We’re just a few weeks away from the kickoff of EPCOT‘s biggest festival — the International Food & Wine Festival!
2023 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival
In 2024, the Food & Wine Festival will take place from August 29th through November 23rd, which is actually later than it has been starting in recent years. And honestly, in those recent years, we’ve started to notice a problem with the festival.
When the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival first started back in 1996, it was a month-long event that lasted through part of September and October, meant to boost park attendance during the slower season. But over the decades, the festival has grown both in size and in popularity.
2023 The Alps Booth
Nowadays, the festival has dozens of food booths, unique entertainment, exclusive merchandise, and even its own runDisney race weekend. It’s quite the shindig! In my years attending the festival, I’ve tried some really delicious eats and enjoyed the atmosphere tremendously, but I do have one controversial opinion about the festival overall.
EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Crowds
I think the Food & Wine Festival takes place at the WRONG time of year…at least, for Florida! In the years since the pandemic, the festival had been kicking off in July, which was simply WAY too early. Now that it has been pushed back to August, I’m a little relieved, but still wary of the timeline. Why? Because the vibes don’t fit the season!
Brew-Wing Full Spread
The Food & Wine Festival is clearly meant to be enjoyed in the fall and early winter seasons. You can tell based on the menus! Disney serves up dishes like hot soup, steak, heavy pasta, and plenty of items smothered in hot cheese. Don’t get me wrong, the menus are usually spectacular, but they’re just not made for those sweltering Florida temperatures.
Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup
Typically, we start to get the first sign of fall weather in Florida in October, with that HEAVY summer heat and humidity sticking around through September. And when it’s in the 90s and muggy, the last thing I want to do is eat a hot soup or heavy pasta off a trash can, possibly in the rain. Now, ask me again if I want the same dish in November? My answer will change drastically.
Italy Full Spread
With the festival starting in August and having a whole month or month and a half of summer weather, I’m just not in the right headspace to enjoy the eats that EPCOT is offering. Take the International Flower & Garden Festival as an example — that festival usually runs in the spring and early summer, but it’s marked by fresh dishes with light ingredients and fruits and vegetables. It’s much more fitting to its season.
The Flower & Garden Festival
Even the Festival of the Holidays works well with the weather outdoors. Its menus are filled with holiday specialties around the world — typically hearty, heavy items that warm you from the inside while you sit around a fire with your family. That totally works during November and December.
Holiday Hearth Spread 2023
So why isn’t the Food & Wine Festival fixing its menu to match the weather? Well, unfortunately, summer weather lasts quite a while in Florida and it’s difficult to plan around. Plus, the Food & Wine Festival has to be wrapped up before Thanksgiving so that the Festival of the Holidays can roll in for the last six weeks of the year. If Disney wants to capitalize on their time, they have to start Food & Wine early.
2023 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival
Of course, we’re always at the first day of every EPCOT festival, no matter the weather! We’ll be there on the opening day of Food & Wine to try all the eats. But don’t blame me if I personally wait to go back and try them again until it’s legitimately autumn. 😉
2023 Spain Booth
Stay tuned to DFB for more news and updates from Disney World, including all the information about this year’s festivals at EPCOT! We’ve got you covered with the latest.
Click Here to Learn About the Food & Wine Festival!
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!
Learn More About the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival!
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Great job DFB
Can Loungefly bags fit a tray?
DFB recommends a food tray , especially for Food & Wine.
Does DFB have a recommendation for a bag that will fit a food tray?
Hi Joe! It would have to be a very small tray to fit in the Loungefly as they’re super small. For Food & Wine I’d recommend a larger backpack to fit a tray, maybe some utensils and wet wipes.
Agree on the hot temps detracting from the F&W Festival – we go in early September and it is REALLY too hot and humid to enjoy a lot of food. Maybe the booths should try what the Farmer’s Feast does – have 2-3 menu changes over the festival time period, with late summer selections (think picnic and bbq foods) followed by fall harvest items…plus it would get locals back to try each one!
Disagree, I was hoping that they would shorten the F&W festival. Also hope this will mean better quality of the food. My first festival was 1998 and didn’t attend again until 2022 and again 2023.
The quality of the food is extremely hit or miss not just from year to year but day to day. A shorter festival might correct this issue.
I don’t think having parks decorated for Halloween in mid-August fits the vibe of the season either but that doesn’t seem to stop them. As long as Disney can get people to spend more money, they’ll keep doing things that generate it. Make people spend more and more is the new Disney motto.
I totally agree with soup in august, it’s simply too hot for that. Only people used to extreme heat could handle it. I’ve gone to food and wine festival in early august and completely regretted it. It was so hot that I didn’t want to eat anything. I won’t make that mistake again.
I also miss the old food and wine with the wine tastings and the food network shows and all the activities surrounding that. I liked learning about new products and eating the results of the cooking shows. I hope those come back this year.
I completely agree! That is why we always plan our visit towards the end of the festival. The merch selection isn’t as great but we have a much better experience at the festival overall.
I’ll be attending my very first EPCOT festival on the first day of Food and Wine fest! It’s also my first time going to WDW, I’m so excited!!!
Just too warm for eating off the tops of garbage cans