We are DAYS away from the return of the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival, and we are getting excited!
Food and Wine 2023
All the booths and menus for the 2024 Food and Wine Festival were just recently released, and we have been making our game plans for when we visit the festival on August 29th. This year, there are five new booths and so many new menu items! And, of course, fan-favorite booths and items will also make their return this year. If you are like us, though, you may be looking for a place to cool off in EPCOT, and this newly re-opened space is the perfect place to do so!
Morocco Pavilion in the World Showcase was home to the Annual Passholder Lounge during V.I. Passholder Days over the summer. This lounge has now closed, and if you have walked by the Morocco Pavilion recently, you may have noticed that it is somewhat quiet. However, if you head towards the back of Morocco, Restaurant Marrakesh has recently re-opened its doors!
Restaurant Marrakesh
Restaurant Marrakesh has been temporarily closed, and last year, it re-opened as a lounge space for the Food and Wine Festival. This year, it is once again open, but for a different reason.
Restaurant Marrakesh
Although Kidcot has changed over the years, it is still a great activity for kids and kids at heart to learn more about the countries in the World Showcase. Kidcot Fun Stops are typically located at small tables in each pavilion, with a Cast Member stationed there. Those participating get to collect activity cards from each country that include activities and facts about the cultures and traditions of each country. You even get a fun-themed baggie to carry all your cards in!
Kidcot
Morocco’s Kidcot Fun Stop used to be located at the Marketplace in the Medina, and the Disney World website is still showing that this is the current location, but when we stopped by, it was actually inside of the abandoned Restaurant Marrakesh!
Morocco Kidcot
We are not sure how long this area will stay open, but we have our fingers crossed that it will be open for the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival, which is just around the corner. Keep in mind that it might not be open during your visit — the hours seem to be rather inconsistent! But if it’s open, this location is a great place to chill out and get some air conditioning to help you power through trying all the fun and booths around EPCOT!
Restaurant Marrakesh open as an indoor seating area
Last year, Restaurant Marrakesh was used as the Florida Blue Medicare Lounge, which offered free drinks, henna tattoos, and sometimes special seating for certain Eat to the Beat concerts. There has been no word of whether this lounge will make its return for the 2024 festival, as it is Morocco’s current Kidcot location.
Kidcot
If you are looking for other fun activities to do around EPCOT during the Food and Wine Festival, you can participate in a cheese crawl! Emile’s Fromage Montage is a cheese crawl where you can sample different cheese items all around the festival and get your Festival Passport stamped to redeem it for a prize.
We got all of our stamps last year!
If you want to do a more classic scavenger hunt, Remy’s Hide and Squeak Scavenger Hunt will also make its return. This scavenger hunt is fun for all ages, and once you purchase your map, you can either redeem it for your Festival prize right then and there or complete the scavenger hunt and look for Remy first.
2023 Remy’s Hide & Squeak Scavenger Hunt Map
Of course, it is Halloween time at Disney World, so if you are looking for another fun scavenger hunt, you can participate in Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit. This hunt works the same way as Remy’s Hide and Squeak Scavenger Hunt, but there is a different map and prize for finding all the pumpkins. This scavenger hunt is not offered the entire duration of the festival and is available from September 29th to November 1st, or while supplies last.
Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit (2023)
We are looking forward to trying all the food offerings at all of the global marketplaces/booths during the Food and Wine Festival this year and hope that Morocco’s Kidcot Fun Stop in Restaurant Marrakesh keeps its doors open during the Festival.
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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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A waste of space. If Disney won’t reopen the restaurant then blow it up and build an attraction. World Showcase certainly needs more attractions.
We don’t have plans to visit in the near future, but it is great to see the space open and not actively targeted for destruction, in spite of not coming back as a restaurant since the pandemic. We loved eating at Restaurant Marrakesh, we loved the food, the music, the dancing, and there were some really great Morrocan wines you could get there too. I hope it comes back as a restaurant someday. Even if it’s different. I’ve always thought an opportunity for an Aladdin character meal was being missed here. But maybe some people would consider that in poor taste since it’s a different country.
So no more Florida blue lounge?? That is a bummer.
Why don’t they just return it to the restaurant it used to be? I’m actually surprised they haven’t as what they’ve put in their lately doesn’t generate any money and we know that’s all Disney is about these days. Tear down anything beautiful that doesn’t put more money into Iger’s pockets and put in more concrete. And take five years to do it.
I hope the Moroccan restaurant can return someday. The food was unique and delicious.