Epcot (which only has one "t") is a wonderful place. My wife and I go there at least once a month. My suggestion is to get there as early as possible (preferably when the gate opens) and try to do some of the things that develop long lines first. I would suggest going straight to The Land or The Sea with Nemo and Friends. Do those first. Then run over to the other side of Future World and jump on Test Track and Mission: Space. Here is the point, you need to do the things that develop long lines before the crowds start to come. There are so many things that generate long line in Future World now that Fast Passes won't do you a lot of good. (You can only have one fast pass at a time.) You don't want to waste your time in line if you can help it. There is a completely overwhelming amount of things to do in Epcot. You could easily fill two whole days with all the activities and shows available. You must pace yourself to accomplish everything.
The World Showcase is wonderful. Fortunately it can be enjoyed regardless of how many people are there. More people do make it harder to get around obviously, but the things in World Showcase don't really involve lines, so you don't get stuck waiting no matter how many people are there. The only thing that really gets a line is Maelstorm in Norway, that ride might be a good opportunity to get a Fast Pass. The other boat ride, in Mexico, doesn't get a line so don't sweat that.
Here is the most important thing you need to do IMMEDIATELY. You need to figure out where in the World you want to eat. I recommend eating both meals in a foreign country because it is really special. If you want to eat at a nice table service restaurant you need to make reservations NOW. If you wait you will limit your choices. So where should you eat? The choice is up to you. But let me point you to a wonderful resource. http://www.mouseplanet.com/guide.php?pg=BD0000 This website has menus for every restaurant in the World Showcase. Use it to find out where you want to eat. And remember, if you want table service don't delay, call today!
I have been to Epcot so many times I know it like the back of my hand. If you have any other questions, please ask.
One more tip: in Future World Central, on the west side next to the fountain there is a wonderful little Coke shop. The shop is just like the Coke museum in Atlanta if you have ever been. They have little cups available and you can try different coke products from around the world in this little shop. The best part--it is completely free! Be sure to pay a visit. If you are like my wife, you have to visit anytime you get near Future World Central
Wow Thanks for the advise I will check out that site and decide the kids are excited about visiting the different cities my daughter already pulled out the disney vacation DVD and got the lowdown on epcot (with one T)
we will try to get there early and i will have to visit that Coke shop sounds really awesome ... again thanks I will be back with more questions thanks for offering
Hey DisneyDVDFAN. I am also going to Disney World in December. One advantage to going in December is that there are TONS of Christmas activities you will deffinatley want to take advantage of. The biggest of these is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. For the added fee of around $24 per person, you can stay in the Magic Kingdom until midnight when it closes to the everyone else at 7. There is complimentary gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa, a Christmas parade, and a special Christmas edition of Wishes, the fireworks show. It is so much fun and all of the rides remain open until midnight. It happens about four times a week, so odds are it will be going on at least one night while you are there. You deffinatley want to buy tickets for this early if you decide to do it, which you can do at the Disney World website. As MichaeLeah mentioned, you should deffinatley get priority seating at a restaurant or two during your stay as it is hard to just walk in and get seated. Since you are going to Epcot, they have on average 2 shows a night of the Candellight Processional, a fantastic show to celebrate the holidays and each night has a different celebrity host. You can find a schedule of who will be hosting when you are there at the website. This is free to all park guests, but fills up fast. When you call to make your dinner reservation at Epcot, ask about the Candellight Processional package. You eat at the restaurant you have picked out and then they reserve seats for your party for the designated show time. It's the hassle free way to see the show and see all there is to do at Epcot.
A few tips: There are fast passes to the big attractions. You insert your park tickets into the machines outside of the rides using this feature and you receive a ticket with a time to return to skip the line. The earlier you get there, the earlier the time. The bigger the ride is, the faster it runs out of fast passes. When at the Magic Kingdom, depending on the age of the youngest member of your party, I would try to get the three mountians out of the way first. You are only allowed 1 fast pass every 2 hours, so you could get a fast pass for Space Mountain, ride the other rides in Tomorrowland until it is time, ride it, and then go to Frontierland and pick a mountain to get a pass for. Repat. The longest line for any dark ride is for Peter Pan's Flight, so you will deffinatley want to fast pass that as well and probably Winnie the Pooh. At Epcot, the two HUGE attractions are Test Track and Soarin'. If I were you, I would get to Epcot when they open and get fast passes for Soarin'. When you can get another one, I'd get one for Test Track. That way you are guaranteed to get to ride the two biggest rides there. The Nemo ride just opened and I haven't ridden it yet, but that will also probably be one you will want to fast pass. Let me know if you have any more questions about Holiday events or other park related questions.
1. Pack light for park visits. It's amazing just how heavy a backpack can get after only a half-hour of walking around.
2. Don't buy their overpriced water ($2.00 for a 20oz Dasani in the parks, $2.50 elsewhere). Go to a local Walgreens or somewhere, get a 12-pack of bottled water, and special straps for them so you don't need to put it in a backpack. And given that it'll be December, slightly-warm water will likely be better than cold.
3. When you're in Epcot, make sure to ride Spaceship Earth. I can't recommend the attraction enough, it's severely underrated and many simply call it boring or a 22-minute nap (or for some honeymoon couples, a 22-minute chance to make out).
4. Leave a Legacy is not worth the money. If you ever see the backstage area, you'll see the many many metal plates that they've removed over the years in order to add the new ones. It still keeps the guarantee that it will be forever displayed in the park, just not always in a guest-accessible area.
5. Let your kids do the Kidcot stations, they're really fun, but they'll take some time too. If they get bored somewhere, let them run around a bit. Norway's got a great viking ship playground, and if you want them to roam free with supervision, Innoventions has some nice interactive stuff for them to do.
6. Do not eat any ice from an Outdoor Foods drink wagon. It's dirty, the wagon itself is never cleaned at the end of the night (they simply allow the ice to melt in order to re-fill it for the next day), and all sorts of things are in there. Dirt, blood, sweat, tears, bird poop, etc.
7. If you want to buy a lot of souvenirs, do package pick-up and have it sent to your hotel room so you don't need to carry so many bags around the park.
8. At Magic Kingdom, do not leave the park with everyone else after the fireworks or parade. Peruse through the shops at Main Street while the crowd dissipates. Or, simply veg out at the Emporium and watch the same three cartoons ad nauseum (Steamboat Willie, Flowers and Trees, and The Band Concert)
9. Before leaving, like maybe a week or so before, read the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It's got a LOT of good information, and a lot of UD'ers here highly recommend it.
Lots more, but I've got to pick my brain a bit more to remember them.
Escapay
WIST #60:
AwallaceUNC: Would you prefer Substi-Blu-tiary Locomotion?
WIST #61:
TheSequelOfDisney: Damn, did Lin-Manuel Miranda go and murder all your families?
Escapay wrote:
Or, simply veg out at the Emporium and watch the same three cartoons ad nauseum (Steamboat Willie, Flowers and Trees, and The Band Concert)
Escapay
Escapay had a brain fart. He means The Exposition Hall, not the Emporium. The Exposition Hall is in the town square next to Tony's Town Square Restaurant. It is about a stones throw from the Emporium. You have to walk all the way to the back of the building to reach the little theatre. The Emporium is a really big Disney Store.
I haven't been to Epcot in years, but the rides/shows that I remember being very good that are still there are...
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
El Rio del Tempo
Spaceship Earth
Circle of Life
Cranium Command (I heard that the oft closed Wonders of Life pavilion may be open in December)
Body Wars (I heard that the oft closed Wonders of Life pavilion may be open in December)
I just want to say thank you all for the wonderful advise and insights to the PARK we can't wait to visit I am still reading and trying to make notes on the rides and sights to take in while there ... but thanks all
Escapay wrote:
Or, simply veg out at the Emporium and watch the same three cartoons ad nauseum (Steamboat Willie, Flowers and Trees, and The Band Concert)
Escapay
Escapay had a brain fart. He means The Exposition Hall, not the Emporium. The Exposition Hall is in the town square next to Tony's Town Square Restaurant. It is about a stones throw from the Emporium. You have to walk all the way to the back of the building to reach the little theatre. The Emporium is a really big Disney Store.
That totally slipped my mind as I was typing it! Still, one can veg in the Emporium, though of course, the veg area is cast-members only and is a great shortcut to go from Main Street to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Escapay
WIST #60:
AwallaceUNC: Would you prefer Substi-Blu-tiary Locomotion?
WIST #61:
TheSequelOfDisney: Damn, did Lin-Manuel Miranda go and murder all your families?
wow you guys are awesome all the details ... we are going to have a ball... sadly we will only be there for the DAY since we will be visiting the hubby's relatives mostly
but we shall try to get as much done as humanly possible my kids are old enough now to handle the long day
Well, I wish you could experience the magic of 1980's EPCOT, but it's still a great park. I would have to say that World Showcase is much better than FutureWorld now, but I guess it depends on tastes. I haven't been on Soarin', in the Land Pavilion in World Showcase, and that is supposed to be awesome.
My favorite things that I think are still there:
FutureWorld:
Spaceship Earth, definitely
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
Journey Into Imagination ride
Cranium Command if the Wonders of Life is still there
Body Wars if the Wonders of Life is still there (I wouldn't consider it a MUST DO if I was going to all the parks, which is what I usually do, but if you are only going to EPCOT then it is)
Ice Station Cool, which is the place you sample coke from around the world and probably is called something else now. I here that it doesn't look as cool as it used to also, but I'm sure it still has appeal.
Listen to the Land boat ride (though I miss the catchy folk song, along with all the cool "Futurist" music of EPCOT that is now gone)
Living Seas (apparently, I'm the only one in my family that likes this pavilion, but the Nemo ride could change things. Certainly, much of what I liked about it was gone last time, but they didn't have that ride yet either).
There once was a LOT of stuff about FutureWorld I loved, but it has mostly been removed.
World Showcase:
Basically, this is all awesome, but my fave things would be...
The American Adventure
The Maelstrom (Norway boat ride)
El Rio Del Tiempo (Mexico boat ride)
Meet and Greets with characters like Belle in France and Mary Poppins in UK
The Canada, China, and Paris films
The Japanese Department Store
The German Toy Store (though I miss the Disney PVC figures)
Places I've eaten at EPCOT:
My folks are kinda tight with eating inside theme parks, because they're just so overpriced. We usually get something to eat at the American place in World Showcase. It's good stuff and amongst the more affordable.
On trips with my best friend, we have eaten at the Italian restaurant and the one at Living Seas. The waiters were a bit rude at the Italian restaurant the time we ate there, but the food was good, if average. The food at the Living Seas restaurant, which I believe is called "The Coral Reef Restaurant" wasn't very good, but the folks were nice and we were sitting right along the huge aquarium, which is the attraction of the restaurant and I consider it something everyone should experience. We probably didn't like the food because we were low on funds and got the cheapest meal, ha. Anyway, I would definitely eat there again and again, if only for the atmosphere, if I had plenty of cash. Well, I'd go back to the Italian place too because I love Italian food. The staff is probably different by now anyway, ha.
Oh, by the way, I don't know what kind of parade they have going now, but the parade in 2000 was horrid. They might still have something similar. I hope not.
Anyways, also recommend the light show at the end of the day if they are showing it when you go.
We always try to start with the popular attractions when spending a day at Epcot. Try to get there early. We try to experience Soarin', Test Track, and Mission:Space at the start and then pick up the other attractions.
We enjoy Spaceship Earth, the American Adventure, Journey into Imagination, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and Ellen's Energy Adventure. My kids were 10 and 6 on our last trip, and they really enjoyed making masks in World Showcase and getting them stamped at all of the different countries. The masks are free and are great souvenirs to take home from Epcot.
"Don't shake if you don't mean it." Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove
Any ideas of what to see first and what is the best attractions there or what deals I can find while there ;( ?
That totally slipped my mind as I was typing it! Still, one can veg in the Emporium, though of course, the veg area is cast-members only and is a great shortcut to go from Main Street to Pirates of the Caribbean. 
