This week’s analysis at Epcot is quick! Wait times were up a hair but not much, Test Track continues to see a lot of downtime, and our overall strategy remains the same. Read on for details!
RELATED POSTS
If you’re new to the wait time scorecards, check out our post explaining our Disney World Wait Time Scorecards. That post explains the different numbers you’ll see here including why they’re imperfect. Our wait time scorecards are based on the last week of data from Thrill-Data.com.
Epcot Wait Times (Week End Aug 4) (you are here)
We also have a post covering the reopening of Walt Disney World from top to bottom if you’re planning an upcoming visit. This post is written in tandem with our Epcot Rope Drop Strategy post, which explains more about the process of arriving and going to your first ride. If you’re new to Disney World planning, you might want to read our Guide to the Rides and Entertainment of Epcot, too.
As usual, Epcot doesn’t require much analysis. Unlike previous weeks, where I break down the scorecard in sections, I’m going to just give you a three-slide look at the scorecard here and then do the entire (quick) breakdown in one section. Use the arrows to view the scorecard in three parts (wait time data via Thrill-Data):
If you’re starting your day from the main entrance, which we prefer, we recommend starting with Test Track. Follow that up with Mission: SPACE (if the wait is 10 minutes or less, otherwise save it for later), followed by Soarin’ and Living With the Land.
If you’re coming from the Skyliner entrance, we recommend starting with Frozen in place of Test Track, and then follow the same strategy as above. (If you don’t understand these two entrances, read the Epcot Rope Drop post.)
Test Track continues to regularly experience downtime, including nearly 1/3 of last Wednesday and nearly 1/2 of this Tuesday. For this reason, if you don’t start with it you might settle for a higher wait (say, 45 minutes) rather than trying to time it perfectly to snag a 30-minute wait later. (Wait too long, ride breaks down, and you miss it.)
Once you’re done with your first three or four rides, we recommend you go take a lap around the World Showcase. Our strategy continues to recommend you take at least two laps around the World Showcase, with rides in between and around those loops. Waits of 15 minutes or less in the afternoon are the norm for seven of the nine rides at Epcot.
For rides you don’t visit to start the day, here are the wait times we’d hope for and the times we’d settle for:
Test Track — Hope for 30 minutes, settle for 45 minutes
Frozen Ever After — Hope for 30 minutes, settle for 45 minutes
Soarin’ — Hope for 10 minutes, settle for 30 minutes
Mission: SPACE —Hope for 10 minutes, settle for 15 minutes
Living With The Land — Hope for 5 minutes, settle for 15 minutes
Spaceship Earth — Hope for 5 minutes, settle for 15 minutes
The Seas w Nemo — Hope for 5 minutes, settle for 10 minutes
Journey Into Imagination — Hope for 5 minutes, settle for 10 minutes
I left Gran Fiesta Tour off the list. I would put it in the hope 5 / settle 15 group, but it requires an asterisk. With social distancing, I find it hard to believe the wait is ever really above 15 minutes. There isn’t much queue space, so it would probably have to be well outside the building door at that point. Gran Fiesta Tour is more “pop in when you pass the Mexico pavilion to check on it.”