EPCOT is a wonderful park that celebrates human life; our differences, our similarities, and the one thing that brings us all together.... food! And nothing celebrates food more than the four festivals that take place at EPCOT throughout the year.
All festivals are deemed "International" events by Disney because many different countries are represented in food, music, and art. The four Festivals are the International Festival of the Arts in January-February, the International Flower and Garden Festival March-July (side note, this is our favorite festival), the International Food and Wine Festival running all of the way from July-November, and finally the International Festival of the Holiday's only spanning five or six weeks starting around Thanksgiving and running through the end of the year.
The Basics
Let's look at some basics that are standard to each festival. When you first enter EPCOT, you'll want to pick up your festival passport. Get it? You travel around the world with your passport. This handy little guide gives you the full festival menu, where to find each booth, where to buy special festival exclusive merchandise, special music and entrainment, and a fun and delicious challenge for you to complete. If you forget to get one at the park entrance, they usually have them at the cash registers at the food booths. However, if your travel date is toward the end of a festival, they may run out. That happened to us one year.
Food booths are spread out throughout the entire park, not just in World Showcase. There are plenty of booths in Future World (or whatever they are calling it these days). So don't rush to get to Mexico. You'll miss amazing foods, like The Fry Basket, which was new for Food and Wine 2022 and was a big hit for our family. We do love French fries.
It is important to note that food booths serve "sample size" items. It's basically a tasting of each item. One dish will not be enough to fill you up. They are designed this way so that you can tase many different foods throughout the festivals. I'm thankful that I have a husband who will literally eat anything and not complain. I can drag him to the festivals and force him to split the dishes with me that I want to try! Y'all unmarried people out there need to make sure you find someone like that who will eat whatever you tell them to eat, lol. There are also lots of drink options. For those of you 21 or over who like to sip a little alcohol while strolling around, you will find many many speciality cocktails, wines, beers, ciders, and ales around the park. If you don't want alcohol, you're not left out of the drinking fun. Plenty of non-alcoholic options are available at all four of the Joffrey's carts in EPCOT and most of the food booths as well. Can't decide on which beer to try? That's a pretty common problem, so several of the booths offer flights where you can try 3 smaller options on one tray.
The Food
As all regular Disney goers will tell you, the food is the reason to go to EPCOT. However, sit down table service meals can be pricy and time consuming when you have such limited and valuable vacation time. Maybe you want to be a little adventurous and try something new, but are scared about investing $30-$60+ into a table service meal to risk it being something that doesn't suit your tastes. Well.... this is where the EPCOT Festivals come into play. Dishes are served in small tasting portions and priced accordingly. Most are priced between $5-$9 with several of the more expensive meat options being upwards of $12-$14. One year my kiddo wanted to try octopus. I knew I would never want to pay $60+ at a restaurant for her to *try* octopus and maybe or maybe not like it. So I didn't mind paying $10 at a food booth. FYI, she loved it!
Be sure to refer back to your passport to find what foods are available and where each booth is located. If you have any problems finding a location, just ask any Cast Member and they will be happy to point you in the right direction. Once you find a booth, there will be a sign with some pictures, food descriptions, and prices. Inside of your passport, You'll be able to keep track of the food and drinks you try with little check boxes. As you can see from the pictures, France is one of our favorites. It's also everyone else's favorite with this booth having some of the longest lines of every festival.
Food Allergies and Festivals
Disney takes food allergies very seriously. VERY SERIOUSLY! We are a family who knows first hand just how deadly some foods can be to people with anaphylaxis allergies. Inside of your Passport, you will find an allergy guide. This is just a guide to let you know what booths are safe for you. When you order your food, let the Cast Member at the register know about all food allergies. They will have you speak to the chef. If it is a life threatening allergy, tell them. They will be happy to prepare your food in a way that reduces the risk of cross contamination. If they are not able to prepare your food in a way that they cannot safely prevent cross contamination, then they will let you know that is is not safe for you to eat there. Remember, all food is prepared by humans (no Teslabots at Disney yet). There is never a zero risk of cross contamination. Always have your EpiPen, Benadryl, and other rescue medicines with you at all times.
The Drinks
Have you ever heard the phrase "drinking around the world?"It comes from people buying a drink in every different country in EPCOT. There are so may good drinks throughout World Showcase. But if you've been there done that, check out the special drinks at the different festival booths. I love the orange slushy soooo much, that I got two of them at the same time last month and drunk one after the other (during Flower and Garden). We're going again in a couple of weeks, and you know I'll do the same then too. And I keep forgetting how much I HATE the pink slushy at the France booth and bought it again this year. And I immediately remembered, with the first sip, just how awful it is. Now, I'm not a beer drinker, but I do like a nice cider. We like to do the flights. If I don't like one, I know the hubby will finish it off. EPCOT is a great way to try local and craft beverages that you really can't find anywhere else. One of my favorite breweries that is regularly featured during the different festivals is 3 Daughters Brewing, which is a local brewery from St. Petersburg, Florida. I've not had a single bad drink from their line up.
And as a PSA reminder: if you are drinking around the world, please take time to also drink plenty of water and eat some food too. It's so easy to get dehydrated in the Florida heat. And with lots of yummy drinks, it's super easy to overdo it with the alcohol. Please, Please, Please drink lots of water.
The Music
Another huge draw of each festival is the entertainment lineup. Each festival has live music on the outdoor pavilion in the American Pavilion. Have you ever wanted to hear real Broadway singers without a trip trip to NYC? The Festival of the Arts has you covered with real Broadway singers performing live in EPCOT. Flower and Garden and Food and Wine both have singers and bands lined up. Some of our favorites have been the Plain White T's and Boys II Men. Keep in mind that the more well known the band or singer, the longer the lines will be. I kid you not when I say that people line up for 4 (yes, FOUR) hours in advance to see Boys II Men. The Candlelight Processional is the telling of the Biblical account of the Christmas story with the birth of Christ. You can probably guess that this event is held during the Festival of the Holiday. It is incredibly beautiful with a Christmas tree lined stage and a full choir singing beautiful music along with a live orchestra. But the big draw to this event is the celebrity narrator. And when I say celebrity, I mean CELEBRITY. You can see fan favorites such as Neil Patrick Harris and Angela Bassett. New for 2022 was Josh Gad and Mariska Hargitay. Just like with the Boys II Men line, lines for the more famous celebrities are LONG. When Josh Gad made his debut as narrator last year, people were lined up most of the day to see him. As always, check your Passport for for performers/narrators and times. Shows only last about 20 minutes, so don't expect a full length concert.
Disney being Disney, you can of course pay extra money and buy a dining package that will guarantee you a seat up front to see the performance (must arrive 15 minutes before performance time), therefore leaving you more time to wander the park and bypassing the line. I hate doing this because it locks you into having to eat a full, 3-course meal at a table service restaurant. There is of course an up-charge on the price vs just the meal. The price increase doesn't bother me. What gets me is that I would rather be eating all of the special food options that are only available during the current festival vs eating the same food that is always there year round at the table service restaurants. And I'm not really sure how much time it really saves. A table service meal usually takes 1.5 hours from check in to the time you pay your bill and leave. I guess you could justify it by saying that you are inside sitting down in the AC vs outside sitting on the sidewalk in the heat. Either way, it's an option if you perfer. We did actually do the dining package during Food and Wine 2022 on the night Boys II Men was there. Not gonna' lie, it was really nice being right up front! One thing to note, that I did not realize until time to pay, these dining packages are not eligible for DVC or Annual passholder discounts. All event dining packages are full price.
The challenge
All four of the festivals have a specific food related challenge for you to complete. On the last page of your passport, you will see a list of food items and where to find them in the park. Simply buy any five of the items, get a stamp from that booth, and redeem it for a free treat. At time of this writing, the current prize for Flower and Garden 2023 is a special lime flavored Dole Whip served in a collectable cup and a packet of basil seeds for you to take home and plant. This flavor Dole Whip can not be bought anywhere, so completing the challenge is the only way to get one. Of note, Dole Whip is a vegan dessert containing no dairy. I love this because I can enjoy them without the GI upset.
If you don't want to buy five different items listed, you can buy one item five times. Basically, it doesn't matter which items from the list you buy, as long as you buy five items. Sometimes, if you ask nicely, a Cast Member will give you a stamp if you buy a different menu item from the same both. Say, you really want the potato pancakes from Germany to get the stamp, but the thought of eating mushy applesauce on top of it disgusts you (it's me, I think it's disgusting). You'd rather have the potato pancake that is topped with onions and ham. This version is not on the challenge list. If you ask nicely, most of the time they will go ahead and give you a stamp because you are buying a similar item from the same booth. It not a guarantee that they will, so don't be upset with the Cast Member if they won't stamp for a similar item (technically they aren't supposed to). Each festival will have a theme to the challenge items. Those will be discussed under each festival. If you plan on visiting more than one time during a given festival, keep you Passport because they are good for the entire season. We filled up one whole Passport on our trip last month, and already have two stamps to start our upcoming trip in a couple of weeks.
If you know you won't be returning during the same festival, it's always nice to give your halfway stamped Passport book to another guest who will be able to use it. In the Disney community, we call these small acts of kindness "pixie dust".
The Merch
No trip to Disney would be complete without some souvenirs. Disney knows this and brings the merch game hard. You passport will give you some basics on festival specific merch that you can buy and where you can buy it. If you are an annual passholder, there is always cool AP specific merch for you to buy. We always leave with some cool AP merch. One thing that I really like during Food and Wine are these little trays. They are so nice to help carry all of your, well, food and wine. The problem is that you actually have to remember to pack them in your suitcase to actually use them. I'm sad to say that in the years I have owned this tray, the only time it has every been used was the day I bought it.
The extras
Each festival has a little bit of extra fun things to do that are specific to that festival. All of these extras are completely FREE. That's right. How many times do you hear about something being free at Disney? Not many. During the Festival of the Arts, there is a huge mural wall that gets to be painted by all of us! And don't worry, you don't have to be a great artist. It's a paint by numbers. Just select a color paint and get a paintbrush from a Cast Member and get to painting. The Cast Member will give you directions. Flower and Garden has a butterfly garden you can enter and get up close with live butterflies. Festival of the Holidays has a fun scavenger hunt. And the new Guardian's of the Galaxy ride gets a fun holiday overlay with Christmas music and lights.
Now that you know all of the basics, head over to one of our dedicated Festival pages to read the specifics of each EPCOT Festival.
International Festival of the Arts (January-February)
International Flower and Garden Festival (March-July) *Our personal favorite*
International Food and Wine Festival (July-November)
International Festival of the Holiday's (November-December)
I hope this helps to give you a starting point when trying to plan your Walt Disney World Vacation. For help booking a room or Disney Vacation Package, check out Jillian with Destination Dreaming Travels. She's a FREE travel agent waiting to help you book your most magical vacation ever.
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