If I Only Had One Day: Epcot

One day. One park. A whole lot of impossible decisions. This week, Lane continues the "If I Only Had 1 Day" series by taking on EPCOT and building his perfect one-day itinerary. Which attractions are non-negotiables? Which World Showcase pavilions get the most attention? Is there time to slow down and enjoy the atmosphere? Lane breaks down exactly how he would spend every minute if he only had a single day to experience EPCOT, all while trying to strike the perfect balance between doing a lot and actually enjoying the day.

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What's up, Wayfinders, and welcome into Disney My Way, episode number two hundred and fifteen. My name is Lightning Lane Cut Chow. And on today's episode, we'll be wrapping up our Walt Disney World portion of our If I Only Had One Day series over at Epcot. It's going to be a wonderful time, so let's go ahead and dive on in. I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing that was all started by a Miles. So, as I mentioned, today we are wrapping up the Walt Disney World portion of our If I Only Had One Day series. And if you haven't joined us on the series before, what we're not trying to do is create a guide where you get everything done in a single day at the park. Because, let's be honest, that's really difficult to do. But what we're trying to do is find all of the essential experiences so that if you were to only go to one of these theme parks for one day, that you left at the end of it feeling like you had the most complete day that you possibly could. And Ebcot is a really fun park because it has such a unique identity. It is so different when you're comparing it to all of the other parks at Walt Disney World. And not only that, it's so different from every other theme park across the world. And I'm so excited to dive in just to how I went about thinking about how I would attack one singular day spent at Epcot. But of course, just like with every other park in this series, we do have some guidelines for what we are working with. So we are going to assume that we're at Epcot from rope drop to park close. We are going to assume that we are there with average crowds on hand, so not super light, but also not super crowded. We are going to allow lightning lanes to be in the equation if we need to. And again, we're assuming that we're not trying to do everything, but just the biggest parts and the best parts of the park. And so when we're looking at Epcot, I think there's some very specific things that we're going to look at. We're going to look at our lightning lane strategy. We're going to look at our rope drop strategy. We're going to look at rides that we need to get in during the day. We're going to look at shows that we need to see, meals that we need to experience, characters, and just the overall day itself. But we're going to start with Lightning Lane. And for this park, Lightning Lane is not an essential part of the Epcot experience. Epcot is one of those parks that when I look at just buying Lightning Lane as a whole, I go, eh, you know what? It's not really necessary, especially on an average day. On an average crowd day, you really don't need Lightning Lane at this park. You're just going to feel like you kind of ended up wasting your money because, you know, you really only need the Lightning lanes for two or three attractions, and those go really, really quick. However, there is one thing with Lightning Lane that we are going to make sure is a part of our one day at Epcot. And that's buying the individual Lightning Lane Pass for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. If you've listened to this podcast before, you know this Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is by far my favorite ride on property. And at this point, it's become a lot of people's top dog at Walt Disney World. Hands down. And so if you're talking about something that we have to do while we're at Epcot, well, yeah, we have got to make sure that we get on what is considered to be the best ride on property. And so we are going to spend that money for our individual Lightning Lane pass for Guardians of the Galaxy. And the reason why I say to do that, as compared to probably any other ride at the other parks, is because really the trade-off is so good. Yes, you are going to pay probably 25-30 bucks per person for the individual pass for Guardians, but it's also just such a phenomenal ride that I don't feel like you're losing anything value-wise. So we are going to make sure that we get that for our Epcot day. And we're just going to make that a part of the day overall. But we also now need to go to Rope Drop. So now that we are definitely getting on Guardians, what do we do about Rope Drop? Now you certainly could come from the angle of, well, if Guardians is really that good, we could just rope drop it and get on it twice. And that's true. But the problem is, is I think there's definitely another ride that you're going to want to make sure to get in at Rope Drop because if we're not using lightning lanes for the other attractions at the park, there are some attractions that the wait time shoots up for pretty dramatically throughout the day. And for me at Rope Drop, I think since we've got Guardians taken care of, there's two rides in particular we need to decide on now what we're going to rope drop. Is it Remy's Ratatouille Adventure or Frozen Ever After? Those are the two other rides that for me, if I already have Guardians taken care of, I'm thinking about for Rope Drop. And as fun as Remy's is, for me, I think the choice is pretty easily Frozen Ever After. Remy's is a good ride. But Frozen to me, well, it maybe isn't necessarily categorized as like quote unquote elite. It's a really, really fun attraction. It's a great attraction. And it's also a very popular attraction. Like this is a ride that, I mean, that wait time is going to skyrocket very, very quickly. It is a very family-friendly ride. It kind of still amazes me how popular Frozen is with so many families. But that ride gets a ton of traffic throughout the day. And I think if we're not going to have Lightning Lane available to us for the other attractions, we're only getting it for Guardians. Well then we need to attack that one first. Because the thing is, is if you're by yourself, you could always do single rider for Rimmys. But there's also a chance with Rimmys that you could luck out at certain points in the day and it could drop to a reasonable wait time and you can get on it maybe at some other point during your day. But Frozen usually climbs up pretty high and it usually stays at a pretty high wait time throughout most of the day. So when it comes to rope dropping, I would easily kind of tell you here, hey, when you're at Epcot, you need to go do Frozen first, as long as you're not worried about Guardians of the Galaxy. So that would be the rope drop strategy for me on our one day at Epcot that I would do. But now we've got to talk about the other rides, because Epcot does have a pretty solid lineup of attractions. The only thing is, though, they're not all like tier one level attractions. But that's something that I kind of love about Epcot is that the rides that kind of make up the essential experience of Epcot are not necessarily the biggest rides that you're going to find on property. So the rides that I think you need to do while you're at Epcot on your one day at the park are Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Soren, whatever version is currently there, around the world, across America, over California, doesn't matter. Sorin needs to be on your list. Test Track. And I also gave an optional nod to journey into Imagination with Figment. Now, I think the ones that I definitely put on there. Why I think you need to go on these is one, Spaceship Earth is in the Epcot Ball itself. And I think the Epcot Ball is the most iconic park icon. I mean, no shade to Cindy's Castle. It is incredible. It's super close for me to being the top dog. But there's just something special about the Epcot ball. And so that's why Spaceship Spaceship Earth for me is a must-do. Because you're going on a ride that is literally in the park icon. And that is super unique and super fun. And it's just a really solid attraction, too. So that one is on there for that reason. Living with the land is on this list because truly, I do think when you're thinking about Epcot and just how the park itself, it wants to show you, you know, it wants to teach you certain things throughout it. I know Epcot currently isn't quite the same as it used to be in the past. In the past, it was kind of more of an infotainment type of park where, yeah, they want you to have fun, but they're also teaching you certain things. Living with the land is one of those attractions that still upholds kind of that original Epcot mindset where you're learning about things that they're doing to live with the land and use the land to their advantage, but also you're having fun because you're going through a dark ride that's also taking you through a live greenhouse. And there's just no real other ride you're gonna find at any other amusement park that hits quite the same as living with the land. Yes, it's maybe not the most exciting attraction, but it's a very special one. Soren is also on this list because it at one point in time was one of the most breathtaking new forms of you know theme park ride anywhere. Soren used to be the top dog at Epcot for a long time as a top flight attraction, no pun intended, and it's still a phenomenal attraction, no matter what version they've put in there, it has always been such a good ride, and it's one that, man, if you're talking about the core parts of Epcot, this this ride is up near the top of it, and you've got to get on this one for the overall experience. And then Test Track, man, like it's just a great thrill ride, and there's not many quote unquote thrill rides at Epcot. And so I think you've got to squeeze that one in. Maybe not because it's the best ride at Epcot, or maybe not even a top-tier ride on property, depending on what your view of it is. But Test Track is a really good thrill ride with some thrill portions at least in it. And I actually do like the current version that's there. So I think you've got to do Test Track just to get another thrill element into your day. And again, this is another ride that at one point in time was the top dog of this park, and I think it's good to pay homage to it. And the reason why I made Figment optional is because Figment is kind of technically like the mascot of this park, and I think you could go ride that ride and kind of understand a little bit about Figment. It's just it's not the original version, and so I don't think you're really gonna quite grasp what makes Figment special from the current version of the ride as much as if it was the original you would have. So that's why for me it's like, yeah, Figment is one that you could do if you have time, but it's not a requirement. But these other ones, you definitely have to get in throughout your day. So make sure that you are riding those other rides because that's going to really help to shape and mold your Epcot day into something truly special, you know, especially considering if you pair it with You've Already Done Frozen Ever After and Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind 2. That's going to shape up your day really, really well. And then when it comes to shows, you know, Epcot has a lot of shows to offer. You've got all of the little shows that are around World Showcase, like Reflections of China, Canada far and wide. You've got, you know, the concert series that go on in the American pavilion that, depending on what festival's there or maybe what time of the year it is, you know, it may be changed up to something different. Whether it's the candlelight processional, eat to the beat, garden rocks, Broadway. There's a lot of different interesting things always going on at Epcot, both at World Showcase and even the Disney Pixar Short Film Festival, Awesome Planet. Lots of different shows that are offered at Epcot for you to enjoy throughout your day. And look, for me, it's like, yes, a lot of those are really nice. But there's only one show for me that is an absolute must-do as a part of our one day at Epcot, and that's the American Adventure at the American Pavilion. And for a couple of reasons. One, I think the American Adventure is a really underrated show. I really do. I don't think this show gets enough love as it should, because it's got this really cool blend of like animatronic portions. You've got some movie portions to it where you're watching it on a screen. And again, it's just this really cool blend of storytelling about the story of America, and you know, it's both again kind of that infotainment style of old kind of classic Epcot theology. And it's just really, really cool to see that all come together and blend together in one way. And so for me, that's one reason why I love it, because I do think it's a core part of what Disney Imagineering is, and I think it's a it's a must-see type of show. But also, if you get there a little bit before the performance time, oftentimes you'll probably hear from the Voices of Liberty, which is an a cappella group that sings in the lobby of the American Pavilion, usually prior to every performance or the before every showing of the American Adventure. And the Voices of Liberty are phenomenal. And if you've never gone in there and listened to them before, that's why I'm saying you should also watch this show. Because beforehand, you'll get to see them perform and they're incredible. And I think that's definitely a highlight of an Epcot experience. But also, I mean, you are getting a chance to then see a great show afterwards, too. And so I think just the whole experience of the American Pavilion itself really comes together with both of those things. So you're kind of getting a, you know, a two-for-one deal, if you will, by going to see the American adventure. And so I I just think that is the one show that I think for sure you need to go see. And the other part of it is, I know you might say, well, you know, Lane, what if there's a really good performer or performance going on at the concert series? Well, that's kind of up to you to play it by ear. Just know that a lot of times for the biggest artists that go to these things, that it's going to get really crowded and it's going to be really hard to find a seat at those performances. Also, there are other times where you might think, oh, somebody great will come because it's the whatever. And sometimes, you know, not to like, you know, poke at anybody and say that they're not that good, but it's like there's sometimes you go and you go, oh, okay, they're cool, but they're not really an artist that I want to see. So you are not always guaranteed that your favorite artist is going to be performing at Epcot or speaking at the candlelight processional or whatever, the time that you're at Epcot. You can't ever really plan that specifically. And if we only have one day, well, I don't want to just sit around and watch an artist that, you know, I don't really, you know, just love, you know, when I could go be doing other things. And so that's why I kind of leave that up to the individual. And I don't make it the most essential thing, because I don't think that that really makes up the entirety of what Epcot is. So that's why I wouldn't really lump that in there. But I'll say this too. If nighttime spectaculars are something that you really enjoy, then you also need to think about what you want to do with Luminous. Luminous is the latest Epcot fireworks show, and in my opinion, it's fine. It's a solid show. It maybe isn't my most favorite show. Now, of course, I also have to always, you know, get rid of my bitter pills that I swallow about Harmonious because I actually really liked Harmonious, and a lot of people really hated it. And so sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh, we traded Harmonious because the barges and people didn't like that and all this stuff. And, you know, we got Luminous, which is fine. I mean, it's a fine show. I don't want to dog it or anything and say that it's bad. But when it comes to nighttime spectaculars, you guys, if you've been a longtime listener to the show, know this, but I'll repeat it here for the new listeners. Nighttime spectaculars aren't always my thing. Happily Ever After is kind of the one that on every trip I do make a point to watch at least once. But other than that, even shows like Phantasmic, which I really love, are not always a part of my agenda. And so Luminous is just one of those things for me. It's like, yeah, you know, I could watch it if I wanted to, but do I really want to? And then, you know, the other part that you have to decide with your one day at Epcot is, you know, do you want to watch Luminous, which starts usually at park close. Like Luminous is kind of literally the last thing that is done at Epcot. It is shown, you know, at the World Showcase Lagoon right at closing time, which is usually about nine o'clock. And so, do you want to do that or do you want to hop in line for a ride at the end of the day? That's the choice you have to make. Because either way, if you watch Luminous, I'm not gonna hate you for it because you're not wasting any park time watching it. Because, well, I mean, you're just watching it. Unless you stake out a spot for it, then you're gonna have to spend at least an hour or more to stake out a good spot for it. But Luminous happens at the end of the day. So if you want to watch it at the very end of the day, you're not wasting park time. But do you want to use that time to maybe hop in line for Rimmies, a ride that wasn't on my list of rides, but one that you could certainly squeeze in in that last if you hop in with five minutes before park close? You know, or do you hop in line for Guardians again with five minutes before park close, with the potential that you can get on that ride for a second time in one day, potentially. And again, it's the best ride on property, so maybe that's something you do want to explore. That's why for me, Luminous is not a must watch. Because while it is a fine show, and again, it's happening at the end of the day, so it's not one that you're waiting necessarily putting a whole lot of stake of time into if you don't care about your spot, but it's also something that, man, you could, if you only had one day. You could spend that last moment not wasting park time by getting on another ride that maybe either you want to repeat because it's really, really good, or one that you want to ride that wasn't a part of the other parts of the day. So that's kind of where I sit on that. The only show at Epcot that I think is one that you need to include in your day is The American Adventure. Outside of that, you can play it by ear with whatever else you want to do show wise. But I think that show is the only essential DNA component of Epcot, in my opinion. But now we move on to gosh, probably the one section that just Epcot absolutely owns in every sense of the word, and that's meals. Y'all look, listen, I think, you know, this is the one that I've struggled. I think this is the only park I've truly struggled with a meals strategy for, because I think you can go in any direction you want. Because there are so many options available to you. You have great quick service options, you have food festival booths, you have just the little side booths that are always there throughout the year at World Showcase, you've got sit-down restaurants that are all phenomenal, or not all phenomenal, but that have a lot of really good options there for you to enjoy. Like Epcot has so much good food that it's almost unfair, and it makes you want to cry a little, how unfair it is that they have gotten so much food into one park that is so good. But here's what I'll say. I think no matter the time of the year, whether you're there during a festival, whether you're there just during a normal time, I honestly think for meals, when it comes to lunch, you should go around World Showcase, go to the little booths that are always up, because there are some, you know, that are always around. And I would honestly do that as like a makeshift lunch. You go to a couple different booths around World Showcase, you grab you some little, you know, snack type items from everyone, and you know, you get your, you know, something that sounds good, and you stop at a couple places and for the same amount as you would go eat at Connections Eatery or whatever, you have yourself a nice little put-together lunch from multiple stops. That's what I would do for lunch. Now, it's obviously highlighted more if you're going during Flower and Garden or if your one day falls during a food and wine festival time. But for the most part, I think just stopping off at different places around World Showcase is both a quintessential part of the Epcot experience because that is one of the most unique aspects of Epcot is World Showcase. But just getting to try different little things here and there and not necessarily tying yourself to one restaurant for lunch, I think is just really important to getting in all of the best parts of the food experience at Epcot. And then honestly, honestly, I know it's a time commitment, but I would choose a sit-down restaurant that really calls to you for dinner because again, there are just so many good ones to offer. If I was to give you suggestions on ones that I would choose, Spice Road Table is a podcast favorite, Le Cellier is uh just one of my personal favorites, The Annapoly is very good, and Chef de France is also very solid. Like there are, but and there's others too, ones that I haven't even tried that people do love. So there are lots of options available to you for sit-down meals, and Epcot is the probably the only park, you know, that I would say you need to get a sit-down reservation at because it does have some phenomenal food. And like with something like LaCellier, which is a really, really good steakhouse meal, it's one of the ones that you don't have to wear like a collared shirt and you know, kind of a nicer outfit at because it's within the park. You know, if you were to go to another steakhouse on property that was at one of the hotels or something, they might have a dress code where you have to wear like a collared shirt and nothing too crazy, like a collared shirt and just, you know, not like, you know, a tank top or something like that, you know. But because you're in the park, if you're wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt, you can go sit down and LaCellier and eat. It's that simple. So with that being said, I think that's another reason why I would take the investment of eating at a sit-down restaurant at Epcot. Because it is a part of what makes it special is getting to eat at a place from, you know, and enjoy the food from a place from around the world, usually by staff that, you know, are from the country that they are, you know, serving, you know, at the restaurant. And it's just a really unique experience. I love every time I get to do a sit-down meal at Epcot. Because I feel like I get to learn a little bit more about the culture, and I get to try some new stuff that I don't normally get to eat while I'm at home, and it's phenomenal. So, yes, I know it again, it's more of a time commitment, but I think that's the best approach to attacking an Epcot meal day is to pick and choose around World Showcase for lunch and then get a sit-down meal for dinner. I think that's honestly the best, the best way to go. And again, I think food is an essential part of the Epcot experience because there, like I said, there's not a whole lot of other places that you can try all these foods from around the world. I know where I live, you know, I there's not a whole lot of diversity in the types of cuisine that is offered. So I enjoy when I get to go to Epcot because I get to try different meals that I don't get to have at home. So that's why for me that's such an important part. But moving on now, we'll go to characters. And at the other parks, I probably would advise most of the time not really going to see the characters because you know, at Magic Kingdom, I feel like there's, you know, some spots here and there where maybe you can catch a random floating character and get lucky, but it feels like at Magic Kingdom a lot of people go there with the hopes of meeting their favorite characters because it is Magic Kingdom, is the characters you know from your favorite Disney movies and stuff like that. Hollywood Studios, it's kind of weird because it's like they have a couple meet and greet spots, sometimes a floating character or two or around to meet, but it doesn't seem to be a high priority there. Same with Animal Kingdom. I feel like it's just random when you get to meet like a character outside of super designated post. I mean, I've met Pocahontas and like Rafiki, but like, you know, I don't know. It just doesn't feel like it's quite a part of the makeup as it is like with magic. But at Epcot, what I like about the characters is that a lot of them are kind of just kind of spread out throughout like World Showcase and Future World. And sometimes you get lucky and you pass by and you go, oh hey, the line's not really that long. Like I can go hop in line and meet Bell just really quick, take a picture and go. Sometimes they don't even have like an official, you know, photographer at these meet and greets. They they'll you just hand your phone to the cast member and they take the photos on your phone because they don't have like a photographer there, which is fine because again, it kind of makes the experience a little bit quicker. You just go, you say hi, you have a little quick conversation, take a picture, and you go. So I do think Epcot is one of the few parks that I would say, go meet some characters. You know, go meet Alice off, you know, to the side near England or Belle in France, or my personal fave, Aurora, in her little, you know, photo area in France. I love when I get to meet Aurora, my personal fave. But Jasmine walks throughout Morocco, you know, there's just little places here and there to do that. And look, sometimes there will be a line, but sometimes the line's not as bad. So it is a fun park to meet characters at, I will say, because, you know, it it just feels like you're more so kind of going, oh, look, there they are. Let's go talk to them real fast. Rather than, oh, we're in line to meet these three princesses, you know, or whatever. So I don't know, it's just a unique type of thing. And I would say it's definitely worth it to stop along the way and meet a few. And that's why, kind of overall, for Epcot, this is my kind of biggest thing with it. Epcot is probably the only park outside of Animal Kingdom where really I do encourage you to kind of slow down and really walk around and smell the roses. The park itself kind of encourages it. You know, I was talking about how unique of an identity Epcot has, but really, with all of these parks that we've talked about at Walt Disney World in this series, you know, the strategy at each of them has been completely different. At Magic Kingdom, there's so much to do there. And so, really, we're trying to accomplish as much as we can and grab the most essential parts of it, you know, and without overfilling our day, right? We're trying to accomplish a lot, but we're not trying to do everything. At Hollywood Studios, really, what you're doing more than anything is you're being strategic. Because that's a park that you've got to have a plan for, because the majority of Hollywood's identity right now is the attractions that it has. That's kind of why a lot of people love Hollywood Studios, is because of the major E-ticket tier one level rides that are at that park. So you have to have a little bit more of a strategy with your day there so that you can ride those rides and get the most out of it. Animal Kingdom is a little bit more bare right now because they shut down Dinosaur and you've really only got Everest and Pandora and Kilimanjaro Safaris as ride anchors right now. And you've got shows and you've got a couple other things, but Animal Kingdom is more so you're trying to, you know, kind of be a little bit more lax because you do have a lot of area to just explore. And that's what we kind of encouraged you to do with your one day to slow down and explore it. And really with Epcot, I mean, the thing is, is you're trying to savor everything about this park. Unlike the other parks, you're you aren't trying to conquer Epcot. If you only had one day there, you've got to focus on these highlights that I've given and also give yourself permission to slow down because rushing through Epcot is almost the opposite of what makes this park special. This park wants you to absorb all of the details of all these different things. And look, there's even more stuff that you can do throughout your day to add to into it. But honestly, again, I think the more you rush yourself, the more you restrict what you're able to do at the park. So basically, what I'm gonna leave you with is this if you leave Epcot having done fewer attractions than you have at Hollywood or Magic Kingdom, but you ate good food, you rode Guardians, and you spent some time wandering around World Showcase, you did Epcot correctly. And that's why for this one day, it really is more about savoring than anything else. And I hope by kind of breaking it down a little bit, that if you do ever have a time where you're only able to spend one day at Epcot, that you do these things and you walk out of there going, man, we maybe didn't have the most experience filled day with like filling up our day with all of these rides and all this stuff. But we left feeling like we really got a true Epcot experience. Epcot is one of the few parks within the last couple years I truly have spent a full day at. It's one of the few that I can remember I've spent a full day at within the last like four or five years. And it was one of my most favorite days that I've spent at a theme park in a long time. So I hope the next time you get to spend one day at Epcot, it is also as magical as when I've done it. So that is our one day at Epcot. I want to know what you guys think. What are your essential Epcot experiences, though? So make sure to hit us up on social media, hit us up in the fan mail, let us know what you guys think. I love to hear about it. But we'll take a quick break, and when I come back, we'll wrap up with some Disney news for the day. Well, if you didn't know already, one thing that we love here at Disney My Way is the Magic Candle Company. They are incredible. They have taken some of your favorite Disney park and resort scents, and they've turned them into all types of products from candles to hand soaps to room sprays, whatever it is you're looking for, your favorite scent is available at MagicCandleCompany.com. And the best part is if you use the code DMW at checkout, they are gonna give you 15% off your order. That's right, just by using the code DMW at checkout, you're gonna get 15% off your order. So why wait? Head on over to magiccandlecompany.com today or use the link in the show notes below and get your first magical order in today. Not a lot of Disney news on this one, but we do got some important things to talk about. First, Disney is offering a two-park two-day ticket for late summer and fall. So the kind of the window of time for this ticket is August 3rd through October 3rd of 2026. The two-day ticket is for Epcot and Animal Kingdom, and it is $199 plus tax. So if you are interested in going to Epcot and Animal Kingdom sometime between August 3rd and October 3rd, you can buy that ticket for $199. And I know it seems probably a little weird, but look, listen, sometimes if they're gonna throw out something like that, you just gotta take advantage of it. I know it doesn't include Magic Kingdom and Hollywood, but you know, it could still be fun. And a day at Epcot and that Animal Kingdom are just as fun, in my opinion, as Hollywood and Magic Kingdom. So if you're interested, take advantage in it. Or take advantage of it. But the biggest news that I know probably a lot of people are wondering if we were going to talk about is Walt Disney World has announced that over at Disney Springs, they are going to implement restrictions on bus and watercraft transportation. So starting on June 28th, guests without a confirmed resort hotel stay, dining reservation, or experience reservation will not be allowed to utilize resort transportation at Disney Springs. So this is going to include obviously the boats that go over to Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter, as well, oh, and Old Key West as well, and then as well as all of the buses. So this was something that they obviously did during the Easter weekend, knowing it was going to be a little bit busier. And look, a lot of people are mad about this, but here's what I'm gonna say: the reason why Disney is doing this is not so that they can be jerks, but it's because people were abusing the system. And look, you know, I'm not one of those that's trying to be a stick in the mud here, but when you're trying to park at Disney Springs since it's free parking, and then you're going to abuse the free parking by getting on a bus and then using that as a way to get to the parks for you know what, to save 25-30 bucks. Like, y'all. I mean, eventually they were gonna crack down on that at some point. This cannot be the most surprising thing in the world that they're going to stop you from that. Also, if I mean people are continuing to complain about this and stuff like that. I mean, the other alternative is this at some point, Disney Springs parking does not become free anymore. And they start charging for parking there too. Which would honestly be even more sad than this. I can understand why Disney is doing this. This is one of those decisions that I honestly don't really blame them for. And honestly, I would probably have done the same thing if I was in charge. And I don't always necessarily say that. There's sometimes I'm like, okay, maybe this is an overreaction. But I think this is a warranted response because people were trying to abuse the system, and honestly, it still never made sense to me why people did that anyways. Disney Springs didn't open until like what? Doesn't open until like 10 a.m. usually. And so by that point in time, you're having to then park there, get on a bus, have the bus go all the way to whatever resort that you're going to, and then you're getting off at that resort and getting on another bus to go somewhere else. I mean, you're wasting so much time doing that to save again. I get it, parking costs are high, but like you're doing that to save, you know. I don't even know how much parking is right now, I can't lie, because I get free parking with my annual pass. So, but I mean what, 30 bucks, you know, to park somewhere, maybe 35, I don't remember, but I don't know. It just doesn't seem worth it to me to go through all of that hassle just to do that. That's the reason why they don't even run direct bus lines to the park anymore from Disney Springs, is because of that. So again, I get that, you know, some people are going to complain and some people are gonna go off because oh, there goes Disney trying to make sure we have to spend our money. But I mean, I think this is a very like warranted thing for them to do. Like, it also just never makes sense to me why people do stuff like this sometimes. But nonetheless, you know, I get it. If you want to do it, you know, you can't anymore, really. But if that was you in the past, I'm not trying to judge you or anything. I just say I don't understand the reasoning behind it. I'd rather pay the 30 bucks or whatever, park at the parks, than have to go through all of that, you know, nonsense. But that's just me. You know, and I'm kind of I think differently than a lot of people. So I understand if you don't agree with me on this, but I'm just saying that that is going to be something new starting June 28th. And look, here's the other thing. You know, dropping reservations sometimes can get sticky too. So if you think you can just make a dining reservation and then drop it after you get on the bus, sometimes that's not always easy to do because I don't I don't know if there's a 24-hour window still of where they may charge you for it, but you know, that's not always a simple solution. So, you know, again, you're just gonna have to be careful. Now, this does not stop from what I've read, like park hopping from or resort hopping from like the parks to another resort. I don't think they're gonna track down anything for that. So if you still want to resort hop, you can. You just won't really be able to resort hop to and from Disney Springs anymore. So that is just gonna be the only con to all this, is that you won't really be able to do that. But, you know, you will still be able to resort hop from like the parks to another resort. So at least you can still resort hop in that way. I was kind of afraid that this would start a domino to take it all away, and maybe it will at some point, but at least for right now, you can still do that to some extent. But, anyways, that is all of the Disney news that I want to talk about on this one, and so that's where we're gonna wrap this thing up for today. Thank you guys so much for following along. Hey, if you would please make sure to like, share, subscribe, wherever get your podcast from. That would help us out a lot. Also, make sure to follow us on the Instagram at Disney MyWaypodcast. We would love to interact with you here again. What are your essential parts of an Epcot day? I'd love to know personally. And of course, I always like to just talk to different people on there. It's it's fun. And then also, if you'd like to support the show, our fourth wall link as well as our magichandle company.com link are in the show notes below. And until next time, I hope you guys have a magical rest of your day, and I'll talk to you again real soon.