EPCOT Food & Wine 2026 Guide – Menus, Magic Shots, and a Whole Building of Cheese

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is open. The 2026 edition runs August 27 through November 21, and Disney is marking this one as the festival’s 30th anniversary, counting from the original 1996 debut. Everything is included with regular EPCOT admission, though food, beverages, and merchandise are purchased separately.

We spent opening day walking the marketplaces, so this guide now includes what’s out there: the full booth list, the ones that don’t open for another few weeks, prices on the returning legacy items, and a few things Disney didn’t put in the press release.

Last updated: August 28, 2026

Jump to a Section

• What’s New This Year
• Every Global Marketplace, and When It Opens
• Every Booth Menu, With Prices
• What We Ate on Opening Day
• Festival Favorites Return
• Eat to the Beat 2026 Schedule
• Tiny Train Town Joins the Festival
• Festival Merchandise
• PhotoPass Magic Shots
• Know Before You Go
• What’s Still Missing
• Still to Come
• Let’s Hear From You

What’s New This Year

The headline addition this year is “Cheers to Cheese!”, an all-new interactive exhibit in CommuniCore Hall running September 18 through November 8. Disney says it will explore the history, culture, and fun facts surrounding cheese through a series of interactive displays.

Two things worth noting. First, it opens three weeks into the festival and closes two weeks before the festival ends, so anyone visiting in late August, early September, or the back half of November misses it entirely. Second, it’s a good example of what CommuniCore Hall was purpose-built to be: a flexible indoor space that can be re-themed for whatever season EPCOT is currently in, rather than a permanent attraction in its own right.

The exhibit is paired with a matching marketplace, The Wedge, hosted by Dairy Does More, which runs on the same September 18 to November 8 window in the same building. Between the two of them and Emile’s Fromage Montage, cheese is doing an unusual amount of heavy lifting at this year’s festival.

The 30th anniversary is the other addition. Disney has flagged 30 returning or reimagined “legacy” items across the marketplaces, the festival banners around World Showcase carry a 30 Years roundel, and each booth sign is marked “Established in 1996.”

Also new is a Waiter Mickey Mouse PhotoPass Magic Shot, debuting in several World Showcase pavilions including Mexico, China, Italy, Japan, and France. More on the PhotoPass lineup further down.

Every Global Marketplace, and When It Opens

There are more than 30 marketplaces this year, but six of them are not open yet. If you are planning an opening-month trip, this is the list to plan around. Full menus with prices for every booth are in the next section.

World Celebration and CommuniCore Hall

• Festival Favorites (opens September 9)
• The Wedge, hosted by Dairy Does More (September 18 to November 8)
• Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey

World Discovery, around Test Track and Creations Shop

• Gyozas of the Galaxy
• Flavors from Fire
• The Fry Basket
• Refreshment Station, hosted by Coca-Cola
• Coastal Eats (opens October 2)

World Nature and the Imagination walkway

• Earth Eats (opens October 2)
• Forest & Field
• Milled & Mulled
• Bramblewood Bites

World Showcase

• Australia
• Mexico
• China
• India (opens October 2)
• Refreshment Outpost, hosted by Coca-Cola
• The Alps (opens October 2)
• Germany
• Spain
• Italy
• Hops & Barley
• Funnel Cake
• Japan
• Greece
• Tangerine Café: Flavors of the Medina
• Belgium
• Brazil
• France
• Canada
• Swirled Showcase
• Shimmering Sips
• Hawai’i

The practical takeaway: an opening-week visit is missing India, The Alps, Coastal Eats, Earth Eats, Festival Favorites, and The Wedge. That’s six booths, and four of them do not arrive until October 2. If you have been waiting all year for raclette or tartiflette from The Alps, book accordingly.

Also worth knowing: the festival passport is free and available at the entrance stands and at most booths. It carries every booth menu, the entertainment schedule, the Emile’s Fromage Montage rules, and this year a rundown of the 30th anniversary legacy items. It is the single most useful thing you can pick up on the way in, and plenty of guests walk right past the stand.

Every Booth Menu, With Prices

Here is the whole festival, booth by booth, in the order you’d walk it. Two symbols to know: ★ marks a 30th Anniversary Legacy Item, and 🧀 marks a dish that earns a stamp toward Emile’s Fromage Montage. Where two prices are shown on a beer or cider, that’s the 6 oz pour and the 12 oz pour. Prices are before tax and Disney adjusts them without announcement, so treat these as accurate to opening week.

World Celebration and CommuniCore Hall

Festival Favorites (opens September 9)

• ★ Potato Pierogi, $5.99
• ★ Bo Ssam Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps, $6.19
• ★ 🧀 Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse Trifle, $5.29
• Frozen S’mores, $5.29
• Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen, $6.00 / $9.75
• Parish Brewing Co. SIPS Cabernet Franc Strawberry Berliner Weisse, $6.00 / $9.75
• 3 Daughters Brewing Beach Blonde Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Beer Flight, $12.75
• Frozen Apple Blossom, $16.50

The Wedge, hosted by Dairy Does More (September 18 to November 8)

• ★ 🧀 Selection of Cheeses, price not posted at press time
• ★ 🧀 Crab and Corn Macaroni and Cheese, $7.19
• 🧀 Cheesesteak Macaroni and Cheese, price not posted at press time
• 🧀 Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese, $5.49
• Cannoli Milk Shake, $5.49
• Bodegas Avancia Old Vines Godello, $8.50
• Las Jaras Superbloom Rosé, $8.50
• Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, $13.00
• Wine Flight, $12.50
• Wine and Cheese Pairing, $17.50

Four of the fourteen Fromage Montage dishes are at this one booth, so the crawl gets much easier after September 18.

Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey

• Wing Experiments, $7.79 each: Garlic-Parmesan, Buffalo-Dill Pickle, Korean Barbecue, or Carolina Reaper Pepper-Curry
• Sweet Chile-Lime Plant-based Chicken Strips, $7.79
• Fried Pickle Spears with Dill Ranch, $5.79
• ★ Pickle Milk Shake, $6.49
• Frozen Pomegranate and Raspberry Tea, $5.19
• Civil Society Brewing Everyday I’m Waffle’n IPA, $6.00 / $9.75
• 3 Daughters Brewing Peanut Butter Blondie Blonde Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Playalinda Brewing Co. Pumpkin Cheesecake Blonde Stout, $6.00 / $9.75
• Bold Rock Apple Crumble Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75
• Ciderboys Cherry Jubilee Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75
• Ciderboys Pumpkin Spice Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75
• Beer Flight or Hard Cider Flight, $12.75

World Discovery, around Test Track and Creations Shop

Gyozas of the Galaxy

• Basil Pesto Chicken Dumplings, $5.99
• Edamame Dumplings, $5.29 (plant-based)
• Street Corn-style Dumplings, $5.99
• Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris, $7.50

Flavors from Fire

• ★ Rodizio-style Grilled Beef Skewer, $6.99
• Smoked Corned Beef, $6.49
• Smoked Chocolate Bread Pudding, $4.99
• Left Hand Brewing Co. Sawtooth Amber Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• 1000 Stories Bourbon Barrel-Aged Zinfandel, $6.50
• Swine Brine, $13.00

The Fry Basket

• Adobo Yuca Fries, $5.79 (plant-based)
• Fry Flight, $7.99: Sea Salt-Malt Vinegar, Truffle-Parmesan, and Sweet Potato Casserole
• Barrel of Monks Blood Orange Bliss Sour Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Boyd & Blair Grapefruit Mule, $12.50

Coastal Eats (opens October 2)

• Crab Cake, $7.49
• Seafood Pot Pie, $7.49
• Rileys Lookout Sauvignon Blanc, $6.50
• Boyd & Blair Pomegranate Codder, $12.50

Refreshment Station, hosted by Coca-Cola

• Frozen Coca-Cola, $6.25, or topped with assorted candies, $7.00
• Assorted Frozen Beverage, $6.25, or with assorted candies, $7.00

This one is a standing kiosk running its regular frozen drink menu rather than a festival booth with its own dishes, despite appearing on the festival map.

World Nature and the Imagination Walkway

Earth Eats (opens October 2)

• 🧀 Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib, $8.49
• Lemon-Almond-Olive Oil Cake, $4.49
• Minute Maid Aguas Frescas, Strawberry Hibiscus, $4.79
• Harken Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, $6.50

Forest & Field

• Spicy Black Bean-Mushroom Chili, $5.99 (plant-based)
• 🧀 Pumpkin-Mascarpone Ravioli, $5.49
• Schiacciata Sandwich, $6.29
• Brewery Ommegang All Hallows Treat Imperial Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout, $6.00 / $9.75
• Famille Hugel Classic Pinot Noir, $7.00
• Daou Vineyards Chardonnay, $6.50

Milled & Mulled

• Butternut Squash and Ginger Bisque, $5.49
• ★ Freshly Baked Carrot Cake, $4.99
• Apple-Cinnamon and Caramel Mini Churros Sundae, $5.29
• Southern Tier Brewing Company Sweater Weather Vanilla Toffee Amber Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• 3 Daughters Brewing Apple Strudel Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75

Bramblewood Bites

• Grilled Cider-brined Pork Tenderloin, $7.19
• Cast Iron-seared River Trout, $7.29
• Brûléed Sweet Potatoes, $4.99
• Crooked Can Brewing Company Banana Bread German Style Wheat Beer, $6.00 / $9.75
• Spiced Apple Rum Old Fashioned, $12.50

World Showcase

Australia

• Grilled Bushberry-spiced Shrimp Skewer, $6.99
• ★ Roasted Lamb Chop, $8.79
• Mixed Berry Pavlova, $4.79
• Yalumba “The Y Series” Viognier, $6.50
• Bulletin Place Sauvignon Blanc, $6.50
• Fowles Farm to Table Shiraz, $7.50
• Wine Flight, $7.50

Mexico

• Tostada de Osso Buco, $8.25
• ★ Taco de Camaron, $8.50
• Paleta de Moras, $7.00
• Mexican Craft Beer, $8.50 / $11.00
• Cherry Nostalgia, $13.50
• Fruta de la Pasión, $13.75

China

• ★ Dumplings Trio, $7.35
• Smoked Duck Bao Bun, $8.25
• Beijing Zhajiang Noodles, $8.50
• Mango-Peach Bubble Tea, $7.95
• Honghe Rice Lager Draft, $6.00 / $10.75
• Baijiu Punch, $14.25
• Hainan Prosperity, $14.25
• Frozen Strawberry-Jasmine Cocktail, $14.00

India (opens October 2)

• Potato-Pea Samosas, $5.49 (plant-based)
• Chicken Tikka Masala, $6.49
• Mango Lassi, $5.29, or with Camikara 8-Year-Old Cask Aged Rum, $12.50
• United Breweries Taj Mahal Premium Lager, $6.00 / $9.75
• Sula Tropicale Brut Sparkling Wine, $7.50

Refreshment Outpost, hosted by Coca-Cola

• Berbere-spiced Beef Stew, $6.79
• ★ Sweet Potato Mealie Pap, $5.79 (plant-based)
• South African Cream Liqueur Chocolate Mousse, $6.29
• Breckenridge Brewery Palisade Peach Wheat Ale, $12.50
• 3 Daughters Brewing Cinnamon Donut Hard Cider, $12.50
• Coppertail Brewing Co. Cherry Cola Hard Cider, $12.50
• Midnight Safari, $17.50

The Alps (opens October 2)

• ★ 🧀 Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese on a Baguette with Jambon and Apple-Mustard Relish, $6.79
• 🧀 Tartiflette, $5.49
• Kirschwasser Torte, $5.49
• Salomon Undhof Stein Kremstal DAC Riesling, $7.50
• Loimer Lois Grüner Veltliner, $6.50
• Schlumberger Klassik Brut, $7.75
• Wine Flight, $8.50

Germany

• Wiener Schnitzel with HEINZ Brauhaus Mustard and Warm Yukon Gold Potato Salad, $7.29
• ★ 🧀 Schinkennudeln, Pasta Gratin with Ham, Onions, and Cheese, $5.29
• ★ Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce, $4.99
• Schöfferhofer Orange Spritz Hefeweizen, $6.00 / $9.75
• Weihenstephaner Festbier, $6.00 / $9.75
• von Trapp Brewing Oktoberfest Märzen-style Lager, $6.00 / $9.75
• Beer Flight, $12.75
• Selbach-Oster Riesling, $9.00

Spain

• Croquetas de Jamón with Saffron Aïoli, $6.99
• ★ Paella Caldoso, $7.99
• 🧀 Basque Cheesecake with Orange Sauce, $5.29
• Volver Quinta del ’67 Garnacha, $7.50
• Summer In Spain, $13.00

Italy

• Stromboli, $8.00
• ★ Pollo al Marsala, $9.00
• Almond Panna Cotta, $6.00
• Peroni Pilsner, $6.50 / $12.00
• Prosecco, $12.00
• Saracco Moscato d’Asti, $13.00
• Cantine Guidi Selezione Privata Luca Red Blend, $12.00
• Villa Matilde Falanghina Campania IGP, $12.00
• Italian Red Sangria, $14.00
• Amaretto Bellini, $16.00
• Italian-inspired Blood Orange Margarita, $15.00

Italy is the most expensive booth on the promenade, with most of the drink list at $12 and up.

Hops & Barley, at The American Adventure

• ★ Gulf Coast-style Seafood Roll with Warm-Water Lobster and Rock Shrimp, $8.99
• Smoked Brisket and Cheddar Melt, $6.49
• Freshly Baked Chocolate Pudding Cake with Kentucky Bourbon Caramel, $4.99
• Harpoon Brewery Southie Lager, $6.00 / $9.75
• Samuel Adams Boston Brick Red Irish Red Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Allagash Brewing Company Haunted House Hoppy Dark Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Beer Flight, $12.75

Funnel Cake, at The American Adventure

• Pumpkin Pie Funnel Cake with Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream and Cinnamon Streusel, $12.50

Japan

• ★ Spicy Temaki Hand Roll, $9.00
• Beef Wagyu Temaki Hand Roll, $10.25
• Teriyaki Chicken Bun, $8.00
• Mango-Apple Fruit Pearl, $6.50, or paired with wasabi-soy potato chips, $10.00
• Sapporo Reserve, $5.00 / $9.50, or paired with wasabi-soy potato chips, $8.50 / $13.00
• Autumn Breeze plum wine cocktail, $8.25
• Kirinzan Lemonade Sake, $13.50

Greece

• Spanakopita, $5.19
• 🧀 Griddled Cheese with Pistachios and Honey, $5.49
• ★ Chicken Souvlaki Gyro, $6.99
• Mylonas Winery Assyrtiko Dry White, $6.50
• Zoe Rosé, $6.50
• Kir-Yianni Naoussa Xinomavro Dry Red, $7.50
• Wine Flight, $7.50
• Greek Melon Limeade, $12.00

Tangerine Café: Flavors of the Medina, at Morocco

• Chermoula Chicken Hummus Bowl, $6.79
• Spiced Flank Steak Hummus Bowl, $7.29
• ★ Ras el Hanout Cauliflower Bowl, $6.49 (plant-based)
• Moroccan Wrap with plant-based falafel, $6.29
• Chocolate-Pistachio Cookie, $4.29
• Fig Cocktail, $12.00
• Carib Brewery Honey & Fig Dream Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75
• Keel Farms Golden Apple Chai Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75
• Keel Farms Goji Berry Citrus Hard Cider, $6.00 / $9.75
• Hard Cider Flight, $12.75

Belgium

• ★ Belgian Waffle with cookie butter and speculoos pieces, $5.49
• Beer-braised Beef with smoked gouda mashed potatoes, $6.79
• Chilled Belgian Coffee, $5.29, or with ChocoLat Deluxe Salted Caramel Chocolate Liqueur, $12.50
• Van Steenberge Piraat 7 Strong Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Brouwerij St. Bernardus Watou Blond Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse Red Sweet and Tart Cherry Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Beer Flight, $12.75

Brazil

• ★ 🧀 Pão de Queijo, $5.19
• Moqueca de Camarão, $6.99
• BrewDog Brewing Company Peach Mango Wheat Ale, $6.00 / $9.75
• Frozen Caipirinha, $12.50

France

• Brioche aux Épices avec une Garniture Mornay de Trois Fromages, $8.95
• ★ Trio d’Escargots, Garniture à l’ail et au Persil, $9.25
• Boeuf Braisé vin Rouge et Échalotes, Gâteau de Pommes de Terre, $9.50
• Crème Brûlée Pistache, Confiture de Fruits Rouges, $7.95
• Plaimont ELIA Colombard, Côtes de Gascogne, $6.95
• La Roche Prestige Cuvée, $7.95
• Chilled French Cosmo, $15.50

Note that the three-cheese brioche does not carry a Fromage Montage stamp. Don’t count on it for a stamp.

Canada

• ★ Cheddar and Bacon Soup, served with a Pretzel Roll, $6.29
• ★ Filet Mignon with Mushrooms and Mashed Potatoes, $10.49
• Collective Arts Brewing Festbier, $6.00 / $9.75
• Château des Charmes Pétales Rouge, $9.50

Swirled Showcase

• ★ Liquid Nitrogen Almond Truffle Mousse with Whiskey-Caramel Sauce, $5.49
• Soft-serve in a Cone, vanilla, apple-cinnamon, or salted caramel, $6.29
• ★ Frozen Szarlotka, $6.79, or with Żubrówka Bison Grass Vodka, $13.00
• Ice Cream Float, $6.79
• Irish Milk Shake, $13.00
• Strawberry Beer Float, $13.25
• Früli Strawberry Belgian White Beer, $12.50
• Banfi Rosa Regale Sparkling Red, $15.00

Shimmering Sips

• Strawberry Champagne Trifle, $5.79
• Tropical Mimosa, $7.75
• Berry Mimosa, $7.75
• Blood Orange Mimosa, $7.75
• Mimosa Flight, $15.00

This is also where you redeem the Fromage Montage treat once you have your five stamps.

Hawai’i

• ★ Slow-roasted Pork Slider with DOLE Pineapple chutney, $5.99
• Hawaiian Rice Bowl with SPAM, $6.29
• 🧀 Pineapple Cheesecake with passion fruit curd, $5.49
• O’ahu Sunrise, $14.50
• Florida Avenue Brewing Co. Lei’d Back Double IPA, $6.00 / $9.75
• Florida Orange Groves Winery Sparkling Pineapple Wine, $10.00

Small plates mostly land between $5 and $9, and the expensive outliers are nearly all cocktails. The cheapest way to eat well here is still a $6.29 cup of soup in Canada.

What We Ate on Opening Day

Three dishes were confirmed ahead of time (Street Corn-style Dumplings from Gyozas of the Galaxy, the Grilled Bushberry-spiced Shrimp Skewer from Australia, and Kirschwasser Torte from The Alps), which was a deliberately safe opening hand. Here’s what we found once the booths opened.

Canada remains the best value on the lagoon. The Cheddar and Bacon Soup with a pretzel roll is $6.29 and is one of the 30th anniversary legacy items. Disney knows better than to change it.

The Filet Mignon with mushrooms and mashed potatoes is $10.49, which makes it one of the pricier plates on the walk and still one of the more satisfying ones.

Germany’s Schinkennudeln, the pasta gratin with ham, onions, and cheese, is another legacy item and another one that qualifies for Emile’s Fromage Montage. Note the booth signage: “Established in 1996.”

Over at the Germany pavilion itself, The Alps marketplace space is still sitting behind a wall. That booth doesn’t open until October 2.

The Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey continues to be the most committed bit of theming in the festival, with the Muppet Labs takeover doing most of the work.

Inside, the pickle beverage tastes about how you would expect. Order it for the Muppet Labs backdrop if nothing else.

The Fry Basket’s flight of fries is the practical answer to festival math: three portions, one tray, one price, and enough salt to justify the walk back to Canada for another soup.

And Shimmering Sips, over between Canada and Port of Entry, is where the mimosa flight lives. It is also where the Fromage Montage reward gets redeemed, so you’ll end up here either way.

Festival Favorites Return

The activities that anchor most guests’ festival days are all back, and this year there are three of them rather than two.

Emile’s Fromage Montage sends guests around the park sampling cheese-inspired dishes and collecting stamps in the festival passport. Fourteen dishes qualify this year, you need five stamps to finish, and the completer treat is redeemed at Shimmering Sips.

There is a catch. Of those fourteen qualifying dishes, eight live at booths that are not open yet: four at The Wedge, plus Festival Favorites, Earth Eats, and two at The Alps. That leaves six available right now (Germany, Spain, Greece, Brazil, Hawai’i, and Forest & Field), one more than you need. Doable, but you are eating what the calendar gives you rather than what you’d pick.

Remy’s Hide & Squeak, the Ratatouille-themed scavenger hunt, returns for families searching World Showcase for the little chef and his hidden ingredients. Maps are $11.99 plus tax and are sold at Creations Shop, Disney Traders, World Traveler at the International Gateway, and select festival merchandise locations. Completed maps are redeemed for a prize while supplies last, and the hunt runs the full length of the festival.

Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit is the seasonal third option, running September 25 through November 2. Same $11.99 price, same idea, except you’re matching Halloween pumpkins to stickers instead of chasing a rat. The useful detail: you can redeem the game board for the keepsake even if you don’t finish, which is not true of Remy’s.

Eat to the Beat 2026 Schedule

Eat to the Beat is back at the America Gardens Theatre, still included with EPCOT admission on a first come, first served basis, with dining packages available for guaranteed seating.

Eat to the Beat concerts take place nightly from August 27 to November 16, 2026, with three showtimes (5:30 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m.). Note that the concerts wrap five days before the festival does. This year, 8 new acts join the lineup, including Grammy-nominated The War and Treaty, indie pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, and American Idol runner up, Lauren Alaina.

Here’s the 2026 schedule (all entertainment and artist appearances are subject to change without notice):

• August 27 – Evolution: Motown
• August 28 to 31 – Hanson
• September 1 to 3 – Evolution: Motown
• September 4 and 5 – The War and Treaty – NEW
• September 6 and 7 – Yellowcard
• September 8 to 10 – Fly Guys
• September 11 and 12 – Couch – NEW!
• September 13 and 14 – Fitz and the Tantrums – NEW
• September 15 to 17 – Latin Ambition
• September 18 and 19 – MercyMe
• September 20 and 21 – Grupo Manía – NEW
• September 22 to 24 – Metro Latino Band
• September 25 to 27 – Element
• September 28 and 29 – New Found Glory
• September 30 and October 1 – Smash Mouth
• October 2 to 4 – Champagne Orchestra
• October 5 and 6 – Rey Ruiz – NEW
• October 7 and 8 – Tiffany
• October 9 to 11 – Viva Latina
• October 12 and 13 – The Fray
• October 14 and 15 – STARSHIP featuring Mickey Thomas
• October 16 to 18 – Jaclyn Hayden
• October 19 and 20 – Ben Rector
• October 21 and 22 – Allen Stone – NEW
• October 23 to 25 – SoundUp
• October 26 and 27 – Lauren Alaina – NEW
• October 28 and 29 – Bowling for Soup
• October 30, 31, and November 1 – Southbound
• November 2 and 3 – Boyz II Men
• November 4 and 5 – Big Head Todd and The Monsters – NEW
• November 6 to 8 – M-80’s
• November 9 and 10 – Grace Potter – NEW
• November 11 and 12 – The Beach Boys
• November 13 to 16 – The Hooligans

Guests can line up before the concert to grab a seat, but spots are first-come, first-served, so our tip for making sure you get a good spot is reserving a Concert Series Dining Package. These pre-fixe meals are available at most sit-down restaurants in EPCOT (cost varies depending on the restaurant, but they all include reserved seating for the show). They also count as one table-service meal for the Disney Dining Plan.

Tiny Train Town Joins the Festival

The best surprise of opening day is not a booth. The model railroad garden at the Germany pavilion has been given a full festival makeover, with miniature versions of the actual marketplaces scattered through the village. There are tiny Hawai’i and Greece booths, a tiny Bramblewood Bites with its own chef, tiny themed trash cans, tiny banners matching the real ones, and a tiny guest eating off the top of a trash can.

Linguini is in there too, holding a miniature 30th anniversary cake. The train garden is easy to walk past most of the year. Give it a few minutes this season.

Festival Merchandise

Disney previewed several pieces from this year’s collection, starting with chef-inspired Mickey and Minnie ears complete with a miniature chef hat.

Apparel includes a festival T-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a baseball cap.

On the practical side, there’s a churro-themed tote bag and a pastry-lid mug.

The piece most likely to sell out first is the commemorative wine glass, designed to fit inside the festival tray. It’s a small design touch that solves the perennial problem of juggling a drink and two food plates across World Showcase.

PhotoPass Magic Shots

Disney PhotoPass photographers will again offer exclusive festival Magic Shots throughout EPCOT. They’re free to view in the app and included if you have Memory Maker or a PhotoPass package.

Alongside the new Waiter Mickey shot, returning favorites include the Giant Empanada, the Leaning Tower of Cheeza, the Swedish Chef, and Chef Figment.

Know Before You Go

A few things we noticed walking the festival on day one.

Disney has bolted temporary wooden ledges onto the railings along the World Showcase promenade, which is a quiet fix for the festival’s oldest problem: there is nowhere to put your plate. They are eating shelves, not benches, and there are stickers making that clear. Take them for what they are and you’ll have a much better afternoon.

Crowds on opening day stayed manageable through early afternoon and thickened up around dinner. If you can only do one stretch, do the late morning through mid-afternoon and get out before the concert crowds arrive.

Start at the back. Everyone enters through World Celebration and works clockwise, so the Canada and Hawai’i end of the promenade is the quietest booth cluster for the first couple of hours of the day. It is also, conveniently, where the cheapest legacy item on the map lives.

And if you’re arriving by monorail, the Imagination pavilion walkway is the fastest route to Forest & Field, Milled & Mulled, and Bramblewood Bites, three booths that a lot of guests never reach because they are not on the World Showcase loop.

What’s Still Missing

Read that list again and notice what isn’t on it. Longtime guests will remember when Food & Wine meant culinary demonstrations, beverage seminars, Disney chef presentations, and signature experiences like Party for the Senses. Those were the parts of the festival that actually taught you something and justified the “Wine” half of the name. All of it disappeared after the 2019 festival, and none of it has come back.

What replaced it is what you see above: marketplaces, concerts, scavenger hunts, and merchandise. That’s not nothing, and the Global Marketplaces remain genuinely good. But the festival that spent its first two decades building a reputation as a legitimate culinary event has spent the years since operating as a very well-run food court crawl with a passport.

Seven festivals have now opened without the demos returning, which increasingly looks less like a pause and more like a permanent decision. Disney has given no indication that’s changing any time soon… but we still hold out hope that some of that old magic can still return.

Still to Come

Six marketplaces are still to open, and we’ll add photos and impressions from each as they do: Festival Favorites on September 9, The Wedge and the “Cheers to Cheese!” exhibit on September 18, and Coastal Eats, Earth Eats, India, and The Alps on October 2. Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit starts September 25. Bookmark this page and check back.

Whatever shape it takes, Food & Wine remains one of Walt Disney World’s signature events. For three decades it has introduced guests to new flavors, inspired a wave of imitator festivals across the theme park industry, and given millions of visitors a reason to spend an autumn afternoon walking World Showcase with a plate in one hand and a passport in the other.

Let’s Hear From You

Would you like to see the culinary demos and beverage seminars return, or is the marketplace-focused festival the version you prefer? What are your favorite booths, returning dishes, concerts, and festival memories? And what would you most like to see added for next year?

Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear your thoughts!