EPCOT

January 2024

EPCOT’s events schedule is made up of a series of multi-week long “festivals” that add something a little different to EPCOT’s offerings. Crowds during festivals can be heavier at certain times.

EPCOT’s first festival , the International Festival Of The Arts’, starts not long into the new year and runs through mid-February. Despite the festival, mid to late January is a fairly quiet time in EPCOT after the Christmas madness.

During your visit check out the EPCOT Disney On Broadway concert series page to see who will be playing some of your favourite musical numbers from some of Disney biggest stage musicals.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

February 2024

February in EPCOT largely mirrors January with quieter week days and busier weekends.

The first public holiday of the year, Presidents Day (every third Monday in February), brings the first opportunity for people to get away for a break.

Consequently, the week following Presidents Day is busy in EPCOT and Disney World in general as people take the opportunity to get away without having to use as much annual leave.

February also heralds EPCOT’s After Hours event, a separately ticketed event that allows you to stay in the park for a further 3 hours once the fireworks have finished. Enjoy short wait times for attractions and complimentary snacks as part of your ticket. For more information and to book tickets check out Disney’s EPCOT After Hours Event page.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

March 2024

A quiet start to the month precludes the end of a very busy month in the Disney World as Spring Break crowds descend on Orlando en masse to let off some steam for a week or two.

EPCOTS most popular festival also debuts on the this month running through early July bumping attendance in the park at weekends and really not helping with Spring Break crowding.

If you are looking for a quiet time in the parks you might want to give late March (and early April) a bit of a wide berth especialy as the first 4 months of the year are busy in Disney World with dance championships bumping attendance at the hotels and theme parks over many weekends.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

April 2024

April’s crowds are flipped compared to March as the continuation of the Spring Break holiday carries through the first part of the month, also encompassing Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Avoiding the peak Spring Break crowds, late April is still a great time to visit for warm weather without the humidity of the summer months.

If you are visiting during the festival check out the Garden Rocks show schedule to see some great local and internatial acts playing nightly in the America Garden’s Theatre at 1730, 1845 & 2000.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

May 2024

Low to moderate crowds coupled with fantastic weather and no significant public holidays until the end of the month make May a brilliant time to visit Orlando if you want to avoid peak crowds but still have the weather.

Also with most cheerleading championships being concluded, May is the first month of the year not to have a packed calendar somewhere on resort that may artificially bump up your accommodation pricing.

The better weather and International Flower & Garden Festival brings out more locals at the weekends but weekdays are a lot more crowd free particularly at park opening time.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

June 2024

June heralds the start of the US School holidays in many US States running through to the first week of August.

Expect very busy crowds and turbulent weather, especially in the afternoons. The park may feel that it is packed to bursting but Disney maintains they have limited capacity by 20% during June and July.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

July 2024

Now every US state school is guaranteed to be off you can expect crowds to be uniformly busy throughout the whole month. Weekends are just as busy as weekdays.

The International Flower And Garden Festival comes to a close early in the month but it really makes very little difference to the crowds in EPCOT. Very soon after EPCOT starts the International Food And Wine Festival.

If you want to guarantee your attraction is going to be operating your best months to visit are June and July to coincide with the US School holiday system.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

August 2024

August is a quiet month to visit the parks if you need to visit during UK school summer holidays.

US School term starts the second week of August. If you want to experience a lot of the fireworks and entertainment you will be better sticking to early August as park hours and entertainment budgets will be cut when US schools return to their classrooms.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

September 2024

September is largely a buffer month between summer holiday madness and Halloween celebrations.

September is quite possibly the quietest month to visit EPCOT and most of Disney World but that is all relative. Disney World is not your typical local park and first time visitors are often taken aback by how busy it can be even on “quiet” days.

The International Food And Wine Festival also has its own selection of local and big name music acts. Find out who is playing during your visit by checking the EPCOT Food And Wine Festival Eat To The Beat concert series page.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

October 2024

October has always been a popular time for people to visit Orlando because of separate ticketed events at Universal and Seaworld as well as at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World.

EPCOT leaves most of the Halloween celebrating to Magic Kingdom which is reflected in crowd patterns that hover around average for most of the month during the week, only getting noticeably busier on Saturdays

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

November 2024

November in Orlando is largely another buffer month in between two popular holiday celebrations. As soon as Halloween ends you will see parks preparing and launching Christmas celebrations soon after.

Although dates are not currently set, EPCOT is expected to debut it’s International Festival Of The Holidays around the last week of November. EPCOT at Christmas is magical but if you want to see it without the crowds that throng to the area in late December your best time to visit is a weekday between Thanksgiving weekend and the middle of December for a fortnight.

Thanksgiving, a hugely popular public holiday in America, packs all the parks to bursting for one weekend and many days the proceeding week after so try to avoid this week if you can.

EPCOT Crowd Calendar

December 2024

Like I have previously said, the first fortnight is a great time to visit to see the EPCOT in full on Christmas mode without the crowds of the last fortnight. Many people head straight for Magic Kingdom for Christmas but EPCOT does pretty well on its own.

If visiting later in December, and its within your budget, consider purchasing Genie+ for everyone in your party. EPCOT’s has far fewer main attractions that other parks so if you want to visit without purchasing Genie+ and you stay on resort you really need to make use of the 30 minutes early entry to knock out some popular attractions before the queues get too high.