Hi Carl,
Welcome to planDisney!
I love to hEAR you making plans for your Walt Disney World Resort visit! You will be happy to know that you can certainly leave to go dine and then return on the same day without paying an additional fee for parking. Just review the
Parking guidelines to verify the details.
Given all of the fabulous dining options in EPCOT, I would strongly encourage you to eat in the park. When we visit, we always consider the amount of time it would take us to actually leave the park, get back to our car, drive to a restaurant and then to drive back to the park, get through the security checkpoint and re-enter. We decided long ago, that the amount of time it would take to leave the park and return was not worth the amount of money we might save by dining elsewhere. Take a look at the dining locations that take
advanced reservations for EPCOT. Filter by EPCOT instead of All Parks & Resorts. Go to each restaurant's home page and View Menu to see food options and pricing.
We have enjoyed
Coral Reef Restaurant and
Rose & Crown Dining Room among others, and are super excited to dine at
Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria on our upcoming visit. There are so many fantastic dining options, I hope you try one of them. At Rose & Crown, we love dining outside. So, consider your dining options and make a dining reservation. It may be hard to reserve a table with a larger group. If you have trouble finding availability, try splitting your party into two smaller groups to make the reservations around the same time period.
Carl, I understand your dilemma. Be sure to check for dining reservation availability as soon as your
dining reservation window opens 60-days prior to your trip. And, if you cannot secure reservations, consider using
Mobile Food & Beverage Ordering. We used it a few times on our last visit and it was easy to navigate. Happy planning!
Magic and memories,
Donyell