Everything “old” is NEW AGAIN at Festival Favorites!

Festival Favorites is a new(-ish, we’ll explain 😉 ) Marketplace Food Booth at the 2024 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival! And, just as the name implies, it presents fan-favorite Festival menu items from EPCOT Festivals of yore. Given that this is a booth full of nothing but items that won their popularity contests long ago, we’re anticipating long lines here throughout the run of the Festival… but we’re braving them, of course, to bring you our review!

Festival Favorites

So, in a sense, Festival Favorites is both a returning Food Booth AND a new Food Booth at the same time! You see, while Festival Favorites has indeed been present off-and-on during previous Festivals, it now has an all-new — and uniquely permanent and year-round — location at EPCOT’s CommuniCore Hall in World Celebration.

Yep, you read that right… Festival Favorites is open all year long! When it made its debut in June 2024, it did so with a menu presenting items primarily from EPCOT’s Flower and Garden Festival, which is held in the spring. But that menu has changed to focus on favorites that are mostly specific to the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival.

Menu

Sooo… what are the “favorites” that this Booth is boasting about? Here you’ll find the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogis, BBQ Pork Rinds, and a Key Lime Tart.

Beloved beverages here include the Frozen S’mores and the Irish Milk Shake. Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen, Parish Brewing Co. SIPS Cab Franc Strawberry, and 3 Daughters Brewing Beach Blonde Ale can be enjoyed individually or as part of the Beer Flight. Goldschmidt ‘Katherine’ Cabernet Sauvignon and Martin Ray Chardonnay are also available.

Let’s see if these items can hold onto their “Festival Favorites” titles this year…

Eats

Say “Welcome back” to the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogis! Though the Poland Booth has not returned from previous years, its most popular dish has, thanks to Festival Favorites. This dish — presented with caramelized onions and sour cream — is so well-liked that we even have the recipe for it so readers can make it at home!

This dish is available for $6. This dish is just as good as we remembered. Featuring super flavorful meat with a little bit of grease (in a good way), this treat is very flavorful. The cheese topping is a standout and mimics something akin to cheese curd poutine. Delicious and addicting, we couldn’t get enough!

A more recent Festival menu item is the BBQ Pork Rinds served with pimento cheese, which debuted at the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival in 2021 at the The Swanky Saucy Swine. (P.S. This item is also eligible for those participating in the Emile’s Fromage Montage cheese crawl.)

You can grab ’em for $5. Our pork rinds had a great coating of barbecue flavor that was a little hotter than regular barbecue sauce, but still fairly low heat. The cheese was super creamy, greasy, and rich, which only enhanced all the flavors to make this an incredibly explosive dish. This treat was our favorite at Festival Favorites, which says a lot!

You may remember the Key Lime Tart from the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival AND the EPCOT Festival of the Arts.

Now it’s made its way to the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival for $4.75. This tasty dessert nails the key lime flavor, but may struggle with the Florida heat. Ours ended up being gooey and runny on the inside after quickly melting, but it still tasted great.

With the food down, let’s jump into all the drinks we tried!

Drinks

A couple of iconic Festival drinks are up for grabs, too, starting with the Frozen S’mores made with Toasted Marshmallow Syrup and complete with S’mores-style garnishes (chocolate shavings and a graham cracker piece). At first, no one knew quite what to make of this sippable twist on the classic campfire treat when it made its debut back in the day. (Remember the Desserts & Champagne Booth?). But clearly, it has stood the test of time!

This non-alcoholic drink costs $4.75 and is a real winner among kids. Featuring all sorts of goodies, this shake at its core is a chocolate milkshake, so even when it melts it’s still oh-so-good.

Now, I KNOW a lot of people will be excited for this one: the Irish Milk Shake (previously known as the Guinness Baileys Coffee Shake), made with Guinness Stout, Baileys Original Irish Cream Liqueur, and vanilla ice cream — is a Festival Favorite, indeed!

While it came as a surprise that the long-standing Ireland Booth would not be returning to the Festival this year, the presence of the Irish Milk Shake here provides a bit of balm. You can likewise ease your sorrows over its absence for $12.50.

Our shake was very creamy, decadent, and delicious. Its chocolate shaving toppings are a nice touch and the fact that it’s still served in an Ireland cup makes this not only a great beverage but a great souvenir, as well!

We opted for the Festival Favorites Beer Flight to try all three beers on the menu: the Festival-famous  Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen, Parish Brewing Co. SIPS Cab Franc Strawberry, and 3 Daughters Brewing Beach Blonde Ale.

Each individual beer costs $5.75 or $9.75 (6oz and 12oz respectively), while the Flight is $10.25. We started with the 3 Daughters Brewing Beach Blonde Ale and it was our least favorite of the three, not truly standing out in any capacity.

Next, we tried the Parish Brewing Co. SIPS Cab Franc Strawberry, which was our favorite drink of the Flight. This beer had a very bold strawberry flavor that you immediately taste, so strawberry fans should give this one a try.

Finally, we finished with the Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen, which had that tasty citrusy flavor we were hoping for. While very good, this beer isn’t unique to the Food & Wine Festival and can be found in the Germany Pavilion at EPCOT.

Wine drinkers can opt for Goldschmidt ‘Katherine’ Cabernet Sauvignon or Martin Ray Chardonnay. 

OVERALL

All in all, Festival Favorites honors its name and really delivers. Packed with tasty treats and beverages, this booth did not disappoint and we don’t think it will disappoint you either. Everything was a home run for us aside from the Beer Flight, but even that was still good.

Festival Favorites will likely have a long line due to its popular offerings, but if you’re willing to wait, you might just get some of the best snacks and drinks of the entire festival.

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival? We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest. Click our links below for the information you need to know:

• Learn about the Eat to the Beat Concert Series and Dining Packages
• Check out ALL of the 2024 Food & Wine Booth Menus
• Find ALL of our EPCOT Food and Wine Festival REVIEWS right here!

And don’t forget to pick up our 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival e-book! See more details about the book below.

What items from this booth would you most want to try? Tell us in the comments!