We live for an EPCOT festival.
EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival
The seasonal festivals in EPCOT bring scavenger hunts, art, gardens, and of course FOOD. Trying all the food and drinks at every booth is one of our favorite Disney World activities. However, since these are seasonal festivals, they’re only around for a limited time. There are four festivals that you can take part in throughout the year — Festival of the Arts, Flower and Garden Festival, Food and Wine Festival, and Festival of the Holidays. Currently, the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival is ongoing, but that will be changing VERY soon.
The EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival started on February 28th and has been gracing the park with its presence for the past few months. The dates of the festival were shifted a little earlier than the 2023 festival, and it officially ended, May 27th!
‘Wish’ Topiary at the 2024 Flower and Garden Festival
Since the festival began, you could find topiaries, gardens, the butterfly house, and more all around EPCOT. But as of tomorrow, the park will look a lot different! The topiaries will likely be coming down and the extra experiences like the Spike the Bee’s Scavenger Hunt will no longer be available. This will mean EPCOT will be back to only offering its permanent attractions starting May 28th.
Flower and Garden Festival
Once the festival ends we won’t see another one until the Food and Wine Festival begins, which isn’t until August 29th. That means EPCOT will be without a festival for about three months — the longest break between festivals since 2019! Since there will be such a large break, we won’t be surprised if the food booths are moved backstage (they’ve been staying set up in recent years since the festivals were so close together). There will no longer be nightly entertainment in the American Gardens Theatre, and in general, things will look different.
2024 Pineapple Promenade Outdoor Kitchen
Many of our favorite dishes from the festival will also be disappearing, and we will miss them dearly! However, even with all these changes, EPCOT still has TONS of things to do, see, and eat. World Showcase often has pop-up entertainment such as bands and street performers. There are also many great places to grab a bite to eat such as Les Halles Boulangerie and Patisserie in the France pavilion, Karamell Kuche in the Germany pavilion, Regal Eagle Smokehouse at the American Adventure pavilion, and more!
Les Halles
There are also many fun rides and shows all around the park like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Frozen Ever After, Turtle Talk with Crush, and many more. Plus, on June 10th, CommuniCore Hall and Plaza will be opening! These locations will house entertainment such as the new Encanto stage show ¡Celebración Encanto!, a sing-along that includes popular songs from the movie. These two new spaces will be used for the festivals, but they will also be open even when a festival is not going on. There will even be a Mickey and Friends meet-and-greet here!
CommuniCore Hall
One thing we noticed at CommuniCore Hall is a new sign for Festival Favorites! Disney has not confirmed what this will be, but it is possible that it could be a year-round festival booth so we don’t have to miss our favorite items while a festival isn’t happening. This would make us SUPER excited!
Festival Favorites sign
So even though the Flower and Garden Festival is ending and EPCOT will be festival-free for a few months, there’s still lots to do and we have lots to look forward to!
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IT'S WINE & DINE TIME!
Food & Wine Festival can be a bummer. You stand in line waiting for what looks like the perfect treat, and it's a bust. But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE EPCOT Food & Wine Festival experience.
If you're planning a day or a week at the festival, we've got every performance, activity, and tasty nosh detailed out so you can make the most of your time and money. Listen, it's a tough job eating and documenting the nearly 200 bites and sips, but we do it all for YOU!
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Which EPCOT festival is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
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Wish they’d leave some of the characters, topiaries and the butterfly house, especially as the next festival doesn’t start for awhile. They are fun and make Epcot seem more ‘disney!’ I love all the festivals and seasons at Epcot plus Spaceship Earth, The Land boat ride, the Mexican boat ride and the theater show in America. Very much miss Morocco and its shops and sad what they did to Norway. The original ride was much more fun and the stores carried actual Norwegian items, woolens, xmas ornaments. Love the new Moana attraction! Epcot is a fave park as I don’t need a smartphone to enjoy it and there’s little stress about seeing it all in a day. I’ll miss some of the festival foods but love my fish in England, clam chowder in America, churros in Mexico and sushi and egg rolls in China. And, of course, rice candy from Japan! Thanks for such great, detailed coverage of all the festivals and their menus (and resort menus, too!).
That is very sad news about taking down all the flower and topiary decorations. I was looking forward to seeing the beautiful Orchid display in Mexico! You should leave these flower displays up all year! The flowers enhance everyone’s enjoyment of a lovely experience walking in EPCOT!