EPCOT is a favorite of ours. This park is home to so many of our Disney must-dos like snacking around the world, riding Cosmic Rewind, and enjoying a stroll through the world showcase. We love tackling this park during our vacation with our best tips and tricks but if we’re being honest, some of them are getting old!

EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival 2024

The first hack we think is getting out of control is taking the friendship boats across the World Showcase Lagoon! There is one boat that runs across the lagoon from Canada to Morocco and we typically love hopping on this boat so why do we feel like it’s getting out of control?

Friendship boats!

The first thing is that there used to be two of them. The one we mentioned already and another that ran from Mexico to Germany. The second boat hasn’t run in several years and we miss it every day. The second thing is the lines for this boat have been getting long!

World Showcase Lagoon

The boat ride is roughly 10-15 minutes across the lagoon and while we appreciate saving some steps, waiting in a long line for a boat ride that will take you longer than walking isn’t always the best idea. If you need it, of course, hop on the boat! But if you’re in a rush, skip the boat altogether and just take the extra steps. Waiting in this line for a fewer steps hack isn’t the best idea.

EPCOT Boat

Next up, the next out-of-control hack is picking a dining reservation right next to your lightning lane or hopping on a ride! We love the idea of maximizing our Disney day and when you’re preplanning before you get to the park you’re living life on a high.  You think you can conquer the world and that time isn’t real. While we wish that was the case, once you get to the parks things start going wrong.

Meal at Nine Dragons

Picking a dining time right before or after a lighting lane time isn’t always going to be the hack you think it is. Your 3 PM lighting lane at Cosmic Rewind might be a tighter squeeze to get to your 3:30 PM Chefs de France reservation than you think! The parks get busy, rides break down, and what ends up happening is you’re rushing to make it to your dining reservation hoping you make it within the grace period. 

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

So give yourself some grace and give yourself extra time between your dining reservations and your ride schedule. Your stress and your stomach will thank you! Speaking of Cosmic Rewind, it brings us to our next EPCOT hack that’s getting out of control.

Let’s ride!

If you’ve never tested out this EPCOT rollercoaster, you might not know you can’t get in line for it! Not a traditional one. Right now the only way to hop onto this attraction is to join a Virtual Queue at 7 AM before heading to the park or 1 PM from inside EPCOT. You can also buy a Lightning Lane Single Pass for this attraction but those are the only two options!

Cosmic Rewind Lightning Lane

The hack that we think is getting a bit overused is multiple people in your group trying to grab a virtual queue all at once. It does help increase your odds of getting on the attraction at times but we have seen this also cause a few glitches from time to time leading to the entire group not getting a virtual queue.

Lightning Lanes!

We’ve also seen it be an issue if you aren’t connected to everyone in your group and then only some people get on the ride and some don’t. If you’re still not quite sure what to do in regards to the VQ, we break down how to get one right here.

Inside the Cosmic Rewind queue

Finally, one hack that needs to go is drinking around the world on the last day of your trip! This is something we’ve done a few times ourselves thinking it would be a cherry on top of a perfect trip. This hack isn’t one that has worked well for us yet.

The La Cava Avocado margarita

Traditionally it’s ended up being that we travel home the next day not feeling our best physically and we’re adding alcohol to an already exhausting day. While we love drinking around the world occasionally, doing it on the last day by choice isn’t a hack we’re going to attempt any longer.

Viking Coffee

So there you have it! Our EPCOT hacks that we think are getting out of hand. If you love doing any of these, we get it! You do you! But for the time being, we think we might skip out on these hacks. Don’t forget to follow DFB for more Disney tips and tricks.

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Tell us in the comments what your favorite EPCOT hack is!