The Epcot Food and Wine Festival may be the most popular of the many festivals held at this Disney theme park. While the Flower and Garden Festival, the Festival of the Holidays, and the Festival of the Arts are all fantastic, the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is truly something special.
At this festival, you can devour delicious dishes and sip on delightful drinks from all over the world (without needing a passport)! Basically, if you’re a foodie, this is an Epcot festival that you shouldn’t miss out on. You’ll definitely want to save room in your stomach for just this festival. Calories don’t count at Disney anyway, right?
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Planning Tips For The 2021 Epcot Food And Wine Festival
What is the Epcot Food And Wine Festival?
The Epcot Food And Wine Festival is an annual event, during which guests can dine on delicious food and listen to amazing music. The festival typically hosts celebrity chefs and culinary demonstrations, but these features are temporarily unavailable at the moment. It is one of the only Epcot events that doesn’t come at an additional charge, as it’s included in the park admission! (This excludes the food booths and merchandise, of course.)
One of the most important things to mention about this festival is the portion sizes. They’re small. Very small. And the price isn’t quite as minimal as the size of the plates. Many visitors find themselves going WAY over-budget, because they simply didn’t expect the size of the plates. That said, the quality of the food at this Epcot event is fantastic! It’s rare that you’ll purchase a plate that’ll disappoint in terms of flavor. So the key to getting the most out of this festival is picking the dishes that you think will be your favorite and splurging on those.
And here’s another pro tip for you: some of the best food booths are actually found in Future World. Epcot Food and Wine is marketed in a way that highlights the international food booths found in the global showcase, so many people forget about Future World, which is truly a shame. This means that they’ll miss out on flavorful gems like Flavors from Fire, Earth Eats, and Mac & Eats.
What Are The Dates For The 2021 Epcot Food And Wine Festival?
The 2021 Epcot Food and Wine Festival will run from July 15 until November 20.
Because the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is one of the longest festivals held at Epcot (if not the longest festivals), you’ll likely have a few different possible days to visit. To ensure that you spend as much time possible riding rides and munching on delicious treats rather than waiting in lines, you’ll want to visit during a weekday in September or October, if possible. But keep in mind that the celebration for the 50th anniversary of Disney World will start October 1, which will definitely bring more crowds.
How Much Does The Epcot Food And Wine Festival Cost To Attend?
It’s completely free with the price of admission into Epcot! That said, if you want to purchase food or snag some merchandise, it will come at an additional cost.
Currently, Epcot admission starts at $109 per person per day. The price does vary greatly depending on which day you choose to visit the park, as admission for certain days during the festival can cost up to $147 per person per day. To lower this cost at least a little bit, you can buy a multi-day pass, which will lower your per-day ticket cost. Lastly, if you have a valid Disney annual pass, the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is included.
Global Marketplaces
As the name of the festival implies, the Epcot Food and Wine Festival has quite a lot of food (and wine). Each year, Epcot has over thirty food booths – known as global marketplaces – scattered around the park for this event. Each of these global marketplaces serves up three to four snack-sized plates, and many of them serve up the cuisine representative of the global pavilion they are located in. In other words, don’t be surprised to find crème brûlée at the France Pavilion’s global marketplace and pasta at the Italy Pavilion’s global marketplace.
Now, if we do the math, thirty-two booths serving up three to four items each get you to between 96 to 128 food options! That’s a lot to handle. I highly recommend taking a look at the menus before you head to the park and deciding which food items or food booths stand out to you (or at the very least, doing so while you are in line for your first ride.) If not, you might find yourself being lured in and spending more money than you would like.
Epcot Food And Wine Festival Concerts
Every Friday through Monday night during the Disney food and wine festival, a special musical artist performs at the America Gardens Theater. Luckily, Disney attached a list of these artists you can see below!
- July 16 to 19: Epic! Live
- July 23 to 26: Champagne Orchestra
- July 30 to August 2: Element
- August 6 to 9: Sound Society
- August 13 to 16: The Hooligans
- August 20 to 23: The Vybe
- August 27 to 30: The M-80s
- September 3 to 6: Latin Ambition
- September 10 to 13: Audio Exchange
- September 17 to 20: The Hooligans
- September 24 to 27: Epic! Live
- October 1 to 4: Latin Ambition
- October 8 to 11: The Champagne Orchestra
- October 15 to 18: Summer Breeze
- October 22 to 25: The M-80’s
- October 29 to November 1: Element
- November 5 to 8: The Vybe
- November 12 to 15: Element
If your favorite artist happens to be playing at some point during the festival, try to align the day you visit Epcot with the day that they are playing. Then, you’ll get a short, yet amazing concert (or two or three, if you stay for multiple shows) included in the price of your park ticket.
The festival also has performances from:
- JAMMin’ Chefs – Canada Mill Stage
- Mariachi Cobre – America Gardens Theatre
- Voices of Liberty – America Gardens Theatre
Eat To The Beat Dining Packages NO LONGER AVAILABLE
If one of your favorite artists was ever playing as part of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival concerts, you may have considered purchasing the Eat to the Beat Dining Package. The Eat to the Beat Dining Package allowed guests to pair a meal at Rose & Crown Dining Room with guaranteed seating at the Eat to the Beat concert that night.
By eating at Rose & Crown, you’d miss out on the special food that comes with this food-centric festival. Plus, it’s relatively easy to get seats at all of the festival concerts. Put simply, unless your favorite artist of all time happens to be playing and you want to be front and center, the Eat to the Beat Dining Package probably wasn’t worth it.
Regardless, Disney announced the dining package was not coming back for 2021.
Epcot Food And Wine Festival Events
One of the coolest parts of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is the events! There is everything from culinary demonstrations to cheese seminars to Sunday brunch with famous chefs. Many of these activities fill up early, so if any of them stand out to you, be sure to book in advance!
* Currently, culinary demonstrations, chef seminars and parties are temporarily unavailable *
Demonstrations TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE
There are so many demonstrations at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
The culinary demonstrations and the alcoholic beverage tastings last a little less than an hour and cost $19 per person. The “fun” food and drink technique lessons cost $29 per person. But it’s the 90-minute cheese seminar is the one that gets booked up rather quickly, and it costs $95 per person.
*** This information is from the 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. If demonstrations are eventually brought back, pricing is subject to change. ***
Food and Wine Party for the Senses TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE
On specific Saturdays during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, Disney has the Party for the Senses. Put simply, the Party for the Senses is an extension of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. It has 20 exclusive food booths and tons of exclusive entertainment. But all this elite food and fun comes with a hefty price tag: $229 to $359 per person.
*** This information is from the 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. If the party is eventually brought back, pricing is subject to change. ***
Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak
If you’re on the hunt for a kid-friendly activity, Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak is absolutely perfect! Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak is essentially a scavenger hunt all around the park. To get started, you’ll have to purchase a map at any of the major festival shops in the park. Then, once you complete the scavenger hunt, you’ll earn a special Epcot Food and Wine Festival bowl!
Emile’s Fromage Montage
In the Epcot Food and Wine Festival passport, there will be a list of five cheese items for purchase on the final page. The total price of these items is $23.50. If you purchase all of these items and collect the stickers along the way, you’ll earn yourself a strawberry cheesecake soft serve inside a collector cup. Honestly, this is really only worth it if you were planning on purchasing all five items anyways.
Disney Food And Wine Merchandise
As with all of the Epcot festivals, Disney creates specific merchandise for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. You can find everything from clothing to trading pins to home décor to festival cookbooks. Usually, the merchandise for each year can be grouped into a handful of themes and collections.
This year’s include: Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Logo Collection, Belle Be Our Guest Collection, Remy Shake Things Up Collection, Apple Orchard Collection, Figment Passholder Collection, and Remy Hide & Squeak Scavenger Hunt.
Quick Tips For The Epcot Food And Wine Festival
Pick Up A Passport
Like many of the other Epcot festivals, the Epcot Food and Wine Festival has a passport. This passport can act as your guide for the day, as it showcases the many food booths and merchandise shops available during the festival. That way, you’ll never miss something that you want to see, especially if you couple your passport with an official map of Epcot!
Visit When It’s Not Crowded
During the time the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is happening, the crowds at Disney vary widely. While some months have lower crowds, others bring a high volume of guests. The 50th anniversary celebration is going to make crowds much worse this year. To make the most of your time in the park, visit the park on a day that isn’t too busy.
Additionally, with no fast passes and many people waiting for food, it is important to go in with the utmost patience, even if you face unexpected wait times. To try and avoid this, check out our Disney World crowd calendar.
Stick To Your Budget Using The Food & Wine Disney Gift Card
With all of the amazing options during this festival, it can be easy to get carried away. If you really need to stick to your budget, get a Food & Wine Disney Gift Card. Then load it with the amount of money you’re willing to spend (minimum $15). While you can easily reload the card, you’ll be reminded of your budget each time you reload the card. It also easily secures to a wristlet or lanyard! You won’t have to worry about digging around for money every time you want to purchase something.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, you can purchase the Food & Wine Disney Gift Card at multiple festival marketplace kiosks.
I hope you enjoy the Epcot Food and Wine Festival! It is a fun, food-filled event, and I know that you are going to enjoy it. So be sure dine on all of the delicious dishes, soak in the wonderful music, and experience the amazing culture during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.
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