Upon reopening, all of the Disney World parks are operating at reduced capacity, and guests are required to secure a Disney Park Pass reservation to enter.
Walt Disney World
For the most part, we’ve encountered manageable crowds and wait times at the parks, although Disney’s Hollywood Studios has regularly felt more crowded. But, spoiler alert, that’s NOT the park that stresses us out the most during the weekend.
Upon reopening on July 15th, EPCOT also launched the 2020 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. In previous years, we’ve regularly seen EPCOT crowds balloon on weekends during the festival as lots of locals visit the park on these days.
2020 Taste of EPCOT
And it looks like the trend of hitting up the festival during the weekend has held steady because EPCOT has been pretty crowded on Saturdays and Sundays. Which makes sense, since Disney has reported that locals have made up about 50% of their attendance since the reopening. So, if you don’t want to deal with longer wait times and crowds, then you may want to skip this park on the weekend.
Spaceship Earth
We stopped by EPCOT this Saturday to check out the newly opened Spain and The Alps festival booths. And it was pretty jarring to see just how much more crowded the park felt on Saturday compared to our weekday visits!
The Alps Booth 2020
In Mexico, there is a cap on the number of guests that can enter the Pavilion’s pyramid in order to promote distancing. On our weekday visits, it’s been pretty rare for the pyramid to hit capacity, and when it does, guests have been asked to queue outside.
Mexico Pavilion
But on Saturday, the pyramid didn’t just reach capacity — it was so crowded that even the queue was full. Cast Members in Mexico were turning guests away from the line and told them to try back in 20 minutes.
Even the Queue Hit Capacity!
And the crowds didn’t disperse much even after we passed through Mexico. The line for the China Food and Wine booth was so long, we couldn’t even see the booth from the end of the queue! With the distancing measures in place, lines have been deceptively long — but even so, this is much farther back than we’re used to seeing the queue compared to our weekday visits.
Line for the China Food & Wine Booth
Inside the World Showplace — home to four festival booths — all of the tables were taken and we saw guests sitting on the floor throughout the building.
Crowd Inside the World Showplace
And it’s not just the Food & Wine booth queues that get inflated — the wait times for attractions at EPCOT have also been longer on the weekends. For example, on Sunday, August 30th at 4PM, the longest wait times were Frozen Ever After at 55-minutes and Test Track at 65-minutes.
EPCOT Wait Times on August 30th at 4PM
By comparison, on Wednesday, August 26th at 4PM, the longest wait times were Test Track at 20-minutes and Frozen Ever after at 30-minutes. So, it seems the weekend crowds aren’t strictly flocking to the Food and Wine festivities!
After experiencing the mid-week crowds at EPCOT, it was definitely jarring to take a trip to the park on Saturday! With that being said, if you plan on visiting Disney World during the Food and Wine Festival, we recommend you try to visit EPCOT on a weekday and avoid the park on the weekends if at all possible. Trust us, we’ve been there!
We expect that these crowds will lighten up once there’s no longer a festival taking place at EPCOT. But as of right now, the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival does not have a set end date. We will continue to keep you posted on the situation and please let us know if you have any questions.
Here’s the ONLY spot you can snag a beer flight during this year’s Food and Wine Festival!
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!
IT'S WINE & DINE TIME!
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Have you been to EPCOT since the park reopened? Share your experience in the comments!
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We are going July 2021 an the grandkids can’t wait.
Disney had no business doing the food and wine fest right now upon reopening, they should have waited till another time or just till next year. they just cant stand it unless they get those alcohol sales.
I was in EPCOT on Saturday and enjoyed myself thoroughly! I tried several of the booths, the longest wait was inside the building for the cake pops and mac and cheese. I never had an issue finding a table or spot to eat at. I did not wait for Frozen or Test Track but rode Soarin’ three times! Next trip I would like to avoid the weekends and see if it makes a difference. Loving the reduced capacity!
If a park is showing full on a particular day for the reservation is there a chance that day may be available later if you keep checking?
India, yes. Guests can drop their Disney Park Pass reservations (just like with FastPass+ and Advance Dining Reservations) that could free up reservations even last minute. It’s also possible Disney could add more DPPs, though we obviously don’t know how they go about deciding when/if to do that.
I was in Epcot last Wednesday. It felt empty. I had a private screening for “Reflections of China” (admittedly, it was the first thing I visited). The two longest waits were for Frozen Ever After (the second thing I did) and Test Track (mostly due to rain shutting it down). Almost everything else I did was close to walk-on or a short wait (including my reservation for Le Cellier). I’m glad I picked a good day to explore the park.