One of my favorite things about Walt Disney World is that it “keeps moving forward.” When Walt uttered those three famous and poignant words, I’m sure what he totally had in mind was changes to policies that shake up the strategy for most efficiently experiencing EPCOT, which was totally a theme park in Walt’s mind.
In the spirit of Walt Disney’s sentiment, I’ve also been “opening up new doors and doing new things” with curiosity leading me down new paths. For example, I used to be a photographer with a blog. Now I am a blogger with heavy camera bag. You see the difference? Instead of photographing sunrises over Crescent Lake, curiosity about changes has led me down the paths towards the parks to do Early Entry at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT on a few recent mornings during a stay at BoardWalk Inn.
On one of those mornings, a particularly stunning sunrise was forfeited for the sake of heading to Magic Kingdom to see how the Party Season dynamic was playing out. Then less than one week later, and before I could publish a photo report, Walt Disney World dropped the virtual queue from TRON Lightcycle Run, rendering my results obsolete. (I’m not mad. Please don’t put in the newspaper that I got mad.) Thankfully, this morning at EPCOT went a bit better, and the sunrise was average anyway, so nothing of value was lost…
My basic goal here was to see the impact of losing Test Track until Summer 2025 on the other headliners at EPCOT during Early Entry. Specifically, whether it’s still possible to arrive at EPCOT via International Gateway in World Showcase, starting with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and continuing with Frozen Ever After before the wait times get unmanageable.
For those who aren’t aware, International Gateway is the back entrance to EPCOT, situated between the United Kingdom and France pavilions, which makes it advantageous for starting at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Guests who have access to International Gateway are those staying at the Crescent Lake and Skyliner resorts, as well as those who jump through hoops to get dropped off at one of those resorts via Uber/Lyft, Minnie Vans, etc. Before you ask, no we do not recommend this. It isn’t worth the vacation time, money, or stress. (Seriously, if you’re considering something like this, you’re planning “too hard.”)
Anyway, I arrived at EPCOT’s International Gateway at approximately 7:50 am on this particular morning. The Skyliner was already dropping off guests at International Gateway when I arrived, and security and the turnstiles were already open. Both of those things had likely just occurred 5 or so minutes earlier, as there were roughly 100 guests in front of me.
Upon entering International Gateway, there’s a row of Cast Members scanning MagicBands, resort room keys, or whatever appropriate identification you might have if staying at one of the participating third party hotels. Cast Members didn’t start scanning until 7:55 am.
You get held back by the gift shop and can’t access the rest of the park without scanning here, after which time you can proceed towards the bridge to France. Or you can be like the 2% of guests who, for some reason, head towards the United Kingdom.
The crowd at the France bridge was held until 8:27 am. (In the photo below, the front of the line as at the beginning of the bridge.)
This is actually later than I’m used to experiencing, and I was surprised we were in this spot so long. How long each hold lasts varies from day to day (it’s not like this is tightly choreographed to occur at 8:27:00 am daily) and likely depends upon a variety of factors. During peak season, the new arrivals would necessitate the line move forward. I was just happy to be in the shade for once.
In any case, we started moving in a loosely formed line at 8:27 am, heading towards the Streets of Paris.
This is normal, as is the inevitable party or two that decides they’re going to bolt ahead of the group, ignoring the fact that everyone else is shuffling forward in a line (more or less).
Look, I can also power walk–much faster than we were collectively moving–but it’s patently obvious that this is a line. Point being, don’t be “that party” that decides to ignore protocol and race ahead. The icy stares aren’t worth it. (And believe me, we were all glaring our hardest. Take that, line cutters!)
Anyway, the group was once again held at the entrance to the Streets of Paris area until 8:30 (so for like 45 seconds), at which point there were roughly 112 people in front of me, a catastrophic increase of one-dozen thanks to the line cutters, who saved themselves a whole 2 minutes waiting in line by playing dirty. I hope it was worth it.
Conversely, this type of thing only cost all of us rule-abiding icy starers a few seconds. So don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s not worth getting bent out of shape over things you cannot control. You’re at Walt Disney World, enjoying EPCOT’s World Showcase as it wakes up for the morning. It’s going to be a great day.
At 8:30 am we moved forward, filling in the full line and outdoor overflow queue at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. It quickly became clear, even though it wasn’t in the My Disney Experience app, that the attraction was going to have the dreaded delayed opening. Now the decision to hold us for so long on the bridge made a lot more sense.
Again, only about 112 people in front of me. This would’ve been a near walk-on (however long it took to slowly trudge through the queue, assuming no further line cutters) once the ride came online. Nevertheless, I immediately began deliberating about whether to cut my losses and jump out of line. I debated the pros and cons until I just couldn’t bear it anymore–the wait was excruciating.
So at 8:39 am, I exited the line. The amusing (at least to me) thing is that, if going by memory, I’d swear that I stood in that non-moving outdoor queue for 30 minutes, easily. And that’s precisely why I take notes when doing these field tests, because it was actually less than 10 minutes. Longest 8-9 minutes of my life…until the next time this happens.
My calculus for getting out of line at this point would be different than your decision-making process. A good rule of thumb for you to determine when to cut your losses is how long it’ll take you to walk over to Frozen Ever After. The goal is to arrive there by 9:05 am if you get out of line, so work backwards from that.
I wanted to be able to approximate a normal morning without a delayed opening, and how things would go with my second stop. I also wanted to see how long the line was for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, whether guests were arriving from the front of the park, etc.
Honestly, a delayed opening that “forced” me to jump out of line was for the best of this field test. I shouldn’t have been in that line in the first place–I know how long it takes to do Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure on average from my spot–it was more worthwhile to observe how things had changed behind me. Why I didn’t think of this previously is beyond me. Perhaps I just really wanted to ride my 10th favorite attraction at EPCOT. More likely, it was the lack of sleep and coffee.
The line behind me was long. Very, very long:
As of 8:40 am, the back of the line was still forming with new arrivals speed-walking from the front of the park. This steady stream probably would’ve continued for the remainder of Early Entry since there is no line all shuffling together from this direction. People arrive at different times based on how quickly (or not) they can walk.
The posted wait time around 8:45 am for Frozen Ever After was 35 minutes and the posted wait time for Soarin’ Around the World was 10 minutes. This told me that the biggest impacts of the Test Track closure during Early Entry were Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille, and not Soarin.
That came as a slight surprise, but not completely. After all, EPCOT has a trio of nearly co-equal headliners with standby lines, and Soarin isn’t part of that. Nevertheless, I figured Soarin would see gains due to the Test Track closure. After all, it’s at the front of the park and the other options are much longer walks for anyone arriving from the main entrance. But I guess not.
The line for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is very long. Part of that is attributable to the ride not operating, and thus absorbing the International Gateway guests before the main entrance ones began arriving over the course of the previous ~15 minutes (the Rat Ride sometimes starts running before 8:30 am).
Regardless, this would’ve been a really long line. To the point that I struggle with the notion of hoofing it from the front entrance all the way back here. Is that really how you want to start your day? Getting hot and sweaty before it’s even 9 am? Not only that, but there’s the opportunity cost.
To each their own, but I just cannot see how it’s worth it to do Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure during Early Entry if you’re coming from the front of the park. Yes, you probably will have a shorter wait time than the daily average. Perhaps significantly so. You also power walked like a mile to the back of the park (which takes time and energy) and could’ve done something else instead.
None of this is anything new, though. I’ve never recommended Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for Early Entry when entering through EPCOT’s main entrance. This just further seals the deal, because now there’s more competition with Test Track being down.
As I was taking photos en route to Norway, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure came online for the day. If I had about ~8 minutes of patience in the tank, I would’ve been fine to ride it.
Anyway, I decided to “let it go” (hahahaha) and headed over to Frozen Ever After, where I arrived at 8:58 am to a posted wait time of 35 minutes. This is pretty much always my goal during Early Entry at EPCOT via International Gateway: beat the park opening crowd to Frozen Ever After.
I got here slightly earlier than anticipated since I didn’t ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Even had I arrived at 9:05 am, I still would’ve beaten the rope drop crowd. You cannot teleport from the front entrance to Norway, and I cannot imagine that technology is being added to the park anytime soon. If CommuniCore Hall is the current high water mark on innovation at EPCOT, we’re 1,982 years away from teleportation.
This is definitely a longer line than I’ve seen during the average Early Entry at EPCOT, but not by that much. The days of Frozen Ever After being a walk-on during the tail end of Early Entry ended a while ago–pretty much when the park moved to a 9 am opening time.
I was still on Frozen Ever After by 9:10 am, making for an actual wait time of 12 minutes. Notably, I did not see a single person scan into the Lightning Lane while I was in line (and I was watching).
All in all, that’s not too shabby. Especially when you consider that I could’ve done Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and still made it to Frozen Ever After with a 15-20 actual wait time. From that perspective, Early Entry is still very obviously worth it at EPCOT. I’d argue that it’s better than Lightning Lane Multi-Pass.
Of course, the true test of whether Early Entry at EPCOT is worthwhile during Test Track closure is going to come when arriving via EPCOT’s front entrance.
I don’t have a definitive answer for that since it’s not what I tested, but my observations did lead me to a few preliminary conclusions:
- Don’t race to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. The tradeoffs just don’t work out from my perspective.
- If you want to ride Frozen Ever After back-to-back, do that first! It’s still a bit of a hike from the front, but not as bad. More importantly, there’s less demand and you’d have the time to loop Frozen Ever After in that first ~45 minutes.
- Consider a more laid back approach, arriving at ~8:45 am and doing Soarin’ first.
I know it’s anathema to the apparent philosophy of this blog, but on balance, I’m probably taking the third option if I’m a regular guest.
While we obsess over efficiency and strategizing, we also like to think about things in holistic terms. Not all vacation time has equal value, but it all does have some value–and there’s an opportunity cost to every strategy or decision. Arriving at 8:45 am doesn’t mean sleeping in “only” an extra 15 minutes–it’s more like 45 minutes.
I didn’t roll up right when Early Entry started–being on time would’ve been too late for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. I arrived at 7:50 am and waited around for a while. Even if the Rat Ride didn’t have a delayed opening, my total wait would not have been ~5 minutes–it would’ve been 5 minutes plus 40 minutes.
If we’re going by actual waits as opposed to posted ones, 45 minutes is not that far from the average for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Early Entry only crosses over into “worth it” territory from International Gateway for me because: 1) pre-park opening time is lower value; 2) I love that peaceful morning stroll through World Showcase without any crowds; and, 3) I also did Frozen Ever After. The second point is the most important to me even though it’s glossed over here. It’s what keeps me motivated to do this, from a personal perspective.
If I were coming to EPCOT from the other direction and I didn’t function at Walt Disney World in a state of perpetual sleep deprivation, I would’ve weighed the wisdom of coming so early and whether that required any tradeoffs. Specifically, would it necessitate a midday break or leaving before park closing?
If so, I would’ve recalibrated and made my goal, quite simply, to arrive a few minutes before rope drop. Being even slightly ahead of that crowd is highly advantageous, and would’ve saved time at Soarin. It’s obviously not as high value as the Rat Ride or Frozen Ever After, but it’s the lower effort approach. And sometimes taking the path of least resistance is the best strategy of all. I think that’s probably true of Early Entry at EPCOT from the front during the Test Track closure.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Early Theme Park Entry at EPCOT? Have you experienced this 30 minute jumpstart to the day since Test Track went down until 2025 for reimagining? 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!
