Early Entry at Epcot: Better Than Genie+
Early Theme Park Entry is a perk for on-site Walt Disney World resort guests, and it’s a valuable one when crowds are heavy. This Epcot photo report offers a step-by-step look at what I accomplished during the morning Extra Magic Hours replacement, strategy & tips, and how it worked out as an alternative to Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes.
This day at Epcot was a 9/10 on the crowd calendar, with an average daily wait time of 38 minutes. That’s park-wide, meaning Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, and Test Track were significantly higher (all at or above an hour), as they’re offset by short waits at the Seas with Nemo, Journey into Imagination, and other walk-on “wait” time attractions.
Also notable about this particular Early Entry is that it occurred after Epcot moved forward its opening time from 10 am to 8:30 am. This is the case for Spring Break 2022, and hopefully beyond. As we’ve seen in the past, rope drop crowds are worse with later park opening times and better with earlier ones. This is because people like to sleep-in on vacation, or so I’m told, which shrinks the pool of participants as the start time moves earlier.
For Early Entry at Epcot, we stayed in the Crescent Lake Resort area and entered through International Gateway, which is essential for the strategy covered here to work. (We’ll also cover modifications for those arriving via the front entrance.) That means staying at BoardWalk Inn, Yacht & Beach Club, Swan & Dolphin, Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, Art of Animation, or Riviera Resort is necessary for this approach to work.
I left our room at 7:30 am with the goal of beating the first Skyliner arrivals. It didn’t work out that way, as guests were gushing out of the gondolas when I got to that point at 7:39 am. It was my understanding that the Skyliner officially started operating at 7:30 am, but either it quietly started early (not uncommon) or the opening time was officially moved forward to 7 am (that’s what Google believes).
For a lot of families, being out the hotel room door by 7:30 am is prohibitive. This puts me at a distinct advantage, since I can literally get ready in under 15 minutes. My secret is not washing my legs when I shower. Thanks to that time-saving hack, I was probably among the first ~500 people who arrived at bag check.
When after getting pulled aside for additional screening (the joys of an expedition-sized camera bag), I entered through Epcot’s International Gateway by 7:42 am.
In our experience thus far, getting to the parks for Early Entry is surprisingly easy. Bus transportation starts running early, as do the monorails, boats, and Skyliner. Again, most guests simply are not up and out the door by 7 am, which helps make things smoother for early risers. We’ve found it to be a far more pleasant transportation experience than leaving an hour or two later.
Our normal recommendation is to arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of Early Theme Park Entry. That remains the case with Epcot, without regard for which ride you want to do first. To some extent, which entrance you use matters more than arrival time.
Everyone can enter Epcot without regard to whether they’re staying on site. As a practical matter, it’s (almost) impossible to get to International Gateway at this hour without being a resort guest, so that’s more or less moot.
Nevertheless, there’s a row of Cast Members stationed here to scan MagicBands, resort room keys, or whatever appropriate identification you might have if staying at one of the participating third party hotels. You get held back by the gift shop and can’t access the rest of the park without scanning here.
Unlike Magic Kingdom, guests are not held anywhere in Epcot prior to proceeding to the first attraction of the day–you go directly to the ride you want to do. I’d hazard a guess that, for those entering via International Gateway, about 90% of guests are heading to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
This is the logical choice from two perspectives. Due to its location in the France pavilion, it’s literally the closest ride to International Gateway. It’s also one of the two most popular attractions in the park, running neck and neck with Frozen Ever After.
Because there are no holding areas, it is absolutely pointless to try for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure if you’re coming from the front entrance. It’s a ~2 minute walk to the attraction from International Gateway, whereas it’s around a 15 minute walk from the front of the park.
I’ve seen people doing a dead sprint from the front entrance to France, and they still don’t end up anywhere near the front of the pack for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. As an added bonus, they start out the day sweaty and nasty. If this seems unfair…just give it a couple months. The tables will turn once Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opens. That is, unless it uses a virtual queue…and it probably will. (In which case, the advantage remains with International Gateway arrivals.)
I stopped for photos, which meant I was a bit further back in this line, but still managed to queue up for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure by 7:49 am. At this point, only the exterior queue was in use–guests had not yet been allowed through the attraction’s front entrance.
The line started moving only a few minutes later, and the queue was constantly moving from there.
Since there are no Individual Lightning Lane guests at this hour and because Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure has a healthy hourly capacity, the line moves quickly.
Even if you arrived 10 minutes later and ended up in the overflow queue, it would amount to a wait of under 15 minutes. Perfectly reasonable for an attraction that regularly posted triple-digit wait times during the day.
Once finished with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, I made a beeline for Frozen Ever After.
It’s a little over a half-mile between the two, and I walk pretty quickly. However, I “offset” this by stopping a couple of times for photos, arriving to the Norway pavilion at 8:20 am. I feared that this would already be too late for a minimal wait at Frozen Ever After. I was wrong.
Despite the 25 minute posted wait time, Frozen Ever After was literally a walk-on. I never stopped moving from the time I entered the building until the load area.
This one caught me by surprise, and I definitely would not bank on similar success if I were you. Still, it’s likely that Early Entry is pulling guests to the headliners closer to the entrances–Test Track and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure–leaving shorter or nonexistent lines in the window of time before most guests are done with those attractions. At least, that’s my theory.
As you can tell, I was thrilled to be doing Frozen Ever After. (That’s a joke–I actually quite like the ride, the camera is just in an awkward spot and I always forget to pose for it.)
Even when I exited the attraction, Norway was still pretty quiet. I wanted to make it to Test Track before official park opening time, but I’m guessing Frozen Ever After’s actual wait time was still at or under 10 minutes.
I got to Test Track at 8:35 am, so 5 minutes after official park opening time. The posted wait time was also 25 minutes here, falling from a 40 minute posted wait just a few minutes before I arrived.
This is just a guess, but given the lack of people outside the entrance, it feels like I just barely beat the rope drop crowd here. My actual wait ended up being around 15 minutes. (Forgot to write down the time I boarded, so trying to reverse engineer this. It was not a bad wait at all, and part of that was spent designing my SimCar.)
My next stop was Soarin’ Around the World, which was posting a 10 minute wait as of 9 am.
My actual wait time was 11 minutes. Had I been two parties earlier, I would’ve walked onto the attraction. As always, Soarin’ wait times are a bit of a crapshoot, depending upon where you hit its load cycle.
Going into the morning, my intention was to see how quickly I could knock out every ride in Epcot.
Let’s just pretend that’s what I did, and everything else was a walk-on until 10 am. It’s possible this is not how the morning played out, and in actuality, I got distracted by a pretty tree.
What can I say, I’m like a raccoon with a camera–easily entranced by shiny objects.
I spent approximately three monorail passes (my favorite unit of measuring time) over by this tree and the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival floral tapestry. After that, I shot some topiaries that are otherwise tough to get due to crowds.
However, I really could have done everything else by around 11 am. Only the attractions I had already done had posted wait times over 10 minutes until then.
Given crowds later in the day, my approach of taking photos after Soarin’ arguably has merit. Try getting a photo of the Beauty and Beast topiary without guests eating in the image, or Kermit and Miss Piggy without people exiting the restrooms.
The alternative front entrance approach to Early Entry would basically just be to skip Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. I still think it makes sense to go deeper into the park and start with Frozen Ever After, potentially doing that twice if you or your kids so desire.
This approach is corroborated by wait times. As noted, Test Track’s posted wait time dropped from 40 minutes to 25 minutes at around 8:25 am, which is not uncommon. The attraction had processed the first wave of guests, and there was a lull before park opening.
Similarly, this is why our 1-Day Epcot Itinerary (No Genie+) recommends not messing with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at or shortly after rope drop, but instead an hour or two later. That’s because the initial surge drives its wait time high, but then it typically subsides thereafter.
The point with all of this is that you either want to be ahead of “the pack” or well behind it, but not part of it. If you’re arriving at the tail end of a surge of other guests, you’re waiting too long.
Admittedly, the other issue with the approaches covered here is that they all entail a lot of walking. Epcot is a big park, and I had logged over 2 miles before 10 am. Keep in mind, that’s with largely standing in one spot by a tree for a good half-hour.
That alone is going to make this strategy prohibitive for a lot of parties. I don’t have a good “answer” to that, but I do want to at least acknowledge it.
The reality is that the headliners at Epcot are all spread out, and the best strategies for the park all entail a lot of walking.
The alternative is buying your way out of lines with Individual Lightning Lanes, or doing Future World headliners at the start of the day and World Showcase ones at the end of the day. That won’t save you as much time as this, but it will save you far more steps.
Ultimately, we highly recommend taking advantage of Early Theme Park Entry at Epcot. Even with all of the caveats here, starting at the front of the park, worse luck, more efforts at minimizing walking, etc–it’s still a superior option to paying for Genie+ and Lightning Lane access.
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: Genie+ just doesn’t offer enough upside during a full day at Epcot. This remains true even with the Frozen Ever After now in the lineup. That’s a positive addition, but unless you’re Park Hopping to Epcot (and can thus use Genie+ in multiple parks during the same day), the better strategy is simply starting early, pacing yourself, and staying late. If you want additional strategy for the starting your day at the other three parks, check out our Guide to Early Theme Park Entry at Walt Disney World.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Early Theme Park Entry at Epcot? Have you experienced this 30 minute jumpstart to the day at Epcot? Do you agree that Early Entry at Epcot is superior to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes? What’s your preferred approach to mornings at Epcot? How would you have done things differently? Any other feedback on arriving early to the Walt Disney World theme parks? Agree or disagree with our advice or approach? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
As far as a compromise between steps and wait time, would the friendship boats be an option for rope drop? Do the boats usually start running early enough?
Staying at Poly next month. Never stayed anywhere but Pop before. There’s no ideal way to get over to the International Gateway is there?
Aloha @TT, I’ve trying to figure out a good plan for getting to IG from AK Lodge. So far, our options are:
Plan A: Uber to Boardwalk’s Trattoria Al Forno or Yacht Club’s Ale & Compass for early breakfast, then walk to IG. Trying for a 7:30-8:00 am reservation with a To Go mobile order as a backup plan. If I recall correctly there is some outdoor seating in the Boardwalk area, not sure if there’s any near Yacht club.
Plan B: Take early entry bus to to Animal Kingdom, then take first available bus to Beach Club/Yacht Club or Boardwalk.
Plan C: Take early entry bus to to Animal Kingdom, then take first available bus or Skyliner (if running) to IG entrance.
We stayed at pop century 2 weeks ago on 3/5/22 and the gondala opened at 7 am and we were in Epcot and done Remy by 8 am then rode frozen, sourin, living with the land and figment by 9 am. That back entrance is the way to go!
We were at Epcot this past Monday (3/14) and were held at Soarin for 15 minutes before the early entry start time, so whether or not crowds are held may differ from day to day.
We were the on first bus to arrive at the front entrance, where we waited about 30 minutes to be allowed to go through security (the crowd was being held). Then we waited at the Tapstiles for around 30 minutes. We chose the soarin side (not sure which is better) and were near the front of the crowd. Even with a brisk pace back to ratatouille, we waited around 30 minutes in the line. All that to say, the international gateway has the definite advantage.
We have been fortunate to have experienced multiple week-long trips to WDW over the years. We haven’t been since fall of 2019, however, so our next trip this November will have a great deal of new strategies for us. Epcot has always been a 2-day park, doing rope drop from the front one day and focusing on Future World, then returning another day in the early afternoon via the International Gateway and focusing on the World Showcase, then staying for Illuminations. We entered the IG by parking at Boardwalk, and walking from there. Idk if that’s still a viable option, but it seems like we’ll need to do more research to work out a new strategy. The combination of all the new experiences plus the Genie+/ILL make my mind spin. Reading your strategies (including skipping the legs while showering), are always so helpful. Thank you!
“My secret is not washing my legs when I shower. Thanks to that time-saving hack, I was probably among the first ~500 people who arrived at bag check.“
I literally lol’d. Great blog. Amazing information, Tom.
Just got back from a trip on Thursday 3/10/22. We went to Epcot on Tuesday 3/8. We stayed at Caribbean. Two things 1. the skyliner opens @7a. It was a surprise to me I thought it also opened at 7:30. 2. We rode on the skyliner with someone who wasn’t staying at the Caribbean or any skyliner resort. They took an Uber to the skyliner from their resort. Also- @7-7:30am the line for the skyliner wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be (going to both parks). And by not that busy I was there last year and that line wrapped down and around the skyliner hub. They have the loading and unloading of the skyliner down to a science. It was like a well oiled machine.
Love your Blog. Going in early May and staying at The Swan. After reading this current post I just wanted to confirm for a 10:00am opening at Epcot me and my family can go over to Epcot as early as 7:30 am and actually get into Epcot that early and jump on all the rides you mentioned in your post!! Or am I reading this information wrong?? Haven’t been to Disney in about 3 years and so many changes. Just trying to prepare. Thanks
If the opening time is 10:00 the early entry time would be 9:30. One half hour before the official opening. Show up at 9:00 and you may get in earlier than the 9:30 EE time.
Long time visitor, first in a long time poster. Not washing your legs content is what I’m here for.
I did EE at Epcot on 2/25 (Friday of President’s Week) when it was supposed to start at 9:30. They actually let us in the IG around 9 and of course, 99% of us headed to Remy. We were met by a CM who said the ride would not be operating until 9:30, which turned out not to be true; it opened around 9:10. I was off the ride by 9:25, walked rapidly over to Frozen where I was met by a horde of people coming in from the Future World side of the park. I’m pretty sure they were held there by a rope and could not come over into WS before the “official” start of EE, i.e., 9:30. This also happened to a friend who visited in January. It put her way behind all those who came in the IG. Something to keep in mind if you are using Disney bus transportation or driving to Epcot for EE.
“Unlike Magic Kingdom, guests are not held anywhere in Epcot prior to proceeding to the first attraction of the day–you go directly to the ride you want to do”
I don’t know how *new* that is, but it’s news to me. Not sure if it changes my strategy or tactics, but it feels like should, right? (Assuming that it makes Early Entry more valuable, I’m going to have to get back up to speed on pricing at the Swan.)
“the other issue with the approaches covered here is that they all entail a lot of walking”
A LOGIC PROBLEM! *cough* Assuming World Showcase hasn’t started opening late again, if you want to do all four of those major Epcot attractions, the best thing you can do to minimize walking while touring efficiently is to skip one attraction until the end of the day. From the main entrance I’d go Frozen, Test Track, then Soarin; from International Gateway I’d think Tom’s right with Remy, Frozen, then Test Track. It only saves you one pass around the World Celebration (of Walls), but it doesn’t cost you line time.)
As always you’re blog is filled with WDW wisdom. Thank you. We were there Presidents week and had a great time despite the heaviest crowds we’ve ever seen. One trick I would recommend (especially for those who sleep late) is utilize your evenings wisely. For example see Harmonious one night and another night board the Rat right before Harmonious. This is easy to do if you have park hoppers and you’re there for a few days. If your time is limited and you can only spend 1 day at EPCOT the good news is although Rome wasn’t built in a day you can see and do EPCOT in a day. The long wait is the Rat and Tom’s right about using your early arrival advantage for that. PS If you don’t wash your arms and shampoo your hair you can be out of your room before Tom.
Jared-I think we may have been there the same day-November 10th by any chance? We initially tried to go to rise at rope drop, but it was down, so waited about 30 minutes for MMRR. After that, we headed over to rise thinking ok, two hours, we can do it, but when we hit hour four (with a four year old, no less) it was a struggle. Amazing attraction, though!
Great strategy article as always. For me, the more useful framework for weighing Genie+ is against other monetary transactions/upgrades rather than Early Entry: Genie+ vs a table service meal or a room upgrade, for example. What is the value or return to this $16 to me?
You can get all/almost all rides “done” at Epcot in a day without Genie+ even on crowded days with a good plan. But you will also likely have one or two big lines to deal with, along with some of the same downsides of Genie+. Your day without Genie+ is still a wild card (based on whether you get to both Frozen and Test Track just ahead of the crowd – very hard to do!), and you still need to look at your phone a lot to strategize wait times etc. As Tom notes, there is no “cost-free” strategy. The dollar-to-dollar comparison of Genie+ to other WDW $upgrades is the most useful metric to me.
Hi Tom,
First, let me just say thank you for all of your advice over the years, you’ve definitely helped us use our time more wisely in the parks. I do agree with you on the early entry at 8am has more of an advantage over say the early entry I had in January at 9:30am. In January, it seemed like everyone was there for that 9:30am early start time. It’s definitely more difficult to get out of bed and get everyone going any earlier. However, I am going to use your strategy in May, and actually get there before 9:30am. We will also be staying in the Crescent Lake area, so I think walking as opposed to skyliner will have an advantage. The lines in January for the skyliner were crazy long!
So you’re allowed in an hour before early entry?!
Hi Joey – IIRC, regular entry was 8:30 am and early entry was 8:00 am, so looks like Tom entered the park less than 30 minutes before early entry started.
Hi Tom, thanks for another great strategy – I always appreciate that your articles are both informative and entertaining.
If we’re staying at a non-Skyliner resort, would it be worth getting an early entry bus to Hollywood Studios, then catching the Skyliner to Epcot? If so, how early does the outgoing HS Skyliner open?
Going in late May for 8 days, trying to decide whether or not to book a park reservation for Epcot or just parkhop.
I wouldn’t attempt that route for early entry. I’m not even sure you could make that trip in the time between when transportation starts running and when early entry begins, much less beat the rest of the crowd. The outgoing skyliner would definitely be running as it’s the same as the incoming: one big loop. I wouldn’t expect a wait to get on at HS, but by the time you’ve taken a bus and the first leg of the skyliner, you will undoubtedly see a crowd at the Caribbean Beach station where you have to transfer to the Epcot line. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find a good route to International Gateway when staying near MK. In my book, the only option is to get a ride share service to drop you off at the Yacht and Beach Club. That being said, arriving at the front isn’t the end of the world. It’s still vastly better than arriving after park open. I would just arrive as soon as possible and be at the front of the crowd at the front of the park.
Thanks Brooke, I wondered if the backup at the Caribbean hub could be an issue.
Knowing that, I think we’ll plan to take the bus to AK then transfer to a Crescent Lakes Resort bus there (Boardwalk/Beach/Yacht) or bus to HS then walk to Crescent Lake.
If we get moving early enough, maybe add a stop at Boardwalk bakery. If we run late, we can just take the Epcot bus.
Hi Tom. First thank you so much for everything you do. My family had an amazing trip during President’s Day week in part because of all your stellar advice. I really think the earlier opening was key for you here. I was at Epcot on President’s Day. My family was the first off the Skyliner and in line at the International Gateway for EMM (which started at 8:30). We also walked to France and were held in the outdoor cue until EMM offically started. While that line was short, we barely made it into line for Frozen Ever After before other guests were allowed entry. Our wait for Frozen ended up being 25 minutes and by the time we got off other waits were getting prohibitive. We did 3 Caballeros and headed to Living With the Land which had a 45 minute wait by 10am. We still felt pretty good to have done two great rides so early in the day and had a blast regardless. It just wasn’t as smooth sailing as you seem to have had.
Thanks for sharing your morning–that’s a useful comparison!
The earlier opening time absolutely was key. Once you get into the 7 am hour, it eliminates a HUGE pool of guests because so many people either can’t or won’t get out the door that quickly. (This is also why those 7:30 am opening times for DAK surprise me. I haven’t been able to hit that park yet with those, but I cannot imagine it’s even remotely busy for Early Entry at 7 am.)
Tom,
I was there at DAK in Oct, for a day before genie+ and again a day after it debuted. Both days the EE was 730 am and omg!! 99% went to Pandora. My son and I went to Everest. We rose 6-7 times as walk on, went to dinosaur and did that 3x walk on and for kicks did Triceratops once. All that was before our 930 breakfast at Rainforest. We could’ve easily done other things but we loved the walk on and repetition!! You so need to go one day and do EE DAK.
As always the blog is amazing
Tom,
I’ve been to Disney quite a few times but have never heard of the international gateway. Could you kindly explain where that is, I would greatly appreciate it as we’re going again during April vacation. Love your content!
Sue
It’s the entrance between France and the United Kingdom–near the Skyliner station.
Tom,
Love your blog. Coming to Disney Memorial day weekend through June 3rd, staying at RR. Was only going to get a single day tix, with Park Hopper. I haven’t been in the parks in a couple of years so I was looking to basically catch rides I haven’t been on yet. Do you think Early entry at DHS, knocking out SWGE and MMRR early, take a break and head over to Epcot later would work out. First Remy, then single ride TT. I’ll try to book virtual queue or ILL for GOTG (hopefully it’s open!). I’ll go on a day with Extra Evening Hours to enjoy the park and take advantage of the late hours knock out other rides then. Do you this would work given the expected crowds with GOTG just opening?
Cosmic Rewind is such a wildcard that I hesitate to make any predictions. It’ll undoubtedly be ILL, but may not have a virtual queue (there’s plenty of space for a standby line, but the narrow corridor leading to it might cause Disney to use a virtual queue so there are no dangerous rope drop stampedes).
That’s all relevant because it’ll change the crowd dynamic at Epcot. Were you visiting today, I’d say you have more than enough time to do all of that (and then some). Memorial Day? Potentially totally different story. You’re going to be a guinea pig.
Rick, I attempted to split a single day between Hollywood Studios and EPCOT in mid-November and it did NOT go well (although we did not have access to early entry). We roped dropped Galaxy’s Edge and opted to do Smuggler’s Run first as it had such a short line we figured we could be in and out before Rise of the Resistance got out of hand. That went fine, but Rise was already at 2 hours wait by the time we got there (which is about what we expected). Then it had issues; it didn’t go down but cast members informed us that it wasn’t running at full capacity, and we ended up spending 4 hours total from getting in line to exiting the attraction. Very grumpy we went to Runaway Railroad with a 45 minute actual wait; that went great!
At this point hopped over the EPCOT. Remy was still using a virtual queue at that point and we weren’t sure boarding groups would last until 2 so we had caved and bought an ILL for it while still at HS (this was a good move, as both boarding groups and ILLs were gone by the time actually made it to EPCOT). Remy also went down during our return window, so we went and did Soarin’ to get out of the rain, followed by Test Track with a 20-ish minute wait (pretty sure it had just reopened after the weather). Went back and did Remy, which honestly was kind of disappointing, then tried to do Frozen but after an hour of waiting bailed so we wouldn’t miss Harmonious (which despite negative internet reviews we both really enjoyed). We technically did everything we wanted – ie. all rides/shows added from 2019 on – but it wasn’t particularly enjoyable overall.
I’m not saying it is *impossible* to do everything you want to do, but be prepared for a long day and potentially bailing on a ride or two. Rise is a huge wildcard with downtime, and depending on how ambitious Guardians is I could see it having similar issues. I hate to recommend spending more money but if you are staying onsite I would say you should plan on buying an ILL for Rise or Guardians (or even both). Also, if you are a Star Wars fan you are going to want to allot time to just wander around Galaxy’s Edge; if you’re a fan of themed design there’s a lot more to it than just the two rides.