One of the best perks of staying on-site at a Walt Disney World hotel is Early Entry. Every single day, all four WDW theme parks open 30 minutes before their listed daily hours so that on-site guests have extra time to enjoy rides. We recommend utilizing these, as waiting until late morning to arrive at a park can really clog up the dreaded wait times. But we recognize that getting up with the sun isn’t for everyone, myself included, so we’ve come up with three different plans for Early Entry dependent on when you arrive at the parks. In this post, we’ll break down those strategies for Epcot.

Just in case you’re new to the whole Early Entry thing, here’s a quick rundown of what it is. As an on-site hotel benefit, guests staying at any of the hotels on this list are able to enter the four Walt Disney World theme parks half an hour before the scheduled park time. For instance, Epcot generally opens at 9 so guests staying at those hotels can enter the park at 8:30. Guests staying elsewhere will be held at certain spots in the park, not being able to access rides until the opening time. In case you missed it, we’ve already given our strategies for Early Entry at Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.

There are a few omissions on what rides are available during Early Entry. Epcot includes all of the big attractions in Early Entry though. The only actual rides not included are Living with the Land, Journey into Imagination with Figment and Gran Fiesta Tour. As much as we love the two slow boat rides there, they weren’t going to be a part of our Early Entry Strategy.

That makes things pretty straightforward when it comes to Epcot Early Entry strategy. But we’ll still give you three of those ‘straightforward’ strategies… The reason for that isn’t due to complicated in-park decisions but more because we know things can go wrong. For every morning that groups get to the park gates right when they were planning, there’s a horror story about a bus being too full, someone spilling coffee all over themselves (definitely not you though, loyal reader) or an alarm that didn’t go off. With that in mind, we have plans to cover if you showed up before Early Entry starts, got to the gates right at the start of the extra half hour, or are staggering through with 15 minutes left in the window. Let’s get to the strategies!

The Early Risers

Of all the Disney World theme parks, Epcot has the most no-brainer strategy. If you make it to the gates a half hour (or more) before Early Entry then it’s time to go straight to Cosmic Rewind. There’s a time machine joke in here somewhere but I’m going to leave it alone. Disney World’s best roller coaster is the right choice, don’t look back though as I fear you’ll be run over like Simba in a stampede. Cast Members generally hold the line for Cosmic Rewind in between Connections Cafe and Creations Shop until 8:30 hits.

If you were early enough, you should be through the Cosmic Rewind experience in less than half an hour. This won’t happen for everyone but if you are one of the lucky few then we recommend getting to Test Track before 9 AM. If you don’t make it out of Cosmic Rewind before 9 then I’d head over to Soarin’ before following our Epcot Itinerary for the rest of the day.

The one caveat to this step is if your group just doesn’t want to ride Cosmic Rewind. To be clear, we don’t recommend this as Guardians is one of the best rides in Disney World and is smoother than most thrill rides. However, if you decide not to ride it then going to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure or Frozen Ever After is the move to start the day.

The Right On Timers

You arrived when you’re supposed to and still have a mass of humanity in front of you? You aren’t alone if that large group makes you want to turn the other way. We’re going to do just that, at least for now, and head to the right of Cosmic Rewind. I should get this out of the way now – this is the riskiest of the plans. Instead of waiting the entire half hour in the Cosmic Rewind queue (which is still a solid use of time), we recommend heading for Test Track. We still expect Guardians to be the most popular ride in Epcot, especially once the Test Track fervor dies down. If the Test Track line is manageable then you can make it over to the Cosmic Rewind queue before the second rope drop crowd comes through at 9 AM. Boom! 2 for 1 special.

A slightly less risky version of the same plan is doing this but with Soarin’. You have farther to walk but I’m confident that Soarin’ will have less of a line than Test Track. While the overall goal is to get in line for 2 attractions before 9, the biggest goal is to make sure you get in the Cosmic Rewind queue before that time. There’s that large rope drop crowd at 8:30 and then there’s another at 9. The experience is far more pleasant if you pop into that queue at 8:50 and then have to wait a little longer.

Fitting this in will take some dedication and no extra stops. But it’s the most efficient way to handle the time if you show up just a couple of minutes before 8:30. The rest of the day becomes much easier, with two of the biggest attractions in the park done before 9:30.

The Snoozers/Coffee Drinkers (You Did Your Best!)

This is a little boring but our step here is going to be very similar to the first two. The best thing to do if you come through Epcot’s gates about 15 minutes after Early Entry begins is head straight to Cosmic Rewind. Surprise surprise. We’re basically taking the previous step but replacing riding the first attraction with getting that cup of coffee you desperately want.

Since this step is predictable, I’ll throw in a bonus tip! The snoozer/coffee step might be the best way to go out of the three options. Showing up 15 minutes late and avoiding the first rope drop craze at WDW’s most popular attraction is way more pleasant than getting there half an hour before the gates open. Yes, it will put you a little farther behind the other steps. But getting the rides in the park done isn’t overly hard, especially if you focus on the front half after Guardians. That has changed a little now that Test Track is open and there’s another thrill ride you have to get in. But it’s still a viable option since Test Track has a wonderful single rider line.

What is your Early Entry process at Epcot? Let us know, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! If you are planning a trip to Disney World, then check out our planning guide. This site has discount tickets to Walt Disney World. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. You can do all of that on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!