EPCOT is the world of tomorrow. With new innovations and creations at every update with EPCOT there is always a new ride, show, attraction, or festival to experience. There are many what original park goers would call E-Ticket attractions to build into an EPCOT rope drop strategy. These attractions employ the newest technology, theming, and innovations that imagineers can offer, but they also come with long wait times.
Having been to EPCOT recently, there are many options to choose from, from these big rides in the park for your rope-drop. It can be hard to know where to start your park day, but we have the options presented here for you, so that you can make the best decision to make the most of your park day at EPCOT.
In this article:
EPCOT Rope Drop Terms
Before jumping into our EPCOT rope drop strategy, there are a few terms that are helpful to know.
Rope-Drop: Strategy to get the most out of your Disney Park Experience. This strategy requires getting to the park before park opening, scanning in with your ticket as soon as you are able, and making a mad dash to the first attraction to hopefully have the shortest wait time of the day.
Early Entry: guests who stay on property are able to enter the park 30 minutes before official park opening to have early access to select rides and attractions
Genie Plus: Paid access to book ride windows throughout the day. Pricing will vary per park per day.
Lightning Lane: Entrance to access the paid arrival window for your wait for a ride.
Free Disney World Vacation Quote
Our favorite Disney-approved re-seller, Get Away Today, can get you a no obligation Disney World vacation quote for free! In addition to great discount prices, their customer service and easy support is absolutely fantastic. They have an entire department dedicated to making sure every order has a wonderful experience and they are on-call to help you during your vacation if you need them.
And at no additional charge, you get FREE concierge Walt Disney World services! These services include having Get Away Today’s Walt Disney World expert Brooklyn take care of all your reservations and price monitoring for your trip. This really takes all the stress out of planning a Walt Disney World vacation. Rather than waking up at odd hours of the night to book all your reservations, why not let their travel agents take care of it for you- for free!
Get A Free Vacation Quote Now!
EPCOT Opening Times
EPCOT is divided into two park opening times. World Celebration opens first and World Showcase opens later in the morning.
Typically World Celebration opens at 9 am and World Showcase opens at 11 am. With Early Entry for Disney Resort guests, guests can enter EPCOT as early as 8:30.
Rope Dropping EPCOT – The Basics
Entrances
There are two entrances to EPCOT. The first entrance is at the front of the park and the second entrance is at International Gateway. It's important to know which entrance to pick when doing our EPCOT rope drop strategy,
Guests who enter from the front of the park are the guests who arrive at the park by bus, monorail, lyft, or driving.
The second entrance is the International Gateway entrance at the back of the park, which lets you into the park in World Showcase. Guests who are staying at Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk Inn, or Swan & Dolphin can enter International Gateway by walking or boat. Guests of Pop Century, Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, and Riviera Resort can use the entrance after riding The Skyliner to get to Epcot.
Arrival Times
We recommend guests get to EPCOT at least 30 minutes before entering the park to wait for rope-drop.
Genie Plus/ Individual Lightning Lane Selections at EPCOT
Here at Disney Dose we don’t recommend going to EPCOT without purchasing Genie Plus. There are too many rides that have long wait times in the park, so that without Genie Plus, you will spend the majority of your park day in ride queues instead of exploring the counties and all of the other other entertainment EPCOT has to offer. Even when purchasing Genie Plus, we have been unable to do every single attraction, show, and country exploration in one day.
There are eleven attractions that are a part of Genie+ at Epcot:
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Frozen Ever After
- Journey Into Imagination With Figment
- Living With The Land
- Mission: SPACE (Orange and Green)
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- The Seas With Nemo & Friends
- Soarin’
- Spaceship Earth
- Test Track
- Turtle Talk With Crush
Remy’s, Test Track, and Frozen should be your first priorities for booking lightning lane return times when planning your day. Depending on which ride you are able to book will depend on where you should start your day.
The newest ride at EPCOT is Guardians Of The Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. This ride uses the virtual queue system and we think it’s best to try for the virtual queue right at 7AM. If you don’t get into the 7AM virtual queue, and the ride is a must do for you, we recommend buying the Individual Lightning Lane (ILL). If you don’t want to purchase the ILL, then you can try for the 1PM virtual queue.
On our most recent trip, we were unable to get the 7AM virtual queue, so we purchased the ILL. Then we tried the 1PM and got a boarding group. This allowed us to ride the Guardians ride twice in one day.
Strategy Options for Rope-Dropping EPCOT
When looking at Rope-Drop Strategies, the front of the park entrance has the most variance in your day. If you are entering from the back of the park (World Showcase/ International Gateway Entrance) we almost wholeheartedly believe you should begin with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
- Front of the Park with/ without Genie Plus (with Early Entry)
- Front of the Park with Genie Plus (without Early Entry)
- Front of the Park without Genie Plus (without Early Entry)
- International Gateway Early Entry (with or without Genie Plus)
- Non-Ride Focused Day
Front of the Park with or without Genie Plus (with Early Entry)
The purchase of Genie plus is going to influence a large part of your day. Here are our recommended starting places, but know that your actual plan will vary depending on what selections you are able to book throughout the day.
When entering the front of the park, the main ride we do not recommend starting with is Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Regardless of whether you have early entry or not, the time it takes to get to the very back of the park is not worth running there for the wait time that you will experience, especially if you have purchased Genie Plus and can snag a Lightning Lane return time.
With Early Entry, starting in the front of the park, the two rides recommended to begin with are Frozen Ever After and Test Track. Frozen Ever After is just ever so slightly more recommended due to the long waits and limited Lightning Lane availability through the day. However, Test Track is not a bad option either because it will sometimes go down during the day, especially if you are visiting in the summer months with afternoon rainstorms.
After riding Frozen, our suggestion is to cross the park and head to Soarin'. After Soarin', stay in the area and complete Living with the Land, Figment: Journey into Imagination, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and Moana: Journey of Water.
Any of these options can change depending on your Genie Plus selections for the day. For instance, you were able to snag a Frozen Ever After Lightning Lane return time, you can skip waiting in line for it in the morning and do another ride instead.
If you chose not to purchase Genie Plus for the day, we still recommend only starting with Frozen or Test Track first thing in the morning. The next ride to focus on is Soarin’ in The Land Pavilion.
Front of the Park with Genie Plus (without Early Entry)
If you do not have early entry to EPCOT, there really is not a true rope-drop for rides in EPCOT as all of the bigger rides are open during Early Entry.
The best suggestion is to pick the big ticket ride you didn’t get a Genie return time for and head straight there. While the ride time won’t be 15 minutes or less, you can still have a shorter wait time than if you were to wait later in the day.
Earlier, we mentioned the top priorities for Genie Plus at EPCOT should be Remy, Frozen, and Test Track. The three scenarios we recommend for this situation are:
- Genie for Remy, ride Frozen, Test Track Single Rider Line
- Genie for Frozen, ride Remy, Test Track Single Rider Line
- Genie for Test Track, ride Frozen, get in line for Remy right before park closes
The next ride priority is Soarin’. While this ride can have longer wait times, the queue is indoors, there is trivia on the walls you can play, and there are other rides/ attractions in the area that you can complete before or after so you are not walking to that portion of the park just for one ride.
Front of the Park without Genie Plus (Without Early Entry)
If you are entering EPCOT from the front of the park without Early Entry and without Genie Plus purchased, you will have to be very strategic in how you plan your day so that you are not waiting in line instead of experiencing EPCOT.
By the time you access the park both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After will have a significant wait time. Our recommendation is to skip those for the time being, and ride Test Track or Soarin’. The great advantage with starting with Soarin’ is there will be a lot of rides on that side of the park with low wait times.
You can ride Living with the Land while in the Land Pavilion; then, walk to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. When finished, look around the aquarium, then walk over to Moana: Journey of Water. You can meet Moana if she is out at this time.
Imagination Station is not a far walk to ride Imagination with Figment and explore the interactive elements after the ride, while also meeting some great characters like Figment and Joy.
If possible, switch to the other side of the park and complete Mission: Space and Test Track. The single rider line for Test Track is going to offer the shortest wait. The other ride that will have a short wait at the front of the park is Spaceship Earth.
Once you have ridden these rides, you will need to decide if you want to wait in the lines for Frozen or Remy’s. Even during dinner times, the wait times don’t lower much, but you can opt to wait until the end of the night and be in the park after closing to ride one of the rides. However, at this point, you have ridden all of your rides and just need to explore the countries and non-ride experiences, so you may be willing to wait in the long lines for Remy or Frozen.
International Gateway Early Entry (with or without Genie Plus)
If you are able to enter the park through International Gateway, which is the back of the park in World Showcase, with Early Entry, whether you have Genie Plus or not, we recommend beginning with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. This ride consistently has the longest wait times within the park, and is a must do if you have early entry. The only caveat to this recommendation is if you have a Lightning Lane return time for Remy later in the day; then, we recommend starting with Frozen.
When leaving Remy, you can choose to take a right and walk to Frozen Ever After and Test Track or take a left and enter World Celebration for Soarin. The option you choose will depend upon if you have any Lightning Lane return times booked or if you are choosing to do your park day without the use of Genie.
If you are not using Genie, we recommend trying to ride Frozen next as it is the ride that also has a large wait time throughout the day. If Frozen is not important to you, then Test Track is the next ride we recommend. Test Track can go down throughout the day, and since it has an outdoor component, the ride will not operate in bad weather.
After riding Remy, Test Track, and Frozen, if you have purchased Genie Plus focus on the rides that you can get return times for. When you are in the area of your next ride you can ride the attractions in that area.
For instance, if you are able to get a return time for The Seas with Nemo and Friends, when finished, look around the aquarium, then walk over to The Land and ride Living with the Land boat ride, then walk to Imagination Station to ride Imagination with Figment. You are able to do this at many of the other attractions in EPCOT.
If you did not purchase Genie Plus for the day, focus on the rides that have the shorter wait times when you have ridden your must do rides and walk around the countries in EPCOT.
Non-Ride Focused Day
No matter if you love to ride rides or if you are a person who thinks the other attractions are enough to fill your park day, there are a ton of options to make your EPCOT day great even if you don't use a EPCOT rope drop strategy.
To rope-drop without focusing on the rides, you don’t need Early Entry or Genie Plus, which makes the morning a little less chaotic.
When focusing on a park day without many rides, I always like to start with a great breakfast. Booking an early morning reservation can get you in the park during Early Entry and you can have a nice leisurely stroll to breakfast. A few places to look at booking are Garden Grill (a character dining experience in the Land), Crêperie-de-paris (France Pavilion), or Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (a character dining experience in Norway). You could also start your morning with a quicker breakfast at Connections Eatery, Les Halles (France Pavilion), Sunshine Seasons, or Starbucks.
After eating breakfast, take a nice stroll through the interactive water experience Moana: Journey of Water. While on that side of the park, the aquarium at the Seas with Nemo and Friends is a great place to get close up with clown fish, sharks and more in the massive 5.7-million-gallon saltwater aquarium. There is even a complimentary scavenger hunt for the aquarium.
There are also a ton of character meet-and-greets throughout the park. You can meet Moana, Princess Aurora, Belle, Anna & Elsa, Alice, Mary Poppins, Mickey Mouse, Pluto and more.
Once the World Showcase opens, walking around the countries and interacting with cast members, shopping, and tasting the cuisine will take quite a few hours. The Beauty and the Beast Sing Along in France, Voices of Liberty in the American Pavilion, Canada Far and Wide Film, live entertainment in the countries, and more are just some of the options to fill your non-ride day.
By far the best place to shop on property, other than World of Disney and the Emporium is the Connection Shop. They always carry items that I never see anywhere else on property. Make sure to visit there at some point during your day. While by Connections, find Club Cool and taste Coke from around the world. Make sure to try the Beverly, you will be in for a treat.
Of course, you should end your night watching the new Harmonious Fireworks show around the World Showcase Lagoon.
Ready to Plan Your Disney Day?
If you are ready to plan your EPCOT rope drop strategy day to experience all that the park has to offer, make sure you are subscribed to our FREE newsletter. Here you will get all of the latest news, discounts, and ticket offers directly to your inbox for free. While waiting for your first email, make sure to read our other Disney articles to help plan your day.
- Discount EPCOT Tickets – Finding Cheap Disney World Tickets
- Epcot Best Rides 2024 (Plus, Ones to Skip)
- EPCOT Countries – World Showcase Tips and Can’t Miss Gems
- Drinking Around the World in EPCOT – The Best Tips and Drinks!
- Epcot One Day Itinerary
Yes, there is rope-drop at EPCOT. Guests with Early Entry are allowed on to rides basically right at the start of Early Entry. Guests without Early Entry are allowed into the park at its scheduled opening time.
Early entry for guests begins 30 minutes prior to park opening. Guests cannot enter the park before early entry begins.
Guests should arrive to the park to get through security and scan into the park about 30 minutes before Early Entry begins.
The three rides to focus on during Early Entry are Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, and Test Track.
