Friday in Fantasyland: Epcot All the Way!

March 2019 | by Suzanne Burmeister

“We can go back to the Magic Kingdom again sometime?” is a question my four-year-old daughter often asks, and now I’ve caught the bug. I am imagining my next trip in a fantastical-nebulous sense. No clear date in mind. However, Magic Kingdom isn’t where my mind is zooming at the moment. Instead, it’s Epcot.

Eating: My husband and I were recently interested in the Epcot Food and Wine festival, mostly because it might mean that he and I could disregard our diets. We could visit the marketplaces without having to make any dining reservations, each of us sharing plates of daring food that interest us. My husband is partial to German food, so I know we would go there for certain. Our kids might partake of some new foods, too. But it would be a leisurely stroll around the World Showcase.

Rides: No trip to Epcot is complete, however, without visiting the rides. My kids love the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros. And while my daughter hasn’t reached obsessive levels of Frozen fandom of most other little girls, she does enjoy the ride! (Maybe the upcoming Frozen 2 will change that!)

My dad is as big of a Disney fan as I am, so my parents would likely join us too—and Mom’s favorite ride is Soarin’. We might take advantage of Disney’s Ride Swap program, so we wouldn’t have to get a Fastpass there. We would simply take my daughter on it twice, as we did last time.

Once my husband digests his food, he’d want to go on Test Track. And who knows, maybe by then, my daughter would be ready to try it for herself. On the other hand, my husband dislikes the Journey into Imagination with Figment (while my infant son seemed to adore it), so we would, of course, torture him with that.

Me? I like Spaceship Earth. I only hope my kids don’t choose Chinese as a language, as my daughter did once by accident!

Characters: One of my favorite stops is the Meet Mickey & Friends character spot inside Epcot, which is great to hit when the wait times are low. We would shuffle through and meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. I remember when my infant daughter met Minnie, and afterwards, I changed her in the nearby restroom. She could not stop babbling, and I attribute that moment to when she first started talking!

Shopping: Finally, we would peruse Mouse Gear, which is often where we splurge. The selection there is huge, and my kids love to pick out their own stuffed animals. My husband and I are giant fans of both Disney coffee mugs and adult pajama pants. We would either visit the store last, or we would send our purchases to the campground to pick up later.

Even though Epcot sometimes seems the lowest park on people’s preference list, you can find a lot to do there. We often make more memorable memories there than any other place, simply because they are so unexpected.

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Kat is the owner/creator/operator and Chief Disnesswoman at Get Down to Disness, a seasoned Disney traveler and lover of all things Disney. Her best family memories surround magical vacations at the WDW resort and it his her mission to provide the same to her clients.