During an efficient Early Entry at EPCOT, you can ride two E-Ticket attractions in World Showcase or the front of the park before the rope drop rush, opening the door for a day without Lightning Lanes. This Early Entry report enters via International Gateway and covers the ideal strategy when coming from the back entrance.
To test this itinerary, we did EPCOT on two different busy days (7/10 and 8/10 crowd levels). It covers the wait times and what we accomplished during the Extra Magic Hours replacement, plus how this on-site perk compares to using Lightning Lanes to skip lines. The park opened at 9 am to the general public and Early Entry began at 8:30 am, which is normal for EPCOT regardless of crowd levels.
As noted above, this Early Entry report starts from International Gateway, as I was staying at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. Skyliner and Crescent Lake Resorts arrive via this back entrance, which is superior to the front entrance for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After, the headliners in World Showcase. If you’d prefer to start with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, it’s also possible from International Gateway if you don’t mind a bit more walking.
For the first of these mornings, I arrived at EPCOT’s International Gateway at approximately 7:45 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.
I chose to arrive at this time, recognizing that I wouldn’t be at the front of the pack, because in my observations from prior testing for Cosmic Rewind, 7:50 am was about the sweet spot of not arriving too early or too late. This was also around the time that the in-park checkpoint opened to determine Early Entry eligibility.
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. 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.
When I got here at 7:52 am, this area was already clear. Cast Members must’ve started scanning at around 7:45 am, as I could still see the flow of guests heading towards Canada and France. Now that Cosmic Rewind is open during Early Entry, it’s been our observation that the guest mix is about 75/25 in favor of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. This makes sense–it’s a long walk to the front of the park from here!
The only reason to head towards France is Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Well, you could also line up super early to rope drop Impressions de France followed by Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie, which is a real power move.
If you’re doing Frozen Ever After first, you’ll need to go towards Canada, as there’s another hold point before the Morocco pavilion (pictured above). That also opens at random sometime around 8:30 or 8:40 am, but the bottom line is that if you’re doing Frozen Ever After first, you shouldn’t even bother with it. Head towards Canada; that route is only slightly longer, anyway.
Also, you shouldn’t bother with doing Frozen Ever After first unless you want to loop it. Getting there this early for one ride on Frozen Ever After is a waste. The only worthwhile starting points during Early Entry at EPCOT are Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. If you’re prioritizing anything else, you don’t need to be in the park this early–you can show up around 8:45 am and be fine.
Another relatively recent change that we’ve covered elsewhere is that there’s no longer a secondary checkpoint between the United Kingdom and Canada. This started back when Cosmic Rewind joined the Early Entry ride roster and is a hugely positive change. Without this change, Cosmic Rewind wouldn’t be feasible from International Gateway.
It means that once you’re past the initial holding area by the front of International Gateway, you can proceed all the way to the front of the park. This didn’t used to be the case, which was why guests who wanted to do Test Track during Early Entry were at a distinct disadvantage if arriving via International Gateway.
Once past the Early Entry checkpoint, the crowd at the France bridge was held until 8:16 am.
The actual time this line starts moving is all over the place and likely depends upon a variety of factors. During peak season, the new arrivals would necessitate the line move forward. In the last year, I’ve started moving as early as 8:05 am and as late as 8:27 am.
In any case, we started moving in a loosely formed line at 8:16 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).
There was no secondary hold on this particular morning, as is sometimes the case.
That can occur at the entrance to the Streets of Paris area that leads to the attraction or at the front entrance of the Rat Ride itself. Sometimes it also seems like there’s a hold, but it’s really just a pinch-point as guests funnel into the queue, which slows down movement. None of that happened this particular morning.
Nevertheless, it took until 8:24 am until I was in the actual front entrance of the building. From there, it was smooth sailing and the line never stopped moving. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure has pretty healthy throughput, so as long as it’s operating at full capacity, it should move quickly.
This is also precisely why I wasn’t as worried about showing up at 7:15 am versus 7:45 am. The extra 15-30 minutes will shave off maybe a few minutes of wait time for the actual attraction when all is said and done. It’s a delicate balance, and a matter of diminishing returns for ever-earlier arrivals. The only way that actually matters or is worth it is when you game things out and think about stops 2-3 of the day, and beating the regular rope drop crowd.
That only works up to a point, though, as so many factors are out of your control. That proved to be true on this particular day, as I was off Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure by 8:40 am, giving me more than enough time to beat the rush to Frozen Ever After. There was only one problem: the dreaded delayed opening.
With Frozen Ever After down, I quickly pivoted and raced towards the front of the park for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
I could have headed towards Norway, hoping for the best with Frozen Ever After not having too long of a delay. My personal rule, though, is to never do this. Since the app doesn’t indicate downtime until the park opens, a lot of people are walking this way ‘blind’ and are probably going to linger as opposed to pivoting since that means a lot more walking and being behind the pack.
There’s also the reality that I do not mind more walking and can make the trek from France to Cosmic Rewind in under 10 minutes. That’s a pretty brisk pace and one you may not be able to match, especially with kids or larger multi-generation parties.
It also just adds a lot of steps to a day that’ll already have a ton of steps. Given how much food “research” I do in a day at EPCOT, I actually favor this extra walking. I also favor doing Cosmic Rewind for fun. (Not much “fun” in getting my own row in Frozen Ever After as a fortysomething solo adult male!)
For those who do want to push the limit on an aggressive Early Entry at EPCOT, heading to Cosmic Rewind worked incredibly well for me. My total wait from entering the queue to the first pre-show was just under 30 minutes, or about one-third of the average wait time that day.
Again, I want to underscore that I do not necessarily endorse this approach for the average guest. With that said, it should work well for the crazy, commando tourists capable of walking briskly!
Wanting to complete the World Showcase Early Entry plan for the average EPCOT guest, I returned on a subsequent morning to piece together a ‘complete’ Early Entry from International Gateway. This time, I had no sense of urgency and arrived at 8:20 am.
I was out late the prior night for Extended Evening Hours, so I figured this would be a good option for knocking out golden hour photography followed by Frozen Ever After in the second half of Early Entry. The weather had other ideas.
It was an overcast, drizzly morning. So I ended up just wandering around, running time off the clock until a normal pace would’ve gotten me from France to Norway starting at 8:40 am. Even for an average walker, this should be plenty of time to beat the rope drop rush to Frozen Ever After, as that wave of guests doesn’t typically arrive until 9:05 am or later.
I arrived at around 8:50 am. On the plus side, Frozen Ever After was open on this particular day. On the downside, this had to have been one of the biggest Early Entry crowds I’d ever seen for Frozen Ever After.
This is 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 roughly 9:05 am, making for an actual wait time of ~15 minutes. The discrepancy between the photos and my wait time largely comes down to two things: 1) confusion about Akershus ADRs, and; 2) no Lightning Lane return times resulting in a smooth standby line flow.
All in all, that’s not too shabby. Especially when you consider that my combined ‘seamless’ morning would’ve involved knocking out Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure by 9:40 am and then Frozen Ever After by 9:05 am. Were another attraction, say a track for testing, open towards the front of the park to dilute crowds heading towards Frozen Ever After, I might’ve been able to knock out both rides before 9 am. In fact, I used to be able to accomplish this with Test Track back in the day–and that was pre-Cosmic Rewind!
Some Walt Disney World fans might scoff at the notion that this is the best approach to Early Entry at EPCOT, especially with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind having far and away the highest average wait time. Over the last month, its average has been 90 minutes, whereas Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is 57 minutes and Frozen Ever After is 54 minutes.
If you pair Cosmic Rewind with Soarin, the two-ride posted wait time is higher (124 minutes vs. 111 minutes). That’s a fair enough perspective, but my response would be that both Cosmic Rewind and Soarin’ have long pre-shows and load cycles. So even at their shortest, the total time commitments for both of those attractions will exceed those for the Frozen and Rat Rides.
Then there’s the subjective element. As I’ve mentioned countless times, I love that morning stroll from France to Norway. That is my favorite part of Early Entry, not either of the rides themselves. No need to belabor that point yet again, but another I’ll make is that the queue for Soarin’ is entirely indoors and the one for Cosmic Rewind is largely indoors. That makes those better options for the middle of the day when the heat is higher. I’ve also found that, when crowds are moderate or lower, the actual wait time for Soarin’ is purely a matter of luck no matter when you do the attraction.
Ultimately, the “best” EPCOT Early Entry plan probably comes down to whether you’re arriving via the main entrance or International Gateway. Beyond that, how much you want to save steps or don’t mind a bit of extra walking.
If you want to take the path of least resistance, start with the major headliner closer to your entrance. This will always be the right call, whether that means beginning at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. From each of those starting points, you have a few second-step options.
If you want to really get aggressive, beginning at International Gateway and doing Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure followed by Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the optimal approach, but it isn’t for the faint of heart (or slow walkers). The most balanced approach, at least from the back entrance, is the Rat Ride followed by Frozen Ever After. And starting soon, perhaps Test Track. Now that would be quite the 1-2-3 punch!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Early Entry at EPCOT? Have you experienced this 30 minute jumpstart to the day since Cosmic Rewind joined the lineup? What’s your preferred approach to mornings at EPCOT? How would you have done things differently? What will you do once Test Track rejoins the lineup and there are 4 bona fide headliners open during Early Entry at EPCOT for the first time ever?! 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!