Hi there,
Ryan welcome to planDisney I’m super happy to be able to help with this. Maximizing Park hours are a major part of my planning. Let’s get rolling!
Being able to enjoy happily ever after from any vantage point is the perfect ending to a day at
Magic Kingdom Park. If you can watch Happily Ever After and still go to a park afterwards, that is probably an even better ending to a day.
California Grill is a wonderful meal located on the 15th floor of the
Contemporary Resort. It has to be one of the prettiest views of all the resort restaurants with Magic Kingdom being the backdrop. And you can always return no matter what time your meal was to watch the fireworks, just hold onto your receipt. The schedule shows the firework show starts at 9 PM for that week. In my experience
Happily Ever After is around 20 minutes, and if you were heading straight to the monorail, the ride to
EPCOT is about 36 minutes. Even with a small delay, you still would make it before 11 PM. You would more than likely have a little under an hour to enjoy the extended evening hours which by my estimation is plenty of time for at least one or possibly two attractions.
During this visit, I hope you get to spend more time at EPCOT as it will be hosting its yearly
International Food and Wine Festival. When it comes to festivals that I look forward to, this festival takes the cake. Each Global Marketplace has beverages to pair with the plates that it serves. The real problem is figuring out which booth you will choose. You truly will not be able to try everything, trust me. I have tried in the past and I always come up short. Luckily some plates return each year and you are able to play catch up if you return. What I always recommend is when you walk in find yourself a passport, you are able to look through each of the booths menus, as well as locate them in the park. With that passport if you fill in 5 stamps from Emile’s Fromage Montage, you will be able to turn them in for a special festival treat.
I hope this information helps you get to EPCOT from that magical viewing spot, to Spaceship Earth before the doors are closed for the night.
Have a magical stay,
Jeremy A.