A Guide to Epcot for Toddlers

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This past fall during our week-long Orlando vacation, my husband and I decided to take one day where the kids went in different directions. Adam took the boys to a go-cart racetrack, and I took Ellie to Epcot. Before going, I wasn’t sure if she would like it because she was so small (a year and a half at the time), but it was free for her, so I took the chance. It ended up being my absolute favorite day of vacation and one of my favorite days with Ellie ever. There was so much to keep her attention, even as a toddler. If you are up in the air about whether or not to take your toddler to Epcot, I hope that this guide to Epcot for toddlers will help you make your decision.

Why Would You Take a Toddler to a Theme Park?

Before having Ellie, I always wondered why people would take a baby/toddler to a theme park. They won’t remember it, so why put yourself/them through it?

It’s safe to say that my tune has changed on this one. I know that she won’t remember it, but I will. She squealed with delight seeing all of the animatronics, characters, and people, and we got pictures that I will cherish for a lifetime. Once again, children under the age of three get in free, so if you are okay with paying for the adult ticket (Food and Wine, anyone?), why not?

Tickets

If you are only doing a day or two at Disney without staying on Disney property, Undercover Tourist often has the best deals on discounted tickets. We have used them several times and have been very satisfied. (This is also a great place to get add-on tickets to nearby attractions such as Universal or SeaWorld if you want to expand your Disney vacation.)

If you do choose to stay on-site, you can often find the best deal through a Disney package. Just make sure to do a price comparison before booking your tickets.

Group Scenarios With a Toddler

My scenario with Ellie was easy; it was just us. I knew going in that I would only ride things that she could ride, and I was okay with that. Even though I would have loved to have ridden Guardians of the Galaxy, the day was super easy because I didn’t have multiple people giving their opinion on where they wanted to go next. (Or complaining about being tired.) I went where I wanted and to sites that I thought she would enjoy. Let me tell you, she was the best travel companion ever because she enjoyed EVERYTHING!

Another scenario that would work well is two adults with a toddler. In this scenario, you actually can do the adult rides without waiting multiple times by using rider switch. To do this, all members of the party approach a cast member at the attraction who will then give the adult with the toddler a Ride Switch entitlement. That adult will stay in a designated area with the child until the other adult is off the ride, and then switch places without having to wait in line to get on the ride. (Bonus: If you also happen to be with an older kid who can ride, that child will get to ride twice. The person waiting is allowed to take one guest so that he/she doesn’t have to ride alone.)

If my entire family would have decided to do Epcot together, our best approach would probably have been to split up for most of the day. My teen/tween would have wanted to do big rides all day, and Ellie would have gotten bored if we didn’t cater anything towards her. It’s possible to stay together all day, but it certainly does not optimize covering a large number of attractions in a limited amount of time, and someone is always going to want to be doing something else.

Genie Plus?

For those of you who don’t know, Genie Plus replaced the old Fastpass system at Disneyworld/Disneyland. While Fastpass was free for all guests, Genie Plus, unfortunately, is not, costing anywhere between $15 and $35 per guest per day. (Under 3 is free.) Genie Plus is actually fairly complicated if you want to make the best use out of it, but it really can help you beat the lines. Basically, you reserve ride times (one at a time) to skip the standby line for that ride. I could do an entire post on tips and tricks for Genie Plus, but here are some basics:

1. Make your first reservation at 7:00 a.m. If you are interested in riding Guardians of the Galaxy without paying for it, you’ll need to have some fast fingers at 7:00. (This obviously means that you should have Genie Plus downloaded on the My Disney Experience app well before 7:00.) If you are not interested in Guardians, go for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Both of these will be gone quickly, but spaces will repopulate at 1:00 p.m.
2. Once you check in for your first ride, book your next one while in line so that you always have an attraction booked.
3. Once you lock your booking, a two hour timer starts. If your booked attraction is more than two hours out, you may book another attraction when the two hour period is over. This keeps you from only being able to book one attraction in a day.

Another paid option is Individual Lightning Lanes. Each park has one ride in this category; at Epcot, it’s Guardians of the Galaxy. If you are not quick enough to grab a Genie Plus reservation for this, you can typically pay $15-$17 per person to ride this attraction.

When I took Ellie, Genie Plus was $15. I did go ahead and buy this since I was the only one in our party who would need it. I was unsure of how Ellie would do in lines or how long she would last without a nap, so I really wanted to maximize our time. It was really nice to have; we walked on to every single ride we wanted to do. However, Ellie couldn’t ride many of the major attractions, so we really wouldn’t have had a long wait for anything anyway. The only line that we did have was to see Anna and Elsa, and that was about 45 minutes. I didn’t try to take her on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure because I thought it might scare her, but that would have been a good use of our Genie Plus.

So, What Do You Actually Do With a Toddler?

Epcot actually has lots of attractions that appeal to toddlers. Here is a list of what is available and of interest for toddlers.

Epcot for Toddlers — Rides With No Height Restrictions

Frozen Ever After

Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros

Journey Into Imagination With Figment

Living With the Land

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

The Seas With Nemo and Friends

Spaceship Earth

*Note: Individual toddlers get freaked out by really random things, so look into each ride to see what is appropriate for your child. For example, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure seems like the perfect ride for toddlers, but I have heard of some little kids who really got scared of the large images and fire.

Epcot for Toddlers — Character Meet and Greets

You can currently meet the following characters at Epcot. Characters are subject to change, so make sure that you check your My Disney Experience App for which characters you can meet on a given day.

Alice — United Kingdom

Anna — Royal Sommerhus

Aurora — France

Belle — France

Donald Duck — Mexico

Elsa — Royal Sommerhus

Goofy — Near Epcot Main Entrance

Jasmine — Morocco

Joy — Imageworks

Mickey Mouse — Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival

Minnie Mouse — Near Epcot Main Entrance

Mulan — China

Pluto — Near World Showcase Plaza

Snow White — Germany

Vanellope — Imageworks

Epcot for Toddlers — Shows and Other Attractions

There are many shows that toddlers would be able to watch in Epcot, but they might not hold your toddler’s attention. The following shows and attractions might be of interest to your toddler.

Turtle Talk With Crush

Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival

Nightly Fireworks Show

Journey of Water Inspired by Moana (Coming Fall 2023)

What About Food?

It’s no surprise that theme park food is not cheap. We did buy a couple of things while we were there, but Disney does allow you to bring food into the parks, which means that you can keep your food cost down. This is particularly important with toddlers who will have a meltdown the second they are hungry. It is hard to anticipate food needs when you are in lines, so bring snacks to keep the little ones appeased. Just know that glass bottles are not permitted, and you obviously will not be able to heat your food on the premises.

It is also nice to know that Disney is incredibly accommodating with food allergies. Let your server know when you arrive if there is an allergy, and the chef will make sure that your food is free from that particular allergen when possible. The same goes for quick service restaurants.

Can I Bring a Stroller?

You can bring your own stroller or rent one from Disney when you arrive. Daily stroller rentals are $15 or $13 per day for your length of stay. You can also rent double strollers for $31 for one day or $27 per day for your length of stay. I highly suggest a stroller for any kid 5 and under; Disney is A LOT of walking (i.e., you will be walking many miles per day.) Make sure that you tie something around the handle of your stroller to identify that it is yours. There will be tons of strollers, and cast members often move them to make room for more. Without something that helps you identify your stroller quickly, you could be searching for a while.

What Does a Typical Day Look Like?

Here is how our day went this past October.

Ellie is obsessed with Frozen, so I knew that no matter what, we needed to meet Anna and Elsa, and we needed to ride the Frozen ride. I went ahead and made this our first Genie Plus reservation since I was unsure of whether or not she would be scared of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Our reservation was for 10:30.

We arrived at rope drop to maximize our time before Ellie needed a nap; however, since we weren’t doing any huge rides, we were able to take our time with everything. Normally I would try to jump on a major attraction first thing, but we instead just took a stroll around the countries. We explored the Mexico pyramid and rode Gran Fiesta Tour twice in a boat by ourselves while everyone else was trying to hit headliners. This was Ellie’s first ever ride (other than a carousel), and she loved it! It was actually one of my favorite memories of the day. Not many people can say that they got their own ride boat at a Disney World attraction!

We had lots of time before our Frozen reservation, so we strolled over to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. This is not a ride that I would have enjoyed by myself as an adult, but it was magical seeing her laugh at the purple dragon. As we were leaving, we caught sight of Pooh trying to catch butterflies in the field right beside of Journey Into Imagination.

On the other side of Journey Into Imagination is the Magic Eye Theater, where Mickey makes an appearance. This area is a bit out of the way, and it seemed like people had no idea that Mickey was in there. After a short wait, we got my favorite picture of the trip with Mickey.

It was then time for our Frozen reservation, so we strolled around World Showcase again to ride Frozen. Ellie nearly jumped out of the boat when she saw what she deemed to be the real Elsa. I wish I had it on camera. Since we used our first Genie Plus reservation, we grabbed our next one for Spaceship Earth.

From there, we grabbed lunch in Mexico and then headed back to the front of the park to meet Goofy and Minnie, ride the Seas with Nemo and Friends, visit the aquarium, and ride Spaceship Earth. Pro tip: Spaceship Earth is great for a quick nap for little ones because it is dark, cool, and slow! Ellie took about a 15 minute nap on this ride, which bought us about an extra hour in the park.

To finish out our day, we hit up some of the Food and Wine booths, grabbed caramel popcorn and a caramel cookie sandwich at Karamel Kuche, and finally went to the Elsa and Anna meet and greet. I was hoping that the line would diminish all day, but no luck there. The line took 45 minutes. We met both characters, but Ellie was so tired at this point that she didn’t have the same reactions as she did with Mickey. It was a wonderful day but time to get her home.

The Overall Verdict

We know that there are plenty of attractions for adults and older children, but is Epcot for toddlers? My overwhelming vote is yes!!! There is plenty to do at Epcot for toddlers, and I would absolutely take Ellie back there again. Honestly, we barely scratched the surface of what she would have enjoyed. She is still so satisfied taking in different sites that I think she would have loved exploring the countries more. There were also many more characters that we could have met, and soon, Journey of Water Inspired by Moana will open, so toddlers will have another major attraction to enjoy.

If you are on the fence about taking your toddler to Epcot, do it!