What are the best days to go to EPCOT? Which days of the week should you choose to visit Disney World’s theme park with two of the newest attractions, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure? If you want to avoid long lines and massive crowds, you definitely want to read this EPCOT crowd guide.
Using wait time data from Thrill-Data.com, we’ve compared the average wait time at EPCOT based on day of the week for the past four years. We’ve also broken down crowd patterns by month. Our recommendations put an emphasis on the past 12 months, as visiting habits have greatly changed since 2020 and the introduction of Lightning Lane.
Update 06-14-2023 –Earlier this year, I updated this article with data for all of 2022, which gives us a much clearer picture of new crowd patterns with Genie+ included. The new data significantly changed our EPCOT strategy, so you will be able to better plan for your 2023 Disney World vacation. Plus, I just created a video version of this article for Guide2WDW’s YouTube channel, which you can watch below.
Read on to find out the best days of the week to visit EPCOT, as well as which days to avoid.
The Best and Worst Days to Visit EPCOT – Video
This video gives an overview of all the findings in this article: why wait times don’t tell the whole story at EPCOT, the best days to visit, and the days you’ll want to avoid. Be sure to subscribe to the Guide2WDW YouTube Channel for more Disney World tips, tricks, and advice, but read on for more in-depth analysis.
Average Wait Time by Day of the Week at EPCOT
4 year average: From January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2022, here is the average wait time at EPCOT for each day of the week.
- Monday: 31 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 29 Minutes
- Wednesday: 28 Minutes (Shortest)
- Thursday: 28 Minutes (Shortest)
- Friday: 28 Minutes (Shortest)
- Saturday: 30 Minutes
- Sunday: 29 Minutes
Recent crowd patterns tell a slightly different story. As I mentioned above, EPCOT recently opened two major rides: Remy and Guardians. The addition of those two rides increased the amount of guests choosing EPCOT each day, and so wait times have gone up overall. The introduction of Lightning Lane has also had an impact on wait times. Here are the average wait times for EPCOT in 2022.
- Monday: 38 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 34 Minutes
- Wednesday: 34 Minutes
- Thursday: 34 Minutes
- Friday: 34 Minutes
- Saturday: 31 Minutes (Shortest)
- Sunday: 31 Minutes (Shortest)
While Monday still has the longest wait times, there’s been a shift from the weekdays to the weekends as the best days to visit EPCOT… if you’re only looking at wait times. Here’s why you shouldn’t.
Why wait times don’t tell the whole story at EPCOT
Average wait times are a good metric to compare days at Disney World, as they generally show if more people are coming into the theme parks. However, EPCOT has some major draws that don’t report wait times: the festivals.
The EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival, EPCOT Festival of the Arts, and EPCOT Festival of the Holidays all have unique food, beverage, and merchandise offerings. On the weekends, Floridians flock to World Showcase to try the different food booths. For many of these guests, their primary concern is eating and drinking around the world. This means that while Saturdays and Sundays have the lowest wait times in recent months, they also can attract heavy crowds who fill up the back half of the park.
While our other Best Days to Visit Disney World rely more heavily on wait times, our recommended days to visit EPCOT will rely a bit more on the crowd patterns from EPCOT Festivals. These events take up most of the year, so they have a heavy influence on EPCOT crowds.
The Best Days to Visit EPCOT in 2023: Sunday, Thursday, Friday
Sundays are great at EPCOT, especially during non-festival weeks. In five months in 2022, Sundays had the lowest wait time. This included five of the last seven months of the year.
Saturdays are in second place for lowest wait times. But because most Saturdays fall during an EPCOT Festival, the park will feel crowded most Saturdays.
If going on rides is your main concern, visiting during the weekends during EPCOT Festivals can work well. You will have to navigate through heavy crowds, but they will be mainly focused in World Showcase. If you spend most of your time at the front of the park (World Celebration, World Discovery, and World Nature), you can avoid the crowds while enjoying lower wait times. Our recommended strategy for visiting EPCOT on a Festival weekend: focus on the Festival booths right when they open up or during uncommon eating hours (such as mid-afternoon). Focus on rides during lunch and dinner time, while everyone else is waiting in line for the food booths.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday have been historically good days to go to EPCOT, and recent history continues that trend. These days were tied for the lowest wait times over the past four years, and looking at the monthly data for 2022, they are generally great days to visit EPCOT.
Both Thursday and Friday had the lowest wait times two months in 2022 (while each having one month with the longest wait times). Wednesday had the shortest wait times in May. I’d personally opt for Wednesday and Thursday most of the time over Friday, as they have a great mix of lower wait times without the weekend Festival crowds showing up.
Fridays are a mixed recommendation during EPCOT Festivals. Friday morning and early afternoons are great for EPCOT. However, the weekend EPCOT Festival crowds will start showing up starting around 4 PM. If you have a Park Hopper ticket, make EPCOT your first park on Friday, and hop over to a different park for the evening.
Tuesdays are fine. Recent crowd patterns have been similar to Wednesdays, having the lowest wait once, while having the longest wait times one month. Tuesdays tied for the second lowest wait time in 2021 and in 2022, but several months Tuesdays had the second highest wait time, which prevents it from being a really strong recommendation.
The Worst Days to Visit EPCOT in 2022: Mondays, Weekends during Festivals and runDisney races
Similar to Magic Kingdom, Mondays at EPCOT have the longest wait times. Mondays had the longest wait times nine out of the twelve months in 2022 – that’s 75%! This is exacerbated by the fact that Disney has been hosting Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT on Mondays, which draws more crowds.
As mentioned above, EPCOT will become absolutely slammed during the weekends during its Festivals, including Friday evenings. This is especially true of the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, with Flower & Garden and Festival of the Arts following closely behind in terms of popularity. If you want to partake in the Festival offerings, visit on a weekday or early in the day. Also try to avoid the first and last day of the Festival.
runDisney hosts its Post-Race Party at EPCOT. While the party starts at 10 PM, runners and their guests can enter the park as early at 5 PM. EPCOT will be packed with people who are extremely motivated and looking to carbo-load after the big race. You can find out the dates for runDisney races on our Disney World Events page.
EPCOT Day of the Week – Average Wait Time Based on Month
Our recommendations are based on an average of recent history. Crowd patterns shift based on time of the year. Below are the last twelve months of average wait time at EPCOT, broken out by day of the week.
As you can see, the above recommendations would shift based on which month of the year you visit.
January 2022
- Monday: 34 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 28 Minutes
- Wednesday: 28 Minutes
- Thursday: 28 Minutes
- Friday: 27 Minutes (Shortest)
- Saturday: 30 Minutes
- Sunday: 29 Minutes
February 2022
- Monday: 42 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 33 Minutes (Shortest)
- Wednesday: 38 Minutes
- Thursday: 39 Minutes
- Friday: 35 Minutes
- Saturday: 36 Minutes
- Sunday: 35 Minutes
March 2022
- Monday: 43 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 39 Minutes
- Wednesday: 36 Minutes
- Thursday: 37 Minutes
- Friday: 36 Minutes
- Saturday: 28 Minutes (Shortest)
- Sunday: 34 Minutes
April 2022
- Monday: 38 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 37 Minutes
- Wednesday: 36 Minutes
- Thursday: 35 Minutes
- Friday: 32 Minutes (Shortest)
- Saturday: 32 Minutes (Shortest)
- Sunday: 35 Minutes
May 2022
- Monday: 31 Minutes
- Tuesday: 32 Minutes (Longest)
- Wednesday: 27 Minutes (Shortest)
- Thursday: 27 Minutes (Shortest)
- Friday: 28 Minutes
- Saturday: 28 Minutes
- Sunday: 30 Minutes
June 2022
- Monday: 42 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 40 Minutes
- Wednesday: 38 Minutes
- Thursday: 39 Minutes
- Friday: 34 Minutes
- Saturday: 29 Minutes
- Sunday: 28 Minutes (Shortest)
July 2022
- Monday: 37 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 32 Minutes
- Wednesday: 36 Minutes
- Thursday: 36 Minutes
- Friday: 32 Minutes
- Saturday: 28 Minutes
- Sunday: 27 Minutes (Shortest)
August 2022
- Monday: 31 Minutes
- Tuesday: 27 Minutes
- Wednesday: 28 Minutes
- Thursday: 32 Minutes (Longest)
- Friday: 28 Minutes
- Saturday: 26 Minutes
- Sunday: 25 Minutes (Shortest)
September 2022
- Monday: 28 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 22 Minutes
- Wednesday: 21 Minutes
- Thursday: 20 Minutes (Shortest)
- Friday: 26 Minutes
- Saturday: 28 Minutes (Longest)
- Sunday: 26 Minutes
October 2022
- Monday: 40 Minutes
- Tuesday: 36 Minutes
- Wednesday: 36 Minutes
- Thursday: 40 Minutes
- Friday: 44 Minutes (Longest)
- Saturday: 36 Minutes
- Sunday: 33 Minutes (Shortest)
November 2022
- Monday: 47 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 35 Minutes
- Wednesday: 32 Minutes
- Thursday: 36 Minutes
- Friday: 41 Minutes
- Saturday: 36 Minutes
- Sunday: 30 Minutes (Shortest)
December 2022
- Monday: 46 Minutes (Longest)
- Tuesday: 44 Minutes
- Wednesday: 44 Minutes
- Thursday: 41 Minutes
- Friday: 31 Minutes
- Saturday: 38 Minutes (Shortest)
- Sunday: 39 Minutes
Other days to avoid at EPCOT
Pay attention to which dates EPCOT has Extended Evening Hours for Deluxe Resort guests. EPCOT will be more crowded on these dates. If you don’t have access to this Deluxe resort perk, then avoid the park on these days.
Crowds will be at their absolute highest on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. If you want to avoid crowds, avoid EPCOT on these holidays.
How to plan a Epic EPCOT Day
Planning a trip to Disney World? Figuring out when to go is just the beginning. Get in touch with our friends at Vacationeer for free Disney World vacation planning. Their travel agents can help you plan your vacation for no extra cost, including helping get park reservations for the best days to visit EPCOT. They’ll make sure you get the most out of your visit to EPCOT and the other WDW theme parks. Plus, they are Disney experts, so they’ll have their own recommendations and advice.
Don’t miss our EPCOT Tips & Tricks so you can visit like an expert. We also have free Disney World guides, which help you learn the basics of planning a WDW vacation. Our Guide 2 Disney Genie and EPCOT Lightning Lane Guide will help you spend less time waiting in line for EPCOT’s best rides and attractions. Plus, we have an in-depth section on EPCOT Rides & Attractions, an EPCOT Character Guide, as well as EPCOT Restaurants and Dining.
We want to hear from you!
What do you think the best day to visit EPCOT is? Let me know in the comments below!
Don’t miss the other entries in our When to Visit Disney World Guide.
More from Guide2WDW
I’m curious what the best time of day is to visit the food booths. We’re going next month mid March when all of WDW will near 10/10. Even though Monday has EP longest wait times, we chose Epcot so we can do EEH (we love late park nights).
Any way… I imagine 12-2pm and 5-7pm would have the longest food booth lines. Just an assumption though. Does 2-5pm generally see shorter lines?
Thank you!
Hi William! Thanks for your question. I agree that going to EPCOT on Mondays can definitely be a good idea it if you are eligible for Extended Evening Hours. Those extra hours in the park with lower crowds (not to mention cooler temperatures and the lovely views of EPCOT at night) really make it worth the heavier crowds during the day.
As for your question about food booth lines, your assumption is correct. Lines will typically get longest around traditional lunch and dinner hours. We like to go to the festival booths right when they open — typically 11 am, but some booths will open earlier when the park opens, making the morning a great time to hit up the booths. Mid-to-late afternoon is also great in our experience, around 3-4 pm. You can even get lucky between 8 pm – 9 pm, although that is usually best on weeknights before the weekend crowds head to EPCOT to eat and drink around the world.
We have some more advice in these articles:
Guide 2 EPCOT Festivals: https://guide2wdw.com/epcot-festivals-ultimate-guide/
EPCOT Tips and Tricks: https://guide2wdw.com/disney-world-tips/epcot-tips/
I hope you have a great vacation! Even with all the spring break crowds, March can be so much fun at WDW, especially thanks to the Flower and Garden Festival.
We are planning a Disney trip the week before Christmas this year 15-22, any suggestions as to the best days?
[…] Holidays and special events: EPCOT hosts various holiday-themed events and festivals throughout the year, such as the International Food and Wine Festival and the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. These events attract a significant number of visitors, leading to higher crowd levels. […]