The 2022 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is HERE and we’ve been making our way around the food booths and more to give you all kinds of updates.

We’ve already checked out the MULTI-HOUR wait for the new Figment popcorn bucket, shared a look at the merchandise, and even started our scavenger hunt for pieces of art featuring the one and only Figment. But now we want to turn our focus to a specific food challenge you can complete at the festival — it’s called the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine! But is this food challenge worth it? Here are our thoughts.

During the Festival of the Arts, Disney offers something called the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine. This is an activity we’ve seen offered at the Festival in the past. Much like the Cookie Stroll during the Festival of the Holidays, the idea here is to buy (and enjoy) items from specially marked spots which are part of the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine.

Note: The Disney World website identifies 5 FEATURED foods that are part of the Wonderful Walk of Cuisine. But the Festival Passport notes that you can buy “any five (5) menu items from the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine locations.” In the past that has typically given guests a bit more flexibility as they could typically order any combination of the featured items. Be sure to ask a Cast Member for more details as to how things work this year.

You’ll use your Festival Passport (which you can get for FREE in the park) to track your purchases and get a stamp after each purchase.

Once you’ve finished buying and eating up the 5 items that are part of the Walk, you’ll bring your passport to the Deco Delights food booth to get your FREE reward.

How much will it cost you to complete this particular food challenge, are the items on the list particularly tasty, and is it worth the cash? Here are our thoughts.

Red: Blood Orange-braised Beet Carpaccio

First up we have the Blood Orange-braised Beet Carpaccio with Mustard Vinaigrette, Pickled Clamshell Mushrooms, Golden Beets and Crostini. You’ll find this over at the Gourmet Landscapes booth. This dish is plant-based and is new to the Festival this year. This item will set you back $5.50.

This dish was…not our reporter’s favorite. It had a plant-based blue cheese on it which was not the best in terms of flavor (at least for our reporter). Our reporter who tried this is also not a fan of beets, but the acidity of the vegetables took away from some of that more “beet-y” flavor, which they appreciated.

Click here for our FULL review of this dish and the entire Gourmet Landscapes booth.

Green: Deconstructed Key Lime Pie

Next we have the Deconstructed Key Lime Pie featuring flexible Key Lime Curd, “Key Lime” Mousse, Graham Cracker Cake and Meringues, which is located at The Deconstructed Dish. This item is new to the Festival this year and will cost you $4.75.

This dish was fabulous! The mousse was nice and tart and we especially loved the graham cracker cake! Overall, it was really refreshing and tasty.

See our full review of this dish and the Deconstructed Dish booth here.

Yellow: House-made Chorizo and Potato Empanada

Over at Vibrante & Vivido: Encanto Cocina you’ll find the next item on the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine — the House-made Chorizo and Potato Empanada with Turmeric Aïoli and Annatto Aïoli. This is another dish that is new to the 2022 Festival. This Empanada costs $6.50.

This empanada was actually one of our FAVORITE things at the Festival of the Arts. It was really substantial in terms of serving size, had some delicious & spicy chorizo and lots of potato inside, and the aioli added another fantastic layer of flavor. Seriously, we give this dish an A+ for flavor and serving size.

Get all of our thoughts on this dish and the others at Vibrante & Vivido here!

Orange: Pan-seared Scallops

At The Artist’s Table you’ll find a seafood dish that is part of the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine — the Pan-seared Scallops with Vanilla-Butternut Squash Purée, Brown Butter Cauliflower Purée and Lime Foam. This is actually a returning item from previous years though it has a new presentation this year and some different accompaniments. These cost $7.

This year’s dish leans into those warm, savory flavors, and the presentation is really fun! The scallops tasted like scallops (no big surprise there) but they were tasty. The REAL winner of the dish, however, was the Vanilla-Butternut Squash Purée. So good!

Check out our full review of the scallops and more from The Artist’s Table here.

Pink: Vanilla Donut with All the Strawberry Things

Over at The Donut Box you’ll find the “pink” item from the Wonderful Walk, which is the Vanilla Donut with Strawberry Sugar, Strawberry Ice Cream, Fresh Strawberries and Strawberry Gelée. The item is new to the Festival and is $5.50.

We actually really enjoyed this treat! We found the flavors to be pretty nice as it tasted more like a pound cake than a donut, with a lot of tasty glaze. Having all of those strawberry fixings was a nice touch and the strawberry ice cream was heavenly!

Click here to see our full review of The Donut Box booth!

The Prize!

And that’s it! Once you’ve purchased those 5 items, it’s time to head to Deco Delights to claim your prize.

The prize this year is the same as it has been in years’ past — it’s The Artist Palette Cookie & a Mixed Berry Smoothie in a cute Festival of the Arts-themed cup.

The Artist Palette Cookie is totally adorable and colorful (very fitting for the name of this challenge).

And we loved the cup the smoothie was served in!

The smoothie and cup cannot be purchased on their own — meaning you HAVE to complete the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine to grab them. We asked a Cast Member and, though its not indicated, they said you can purchase the cookie.

Picked up our prizes for the Wonderful Walk of Color 🌈 a mixed berry smoothie and a painter’s palate cookie! pic.twitter.com/nKFZ8BgGNG

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 15, 2022

 

 

 

We liked that the paint colors on the cookie were a bit more splattered than they were last year and we especially liked that the prizes included that smoothie and cup.

Overall

Overall, if you buy all 5 featured options for the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, you’ll end up spending $29.25. In comparison to last year’s challenge, that’s actually a few cents cheaper — not bad!

The featured options themselves are fairly unique and are relatively balanced out with 3 savory items, and 3 sweet items (if you include the cookie prize). They also focus mainly on newer items (with the exception of those scallops, though they are somewhat new in terms of their accompaniments). If you’re looking for an excuse to push yourself a little out of your comfort zone and try some of the new arrivals to the Festival, this could be a good option.

It’s also just a fun thing to do as you make your way through the booths — giving you a reason to stop at each of these particular booths, some of which you may have otherwise walked past if you didn’t have a specific item there that called your name.

Regardless of how fun it can be, it’s not exactly cheap! And you might not like some of the items on the featured list (depending on your tastes) so that’s something to consider. Though be sure to ask about potentially ordering a combination of those 5 dishes.

Another nice thing about this activity is that it can be done at your leisure — you don’t have to finish it all in one day or one trip. As long as you bring your completed passport to the appropriate booth before the end of the Festival you’ll be able to get your prize (no matter how many trips it took you to complete the challenge).

Overall, if you’re a fan of food challenges (and free prizes) and want to step outside of your comfort zone and try some new dishes, this can be fun. But it’s a little pricey and doesn’t give you all that much choice.

This isn’t the only experience you can have at the Festival of the Arts though — there are plenty of entertainment options, scavenger hunts, and other things to do and see. Be sure to check back with us for ALL of the Festival of the Arts news you need to know!

Click here to check out the Figment SPORK that is available at the Festival of the Arts!

Would you complete the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine in EPCOT? Tell us in the comments!