Festivals Overview at Walt Disney World

EPCOT is known for having seasonal festivals throughout the year. No matter when you visit, it is highly likely that you’ll get to attend one of these festivals during your Disney World vacation. You don’t need special tickets to attend these festivals– all you need is a theme park ticket and reservation for EPCOT and you can partake in all of the activities!

Food Marketplace Booths

The World Showcase has marketplace booths where you can try delicious food inspired by different countries and cultures. These are usually fairly small portion sizes so you can try as many as possible.

Themed Merchandise

All festivals have fun-themed merchandise to help you take some of the festival home with you. Merchandise can include shirts, pins, drinkware, Minnie ears, and more!

Festival Activities

Every festival is different, but they all usually have activities that people of all ages can participate in. These activities include scavenger hunts, wine tastings, special tours, cooking classes, and even live entertainment!

This is the shortest festival and typically starts near the end of January and goes through the middle of February. This festival celebrates music and the arts and offers some of the most unique activities.

For entertainment, you can see Broadway stars from iconic Disney productions perform some of your favorite Disney songs live. In the past, stars from Broadway’s The Lion King and Aladdin have both performed songs from their respective musicals.

The food also focuses on the arts. You’ll be able to order beautifully designed desserts, appetizers, meals, and snacks. Examples include a cookie you can paint and deconstructed key lime pie, though the menu changes every year.

You can even paint during this festival! EPCOT always has a large mural where you can paint by numbers. You just pick out a color and go color in a few squares that correspond with the number you’re assigned. Not feeling up to making your own art? You can also watch street performers create art right before your eyes or purchase paintings of your favorite Disney characters and scenes.

This festival is also great for fans of Figment, as he is an unofficial mascot of the festival!

The International Flower and Garden Festival begins almost immediately after the Festival of the Arts. It runs from the end of February to the end of May. This festival celebrates springtime with food, flowers, and live entertainment.

The main focal point of the Flower and Garden Festival is the selection of gorgeous topiaries inspired by classic Disney characters scattered throughout EPCOT. They have everyone from Figment to Donald Duck to Simba and his friends. You can also walk through various gardens around EPCOT to learn about sustainable foods and “celebrate the ways we can live in harmony with the natural world.”

Like the other festivals, the Flower and Garden Festival also has various food booths known as outdoor kitchens where you can try food inspired by nature. Some booth examples from 2024 are The Honey Bee-stro Hosted by National Honey Board and Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina.

For live entertainment, this festival has the Garden Rocks Concert Series: nightly concerts located at the American Gardens Theatre from both global and local performers.

For foodies and wine drinkers, the Food and Wine Festival is one of the most popular of all of EPCOT’s festivals. This one typically takes place from July to November.

This festival celebrates food and wine from around the world. Each pavilion in EPCOT’s World Showcase has its own booth with food that originates from the country it’s in. For example, in 2023, the food booth in India offered chicken tikka masala and potato and pea samosas while the German booth sold bratwurst and apple strudel.

Each booth also has various wines to try, with some even offering flights so you can sample a little of each.

At night, you can enjoy live entertainment with the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. Located at the America Gardens Theater, you can enjoy live performers. Past performers include Boyz II Men, 98°, and Sugar Ray.

This festival also features fun scavenger hunts. Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak will have you searching EPCOT for small figures of Remy. You can also sample a variety of cheese-based dishes with Emile’s Fromage Montage. During the Halloween season, they even have a pumpkin scavenger hunt you can participate in.

If you’re visiting from the end of November to the end of December, you can enjoy the Festival of Holidays. This festival celebrates all the winter holidays celebrated around the world.

The food booths have culinary delights, serving traditional holiday food from around the world. In the past, guests have been able to purchase menu items such as slow-roasted turkey and mashed potatoes, potato latkes, barbacoa tamales, and more depending on which country’s booth you’re visiting.

The Festival of Holidays is also home to one of the most well-known traditions for Christmas time at Disney World: the Candlelight Processional. This tradition has been hosted by some of the most famous names across the world, from Chris Hemsworth to Neil Patrick Harris. These celebrity narrators tell the story of Christmas while accompanied by a choir and a 50-piece orchestra.

And it wouldn’t be the holiday season without some milk and cookies! You can participate in the festival’s cookie stroll, walking throughout EPCOT to try different cookies. If you try them all, you get a special treat at the end!

Planning your trip around a festival can be overwhelming. Whether you want to plan a trip to specifically enjoy one of EPCOT’s festivals or you want to know how to make the most of the current festival during your trip, we can help make sure you have the best time in EPCOT and don’t miss out on any of the festivities.