Let’s Discuss EPCOT’s Big Three

Every major theme park in the world features a list of the haves and have-nots.

The haves are E-ticket attractions that drive attendance, with fans wanting to experience the best of the best at the parks.

The have-nots are the filler attractions that theme park designers cleverly use to siphon traffic away from congested areas.

No matter how you feel about show-based attractions, they serve their purpose of giving tourists something to do.

As a guest, you’re not supposed to think about these things, but the alchemy of theme park traffic flow is as much art as science.

Recently, Disney squirted some random paint on its EPCOT palette, and now we’re left deciding if we like the new look.

Much of the strategy relies on the most popular attractions at the park.

Those rides are Frozen Ever After, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

Let’s discuss EPCOT’s Big Three and the park’s recent changes that impact crowd behavior.

EPCOT’s Grand Makeover

In 2017, then-CEO Bob Iger embarked on a grand plan to modernize EPCOT.

Iger relied on the Chairman of Disney’s theme park division, Bob Chapek, and we all know how that worked out.

The project suffered several delays due to the pandemic and C-suite turmoil at Disney.

Ultimately, EPCOT’s reboot took so long that Chapek replaced Iger, Iger retired, Chapek got fired, and Iger returned.

Along the way, Chapek made several unusual decisions, some of which circumstances dictated.

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure debuted on October 1^st, 2021, the 50^th anniversary of Walt Disney World.

Park officials wanted to have something significant to commemorate the occasion.

Disney already knew that fans loved Ratatouille because it had anchored Disneyland Paris since 2014.

Walt Disney Studios Park is arguably the least popular Disney theme park in the world, yet Ratatouille excelled there.

However, nobody at Disney ever expected Ratatouille to hold the title of best ride at EPCOT.

At the same time, Imagineers were building Cosmic Rewind, the first storytelling coaster ever.

Disney reclaimed the space formerly held by the Universe of Energy pavilion and replaced it with the Wonders of Xandar pavilion.

Everyone involved with the project expected the Guardians of the Galaxy ride to anchor the park for years to come.

Evaluating EPCOT’s Most Popular Rides

At the time, one of the most popular EPCOT attractions was Test Track, which Disney had redesigned as a thrill ride in 2012.

What nobody could have possibly expected at the time was that Frozen, a movie that wouldn’t even come out until the following year, would upset the ecosystem.

Kids loved Frozen so much that Frozen Fever became a thing at the theme parks, especially EPCOT, home of the Norway pavilion.

Disney quickly pivoted to re-theme Maelstrom into Frozen Ever After, and the rest was theme park history.

Frozen usurped Test Track as the top attraction at the park, an unexpected turn of events with lingering ramifications in 2025.  

Last year, Disney closed Test Track to create a new version described as Test Track 3.0.

Disney must do that to balance this side of the park as guests prioritize Cosmic Rewind on the other side.

In a perfect world, they’d go right to Test Track as often as left to Cosmic Rewind, and they’d also go straight.

Alas, straight is Mission: SPACE. Not many EPCOT guests view it on the same level as Test Track, much less Cosmic Rewind.

But the shock occurred when guests visited Frozen Ever After as much as Test Track and oftentimes even more.

NOBODY did that with Maelstrom, and park officials only realized at the last moment that Frozen would behave differently.

While American Disney fans craved Ratatouille, its popularity was never on the level of Frozen or Cosmic Rewind.

The ride slots in that same general vicinity as Test Track, albeit a bit higher since Ratatouille is newer, which matters to tourists.

Frozen unexpectedly clawed its way into the top group because that’s how much fans love Elsa & Anna.

The Big Three and the Big Change

When Cosmic Rewind opened less than three years ago, park officials accurately assessed its popularity.

Disney assigned a virtual queue, creating a sort of lottery system for park guests.

The lucky ones would win a virtual queue reservation and thereby assure themselves a trip to the stars.

For the first 18 months of the attraction’s existence, a virtual queue was a must.

After that, guests discovered they didn’t need to book a virtual queue immediately, as it didn’t sell out instantly.

That reduced the pressure on tourists to snag reservations, but it also raised questions about the necessity of a virtual queue.

I pondered this question last May, when the ride was approximately two years old.

Disney waited nearly ten months to make a change, but it finally happened last week.

In the interim, Test Track went on sabbatical as Imagineers modernized the attraction.

So, EPCOT currently consists of the Big Three and several less popular rides.

Cosmic Rewind, Frozen, and Ratatouille will typically require the longest waits at the park.

The only other attractions likely to have an extended wait are Mission: SPACE (the orange version) and Soarin’ Around the World.

So, your park planning now consists of anticipating three attraction queues and trying to spend little time standing in line.

About the Big Three

The expectation is that Cosmic Rewind will require the longest wait on average, as happened during its first week.

Guests stood in line for an average of 72 minutes, although they demonstrated an odd pattern.

Cosmic Rewind participates in Early Theme Park Entry and Rope Drop, and guests have prioritized both.

So, the roller coaster demonstrated truly odd behavior during its initial days with a standby queue.

When the park opened, the estimated wait was already 45 minutes, and it reached 100 minutes quickly afterward.

Seriously, once the park had been open for half an hour, the lines were already the longest of the day.

By the afternoon, wait times settled into the range of 60-80 minutes.

Those numbers should increase on more crowded park dates, but that’s the current baseline.

The ripple effects are the fascinating part. Ratatouille is no longer a top-two attraction at the park, which it was never intended to be.

Right now, the Parisian ride would rank third on most lists, and it’s going to drop to fourth when Test Track reopens.

Disney has indicated that will happen in “late summer,” which strikes me as either July or August.

I realize that July is early summer, according to the calendar, but theme park operators think differently.

Changing Crowd Behavior

I’m not yet prepared to draw any conclusions about park behavior. Some trends have emerged, though.

One of them is that Ratatouille’s average wait time has tanked since Cosmic Rewind dropped its virtual queue.

Now, guests must choose where to wait, and Ratatouille will finish third on that list behind Frozen and Guardians.

There’s a debate about whether it’ll prove more popular than Soarin’. I think it’s too early for that change, though.

Ratatouille is still just three and a half years old. The demand for it may drop due to the Cosmic Rewind change, but I doubt it’s that much.

Meanwhile, I don’t expect Frozen Ever After to experience much impact.

The boat ride’s wait time dropped a touch last week. However, it was a slow week overall at the parks, including EPCOT.

Remember that we were between festivals. So, we’ll find out a lot more now that the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is underway.

Planning for the New EPCOT

What I’m confident in saying right now is that the best ride at EPCOT is Cosmic Rewind.

In terms of comfort rides, Frozen Ever After remains high on the list, as does Soarin’.

Ratatouille should suffer a bit, especially when Test Track reopens.

That reality should alter theme park behavior at the World Showcase at least marginally.

But the real impact occurs at the front of the park where Cosmic Rewind and the impending return of Test Track impact everything.

More guests will stay in the front of the park, which conveniently has more hangout areas at World Celebration Gardens and CommuniCore Hall & Plaza.

The Big Three is technically two-thirds World Showcase right now, but the new hotness is at World Discovery.

That reality will fundamentally alter theme park behavior now that guests can ride Cosmic Rewind whenever they want.

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Featured Photo: Disney