Since I’m not a big football fan, my daughter and I have a tradition of heading to Walt Disney World in the late afternoon on Super Bowl Sunday. (That allows my husband to enjoy the game in peace!) This year, we decided to hit up Epcot, mostly because I really wanted to see Disney on Broadway with Mandy Gonzalez and Kissy Simmons. They did not disappoint!
The big question on Super Bowl Sunday is, are the parks less crowded? We’ve visited Epcot several times during The Big Game, and this was definitely the most crowded we’ve seen it. Packed, no, but definitely not empty.
We arrived around 3:00, just in time to watch the final show for Max & Aydar. They’re a great duo. The kids who were picked all had fun, I’m sure they’re still talking about it today.
We then got something to eat from a couple of the Festival of the Arts Food Studios. What was nice was that the lines were short, even though Epcot was still fairly busy.
We attended the first Disney on Broadway show. The theater wasn’t packed, but there was a decent sized audience. Since the show started at 5:30 and kickoff was an hour away, I expected the theater to have many more empty seats.
As far as rides were concerned, the Wait Times were either really short or really long. The three longest waits were Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Test Track, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. We really only had time to wait in one. We were going to try for Cosmic Rewind. It was posted at 85 minutes, but when we got close, we realized that it was much, much longer. We decided to ride Test Track instead. The Wait Time was listed at 75 minutes, but we were off in about 50.
The nicest surprise of the night was Soarin’. It was posted at ten minutes, but it was almost walk on. Aside from the big three, the other rides were at five minutes. Mickey’s meet and greet was listed at 20 minutes, but there was no line outside so I didn’t believe it. We left a few minutes before Luminate because we didn’t want to get caught in the end of the night traffic.
So, to answer the question, was Epcot less crowded because it was Super Bowl Sunday? Probably, but not as much as in years past. The only park we’ve never visited on Super Bowl Sunday is Disney’s Animal Kingdom, because it closes early. Last night it closed at 8:00. If that’s the case again next year, we might have to check it out.