Guide to Epcot for Adults

When planning an adults trip to Disney World, Epcot might already be on the top of your list. But there’s still a few things you should learn about it before you just show up in your matching “Drinking Around The World” tshirts. Read on to learn all about visiting Epcot as an adult!

General Epcot Planning

None of our content for adult trips stands on its own. As an adult, you still need basically the same preparation for a trip to Disney World as any family. In particular, you’ll want to read our Epcot FastPass+ Strategy and our One-Day Epcot Itinerary.

Adults who are primarily coming to Epcot for dining and drinking will find it a perfect afternoon / evening park. You’ll still want to ride a few rides, but spending a morning at a different theme park in exchange for missing the bulk of the rides at Epcot won’t be a bad trade for most guests (assuming it’s necessary you miss anything at all).

Epcot Rides for Adults

As always, I don’t think adults really need to discriminate again rides “for kids,” but I’m happy to give some quick thoughts. You can read more about the rides in our Epcot Rides and Entertainment Guide.

There are nine rides at Epcot as of the start of 2020, with a tenth—Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure—opening on October 1, 2021 and an eleventh—Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind—expected in 2022.

For some measure of thrill, adults will want to be sure to ride Test Track, Soarin’ Around The World, and Mission: SPACE. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will presumably be added to this list in 2022. Test Track has a single rider line, which can be good for adults only trips.

Adults should also have a special appreciation for Spaceship Earth—a dark ride detailing the history of communication—and Living With the Land, a boat ride educating guests about agriculture.

The Seas With Nemo and Friends, Journey Into Imagination With Figment, Frozen Ever After, Gran Fiesta Tour, and (coming October 1, 2021) Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are dark rides more aimed at children.

The Land Pavilion at Epcot houses two rides

Other Attractions, Entertainment, and Characters

Throughout the park—particularly the World Showcase, discussed next—you’ll find other attractions and entertainment. In particular, there are a few indoor shows in the World Showcase, and live entertainment is typically scheduled at almost every pavilion. The nighttime fireworks show is also held in the World Showcase lagoon.

Nothing strikes me as being particularly “for kids.” The Pixar Short Film Festival, which you might mistakenly think is best for kids, is quite good for adults, too. The short films on the countries (e.g. Canada Far & Wide, Impressions de France) will definitely appeal to adults.

The World Showcase is a popular location for Meeting Princesses at Disney World, as you’ll find a few greeting at their countries of origin (or culturally similar countries).

The World Showcase

Epcot is a hotspot for adults at Disney World because of the World Showcase. The World Showcase is a mile-long loop around the World Showcase Lagoon featuring eleven pavilions themed to eleven countries—Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA (The American Adventure), Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.

These pavilions are designed to resemble the countries they represent, and each of them has unique entertainment, dining, and shopping themed to the country. They’re also mostly staffed by people from the countries.

As our one-day Epcot plan (linked earlier) discusses, it can be hard to time all the entertainment in the World Showcase perfectly in a single loop. We highly recommend taking two loops, visiting half the countries each loop.

This also allows you to see all of what you’re in for and take a break in the middle of snacking or drinking around the world, which brings us to those fun activities…

Dining and Drinking

Epcot is inarguably the best of Disney World’s parks for dining and drinking. Each of the World Showcase pavilions has at least one table service and one quick service or snack option, while several have multiple table service options. Add in all the booths added for the festivals much of the year, and you’ve got a huge variety of options. You can read more about Advance Dining Reservations at Disney World and the Disney Dining Plans.

Michelada from the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot

We have a post on the best quick service restaurants at Epcot, and our favorite table service restaurant is Biergarten, a buffet in the Germany pavilion with live entertainment. Picking your food around the World Showcase is mostly going to be about picking your cuisine, though (do you want Chinese? Italian? Japanese? etc.).

Every Disney World park has a Starbucks, Epcot’s is at the “start” of the World Showcase between the Canada and Mexico pavilions.

As for drinking…I’d be shocked if you are planning an adults trip to Disney World and haven’t already thought about drinking at Epcot, particularly Drinking Around the World. So let’s talk more about that.

Drinking Around the World

“Drinking Around The World” refers to the activity of visiting Epcot’s World Showcase and consuming an alcoholic beverage at each of the eleven countries. There’s no “official” rules and the activity is in no way endorsed by Disney, but you’ll see at least one group in those matching tshirts doing it while you’re at Epcot.

As it’s a popular activity for adults visiting Disney World either on vacation or for a special event like a bachelor(ette) party, we have to talk about this a bit more. I hope to eventually have a full post up about Drinking Around the World, but for now I’ll just give a few quick suggestions…

Try new things. If you just get a beer in every country…well I don’t have anything nice to say so I won’t say anything at all. Try sake in Japan, icewine in Canada, and tequila in Mexico.

Enjoy the pavilions, this isn’t a bar crawl. While there are a few bars—La Cava Del Tequila (Mexico Pavilion), Rose & Crown (UK Pavilion)—for the most part you’ll be grabbing drinks from walkup spots…so walk around and enjoy the pavilions while your drink!

Pace yourself. The World Showcase typically opens at 11AM, with alcohol stands beginning service at 11AM or 11:30AM. The park typically closes at (read as “last call is at”) 9PM or 9:30PM. This allows you ten hours for ten drinks and then a final before you leave the park.

Share drinks if you have to. I get the mental bias to do “one full drink” in each country, but that’s a meaningless metric. During festivals, booths serve smaller portions of alcohol, for example. And if half of your drinks are going to be $12 beers you can get at home anyways, maybe just save some money and split those.

Know your limits. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it. This isn’t a bar crawl on Bourbon Street. You’ve chosen to do this activity at the most popular family travel destination in the world.

Respect that people have brought their kids to Epcot reasonably expecting that they won’t see you screaming at your friends or making a mess in a planter (unfortunately these things do happen). You being that adult at Disney World really ruins it for the rest of us.

Snacking Around the World

Snacking Around The World is a good alternative to Drinking Around the World. Besides the obvious, it can also be cheaper, and you probably were going to eat two meals anyways, so your additional spending isn’t that high.

Boardwalk and the Skyliner

I’m adding this idea because it’s personally one of my favorite activities “at” Epcot. The Boardwalk resort area is adjacent to Epcot and is a good place to find food and drink or just to take a leisurely stroll. Just exit the park between France and the United Kingdom, and you’ll have about a mile loop past three hotels and a few bars and restaurants. This is one of the best places at Disney World to put together a bar crawl.

It’s a great walk even if you’re not planning to stop anywhere, but if it doesn’t fit into your day it’s also a great spot to continue your night once the park closes. Just keep in mind you need a plan to get back to your hotel (and you can’t get back to the Epcot parking lot if the park is closed).

Additionally, the Epcot Skyliner station is at this exit. The Disney Skyliner connects you to a few other resorts, most notably (if it’s dining and drinking you’re interested in) the new Riviera Resort. It’s also just fun for a quick ride.

Epcot Festivals

Throughout the year, Epcot hosts four festivals:

Epcot International Festival of the Arts (Jan. 17 to Feb. 24, 2020)
Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival (Mar. 4 to Jun. 1, 2020)
Epcot International Food & Wine Festival (Aug. 29 to Nov. 23, 2019) (2020 TBD)
Epcot International Festival of the Holidays (Nov. 29 to Dec. 30, 2019) (2020 TBD)

If you’re completely new to the idea of Epcot festivals, we have an Epcot Festival Calendar and Tips post that is a good place to start, but we’ll also summarize the concept here.

The festivals basically transform the entire park—mostly the World Showcase—with additional activities, decorations, shows, and food/drink booths.

Food & Wine, with its 30+ food and drink booths is very popular with adults who were already interested in Drinking Around the World, but all of the festivals are worth consideration.

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.

Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And at 180 days out it's time to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World FastPass+ strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom FastPass, Epcot FastPass, Animal Kingdom FastPass, and Hollywood Studios FastPass.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.

RELATED POSTS