Epcot (or “EPCOT”), formerly “EPCOT Center”—named after Walt Disney's “Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow” project—is a theme park in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Epcot celebrates community, culture, human achievement, new ideas, and new technologies.
If you want to know more about getting on Epcot’s rides, we also have an Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy post and an Epcot Rope Drop post. We also have a one-day itinerary for Epcot that shows exactly how we spent a day at Epcot.
There are lots of rides at Epcot that we (and others) consider iconic, but they’re not the sort that are obviously great. Nor do most of them feature popular characters from your kid’s favorite Disney films. While we love Gran Fiesta Tour and Living With The Land some guests would definitely feel like these rides aren’t the best use of their time.
We want to try and provide you with something of a balanced opinion on the attractions of the park. In this guide, we’re going to provide a breakdown of the attractions at Epcot, starting with the best rides at Epcot. We then cover the rest of the rides at Epcot. The second half of the post covers shows and entertainment at Epcot.
We include descriptions and height requirements, but we also have a longer post covering all the height requirements at Disney World. We also have a post on visiting Epcot with toddlers.
Basics of Epcot Rides
We’re going to start with a few basic questions about the rides at Epcot.
What’s Coming Next at Epcot?
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Guardians of Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, and Journey of Water have debuted at Epcot. No new attractions are currently scheduled to open. While there is still some construction ongoing in former Future World, it won’t include any major attractions.
The next big project relating to rides will be a reimagining of Test Track, expected to begin sometime in 2024.
How many rides are there at Epcot?
There are eleven true rides at Epcot. There are more “attractions” that don’t involve moving vehicles, but there are eleven actual rides with moving vehicles.
What are all the rides at Epcot?
The eleven rides at Epcot are:
Spaceship Earth
The Seas With Nemo and Friends
Soarin’
Living With the Land
Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Mission: SPACE
Test Track
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
Frozen Ever After
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Meeting Characters at Epcot
Because the characters in the park are subject to change so frequently, we have separate posts to help you navigate meeting characters at Disney World:
Best Rides At Epcot
Now let’s talk about the best rides at Epcot. These rides have the strongest overall claim to being the best. While our biases certainly impact this list, it isn’t purely our personal favorites. (In any case, it’s important to read beyond this list.)
The best rides at Epcot that you must do are:
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Frozen Ever After
Test Track
Soarin’ Around the World
Spaceship Earth
The responsible thing to do here is to point out that I left Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure off this list. That is the second newest ride at the park and one most people are likely to consider “must do”.
Let’s discuss these five rides more before moving onto all the other rides.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Height: 42 inches / 107 centimeters
Type: Roller Coaster
Queue: Virtual Queue or Individual Lightning Lane
Read More About Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind
Guardians is the newest ride at Epcot and, pretty much indisputably, the best. It’s a thrilling, high speed adventure through space with music and plenty of appearances by the Guardians themselves. It is “a lot”, you might say, but if you can take a bit of excitement, this is definitely the must-do in the park. For more excitement at Disney World, check out our list ranking the roller coasters of Walt Disney World.
Frozen Ever After
Height: Any
Type: Slow / Dark / Boat
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Frozen Ever After
Frozen Ever After is a fan favorite and still one of the most popular rides at Epcot. It replaced Maelstrom in 2016 and kept the same ride system. For the most part, it's a standard boat ride through the story of Frozen. But there are some twists in there that we don't want to spoil.
Frozen Ever After is a beautiful dark ride, but it isn’t much beyond that. Fans of Frozen will obviously love it, and most kids (and adults at Disney World) are fans of Frozen. That said, the ride can be a bit scary for the smallest kids.
Riding It: Frozen Ever After is a part of Genie+ and might be one of your first two picks if you purchase that service (Test Track and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are also worth consideration). If you can fit it into your rope drop, you should. You can also ride it during Extended Evening Hours at Epcot if you’re fortunate enough to have access to that perk.
Test Track
Height: 40in / 102cm
Type: Thrill / Fast
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane or Single Rider
Read More About Test Track
Important Note: Disney has announced that Test Track will receive a “reimagining”. Dates have not been reannounced, but we expect the ride to close for at least 6 months sometime around 2024/2025 for this.
Test Track is a creative concept: hop into a convertible and experience what it's like to be in a prototype vehicle put through the rigors of automobile testing! You’ll design your own prototype vehicle before the ride and get to see how it would perform on the tests as you go through them.
It’s a cool ride, highlighted by a 65 miles per hour zip around the outside of the building. We don't prioritize it because it's a lot of hoopla for a pretty simple (and short) payoff. Others feel differently, and it remains one of the most popular rides at Epcot.
Riding It: Test Track is a part of Genie+ and might be one of your first two picks if you purchase that service (Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are also worth consideration). You might also visit it during rope drop. Test Track also has a single rider line, which is a good option for cutting down waits.
Soarin’ Around The World
Height: 40in / 102cm
Type: Screen / Motion Simulation
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Soarin’ Around The World
While not without its flaws, Soarin’ is a beautiful, thrilling experience. The ride takes you on a simulated hang gliding adventure featuring some real, some…awkward…CG scenes from around the world. Like Flight of Passage, it’s one of those rides that people depart with a real sense of awe.
Riding It: Soarin’ is a part of Genie+ and a good use of a pick once you’ve planned for Remy, Test Track, Frozen Ever After. Without Genie+, you’ll probably head here second or third after some combination of those three rides.
Spaceship Earth
Height: Any
Type: Dark Ride
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Spaceship Earth
Spaceship Earth is a dark ride in contained in the icon of Epcot theme park (the giant, white geodesic sphere). The 15-minute ride chronicles the development of communication from the dawn of humankind into the modern era.
We even rank Spaceship Earth as one of the best Disney rides in the world. It’s a cool ride and a great chance to experience the inside of one of the most iconic structures in Disney parks.
Riding It: Spaceship Earth typically has some of the lowest waits in the park, so you won’t need to stress about getting on it.
Bonus: Turtle Talk With Crush
Height: Any
Type: Interactive Show
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Turtle Talk With Crush is one of the cooler attractions in all of Walt Disney World. It isn’t a ride, but we feel compelled to mention it up here anyways.
The physical setup is simple: a screen featuring Crush (from Finding Nemo) and seating for an audience. But the actual show is interactive, allowing members of the audience to have improvised dialogues with Crush. It’s cool technology featuring a character most of us love. It’s a unique offering that is easy to miss if we don’t highlight it, so we’re making a point of mentioning it.
The Rest Of The Rides At Epcot
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
Height: Any
Type: Dark / Boat Ride
Queue: Standby Only (No Lightning Lane)
Read More About Gran Fiesta Tour
Gran Fiesta Tour is a boat ride inside the Mexico pavilion of Epcot's World Showcase. The story is essentially a Three Caballeros concert gone awry. It’s a fun ride with a short wait, and it's based on a Disney property that many people don’t even know about. We’re big fans of this one. It’s a top "bang for your buck" ride due to its frequent 0 minute wait.
Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Height: Any
Type: Dark Ride
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Journey Into Imagination With Figment is an iconic Epcot ride featuring the famous purple dragon, Figment (as in, “figment of the imagination”). It’s an okay six-minute dark ride with an awesome song (“One Little Spark”) and often a sub-15 minute wait.
We get that there are Figment diehards out there, but we’re not among them. We love the song, but this attraction is really a step backward for Epcot in our mind, and it ultimately does little with an amazing theme—imagination.
Of note, there is a short but very jumpy moment in this one that could scare our youngest fans (and probably our oldest fans, too).
Living With The Land
Height: Any
Type: Boat Ride
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Living With The Land
Living With The Land is a straightforward boat ride chronicling the relationship between humans and the land. It’s one of our favorite rides in Epcot. It isn’t thrilling, and most kids are going to be a bit bored, but it’s a true Epcot ride.
The ride gets an overlay as part of the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, which definitely elevates it to “must do” level at night (when the lights will look most impressive).
Mission: SPACE
Height: 40in / 102cm
Type: Thrill / Motion Simulation / Spinning
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Mission: SPACE
Mission: SPACE is, for reasons unknown, sort of the forgotten thrill ride at Epcot. Well, the reason is probably just because it isn’t as good a ride as Soarin’ and Test Track, but it’s rude to say that.
There are two versions of this ride, both present in the same building. The Orange version is the standard version of the ride, which is a simulated trip to Mars. Once you're inside your capsule with your three shipmates, the ride uses centrifugal design, along with standard motion, to simulate the trip.
The Green version is a similar experience but with less intense motion and with a modified storyline where you travel around Earth. It is substantially less intense, but it has the benefit of offering some fun “views” of “Earth.”
I’m in my mid-thirties and go to theme parks for a living, but I’m pretty careful about when I ride the Orange version. Definitely not immediately after eating, or if I’ve had any alcohol that day. Probably not if it’s too hot, or if I’m tired. Basically I’ll use any excuse to ride Green rather than enduring Orange.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Height: Any
Type: Trackless Dark Ride / 3D
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
The trackless dark ride using a combination of 3D screens and physical set designs to “shrink” riders down to the size of a rat on a Ratatouille-inspired adventure. It’s a fun ride that kids and Ratatouille fans will love.
Plenty of people would argue this belongs in the “Best of…” section above, and it is one of the most popular rides in the park. That said, we feel like the use of screens is a bit overdone even if the physical sets are wonderful.
The ride now uses a traditional standby line and a Lightning Lane as part of Genie+. This is usually a good use of your first Genie+ pick for the day. Little ones may find this adventure a bit too intense.
The Seas With Nemo & Friends
Height: Any
Type: Dark Ride
Queue: Standby or Genie+ Lightning Lane
Read More About The Seas With Nemo and Friends
The Seas With Nemo & Friends is a standard dark ride that combines a ride through an aquarium with characters from Finding Nemo. The ride is located in the identically named pavilion, which is also home to Turtle Talk With Crush, an aquarium, and a gift shop. There's nothing particularly special about the ride, but it's worth hopping on if you're at the pavilion anyways.
Shows, Entertainment, Activities and the World Showcase At Epcot
Epcot is filled with shows, entertainment, and interactive spaces to keep you and the family occupied between rides. If the above ride lineup didn’t impress you, one popular strategy is to spend the morning at nearby Disney’s Hollywood Studios and then take in Epcot’s World Showcase in the afternoon.
For the rest of this guide, we’ll go through area-by-area and list the shows, entertainment, and spaces. We’ll also provide a small blurb about each these spots.
Future World in its former glory, no construction walls
As always, these are items that can change at a moments notice. Innoventions, for example, was cut down quickly and without much notice over the past few years. Future World is under significant construction into the near future.
Moreover, specific entertainment acts may come and go. The various galleries at the pavilions also may see exhibit changes without any notice.
Finally, we should add that during festivals, you’ll see additional / different entertainment offerings. You can read more about the festivals here:
Future World
Disney has retired the name “Future World,” but we’re happy to continue using it to refer to everything that isn’t the World Showcase (“the countries”). Several of the activities in Future World are located at the exits to the rides, but these space are also accessible without going on the rides.
The most important non-ride attractions in this space are:
Journey of Water - The long-awaited walkthrough water-filled attraction themed to Moana has now opened.
Project Tomorrow - This is an interactive space connected to Spaceship Earth. It focuses on a variety of cutting-edge technologies.
Advance Training Lab - This is an interactive space located at the Mission: SPACE ride. There are a variety of space-related games and activities, mostly targeted at kids.
The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion - The pavilion is home to the identically named ride, and it's also essentially a small aquarium. There are a variety of aquatic displays as well as a few demonstrations throughout the day.
ImageWorks - Located adjacent to the Journey Into Imagination With Figment ride, this space allows kids to make some music and design their own Figment character.
JAMMitors - A “clean-up crew” that performs music using cleaning supplies (like a trash can and broomstick). It has scheduled times and occurs between Innovations and Mission: Space, but this is more of a "if you happen to be walking by..." show.
Awesome Planet - This is a 15-minute film on the second floor of The Land pavilion that showcases our awesome planet (Earth).
The World Showcase
To start, The World Showcase itself, along with its individual pavilions, is one giant place to explore. The pavilions are all beautiful and feature some amazing spots to kick back and relax away from the crowds. We definitely encourage you to walk through each of them, taking in the wonderful detail along the way.
The World Showcase is also home to Epcot’s nighttime show, Luminous: The Symphony of Us.
The World Showcase is also home to a kid-centric activity, Kidcot. The Kidcot Fun Stops offer a chance for kids to collect cards and learn some fun information about the World Showcase countries.
For the World Showcase pavilions, we're going to go through them one-by-one, clockwise from the Future World entrance.
Notes on the Pavilions
Entertainment and Streetmosphere in Epcot changes regularly with festivals seasons and just based on what day of the week it is. You should check the My Disney Experience app when you arrive for entertainment during your visit.
Also, as a reminder, this is an attractions / entertainment guide. We’re not covering food, shopping, or character greetings in this post. Every pavilion has at least one restaurant and at least one store, with most of them having multiple. We won’t be mentioning them here.
Mexico Pavilion
The Mexico Pavilion hosts one ride (Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros). It also houses the small Mexico Folk Art Gallery and hosts several performances by Mariachi Cobre.
Norway Pavilion
Frozen Ever After is located in the Norway Pavilion. The Stave Church Gallery also contains a bit of Norwegian history and is definitely worth passing through.
China Pavilion
The China pavilion offers several non-ride options. The House of the Whispering Willows is an exhibition space that currently houses an exhibit on Shanghai Disney Resort. Reflections of China (to be replaced TBD by Wondrous China??) is a 14-minute 360-degree film showing off some amazing scenes in China.
Germany Pavilion
The Germany Pavilion doesn’t usually have any attractions or entertainment other than a Snow White meet and greet. There is also a cool model train scene between the Germany and Italy pavilions. The pavilion occasionally hosts performances by acts such as Groovin’ Alps and Julian Adler.
Italy Pavilion
The Italy Pavilion is home to Sergio, and impressive juggler who performs between World Showcase open and the early evening hours.
The American Adventure
As it's home to Epcot's largest stage, The America Gardens Theater, The American Adventure plays host to a variety of events and shows. The Voices of Liberty a cappella group also performs patriotic tunes within the pavilion's main building.
The American Heritage Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit on the achievements of African Americans over the 400 years of American history.
Finally, there is the flagship attraction of the pavilion, The American Adventure. This 30-minute indoor animatronic show retells some of the biggest moments in American history. The show plays at scheduled times throughout the day.
Japan Pavilion
The Bijutsu-kan Gallery houses an exhibit on Japan's “cute” culture. Throughout the afternoon, the pavilion also hosts the Matsuriza drum show.
Morocco Pavilion
The Morocco Pavilion is host to a musical act, Atlas Fusion.
France Pavilion
The France Pavilion has two theater shows. Beauty and the Beast Sing Along, which is a 15-minute version of the animated Beauty and the Beast with lyrics provided to sing along, plays most of the day.
The other show is, Impressions de France, which showcases the beauty of France over 18 minutes typically plays in the evenings only. The pavilion also has an outdoor performance by Serveur Amusant, chair-stacking acrobats.
United Kingdom Pavilion
The U.K. Pavilion has a small stage tucked away that currently hosts the British Revolution band on select days. The Rose & Crown Pub Musician also performs inside the pub.
Canada Pavilion
Like the U.K. Pavilion, the Canada Pavilion also has a stage, though that one does not consistently host any particular act. Canada, Far & Wide is a new show in the circle vision theater that is worth a visit.
That's it for our trip around the World Showcase! Remember, each pavilion is worth exploring, even if they don't have listed entertainment or attractions that sounds worthwhile!
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 don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane 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 Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
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.