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Park Queue TimesPQT

Californias Great America
vs
Epcot

Californias Great America and Epcot queue about the same on a typical day - 32 minutes against 33 minutes across 11 and 11 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

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01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Californias Great America and Epcot compared on their typical recorded queue times
TypicallyCalifornias Great AmericaUnited StatesEpcotUnited States
Average wait per ride 32 min (best of the two)33 min
Rides with recorded waits 1111
Longest typical queue Tiki Twirl61 minGuardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind79 min
Shortest typical queue Demon10 minGran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros8 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is runningNot recorded93%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Californias Great America and Epcot compared on live queue times
Right nowCalifornias Great AmericaUnited StatesEpcotUnited States
Average wait right now --
Rides open --
Opening hours today --
Longest queue --
Shortest queue --

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day Californias Great America and Epcot queue about the same on a typical day - 32 minutes against 33 minutes across 11 and 11 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Californias Great America if…

  • Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 32 minutes a ride
  • Tiki Twirl is on your list - it is Californias Great America's longest typical queue at about 61 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Californias Great America's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Epcot if…

  • Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 33 minutes a ride
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is on your list - it is Epcot's longest typical queue at about 79 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Epcot's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Californias Great America

California's Great America sits in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's a mid-sized park with a solid coaster line-up: Gold Striker (a highly-rated GCI wooden coaster), RailBlazer (a single-rail raptor coaster), Flight Deck inverted coaster, and The Demon. A Boomerang Bay water park operates on the same site in the summer.

Bay Area locals keep Great America steady year-round, with US school holidays and the WinterFest event driving the biggest crowds. Weekdays in April, May and September are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Gold Striker and RailBlazer on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a quieter day - the park has been undergoing ownership and site changes that can affect operating patterns.

Californias Great America live queue times

Epcot

EPCOT sits at the centre of Walt Disney World, split between Future World (with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Soarin', and Frozen Ever After) and the World Showcase - eleven pavilions themed around countries including Japan, Germany, France, and the UK. Flower & Garden, Food & Wine and Festival of the Holidays events run through much of the year.

EPCOT's biggest crowd drivers are its festivals rather than just ride popularity. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind consistently posts the longest wait times in the park. Check live queue times on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd date outside the peak festival weekends - the World Showcase pavilions can take a full afternoon to properly explore.

Epcot live queue times

05 · Questions

Californias Great America or Epcot?

Which is better, Californias Great America or Epcot?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 32 minutes a ride on a typical day. Californias Great America has 11 rides with recorded waits against 11 at Epcot. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Californias Great America or Epcot?

They are level. Californias Great America averages 32 minutes a ride on a typical day and Epcot averages 33 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Californias Great America best time to visit and Epcot best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Californias Great America and Epcot in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Californias Great America and Epcot for the full ride lists.

Is Californias Great America bigger than Epcot?

They track the same number of rides here - 11 each. Acreage matters less than how many of those you can actually get on in a day, which comes down to queues and opening hours.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Californias Great America calendarEpcot calendarCompare other parks