What’s this? WHAT’S THIS? There’s something in the air…
2023 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays
It’s the smell of cozy, wintertime comfort foods! We’re headed to EPCOT for the FIRST day of the 2023 International Festival of the Holidays, where holiday food booths and Christmastime traditions have taken over the park. This is a fan-favorite festival for a REASON — there are seemingly endless food options, a COOKIE scavenger hunt, and opportunities to tune in to the Christmas spirit the way the countries represented in World Showcase do. You must be wondering: How CROWDED is the opening day of this festival? Well, we’re here to tell ya!
When we first headed into EPCOT, lines were pretty long, but we’ll be honest. We’ve seen lines like these on a regular park day. So, we were pretty optimistic!
Here’s a look at the line as we entered
As we entered World Discovery, crowds dispersed quite a bit, and the busiest spot seemed to be Joffrey’s! Hey, we totally get it. No coffee, no magic, baby!
Crowds in World Discovery
Here’s a look at the crowds in World Showcase — headed into the Canada Pavilion. The crowds are definitely there, but not so intense that we felt overwhelmed.
World Showcase
However, those crowds dispersed as we ventured further into World Showcase. It has been a relatively sleepy morning, which we LOVE! We weren’t entirely sure how the crowds would be this morning, especially since Park Pass Reservations sold out earlier this week because it was so busy, and Genie+ sold out. Not to mention, the festival started the day after Thanksgiving.
Crowds inn the UK Pavilion
In France, it was practically a ghost town. The booths aren’t open yet, but this still feels super slow compared to other festival days.
Hello?
Throughout the park, the busiest part was definitely STILL the Joffrey’s line. 😂 This is the day to be in EPCOT, y’all!
Joffrey’s!
UPDATE: Later in the evening, around 4 and 5PM, we noticed a significant increase in crowds. This likely happened as locals got off work and people started to trickle in for the evening! So if you’re hoping to get to these booths before the rush, we recommend being at EPCOT early!
We’ll continue to keep you updated with all things holiday festivities in EPCOT, so make sure to follow along for more so that you never miss a thing and are always in the loop.
Looking for more to do at the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays? Click here!
DON'T MISS A MOMENT
OF HOLIDAY MAGIC
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MORE Disney World Holiday INFO!
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Everything You Need to Know About Disney World Holiday Dining and Events
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Are you headed to Festival of the Holidays this year? Let us know in the comments!
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Six more days and we will be enjoying Festival of the Holidays and Guardians of the Galaxy! So excited! I am thrilled that Star will be the completer cookie. My five year old granddaughter is going to see Wish tomorrow … her very first movie in the theater… so I plan to bring the Star cookie home to NC for her!
I think you need to revisit, at 2 pm there were crowds everywhere. France was packed.