Duck.
You wait to meet them, they have a short chat with your child and pose for pictures.
Future World
I’ve split Future World into 3 categories
- No worries for little kids
- Borderline for little kids
- Bad for little kids
Within each category, the attractions are sorted from ‘of least concern’ to ‘of most concern’. So the last attraction in ‘Borderline for little kids’ is almost in ‘Bad for little kids’
No worries for little kids
Epcot Character Spot
Wait in line and meet Mickey, Goofy and Minnie (characters may be different.)
The Seas
Aquariums in the same building as the Nemo ride. No concerns.
The Circle of Life
Environmental conservation movie.
Might be boring for kids.
ImageWorks
Interactive activities to explore.
Innoventions
Interactive activities to explore.
Turtle Talk with Crush
Seated theater with interactive talking turtle. I would say this whole thing is non-scary. One part might be minimally, minimally scary: a whale sneaks up on Crush while he’s talking and he gets squished against the glass until the whale leaves.
One mom said online that if want to leave in the middle of the show you can’t, and her 2.5 year old hated it and cried the whole time.
Ellen’s energy adventure
Slow ride / movie. I do not expect little kids to be scared, but does have dinosaurs and thunder.
Might be boring for kids.
Young Earth creationist parents may not like the content.
Borderline for little kids
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Probably not scary, but does have some dark flashing parts.
Living with the Land
Slow boat ride about growing food.
Possibly scary: it starts with a dark thunderstorm part.
Might be boring for little kids.
If you don’t like GMO or genetically engineered food, you might want to skip.
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Mostly tame ride about Finding Nemo, possibly scary part is the shark from the movie appears.
Spaceship Earth
A slow dark ride through a Disney history of human technology from cave men to the space age.
My kids are easily frightened but were not scared by this, but it’s possible a child could become afraid during the ride.
Soarin’
40 inch height requirement.
Ride simulates a hang glide flight through California.
Probably not too scary for kids, but if it is, the child is stuck in their own seat with a harness until the end of the ride.
Adults can rider switch1
Bad for little kids
Captain EO
There’s no height requirement but this is quite scary for little kids.
Test Track
40 inch height requirement.
Really fast and jerky track-based car ride.
Adults can rider switch2
Mission: Space
44 inch height requirement.
Intense spaceship simulation. There are two sides, Green and Orange. Avoid Orange with little kids. The Orange and Green sides present the same video content, but the Orange side shakes and jerks a lot.
Adults can rider switch3
- Rider switch allows parents to wait in line with their kids and swap which parent watches the kid while the other parent rides the ride.↩
- Rider switch allows parents to wait in line with their kids and swap which parent watches the kid while the other parent rides the ride.↩
- Rider switch allows parents to wait in line with their kids and swap which parent watches the kid while the other parent rides the ride.↩