Epcot is one of those parks that you can take it or leave it with Genie Plus since there aren’t alot of attractions. HOWEVER there are some attractions that get SUPER long waits and can make Genie Plus a big help. With the help of Standby Skipper, here is my strategy to ride EVERYTHING at Epcot and even how you can snag the harder to get or SOLD OUT Lightning Lanes.

Just a heads up! You need to understand how Genie+ works before reading this post! You can find what you need HERE.

First we’ve got to talk about getting ready for your day as you’ll need to be ready to go to book your first Lightning Lanes at 7am EST.

If you are using Standby Skipper, you’ll need to make sure to have everything set up and linked so that you can put your first search request in BEFORE 7am. Learn more about what Standby Skipper is and how it works HERE.

I highly recommend only setting up 1 (maybe 2) searches for that first one so that you have the best chance of getting the ride you really one. You can also increase your chances with harder to get Lightning Lanes by choosing ‘Anytime’ so that on really busy days or days that Genie+ decides to be glitchy, Standby Skipper can be searching the whole day instead of just a few hours.

You need to make sure to put in your search before 7am, I typically get up around 6:30am EST and purchase Genie+ and then set my 1st search so that I’m ready to go at 7am. If you are a night owl and would rather do this at midnight, you can do that too! (yay for sleeping in a bit).

Then at 7am, you can focus on booking your Virtual Queue or Individual Lightning Lanes for Guardians of the Galaxy - Cosmic Rewind. While you do that, Standby Skipper will book your first Genie+ Lightning Lane!

ROPE DROP

I am a local, so I don’t typically qualify for early park entry, so I’m planning my day around regular rope drop time. Truly, even if you are a Disney Resort guest, if you are using Genie+ (especially with Standby Skipper) you don’t really NEED to rope drop unless there is a popular ride you are hoping to do twice.

If you are getting there for Rope Drop and you are entering from the front of the park, they will typically let you in about an hour before and guests with early entry will go to the right (just follow the signs) and regular park open guests will be held on the left right under Spaceship Earth.

If you are staying at a Skyliner resort, this could be a great time to rope drop Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure as that one WILL have crazy long waits the rest of the day. This entrance will let you enter for early park entry around 30-45 minutes early to get in line, but the ride will not open until early entry officially starts.

For my Strategy, I’m getting to the park around park open, but I’m not stressing about being first in line because hopefully Standby Skipper will have done it’s thing and gotten me my first Lightning Lane! This is a park that I do put in two searches for my 7am drop as both of these are harder to get and pretty deep in the park, so I don’t usually mind which one I do first - Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After.

I was able to get Frozen Ever After first, so I’m heading to the Norway Pavilion! After riding, I may grab a pastry at Kringla Bakery for Breakfast and if the line isn’t too bad (30 minutes or less) I’ll hop in line to meet Anna and Elsa.

Imagination Pavilion

After I get that initial 7am drop Lightning Lane, I like to put my Standby Skipper searches in batches so that I have a little control over where I’m going next. For example, when I went to the Imagination Pavilion I only had searches for the Imagination Pavilion & Land Pavilion so that I could hopefullly stick to that area for a bit before moving to the next.

As the day goes on, once you have acquired Lightning Lanes for all your current searches, you’ll put in your next batch of attraction searches in Standby Skipper.

When putting my Lightning Lane search requests into Standby Skipper after that initial 7am drop, I will usually choose ASAP for all of them pretty much for the rest of the day. This means that Standby Skipper will try to book them within two hours of eligibility again to help avoid a lot of backtracking.

Once I’m finished up in Norway, I’m going to head back to ‘future world’ as it formerly was called and go around in a big circle. I went from the Imagination Pavilion and around that way, but if you have an early Guardians Boarding Group, you may want to start in World Discovery and work your way around that direction.

In the Imagination Pavilion, I’m hitting up Journey Into Imagination with Figment and then at the exit of the ride, the line to meet Figment is usually VERY short!

If you hop around the corner to the Pixar Short Film Festival, you may even be able to catch Mickey Mouse (until June 10th when CommuniCore Hall opens) or another fun character!

The Land Pavilion

Next I’m hitting up the land Pavilion. Hopefully Standby Skipper is able to snag a Lightning Lane for Soarin’ to enjoy flying over some beautiful sights! After, you can hop on Living with the Land - typically you don’t really need a Lightning Lane for this, but if the line is more than 10 minutes, definitely snag one!

If you have some extra time, you can catch the Awesome Planet film located on the main floor next to Garden Grill Restaurant.

Guardians of the Galaxy

At this point, my group for the Virtual Queue had been called so it was time to head over to World Discovery. I updated my search in Standby Skipper to Test Track so that I could hopefully hit up that once I was finished with Guardians! (Spoiler, I did!)

It is important to note that the Virtual Queue is NOT a ‘skip the line’ pass. It is simply your time that you may enter the regular line. If you wish to skip the line, you’ll need to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane. You can typically expect your wait here to be anywhere from around 20-45 minutes (maybe more on busier days).

After Guardians, I did get a Lightning Lane for Test Track, but I have a HUGE pro tip that you can use even if you can’t get a Lightning Lane or are not using Genie Plus. This attraction has a single rider line! If your group is able and ok to split up, this will DRASTICALLY reduce your wait. The Lightning Lane is still pretty fast, but you will go through the ‘car creation’ preshow so the wait can still be a good 15+ minutes. With Single Rider, you bypass that and are pretty much immediately spit out at the loading zone.

Depending on when your Lightning Lane is for Test Track, if you feel like getting motion sick, you can hit up Mission SPACE before or after. I’ll be honest… I absolutely skip this one… too much vomit factor for me!

Typically the wait for this one isn’t too long, so unless the line is more than 30+ minutes, you shouldn’t need a Lightning Lane.

World Showcase

About this time, you are probably hitting the afternoon, which means it’s time to hit up World Showcase! There is TONS to do here from shopping, snacking, characters, live entertainment, and more. It is roughly a mile around the entire thing, so make sure to plan several hours here!

SUPER important is to have your search for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (or Frozen depending on which you started with) set for Anytime. I won’t lie… these will probably be sold out by this time, but DON’T PANIC! Standby Skipper is going to work in the background to get you that Lightning Lane if/when it becomes available.

If for some reason you aren’t able to snag one, just remember, you can always wait in the regular line too. Typically the last two hours of park close are when the lines die down a little.

Some of the other things you can experience in World Showcase:

Gran Fiesta Tour & Mariachi Cobre in Mexico
Reflections of China in China
Sergio the Juggling Mime in Italy
Voices of Liberty in the American Adventure
The Drummers in Japan
The Band & Belly Dancer in Morocco
Beauty & the Beast Sing Along & Impressions de France in France
The Band in the UK
Theres also a Band in Canada
Canada Far & Wide 360 in Canada

The Seas Pavilion

Once I’m headed back to the front of the park, I’m going to put in my Standby Skipper Search request for the Seas with Nemo & Friends. You can get a Lightning Lane for Turtle Talk with Crush, but to be honest…. you REALLY don’t need one as it just spits you out right where the rest of the crowd is. The only caveat is MAYBE a holiday where the line is more than 20+ minutes.

And don’t forget to take some extra time in this area to explore the aquarium! There are tons of creatures to see and even a free Finding Dori scavenger hunt!

After this it should hopefully be around time that the sun is starting to set and they turn the lights on for Journey of Water Inspired by Moana. This is my FAVORITE time of day to do this attraction because it has that extra element of beauty with the lights AND it’s usually a little cooler. This is a self guided walk-through attraction, so you don’t need a Lightning Lane for this one.

After I’ve secured my Lightning Lane for Nemo, I’m going to put in a search for Spaceship Earth. This is one that also gets a MUCH shorter wait towards the end of the day, but if you can still grab a Lightning Lane, do it!

Fireworks

The BEST part about fireworks at Epcot is that you can see the fireworks from anywhere around World Showcase Lagoon! This spreads the crowds out immensely and makes it much easier to find a spot. I recommend heading that way around 30 minutes before showtime. Get your spot and then someone in your group can go grab some food and you can eat while you wait!

My favorite spots to watch are anywhere between Mexico & Canada (on the front side of the park) as this usually gets you the closest to the barges.

A FEW NOTES

This is my typical strategy and it’s good to know that there will always be variables based on crowd levels, Lightning Lane availability, ride closures, etc. So definitely use this as a base, but also prioritize the things MOST important to you and don’t feel like you have to squeeze EVERYTHING in one day. Spoiler….. it’s not possible. I live here and go to Epcot all the time and still have not seen or done it all!

BUT if you focus on those few things that are most important, anything else you get done is just a bonus and you won’t be disappointed! It’s only as fun as you make it, and you are on vacation after all.

Let me know in the comments your Standby Skipper, Genie+, or Strategy Questions! Ready to get started with Standby Skipper? Just click the button below! Don’t forget to let the captain know that Kayla and Mark Alan sent you. (We earn a small commission when you do)

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