Epcot offers many rides, attractions, and diversions for guests to enjoy during their Walt Disney World vacation. We decided to determine the best Epcot rides ranked for your next day at Epcot.
Epcot covers over 300 acres. The land area guests can enjoy within Epcot will make getting your necessary steps in for the day easy. Guests should expect to walk several miles during a visit to Epcot. Epcot presents visitors with the largest number of guest-accessible areas at a Walt Disney World theme park.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom covers more space, but a higher percentage of its land is utilized to care for the animals. The walkable space at Epcot rates as massive compared to other Walt Disney World theme parks.
Guests visiting Epcot quickly learn that the park is vast. In fact, the World Showcase area by itself is more significant than many theme parks throughout the world. Wearing proper footwear will be essential on your Epcot day. Epcot is not a place to try out new shoes or wear shoes designed for very casual wear.
Since the theme park is so big, you will want to carefully plan your way around it. What rides and other attractions should you make sure to enjoy as you walk around Epcot?
Magic Kingdom vs Epcot
One of the things Walt Disney World guests should know about Epcot relates to the number and style of rides at Epcot. For example, Magic Kingdom offers a vast array of rides for guests to enjoy. Epcot provides far fewer rides for guests to enjoy. Still, visitors should not visualize little to do at Epcot. That would be an unfair representation of this Walt Disney World theme park. Epcot contains some of Walt Disney World fans’ favorite rides.
For many experienced Walt Disney World visitors, a day at Epcot might often not involve the rides. Epcot attracts visitors focused on Epcot’s seasonal festivals, some alcoholic beverages from around the world, and a chance to experience many different cultures without leaving the United States.
Like many other Walt Disney World visitors, we love the Epcot rides. You can find thrill rides. In addition, rides that involve education and entertainment continue to charm guests of Epcot. Epcot contains some classic style dark rides like at Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World visitors can find their type of ride at Epcot.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: A Starting Point
Epcot offers guests eleven attractions that would be defined as rides. This theme park also contains incredible shopping opportunities, numerous dining options, and many attractions that would not qualify as rides but offer great entertainment for your theme park day. Based on the nature of theme parks, some rides will appeal to different age groups while not appealing to others. The criteria for deciding the best rides at Epcot for your group involves some subjectivity. This resource strives to present the best rides to enjoy during your day at Epcot while allowing you to decide the ultimate best rides at Epcot for your group.
Epcot presents plenty of beautiful rides and other attractions. All of them provide value for your theme park day. Still, your vacation time becomes limited as you try to experience the Walt Disney World Resort. What are the best Epcot rides for your group? Which ones should be lower on your priority list if you are limited in terms of time during your day at Epcot?
This resource will rank the Epcot attractions in order of priority from highest to lowest. Of course, this could vary based on your group’s desire for thrill rides. Also, some rides will not be available for younger children based on height restrictions needed for safety.
We understand that some subjectivity dictates this list. However, this list also involved checking with trusted colleagues and experienced theme park friends to gather a sample of opinions. Also, these rides are not in our personal ranking. If this were a list written based entirely on the author, several rides would be in different places on this list.
This list serves as a guide for all groups, not just some. We will start with the highest-priority rides and work our way down to the ones that can be skipped if you run out of time. Guests do not need to do these rides in this order. In fact, you probably will not be able to do them in this order based on the nature of theme parks. However, this serves as a decent checklist for your day at Epcot. Okay, that should cover all the needed disclaimers. Let us get to the rankings.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked – Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
The most recently added ride at Epcot also qualifies as the most desired. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opened in May 2022. The Moana-inspired Journey of Water, added this year, serves as an excellent walkthrough attraction. Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, opened at Epcot for all guests in mid-October 2023. Still, the most popular attraction at Epcot remains Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
Since opening, Epcot visitors have been drawn to this Marvel-themed ride. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind serves as the first roller coaster at the Epcot theme park. In fact, this marks the first Marvel-themed attraction at Walt Disney World.
Guests can find this sizeable indoor roller coaster in the World Discovery area of Epcot. Experienced Walt Disney World visitors might know this area by its former name, Future World.
Guests visiting the World Discovery area of Epcot will see a giant Nova Corps spaceship located outside Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will recognize this spaceship from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie. Many nods to the film can be seen within this attraction’s queue.
Virtual Queue
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind utilizes a virtual queue system. For this attraction, guests must attempt to enter the virtual queue via the My Disney Experience. Guests can currently do that at 7:00 a.m. and then after they enter Epcot at 1:00 a.m. We hear this procedure might be changing. However, that method continues to be used at the time of writing.
Individual Lightning Lane Purchase Option
At the risk of making Walt Disney World sound more expensive, guests can purchase access to the lightning lane for this attraction. Since this attraction is not part of Genie+, this marks the only way to access the shorter queue for this ride.
This option would allow you to select a specific time to ride the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster. Of course, this comes with an additional cost. You do not need to purchase Genie+ to purchase this individual lightning lane. This is a separate purchase.
Queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
According to the backstory of this attraction, Peter Quill (Star-Lord), played by Chris Pratt, visited Epcot as a child. Based on the plot of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, Peter Quill was abducted from Earth, so he has not returned to Earth in the multi-verse Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline involved in this attraction.
Still, the Xandarian people learned of Earth from Peter Quill. Based on the audio portion within the queue for this attraction, a probe was sent out from Earth to communicate about the culture. After that, a partnership developed between Xandar and Earth. In that partnership, the Xandarians shared some of their technologies with the Imagineers of Epcot. This provides the background of this “Xandarian” pavilion.
Guests receive a glimpse of this idea of advanced technology early in the queue for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind attraction in the Galaxarium section. Disney magic, based on simple earth technology, creates the imagery of advanced technology at play in the queue. The Galaxarium area functions as a type of planetarium. Guests can learn about the interaction of Terra, the Xandarian’s word for Earth, and Xandar.
From that area, guests follow the queue through the Xandar Gallery. At this point, guests learn more about the people, culture, and history of Xandar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After that, guests move into some staging areas and eventually into the “Phase Chamber.” From here, guests enjoy being transported from Epcot to a Nova Corps Starcharter Cruiser flying above the Earth.
The pre-show portions of this Marvel Disney World coaster involve video appearances by Glenn Close (who played Nova Prime in the Marvel movies) and Terry Crews. However, soon after you encounter those actors, things go terribly wrong. As a result, you and some of the Marvel Guardians need to save the day.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – Coaster Experience
The ride utilizes a vehicle that turns guests towards the desired images while they ride. This coaster also utilizes a reverse launch that happens when you help the Guardians save the galaxy. As a Marvel-themed coaster, several of your favorite Guardians of the Galaxy characters play prominent roles in this attraction. For those concerned, the ride provides a very smooth experience. Guests opposed to bumpy roller coasters will have no issue with this one.
Motion Sickness Warning
However, some guests have motion sickness issues with this Marvel-themed coaster at Walt Disney World. Most of those issues relate to looking around too much during the ride. However, we suggest that guests look in the direction the ride vehicle points. Traveling past planets and other elements within this ride can be tricky. If guests look in the direction the vehicles slowly turn towards, then potential motion sickness issues are reduced drastically.
Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and those who have barely seen the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies love this latest ride at Epcot at Walt Disney World.
Of Course, This Ride Comes with Cool Music
One of the features that makes this ride and the movies unique is the musical soundtrack. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind comes with a distinctive soundtrack like the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. In fact, the ride offers six different songs playing during this attraction. Each ride feels a little different, depending on which song you get. The songs are:
- “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
- “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps
- “Conga” by Gloria Estefan
- “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears
- “I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls
- “One Way or Another” by Blondie.
This unique song aspect captures the whimsical tone of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The atmosphere of this Walt Disney World roller coaster offers a tremendous experience for guests.
Of course, if you suffer from motion sickness from screen-based attractions, you will want to enter this ride with some caution. Still, we think everyone should give this ride a shot at least once.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Epcot’s France Pavilion in the World Showcase area gained a new ride in October 2021. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at Walt Disney World matches the Disneyland Paris version of this ride. The Epcot ride builds from the characters and ideas of the Pixar animated film “Ratatouille.” This ride was built after a designated amount of time so that Disneyland Paris could be the only place to have this attraction for a little while.
After entering the queue themed to France from the perspective of the Pixar film, guests join Remy on an adventure. Riders will participate in a 4D-style journey through a relaxing setting. After that, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure takes guests through a hectic French kitchen, a challenging adventure into an upscale dining restaurant area, and then into the actual walls of Gusteau’s.
This ride uses a trackless vehicle system carrying guests around. The ride vehicles resemble mice for reasons that become obvious as you travel along this ride. The trackless ride system allows for many misadventures along the way.
No Height Restrictions
A huge positive of this ride involves who can ride. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure has no height requirement. Unlike Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which has a height restriction, everyone can ride this attraction together. In fairness, we suggest some caution regarding this ride with younger children. Some of our colleagues report that smaller children may be scared by some of the visual effects during this ride.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure does develop a lengthy queue via the Walt Disney World standby lane. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a part of the attractions available via Genie+. However, the timeslots for this vanish quickly for this attraction faster than other Epcot Genie+ options. If this falls on your priority list for the day at Epcot, we suggest arriving early or selecting it via Genie+ at 7:00 a.m.
Of course, if you stay at one of the Walt Disney World-owned hotels and some Disney partner hotels, you can ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure during the early theme park entry period. If you can enter using the International Gateway entrance to Epcot as a Disney hotel guest, you will have a huge head start to ride this attraction during the early entry time.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Test Track
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet (Matt Stroshane, photographer)
Photo Credit: Walt Disney World
In the World Discovery area of Epcot, Test Track provides some thrills for guests. In fact, this attraction offers the fastest speed of any ride at Walt Disney World. Guests will travel over 64 miles per hour on this ride. That makes Test Track the fastest ride at Walt Disney World.
Test Track operates like a simulated test drive. Guests will be taken through some of the many testing procedures of Chevrolet’s concept cars. Of course, that explains why Chevrolet sponsors this attraction.
Before entering the ride vehicles, guests enter the “Chevrolet Design Center.” In this area, guests design their own virtual vehicles.
Following that, participants move to experience a six-passenger ride vehicle. Riders will feel some sudden stops and other unique thrills before launching outdoors for the speed test. Riders will feel the wind as they race around the outdoor portion of the track. Test Track has a 40-inch or taller height requirement.
This ride remains popular at Epcot. A single-rider queue can be utilized. Based on the ride vehicles, this queue moves efficiently. Test Track is also part of the Genie+ attractions. If you want to ride this, we suggest trying earlier in the day since rainy weather will cause it to shut down temporarily. So, if bad weather rolls in, you might miss your chance to ride Test Track if you only have one day at Epcot.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Soarin’
An excellent display of a screen-based ride happens in The Land pavilion at Epcot. The Soarin’ attraction resides in the World Nature area of Epcot. This indoor attraction provides guests with a beautiful experience of “soaring” over exquisite visuals and special effects.
This attraction has now converted to the “Soarin’ over California” version. We prefer this version over the “Soarin’ Around the World” version. Walt Disney World has not officially stated when the previous version will return. The California version went in place under the premise that it was part of the 100th celebration of the Disney Company.
This ride has flaws, especially the “Around the World” version, with some awkward and leaning visuals. Still, this ride at Epcot takes guests on a hang-gliding simulated experience. First-time guests often exit this ride being impressed.
If visiting while the California version operates at Epcot, guests should expect longer queues for this attraction. Based on that, this makes a reasonable Genie+ selection now.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Frozen Ever After
Depending on your group, another of the best rides at Epcot resides in the Norway pavilion of the World Showcase area. This attraction received a retheme to “Frozen” from its former identity, Maelstrom. This addition of this intellectual property came with some drama, as many things do at Walt Disney World.
With the addition of the “Frozen” characters, Frozen Ever After has grown in popularity over the former version. It now makes a reasonable Genie+ selection for your day at Epcot.
Your entire group can ride this slow-moving dark ride. Everyone can enjoy seeing Anna, Elsa, and Olaf without height requirements.
Walt Disney World’s website states, “This song-filled journey is a slow-moving boat ride with backward and forward plunges down short waterfalls. You may get wet!” Though we would not be too concerned with guests getting wet, some small drops happen on this Epcot ride, leading to a potential splash of water.
In addition to taking guests out of the Florida sun, this ride provides a relaxing time. With limited time to visit Epcot, we would prioritize this attraction. In addition, if you have “Frozen” fans in your group, this makes a must-do.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Spaceship Earth
One ride that guests cannot literally miss seeing is Spaceship Earth. The large geodesic sphere of this attraction greets guests as they enter Epcot from the main entrance. The large silver sphere is seen as the icon of Epcot. It houses Spaceship Earth. This ride builds from a narrative describing where human communication started. Then, we venture on a journey revolving around the steps to our status of communication via computers.
Spaceship Earth contains some beautiful settings guests pass by during this indoor ride. The merging of the sets, audio-animatronics, and narrated storyline causes this attraction to be one guests should plan to enjoy.
The ride starts by going upward slowly past all the different audio-animatronics and video effects. Guests will see the well-designed sets on both sides of the ride vehicle. Spaceship Earth shows off classic Disney dark ride techniques.
After traveling upward, taking a journey through time, the ride vehicle turns and then heads back downward. While taking the downward path, the ride vehicle screens allow guests to “create your own future.” A photo of riders early in the attraction becomes part of a video shown to guests after answering a few questions. By answering the questions, guests decide how they want their future to play out. The video plays, putting the answers to the questions into video form. Guests will see a cute yet elementary video with their photo being used to act out a potential future.
Though this ride needs to be updated, Spaceship Earth invites all guests to reflect upon the history of communication. Of course, this ride reminds us to thank the Phoenicians too. Experienced Walt Disney World visitors love sharing the magic of Spaceship Earth with younger and first-time visitors. We anticipate a refurbishment of this ride soon. One was scheduled a few years ago but canceled in preparation for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Living with the Land
Living with the Land is understandably found in the Land pavilion at Epcot. This old-school ride will not impress many theme park fans looking for a thrill ride. Despite that, this ride has devoted fans. Living with the Land qualifies as skippable if you want an exciting, fast-paced ride.
Still, if you desire a relaxing air-conditioned indoor boat ride, Living with the Land might appeal to you. Living with the Land takes guests behind the scenes to view some of the unique methods used to grow food served in Epcot restaurants. Also, guests view some groundbreaking innovations in agricultural techniques.
The classic Epcot idea of merging entertainment and education occurs with this attraction. Living with the Land is an excellent choice for those looking for that. However, we often hear how dull Living with the Land is for many guests. In fact, we admit to yawning on this ride a few times ourselves after a long day at Epcot. Still, we understand the claim that this ride can be boring.
However, this ride rarely has a massive wait to board the boats. Also, this attraction gets the holiday season treatment with decorations and lights during the holiday season. If visiting during that time of year, expect queue wait times to be longer than usual at night.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: The Seas with Nemo & Friends
The Seas with Nemo & Friends over in the World Nature section of Epcot provides guests with another slow-moving dark ride to experience. If you love the movie “Finding Nemo,” you must try this ride. This dark ride takes you through various scenes featuring the characters from “Finding Nemo.” Guests get to see Nemo, Dory, Crush, and many more characters from the movie. To enhance that aspect, guests will see live fish from the aquarium in this pavilion while they ride this attraction.
However, this ride does qualify as short. Nothing spectacular happens during it. Though we enjoy the “Finding Nemo” retheming of this classic ride, most guests will find it cute but not much else. Also, it has broken down often over the last few months. This leads to some less-than-righteous times stuck in the same area on this ride. Still, everyone in your group can ride this attraction.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
Before we get to the two rides at Epcot on the bottom of our list, we have one more slow-moving boat ride to prioritize. This stop takes us to the Mexico pavilion in the World Showcase area of Epcot. The Gran Fiesta Tour, Starring the Three Caballeros, takes guests on a ride through the river of time. The current version of this indoor boat ride involves Panchito Pistoles and José Carioca, two of the Three Caballeros, searching for the third group member, the one and only Donald Duck.
This boat ride includes a trip by the San Angel Inn Restaurant, small excellent scenery pieces, and numerous video screens. The current version of this boat ride makes it a relaxing experience. However, the storyline of the Gran Fiesta Tour lacks anything special, except for Donald Duck fans enjoying the search for him on this boat ride.
Still, kids tend to enjoy this boat ride. Also, this ride allows guests to enjoy a seat and some air-conditioning. Besides that, nothing special happens during this attraction. When you ride, sit back and enjoy yourself on a Grand Fiesta Tour.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Journey Into Imagination with Figment
We, like many Disney people, love the character Figment. However, the ride bearing his name has seen better days. The mischievous dragon known as Figment still stars in this ride. However, Journey Into Imagination with Figment has undergone many changes over the last few decades. In the era of sponsored rides, Journey Into Imagination with Figment lost some of its luster from the early years.
Walt Disney World fans love Figment. One excellent example involves the queue to meet Figment when the character returned to do a meet and greet after a long absence. On the first day that Figment returned to meet guests in the wild, the queue to meet Figment became lengthy very rapidly. Even today, people should expect to wait several minutes to meet Figment. The queue to meet Figment regularly averages about 15-25 minutes. So, if Figment is so popular, why is the ride ranked so low on the list of best Epcot rides?
This issue comes down to a lack of a consistent storyline within the current attraction. With the loss of Kodak as a sponsor many years ago, Journey Into Imagination with Figment has been refurbished but not improved. The ride fails to live up to its former status.
The current version of the Figment ride involves guests entering a ride vehicle for a slow, dark ride. Guests are urged to use their imagination. In fact, you might leave this ride with a song about that stuck in your head. Figment, the whimsical purple dragon, encourages riders to explore their creativity. The ride involves some animatronics, the previously mentioned song, and some antics by Figment.
This dark ride functions as a relaxing indoor ride with a few distractions along the way. The modern version feels dated and does not stand up against better, newer rides. However, if you have time, go see Figment and enjoy some time sitting down and being entertained on Figment’s ride.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked- Mission: Space
We have reached the final ride in our ranking. One ride must be last, and this one wins the title. Mission: Space should be your lowest priority ride when at Epcot. If you only have one day to visit Epcot, we highly recommend not prioritizing this attraction.
During Mission: Space, guests enter their own spaceship cockpit to “pilot” and experience a glimpse of being an astronaut. If you are interested in space travel, this ride offers some merit. However, anyone with potential motion sickness issues or a tendency to feel claustrophobic should avoid this ride.
Mission: Space offers two different versions, the green side and the orange side. The ride vehicle for either version is tiny. The most significant difference between the two versions relates to the orange side being far more intense. The orange side version moves more aggressively. At some points on the ride, it spins rapidly to simulate the experience of an astronaut. Guests without motion sickness issues struggle at points during this version.
If you think the green side will be easy, please reconsider. While green does not spin or even move around as much, guests still report facing issues while riding this simulator-style attraction.
We would not encourage younger riders or anyone with health issues to ride Mission: Space. Disney technology works great with Mission: Space. The ride concept shows incredible skill in design. Still, this ride is not for everyone.
Best Epcot Rides Ranked: Conclusion
Epcot offers far more than rides to enjoy. However, rides play a crucial part in any theme park day. We hope our ranking helps you plan your day at Epcot on your Walt Disney World vacation. Your Pixie Vacations travel advisors can help you plan that next Walt Disney World vacation. Remember, when booking with Pixie Vacations, you do not pay for their service with your Walt Disney World vacation. They will be there in case something goes wrong so you can continue enjoying Walt Disney World’s fun. We wish you enjoyment as you plan that next vacation.
