Episode #140: How to make the most of your day in Epcot

Ever wondered how to conquer Epcot at Walt Disney World while keeping your wallet happy and avoiding the extra cost of Genie Plus? Let us guide you through a magical day filled with insider tips on maximizing early entry, mastering virtual queues, and nabbing Individual Lightning Lanes for those must-ride attractions. From our family to yours, we share how we've tailored park strategies over the years to keep up with our growing kids and how you can too, all to sprinkle that Disney magic into your visit and soothe those Disney blues when you're away from the happiest place on earth.

Embark on a culinary world tour right in Epcot, where we savor the flavors of festival booths and uncover the secrets of meal-sharing to ensure you try all the global delights your heart desires. We dish out on our top dining picks like Katzura Grill's peaceful setting and their menu that's as diverse as our family's tastes. Grab a snack and listen in as we recount mouth-watering moments and share tips on how to navigate dining at Epcot, making it a feast to remember for all the right reasons.

As night falls, join us in exploring the cultural treasures of the World Showcase, where we reveal our personal favorite pavilions and why they hold a special place in our hearts. We'll transport you to the tranquil beauty of Morocco, the charming streets of France, and the cool ambiance of Mexico—all while providing you practical tips on enjoying the Showcase to its fullest. Plus, we chat about the joy of relaxing at Dreamers Point, taking on the Beverly Challenge at Club Cool, and why Connections Eatery is a must-visit spot for every Epcot adventurer.

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Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:21

Hello and welcome to Circular Parks podcast episode number 140. Today we are discussing how to make the most of your day in Epcot. This is a start to a new series we will be doing for each park. There is far too much to see and do. We are here to help guide you through. But before we do that we must talk Disney merch.

Speaker 2: 0:52

So this week on DisneyStorecom I just saw this really cute towel. It's a Disney Princess Beach Towel. It says Drift and Dream the Day Away on this all-cotton Disney Princess Towel with an undersea theme, our enchanting swimtime accessory for Beach or the Pool. And it's more of a kids size beach towel. There's screen art on it that includes Ariel, splounder, belle, mrs Potts and Chip and Moana. So on one side you've got this soft plush and then on the other side it's the absorbent terry cloth and it is just super cute. Again, I know it mentioned it's more of a kids size, but I would still use it. So that is this week's Disney merch. So go check out our website at CircularParkscom. Click on merch and it will take you directly to T-Public and you will see some of our merch, such as stickers, coffee mugs, sweatshirts, t-shirts and more. So please go check that out.

Speaker 3: 2:00

Thank you everybody for joining us. Episode number 140, sorry we're late this week. Yes, life happens as soon as we get finished recording, I'm going to do the audio editing and get it right up. We had middle school soccer, middle school soccer, middle school soccer, travel soccer, travel soccer and a change in work schedules this week and it just didn't, the timing just didn't work out this week, but we're getting back on normal schedule, I think.

Speaker 3: 2:31

Hopefully next well, next week spring break. We're not going anywhere for spring break, so we will be back on normal schedule next week. Well, spring break is going on now. Our spring break is next week. So thank you everybody for joining us. If you're new to the show, I'm Zach.

Speaker 2: 2:44

I'm Brayton.

Speaker 3: 2:45

And we do the show every week usually and we just hope to help you have a better vacation to Walt Disney World and just bring some Disney magic to your week.

Speaker 2: 2:58

Yeah, especially if you're like us and you enjoy Disney and sometimes get the Disney blues or you've had a tough day or a tough week, you know what better way than to bring you out of that than to talk Disney.

Speaker 3: 3:10

And normally we release these on Wednesdays. It's a good break during your week, but it's Friday today and we're going to get it up. But you know we're getting it out there and today we're starting a new series, as Brittany said, how to make the most of your Epcot day. We're doing this for every park and, again, this is just our opinion and our experiences that we have had with Epcot and we want to share those and maybe you can, you know, not follow it by the list, but kind of get some ideas of how it may help your family.

Speaker 2: 3:44

Right, and you know what works for our family may not work for yours, and you know we've had to switch it up at times. So what we might talk about today may not be what we end up doing each time either.

Speaker 3: 3:56

That's true, and as our boys get older, we now have a 12 year old and a nine year old, almost 12. It changes, yeah. So what we did two, three, four years ago, five years ago, is not what we're going to be doing now. Right, and our boys have come to appreciate Epcot a lot more over the past year and we're very thankful for that, and I think this is changing how we go Now. Four years ago, we did Epcot very differently.

Speaker 2: 4:28

Yes.

Speaker 3: 4:29

Very differently, yes, but this has been our experience through this. So how to make the most of your Epcot day? I'm going to get us started here. We do not recommend Genie Plus unless you're going right now, during spring break, and living with the land is a 40 minute wait. We're doing this based on a semi busy normal day, not a fall break day or a spring break day or just like a holiday. So when I mean normal wait times, I mean living with the land 10 to 20 minutes, soaring, 30 minutes to an hour. This track is an hour. Remmies is an hour plus, like that. Within that time that those times does that make sense.

Speaker 3: 5:13

Yes, you know Figments to walk on.

Speaker 3: 5:17

Yeah, and even sometimes living with the land is is a walk on just got to walk through the the line, so this is how we're coming at it from this point of view, so we do not on those type of days, normal crowd days. We do not recommend using genie plus For Epcot. However, if you want to use it and you're staying on property, do not forget to make that first selection at seven o'clock in the morning, seven am. And don't forget that virtual queue or Individual paid lightning lane for Guardians of the Galaxy cosmic rewind, because it will go. When we were there on our weekend trip, I forgot about it in the morning, couldn't get it. It was gone right, both of them were yeah, so keep that in my gut. The next day first day Didn't get it though, so keep that in mind. If you're staying on property, take advantage of early entry and rope drop. That is key to making the most of your day at Epcot.

Speaker 3: 6:07

It is early entry for Friday. March 8th Is when I did this at Epcot. What from 8 30 am To 9 am? The park opens at 9 am For non Disney resort guests. Even though it says 8 30 am, they will start letting guests in at 8 am or 30 minutes earlier than that post a time for crowd control.

Speaker 3: 6:25

They do not want a lot of people Outside of those gates right now what they'll do is they'll guide you to the areas that you want to go to, and then you'll wait there for another 30 minutes but at least you're not outside of the park exactly. Disney Transportation usually starts running an hour before that early entry time. But always check with the cast members at your resort, so that's key to making the most of your day at Epcot.

Speaker 2: 6:51

Yeah, because there are, you know, times. Things change. You may not be Be aware of that and so it is good to, like Zach said, get with that cast member, just so you are aware. But yeah, that, even though you're like, oh, you know, we got in and we went to the area we want to be at, now we're waiting again for 20, 30 minutes. But you know it just, it does help with that crowd control and it gives you a better chance at being maybe a little further up In the line of the attraction you might be waiting to ride so, brittany, mm-hmm, what attraction should you rope drop here at Epcot?

Speaker 2: 7:28

Well, it depends on what side you're coming, that's what I was about to say it because you have the main Entrance, but then there's a side entrance which is called You're forgetting what it's called?

Speaker 3: 7:40

Yes, international gateway, but we just call it the side entrance here.

Speaker 2: 7:43

Yes, so we love the side the side entrance is more like if you're coming from like the boardwalk area or beach and yacht club swan and dolphin, you know the skyline of resort. Yep, the skyline of resort, all of those. So so, front of the park I say you know, rope drop, test track.

Speaker 2: 8:06

That's a good one yeah you know now, if you have Older kids and you are okay with them doing a single rider line, then that may not be the one you want to rope drop, but if you're riding together as a family, that's a good one to rope drop Also. Another one I put could be soaring. Yeah if you're coming from the front those would be the two.

Speaker 3: 8:29

Yes, yes, from the side entrance, you're gonna want to do remies.

Speaker 2: 8:33

Yes, remies, remies, remies.

Speaker 3: 8:35

And you can do remies and frozen Before that, before the park even opens for non Disney guests, yeah, and yet you can knock those two out pretty quickly if you're coming from the side of just, so that is another huge advantage To staying on a skyline of resort or at Crescent Lake, there with boardwalk, yacht and beach or swan and dolphin huge advantage for Epcot, I mean you're, you've got a much better advantage than everybody else.

Speaker 2: 9:02

Yes. Now one thing to keep in mind. You know the rest of world showcase like Food booths and all of that aren't going to be open, but those attractions are yes, world showcase does not usually open until 11 am, so to review.

Speaker 3: 9:16

If you're coming from the side entrance you can knock remies and frozen out pretty quickly.

Speaker 2: 9:20

Yeah, but they are on the world that that side entrance side, inside world showcase. But yeah, like I recommend personally, remmies, and it's it's even closer to where you're walking in right that entrance. Frozen ever after. You do have to walk a little further, so that's why I would do that second. But it depends on your family. You may have some diehard frozen Fans and you want to do that one first right and you may be able to if you want.

Speaker 3: 9:49

If the frozen's a must-do, you can do that from the main entrance because most everybody else Is going to be going to test track that is true and most everybody from the side entrance is going to be going to remies.

Speaker 3: 9:59

So and it's not that far, it's only the second country young in Norway, right next to Mexico. So that would be a good one to do, I think, from the main entrance as well. So After that, we would recommend that you Take care of some of the less popular attractions on the non-world showcase side, since world showcase does not open till 11 am.

Speaker 3: 10:19

Right, you can do journey into the imagination with figment. It's a walk-on living with the lands, usually going to be a walk-on Spaceship Earth now in the morning it gets busy it can get busy, but don't be intimidated by a 15 20 minute wait.

Speaker 2: 10:32

It moves Really quickly because it's like it's an omnimover. It's constantly moving. So you know, at that line You're not just standing around. But the busiest part of the day is in the morning.

Speaker 3: 10:45

In the morning, yes, busiest in the morning, in the evening now we can be a walk-on. But again, a 20 minute wait for this for spaceship Earth, don't sweat it. Yeah, so I think in mission space.

Speaker 2: 10:55

If that's what you want to do, I think you can knock all those out before 11 o'clock right, and if you didn't do soaring At, you know, at rope drop, then that's another one early on, because the wait time still low.

Speaker 2: 11:11

Yes, because as you get an hour or two in To the park it slowly starts moving its way up. But soaring is one of those rides like. Sometimes, like Zach was saying earlier, it's between 30 to 60 minutes. So sometimes it's 30 minutes but then all of a sudden it jumps to 60, even 65 minutes, but then 20 minutes later it's back down to 30.

Speaker 3: 11:32

Well, and I don't think we've ever waited the posted wait time for it either.

Speaker 2: 11:36

Right, yeah, always been under.

Speaker 3: 11:38

Yeah, you usually by about 10 minutes Maybe speaking of soaring Today, did you see what I reposted on our Instagram I have? Patrick war Burton Was in Disney's California adventure at soaring over California and did the whole spiel for everybody in line. Really.

Speaker 2: 11:56

That is so cool. I love that.

Speaker 3: 11:57

Oh, that was so cool, so cool.

Speaker 2: 12:00

Yes, but there there is so much, so many other things really that you could do Early on in the day as well if you didn't want to do rides, I mean oh yeah, there's a lot.

Speaker 3: 12:10

So for dining. Brittany, tell us about dining.

Speaker 2: 12:14

Yes. So are you going during a festival or not? So that is something key to think about, because it it makes a difference on what you decide to eat. Do you want to try something that is just specific to that festival? You know where, you know festival booths. Though do keep in mind you can't mobile order, but mobile order if you can. If you're doing like traditional quick service restaurants but the festival booths, you have to wait in the lines.

Speaker 3: 12:40

So Epcot does not have a lot of mobile order places, right, so keep that in mind.

Speaker 2: 12:45

Yeah, that too. And then, if you're, but if you're not enjoying festival food, wanting to enjoy sit down or quick service, you do. I mean, you have some options. You do. You do. One example I put was Katzura Grill.

Speaker 3: 13:01

I am pulling that up as we speak. That's why I love you so much.

Speaker 2: 13:06

And so this is located in the Japan Pavilion and that area is very, very nice, can be very quiet and tranquil back in there in the garden area, and Katzura is pretty far back in there as well, so you get to see these gardens and it's it's got some traditional food that you would expect. Do you have the menu pulled up?

Speaker 3: 13:30

I do have the menu pulled up. You can get everything from sushi. They have sushi combos, spicy roll, california roll, vegetable roll $14 and under. They have a grill chicken salad, beef udon, shrimp tempura udon you always get the shrimp tempura but without the udon and that's $14. They have pork ramen. They have vegetable udon. I'm probably butchering some of these names, but they got shrimp and chicken teriyaki, chicken cutlet curry, chicken and beef teriyaki and chicken teriyaki. These are $16 and under and for side orders you can get Yuzo Yuzu, miso wings, miso soup I know Erica made fun of me Edamame and yeah, so for the kids meals they have shrimp and chicken and shrimp teriyaki, beef and shrimp teriyaki and chicken teriyaki. Great food, quick, it's simple, amazingly relaxing back there. The gardens are beautiful. They have like those little bamboo water fountains, that kind of.

Speaker 2: 14:34

Fill it back and forth. Yeah, it's just so so good. Yes, so, and then I have three more.

Speaker 3: 14:41

I've got a few more too.

Speaker 2: 14:42

Yes, so another one is Regal Eagle Smokehouse.

Speaker 3: 14:46

Did not make my list.

Speaker 2: 14:47

Okay, so Regal Eagle Smokehouse is located in the American Pavilion.

Speaker 3: 14:53

American Adventure Pavilion.

Speaker 2: 14:54

Yes, and so this has more of your like barbecue and cheeseburgers and brisket sandwiches Memphis, dry Rub Pork Ribs, kansas City Smoked Half Chicken and, like I said, cheeseburgers, loaded Burnt End French Fries. You have a couple of options for salads and then, if you're plant based, they have a barbecue jackfruit burger, and then sides are baked beans, coleslaw, seasoned French Fries, beer, battered onion rings, house made pickles, macaroni and cheese, and for kids they have cheeseburger or salad with chicken, chicken strips, macaroni and cheese, and then dessert you have banana puddings, mores, brownie, fresh watermelon slices and then for beverages you have anything from your traditional fountain beverages coffee, they have a berry punch and then they have a selection of beer as well.

Speaker 3: 15:58

Did not make my list because we live in Tennessee and not that we're picky with barbecue, but if it's bad barbecue we know Right, and I just like we got, I put that, I put it on my list more for other families because you may not realize that those are options.

Speaker 2: 16:19

And then, especially if you have some pickier, you like eaters, you know this could be the kids always like barbecue yeah barbecue or cheeseburgers and stuff.

Speaker 3: 16:28

Next on my list I put Yorkshire County Fish Shop. Now you can mobile order here and I highly, highly highly recommend mobile ordering. They only have one thing and they do it amazingly well.

Speaker 2: 16:42

Beer batter fish and chips.

Speaker 3: 16:44

That's it.

Speaker 2: 16:45

Yeah, it made my list.

Speaker 3: 16:46

So there's a thing when you go to restaurants that have such a huge menu, they don't really do anything really well. Right, when they have one thing on their menu, they're gonna do it well, and this is shareable for sure. That's a huge piece of cod and it's just classic, so good, sit next to a roll of chocase. Get you a beer. They have get you, if you know. Get you a. They have a Babbardiere Amber or a harp logger. I like harp. Get a beer. Get you some beer, batter, fish and chips. Relax so good, but share it.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Yeah, share it. You know, especially at Epcot, I would say share it, because there's going to be so many other things you're going to want to try where you might not plan on. Oh you know, I'm just gonna eat this and I'll be fine, but as you pass by these food booths or you are going through World Showcase, you're gonna be like, oh well, you know, so I would definitely share it.

Speaker 3: 17:48

Yes, what's next on your list?

Speaker 2: 17:49

Next on my list, and this used to be one of the only places we tried when the kids were younger, so I thought I would put it on here for families traveling with kids. Plus, if you need to get out of the sun in those summer months, it is indoor and this is sunshine seasons.

Speaker 3: 18:05

Not about options. They have some unique stuff there they do and you're gonna satisfy those kids?

Speaker 2: 18:10

Yes so, and they have breakfast, lunch and snacks. So for breakfast they have a breakfast sandwich, a ham, egg and cheddar on a Kaiser roll. They have cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, regular croissants, muffins. They have yogurt, fruit parfaits, coffee juices, fountain drinks, and so you have breakfast. And then lunch you have oak, grilled rotisserie chicken, stir-fried chicken, stir-fried shrimp, berry tacos, pepperoni pizza rolls. You have salmon, Mongolian beef, roast, beef sandwich, cheese, pizza roll. You have salmon, chicken, drumstick, macaroni and cheese and a bunch of different salad options and yogurt dippers, apple packs, more parfaits and fruits, carrots. You have cookies, brownies. So a bigger selection. And again, nothing's gonna be like knock your socks off, necessarily, but there's something for everyone.

Speaker 3: 19:17

It can get pretty crazy in there, though.

Speaker 2: 19:18

It can.

Speaker 3: 19:19

There's a lot of loudness in the land.

Speaker 2: 19:21

It can be loud because you have so many attractions inside it. Then you have this restaurant.

Speaker 3: 19:26

Maybe that's why dads, including me, love living with the land so much, because it's that contrast between just chaos and then just peace, cause it's nuts, and then you get on living with the land and it's like nice and peaceful, educational, entertaining. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, I just thought of that. It could be All right. Next on my list that I'm gonna butcher this one La Jala Patisserie.

Speaker 2: 20:04

Okay.

Speaker 3: 20:05

The bakery in France.

Speaker 2: 20:08

That's on my list later on.

Speaker 3: 20:09

It is Now. I'm not gonna go through the whole menu, but it's got all your French pastries. You cannot mobile order here.

Speaker 3: 20:17

Oh, okay, you cannot, but that line moves really fast. You go up and tell them what you want Done. Yeah, they have a lot of croissants. They have lobster bisque and a bread bowl. They got a lot of quiches. They have your classic croque monsoor. They have cheese plates. They've got baguettes. They've got egg and cheese croissants. They've got all of that, all your French pastries. They've got a lot of tarts and just delicious foods. We always go here and get croissants.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Yeah, because our oldest Ryan loves croissants, love croissants.

Speaker 3: 20:54

And they just they have a lot of and it's very reasonably priced too.

Speaker 2: 20:58

Yeah, and everything that I've seen looks amazing. It's just usually I've already had something pretty recent to going in there and like oh man.

Speaker 3: 21:07

So if you want something that's going to be filling but not like sit on your stomach heavy, like the fish and chips, for reasonable these are like the most expensive thing I've seen is like $12. And that's for the cheese plate the croque monsoor. Croque monsoor is $10. So this is going to fill you up but not sit on you. Very light filling. They have like lattes, they have a Frosé's, they got champagne, some Amos Chardonnay's, some different wines. So I think this is a very good option if you're into this kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 21:42

Oh for sure, Like one day, I want to actually try something and I got one more on the list.

Speaker 3: 21:46

What do you have?

Speaker 2: 21:47

I'm waiting for the Sit Down restaurants Okay.

Speaker 3: 21:50

That was the last quick service that I had on here, okay.

Speaker 2: 21:53

All right, so Sit Down, I put Garden Grill. Me too Okay. All right, you love Garden Grill, so you go.

Speaker 3: 22:01

Garden Grill. Just a great breakfast. We have not eaten dinner here yet, but the breakfast first of all. It's in a rotating restaurant around living with the land Right, you can't go wrong with that. And for breakfast it's just, they bring it out to you in a platter. It's just your basic sausage, scrambled eggs, bacon, mickey Waffles. All of that. $47 per adult, $30 per child.

Speaker 2: 22:30

Can't go wrong with that?

Speaker 3: 22:31

Yeah, you just can't do it. Breakfast pastries, fruit Grilled Take for breakfast Potatoes. I mean, how can you go wrong with that? And you're living with the land and the most awesome thing about this I can sit in the back of the booth and the characters can't get to me.

Speaker 2: 22:49

Right, but it is a lot more relaxing character dining experience for sure.

Speaker 3: 22:54

This is one of the best character dining experiences for me. Yes, okay.

Speaker 2: 22:59

But, and the food was good. The breakfast food was delicious, so, and you can, it's as much as you want to eat.

Speaker 3: 23:05

Anything else you want to talk about?

Speaker 2: 23:06

No, I thought you did a great job.

Speaker 3: 23:08

Oh well, thank you?

Speaker 2: 23:09

Yeah, but I mean, I do have another restaurant.

Speaker 3: 23:11

Okay, go for it Okay.

Speaker 2: 23:14

So another one would be now this we did it once, you know, and once was enough. But if you have the opportunity and you have Disney princess fans with you Acker's shoes, royal Banquet Hall, because you get to meet a variety of princesses and all in one place instead of spending half your day going to all these different locations to to meet them, and you know it's a family style platter fit for royalty. It's in the Norway Pavilion for breakfast and joy pastry, scrambled eggs, potato casserole and Norwegian waffles. Lunch and dinner highlights include field green salad, traditional Norwegian meatballs. I'm not going to try to pronounce it in their language.

Speaker 3: 24:09

Hey, I tried to pronounce the French bakery. You can do this.

Speaker 2: 24:13

I honestly don't know how to do that one. And grilled salmon. Be sure to save room for dessert. A platter of two delectable desserts, served family style, for the perfect ending to your feast. And you know you like when we went we, we met Belle, we met Ariel, we met Aurora, we met Snow White, and I feel like I'm leaving one or two out possibly. So you meet quite a few of them, but you do have to have a confirmed dining reservation.

Speaker 3: 24:45

So I thought the food, food, this feud, the food here was pretty good.

Speaker 2: 24:51

It was.

Speaker 3: 24:51

I met back in 2019.

Speaker 2: 24:53

2019.

Speaker 3: 24:55

2019. I thought the food here was very good. It was different. It wasn't your typical food at princess food and the princesses don't really freak me out.

Speaker 2: 25:08

Cause they're like they're. They're not in your face and they're very polite. Yes, yes.

Speaker 3: 25:13

But I'm not going up and like getting my picture with them or anything.

Speaker 2: 25:16

Oh, I loved it, but and Nolan loved it.

Speaker 3: 25:19

I thought the food now is it worth what you pay for? Was it 60?

Speaker 2: 25:24

It's a little pricey.

Speaker 3: 25:26

That's what I was trying to pull up 69.

Speaker 2: 25:28

So for dinner, $67 per adult, which is ages 10 and up plus tax and gratuity, and then $43 per child, ages three to nine, plus the tax.

Speaker 3: 25:38

Yeah, the food's not worth that. It's not that good, it's different, but I think it's the experience. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2: 25:46

Now breakfast. It's $55 per adult and 35 per child A little more reasonable and then lunch is the 67 and 43.

Speaker 3: 25:51

Yeah, we did lunch, I think.

Speaker 2: 25:53

I think so Like a two o'clock lunch or something, and I think it was a little later, but yeah.

Speaker 3: 25:57

So those are the dining places we recommend again, go over everything with your family. You may find something else that there's so many great places in Japan. They have a couple other places, we just haven't been there.

Speaker 2: 26:10

Yeah, there's, there's a lot.

Speaker 3: 26:12

And we don't want to recommend places that we have not been.

Speaker 2: 26:14

Right, so we'll go a little further down. We're talking about more food, too, one that we haven't tried. That I really really, really, really really really still want to go is the La Hacienda San Angel.

Speaker 3: 26:29

San Angel, yes, yes.

Speaker 2: 26:30

I want to do that. That's inside the Mexico Pavilion. It's the restaurant, you see, if you ride the three Caballeros and everyone says the food's really good too, yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:41

So again, we have focused on festival food so much every time we get up caught. We're not going to do that anymore. We're going to focus on these great restaurants that are there all the time yes and enjoy these great foods. Now I want to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy real quick before we move on to our amazing, amazing sponsor, guardians of the Galaxy. If you get a virtual cue, keep in mind this can still take up to an hour. Right, just because you have a virtual cue doesn't mean you're going to go right to the front of the line. It's a great cue and I recommend seeing it at least once. But keep that in mind for now. It may not take that long, but it can't take an hour.

Speaker 3: 27:20

And here's a tip and the individual light and lane can't take 20, 30 minutes as well, because there's a lot of pre-shows in there. But here's a tip Once you're in the pre-show areas, stay to the right as far as you can, because when the doors open to the final cue they open on the right. So that can save you 10 to 15 minutes in that last cue in the final cue area.

Speaker 2: 27:45

So you can board sooner, so you can get sooner.

Speaker 3: 27:48

You will see people jockeying over there for that spot, so you know. So keep that in mind. Stay to the right when you're in the pre-shows. That will help you cut down about 10 or 15 minutes in that final cue in the loading area. So also, you talked about test record one more time. The cue can get over 60 minutes and if you do genie plus, that line can get really long as well. Again, if you're comfortable and your kids are comfortable, splitting up you may not always split up, but if they're comfortable with splitting up single rider line.

Speaker 2: 28:20

This is paramount. I learned that when it was just Zach and I a little over a month ago. And yeah, you didn't believe me, you're like nah, nah. I'm like no, we need to do the. Okay, it's time. Yeah, let's go All right.

Speaker 3: 28:33

We had a genie plus because we got evacuated off the sword Right, or we had a lightning lane sorry, yeah, and you were like no, no, trust me, this is gonna be a lot faster it was about a five minute wait.

Speaker 2: 28:43

Yeah, not at all. Normally it's not even that you just you're right there Walk right on, yeah.

Speaker 3: 28:47

Then you were like oh, oh, I get it now I'm like what did? I'm making this up.

Speaker 2: 28:51

But one thing too I wanna say you know, as far as festival booths, when you're trying to decide, okay, do we eat festival booths, do we, you know, do quick service or something else, you know, try to maybe look over the booths menus ahead of time. You know they're usually posted as soon as festivals start or like even a week leading up to it sometimes, and if that is something that you're like, oh yeah, I wanna try, you know, pick maybe your top four to try, so you are not spending so much time from your day waiting in all the food booth lines.

Speaker 3: 29:26

And those lines can get quite long sometimes.

Speaker 2: 29:28

They can. You know, some of them you know are short and you don't wait at all, others you're waiting, possibly 15, 20 minutes.

Speaker 3: 29:35

Sometimes. I think we waited 30 minutes.

Speaker 2: 29:37

And one of them. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 29:39

So if you wanna go check out Epcot, you know who to reach out to. Who is that? The amazing professionals at Main Street Travel Company. They are the official sponsor of this podcast and we use them for all of our Disney and non-Disney vacation needs. They can plan your Walt Disney World, disneyland Disney Cruise Line Adventures by Disney Alani and Disneyland Paris vacations, and exclusively for Circle of Parks listeners If you book your next Disney Cruise Line, you will get up to $1,000 on board credit. If you book your next Adventures by Disney, you'll get up to $1,000 cash back. And for your next Walt Disney World vacation, you're gonna get a gift card based on the value of that trip. And our travel planner, erica if you book with her, she's gonna throw an additional $25 on top of that. So I don't know why you would not put the stress and anxiety hard work of planning a Walt Disney World vacation on somebody else that's gonna do it for free.

Speaker 2: 30:37

Right, yeah, I mean, we don't even have to think about how many days out we are to do the dining reservations. It's usually Erica reaching out to us a few days prior. We've usually already talked to her about it, so she knows what we're wanting to do on each trip. But she's usually reaching out and like hey, are you still wanting to make a dining reservation here and wanting to confirm the time of day and all that?

Speaker 3: 30:59

So yeah, so go check them out. Wwwmainstreettravelcocom. They're on Instagram, facebook and YouTube and again, excuse me, we've got allergy season going on here in Tennessee now. It's just, it's all over the place. My favorite thing about them is you can call them 1-800-593-1262. They are just full-time agents. They are not part-time agents that will get to you after their normal day job. This is all that they do. You can call them Monday through Friday, 10 am 5 pm, central time again, 1-800-593-1262. And thank you to our listeners that are reaching out to them and booking their vacations. We've had quite a few of y'all. We wanna say thank you.

Speaker 2: 31:41

Yes, thank you. We truly appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 31:43

Some of them are taking advantage of those cruise line deals. Some are taking advantage of those Walt Disney World gift cards and stuff. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. They are grateful, we're grateful. Thank you so much again. Tell them we sent you, take advantage of special offers, like some of y'all are, and again call them 1-800-593-1262. All right, so do you start at Canada or Mexico?

Speaker 2: 32:08

In the World Showcase.

Speaker 3: 32:10

Yeah, where do we start at?

Speaker 2: 32:12

Well, we've technically done both, but usually it's been Mexico.

Speaker 3: 32:17

Right, so this is quite the hot button topic on the internet. Like people are die hard oh, we have to start in Canada. Oh, we started in Mexico. We just kinda go whichever side we're on at the time. We're going to World Showcase. This doesn't really matter to us.

Speaker 2: 32:32

No, it doesn't. I think I'm more accustomed to the order of things in World Showcase when we start in Mexico because we've done it that way so many times, I think. Sometimes, when we're coming the other way and starting in Canada, like I know that area, and then France, but then after that, like for some reason, I get confused on the next few, because I'm used to coming the other way, yeah, so for us it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 3: 33:03

If you're die hard about it, good for you.

Speaker 2: 33:07

Yeah, but yeah, like he was saying, like if we just you know, we're on the side closest to Canada and we're like, okay, it's time for World Showcase, then we'll start there. But it's just worked out to where it's usually been on the Mexico side.

Speaker 3: 33:18

Right, so by this time it's probably 12, one o'clock, right. Take a few hours, walk around, eat at some of these places we've talked about, maybe try some food boost stuff if it's during a festival, and just enjoy the cultures of the World Showcase.

Speaker 2: 33:36

Yeah, like my. I named quite a few. I mean they're all. All the pavilions are very nice for the countries. My personal favorite ones are Mexico, france, norway, japan, morocco, germany and Italy.

Speaker 3: 33:50

Just say World. Showcase no just say them all.

Speaker 2: 33:53

Again, they all have their own unique things that I love, but I tend to find myself just really taking in the ones I just mentioned a little more.

Speaker 3: 34:05

My, I don't. I'm not gonna list all those, I'm gonna remind down the two. Okay. Morocco, cause you can get lost back in those little pathways back there. I think that's really really cool. Yeah, I wanna go through that at night.

Speaker 2: 34:18

That would be nice.

Speaker 3: 34:19

And, for some reason, Norway. I just love the pavilion. Has nothing to do with frozen.

Speaker 2: 34:25

Yeah, doesn't for him.

Speaker 3: 34:26

Nothing to do with frozen, but I like the bakery there. Look, I forgot the name of it. I like this shop there. They have some cool stuff in there and I just really it. Just the music is great, it's just something about it.

Speaker 2: 34:38

And it's like the shops in the bakery, like it's it's quiet in there.

Speaker 3: 34:42

Yeah, maybe that's why I like it so much cause it's quiet.

Speaker 2: 34:45

Yeah, Because outside when people are waiting for frozen? It's not, yeah, and well for me. I really thoroughly enjoy the Mexico pavilion because it's inside, you know, and the building itself is really cool looking.

Speaker 3: 34:57

It's dark all the time. It's nighttime all the time.

Speaker 2: 34:59

It's like this huge pyramid, you know, and yeah, it's dark all the time, but it makes you feel like you're in, like a town. It does. You know, and I just I love that aspect of it and you know, if you're there between the months of, like, June through September, it's a way to get out of the heat for a while too. But it's just, it's done really nicely, France, oh the music.

Speaker 3: 35:23

The music is great in.

Speaker 2: 35:24

France, the music, the shops, Remi's, it's just, I love it and um.

Speaker 3: 35:32

There's some high end stuff in the France pavilion.

Speaker 2: 35:34

Yeah, I'm not buying anything there, but I like walking through there, but the music, I think, is what really does it for me.

Speaker 3: 35:40

And then like that water fountain in front of Remi's and yeah, I like the again the baker I'm not gonna try to pronounce the name and the ice cream so delicious. Right. France is up there too, the UK Pavilion. When they used to have like soccer jerseys and stuff in the shop it was up there, but now it's like eh.

Speaker 2: 36:01

So you're trying to say I don't know L'Halle Bolognere Pettisserie?

Speaker 3: 36:07

You did a better job than I did, yes.

Speaker 2: 36:10

In France yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:11

But yeah. So after you've done all of this now it's early afternoon, late evening go back to the non-war-to-ok side.

Speaker 2: 36:19

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:19

Relax.

Speaker 2: 36:20

Relax, and that may even just be, you know, maybe riding this seas with Nemo and friends In that queue. You usually don't have to wait in it.

Speaker 3: 36:30

I want to wait in that queue.

Speaker 2: 36:31

It's very nice, it's very relaxing, themed very well and the ride itself isn't that great, but the queue is. But then when you get off the ride like I thoroughly enjoy walking around the actual aquarium and watching the dolphins and the sea turtles and manatees and all of that and then you now have Moana Journey of Water.

Speaker 3: 36:52

At night. I put a poll up on Instagram. Everybody says nighttime is the time to do it. I don't disagree completely. Agree yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:01

And that's why, like this section says, early afternoon, late evening, at night it is better. But if for some reason that doesn't fit into your day, maybe you have a later dinner reservation or something like that, then I mean it's still very enjoyable, even in the daytime.

Speaker 3: 37:17

It's still great, but it's beautiful, beautiful at night. So I put do club cool, Do the Beverly Challenge.

Speaker 2: 37:23

Don't.

Speaker 3: 37:24

It's cool, beverly, that the twilight time we did this and I loved it. Enjoy relaxing at Dreamers Point and get your picture with Walt. Yes, you have to do this. That music gets you some, popcorn gets you a drink. Take advantage of those relaxing chairs and just relax.

Speaker 2: 37:44

Yeah. Yeah, it was very nice. The music does get pumped up a little louder during that time I love it, but it's very well done.

Speaker 3: 37:53

Drowns out the kids yelling at you.

Speaker 2: 37:56

Yes.

Speaker 3: 37:57

Can't hear you, sorry.

Speaker 2: 37:58

Yeah, I would definitely recommend that as well. And you know, if for some reason you hadn't had a chance to ride, living with the land or so or soaring, go experience that as well.

Speaker 3: 38:10

I also put watch the Spaceship Earth shows at night, the light shows and the music. Yeah, definitely check those out.

Speaker 2: 38:16

But so you can do that from the area you were talking about From Dreamers Point From Dreamers Point To Toofa, yeah To Toofa. Because in the here's the thing, when they're, when the shows are on Spaceship Earth, there's lighting and stuff in the Dreamers Point area.

Speaker 3: 38:29

And they play the music.

Speaker 2: 38:30

Um, yeah, that garden area that's over there. They play the music from it and the lights over there change color to go along with what's happening on Spaceship Earth.

Speaker 3: 38:37

And I would recommend having dinner on this side as well, and I don't want people to sleep on Connections Eatery, not the Connections Cafe. Yeah, that's the Starbucks.

Speaker 2: 38:48

You can get that back home.

Speaker 3: 38:50

Connections Eatery you can mobile order here. This is theme park food, Elevated a little bit Right.

Speaker 2: 38:58

And you can take it outside and eat it in the World Celebration Gardens.

Speaker 3: 39:02

At Dreamers Point.

Speaker 2: 39:04

At Dreamers Point.

Speaker 3: 39:04

Yes, they have a French bistro burger. They have an American classic burger chicken sandwich and a hot honey chicken sandwich $14. And under the pizza, here are large slices. It's not your pizza, fari pizza, yuck. No, you can get two large slices of pepperoni for $11.79. So again, is this theme park food? Yes, this is elevated theme park food, though.

Speaker 3: 39:29

Right yeah so don't sleep on this. This is going to be a little more higher than your theme park food. Now, it's not going to be the best burger in the theme parks, but it's going to be elevated over what you're going to get at Sunshine Seasons or something like that.

Speaker 2: 39:45

Yeah, and when we were sitting in the outdoor seating area, even when you were doing your own thing for a little while and I was there, I didn't realize how good the food looked until people were bringing it out there and eating it and I was like, oh okay, right. All right.

Speaker 3: 40:02

So now go ahead. Oh, my goodness, You're not done yet.

Speaker 2: 40:04

We're sorry, excuse me no, because we're still talking about dinner, so that's not the only option. Okay, and again, if it's a festival food, because some of those foods can be filling depending on what you get.

Speaker 3: 40:18

That empanada you had looked extremely filling.

Speaker 2: 40:19

Yes, and you know we mentioned earlier Garden Grill, love it. They have dinner as well. And then I put on here if it's a little later and closer to firework time, when you're eating that Yorkshire fish shop again right before the fireworks and maybe watch the fireworks from the tables over there, so that's what I'm getting at now with the fireworks when. I was tying the food in.

Speaker 3: 40:46

Where do you watch Luminousette? This depends Eliminations. No, it's Luminations is what it used to be.

Speaker 2: 40:52

Oh, sorry, well, I'm reading what you put on my outline.

Speaker 3: 40:55

Well, I guess I fixed mine and not yours. So, luminous, watch it once. We're not fans of it, yeah, but it's still a good. It's still a good firework show, right? So depends on where you leave in the park is where you want to set up to watch it right, right yes.

Speaker 3: 41:13

If you're staying in the Epcot Resort or Scala Resorts then you'll want to watch it from the backside of Royal Chowcase, near the site entrance right. Get a place at Yorkshire County Fish Shop. The France Pavilion, maybe the Canada Pavilion, uk, somewhere like that, right Morocco, somewhere like that.

Speaker 3: 41:30

Somewhere like that. If you're using bus transportation, the Monterey, or you drove, you may want to watch the fireworks closer to the non-Royal Chowcase side. So you're not going back across Royal Chowcase against the crowds unless you're planning on staying in the park and letting the crowds die out and walk around Royal Chowcase with a less crowd right, true, very true, yeah, now don't forget Disney Transportation runs an hour after park closed, so you can wait a little bit and let that initial rush die down Again.

Speaker 3: 41:59

If you're near the front of the park, relax and do your first point Watch those spaceship pursues on the lights. Can I still do them For sure, for sure, or if you're in the back, just wait, because that initial rush for the skyliner it's crazy, it's nuts. It is Now it moves, but still, still and you're going to get put awkwardly in a basket with another family and that's just weird.

Speaker 2: 42:24

It can be, but I mean at that point no, it is weird At that point, it's just okay, let's just get back to our resort, kind of thing. But yeah, no, and you're right, luminous, and I know that, just you know, sometimes he does the outline, sometimes I do the outline, but then we fill it in and we don't know what each other has filled in. Maybe.

Speaker 3: 42:44

I did that on purpose In the details.

Speaker 2: 42:47

So when I said that, you know I should have caught it. To be honest too, gotcha, yeah, so, but there's so many ways to do your day in Epcot as well. These are just our suggestions and some things that have worked for us or things that we maybe want to try our next time. You know, like Zach said, you know we've we've done the festival foods and we've enjoyed them, but it but focusing so much on those, it hasn't allowed for us to experience as many as of the regular places to eat. So the next time we go to Epcot, we truly want to stick to doing that.

Speaker 3: 43:22

Yes, all right. So that brings us to Disney trivia this week. What is the name of the new Walt statue in Dreamers Point? It is Walt the Dreamer. And this week's winner is from ex Sweeney, still on top. Congratulations, sweeney, you are this week's Disney trivia winner, congratulations, congratulations.

Speaker 3: 43:46

So again, thank you so much for listening and supporting the team. Again, if you want to support the show, the best way to do that is to book your next vacation with Mainz, your travel company. It costs you nothing to support the show and it could even save you money about booking your next trip with Mainz, your travel company. And again, do not forget about those exclusive offers for Circle of Parks listeners. Go check them out wwwmainzsuitravelcodecom. They're on Instagram, facebook and YouTube. And again, my favorite thing about them is they have an actual office. Call them 1-800-593-1262, 1-800-593-1262. Again, tell them we sent you. Take advantage of the special offers, like some of y'all have. Thank you, you can email us circleofparkscom. We're at wwwcircleofparkscom. We're on Facebook, instagram and X all of that Circle of Parks. And again, go to Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five-severing if you really hope to enjoy the show. Let us know that you like what we're doing. And again, thank you so much for listening and we will talk to you next week. Talk to you soon.

Speaker 2: 44:44

END.