A Word of WARNING About the First Day of the Festival of the Arts in EPCOT

Ever wonder how HORRIBLE crowds are on the opening day of an EPCOT Festival (or whether they’re that bad at all)? Well, we’ve got the answer…

Festival of the Arts

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts has officially begun for 2023 (and will last through February 20th). We’ve ventured to EPCOT on the Festival’s opening day to share FULL reviews of every single food booth, a look at the entertainment & merchandise, and MORE. But you won’t be experiencing this Festival alone, so let’s take a look at those opening day crowds.

We made our way to EPCOT early this morning and let’s just say we weren’t the only ones hoping to get into the park as early as possible.

Guests already at the entrance!

Note that generally speaking, EPCOT Festivals can get busier as the day goes on. While some folks may not have wanted to get up early for the Festival fun, they may decide to join a bit later in the day. This can be particularly true after 2PM once Park Hopping is available for those who couldn’t score an EPCOT Park Pass to start their day.

Look at all those people!

Weekends can also be a really busy time at EPCOT Festivals, as locals and Annual Passholders may take that time to swing a quick trip to the parks without interrupting their work schedules.

While crowds can impact your general experience, keep in mind that they can also lead to longer lines at the food booths, merchandise kiosks, and rides. Just check out the crowds inside Creations Shop first thing in the morning!

It was PACKED in here.

If you want to try and AVOID Festival crowds, consider visiting during the weekdays (ideally not on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays) and no matter when you visit, consider getting there very early. If you can be at the food booths when they open (which is generally around 11AM), you could potentially knock out quite a few booths before the rest of the crowds have really arrived.

Avoiding the Festival’s opening weekend and closing weekend can also help you skip some of the larger crowds!

You’ll definitely want to pack your patient pants today.

We’ll keep updating this post with more crowd photos throughout the day, so stay tuned!

Planning your trip to the 2023 Festival of the Arts and not sure where to start? You’ve come to the right place! Click here to see the FULL menus for all of the food booths this year, click here to see a list of all of the NEW items at the Festival, and click here to see the items you can get to complete the Festival of the Arts Food CHALLENGE.

Want to know how to handle the Festival like a PRO? Grab our BRAND NEW DFB Guide to the Festival of the Arts for 150+ pages of tips, tricks, and advice.

Festival of the Arts Guide

We’ve got ALL of the information you’ll need in there to make sure you enjoy every single minute of the Festival and don’t miss the very best it has to offer!

Click here to get the guide!

MAKE THE MOST
OF YOUR FESTIVAL DAYS

DFB's guide to the Festival of the Arts details everything you need to know to maximize your time, budget, and stomach space! Know what's worth it and what to skip with our full-photo menus of each booth, complete with DFB's Best of the Fest.

It includes all the must-have information for navigating this colorful festival at Disney World, including:

🍭 Booth & food photos, maps, and crawls with DFB's exclusive recommendations!
🖌 The COMPLETE schedule of events (so you don't have to go hunting for all the dates!)
🎨 All the details on special events, artist meet-n-greets, festival-exclusive merchandise, and more!