EPCOT's Kidcot Fun Stops

When traveling to the Walt Disney World Resort with young children guests often think they should skip Epcot, believing that this theme park is geared for a more mature audience. Boy are they wrong! Epcot has so much for young kids to do and see that it would be a shame to skip this wonderful encounter to travel the “world”. Epcot has eleven pavilions that surround the World Showcase Lagoon, each one representing a different country and atmosphere.

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There are many things that kids of all ages find fun while exploring the countries and one of the best hands-on free activities for the younger ones are the Kidcot Fun Stops. These interactive areas in each country offer kids the opportunity to participate in a modest craft, and to meet some friendly people from all over the world. Children are given a plain mask on a wooden stick at their first stop in any country, and each country has their own unique style of mask to offer. These fun Stops are presented by Sharpie, so the colorful markers are abundant for the kids to decorate the mask however they want.

At each of the Kidcot Fun Stops there will be a Disney Cast member who is from the host country that you are in. These cast members will stamp the stick with the name of and symbol representing their country, and attach a paper charm to the mask. We have found that if asked, they will gladly sign the kid’s autograph books too, and have asked them to write something in their native language along with the translation in English. My kids thought it was great to see,  for  instance, “Welcome to Japan, Hailey” written in Japanese. This is especially cool to them when the words written are so different than our own letters. When asked, the cast members will even write your child’s name in their native language on the back of the mask.

The children can then take their mask around to each of the countries and add to it by coloring some more or adding some of craft supplies that are on the tables. And at each stop they will get a paper charm representing that country and get another passport stamp added to the stick, as well as another autograph from the cast members. As my kids have gotten older they have forgo making the mask and just had their autograph books signed and stamped in each of the countries. They love to learn how to say welcome or hello in the different languages, and then go into the different shops of that country and practice the one word they know!