These days, Epcot has become synonymous with festivals celebrating gourmet food and drink in beautiful and festive surroundings. We have the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, and most recently, the Epcot International Festival of the Arts! I was excited when this festival was announced two years ago because it combined so many of my favorite things- food, art, and Epcot!
The Festival takes place January and February, post marathon weekend through President's Day weekend. In 2019, the dates are January 18th- February 25th.
Here is my guide to maximizing your festival fun and experiencing #ArtfulEpcot !
Festival Passport
"What happens when you mix visual, culinary, and performing arts inspired by cultures from all around the world? You get a global masterpiece."
Those words kick off the festival when you pick up the festival passport (similar to the ones used during Food & Wine, Festival of the Holidays, and Flower & Garden). Take a moment to browse the passport and choose the food and beverages you want to sample. Even better, check out the menus online before going so you have an idea on where to start. Disney Food Blog offers all of the menus here.
Food Studios
There are 13 special "food studios" located around World Showcase that are creating beautiful works of art for your eyes and your palate. Chefs are literally creating these masterpieces before your eyes and take great pride in the presentation, so allow time for that.
Here are a few highlights from 2018’s food studios:
At The Painter's Palate (at Odyssey Festival Showplace), you can enjoy a Trio of Savory Croissant Doughnuts with Whipped Herb Cream Cheese and Sea Salt, Chicken Mousse with Fresh Herbs and Everything Bagel Seasoning, and Spicy Tuna with Sriracha Mayonnaise and Sesame Seeds. Our favorite was the cream cheese.
At Decadent Delights, we tried the beautiful Deconstructed Purple Sweet Potato Pie with Salted Caramel, Bourbon-soaked Cake, and Marshmallow Whipped Cream. It was very unexpected and delicious!
Pop Eats had my favorite Almond Frangipane Cake layered with Raspberry Jam and Chocolate. This looked like an edible Mondrian painting. We also sampled the Pop'tart: Modern-designed Sugar Cookie with Chocolate-hazelnut filling (mostly because it was fun to take pictures of!)
E=AT^2 offered deconstructed takes on classic dishes and we sampled the Classic Reuben with Shredded Corned Beef, Thousand Island Dressing, Pickled Red Cabbage, and a Rye Curl. It was beautiful and delicious.
These four Food Studios plus El Artista Hambriento were located near the front of World Showcase. Near Germany you will find Cuisine Classique, at American Adventure you will find The Artist's Table, and in Canada Masterpiece Kitchen. But also around the other quick service locations they have special dishes, too, like this Chilled Shrimp with Quinoa, Layered Vegetables, Spiced Yogurt, and Red Pepper Coulis at the Refreshment Cool Post at the Outpost.
Artful epcot
There are many artists booths to visit around the World Showcase, often with the artist present to answer questions and interact with guests. The Odyssey Festival Showplace offers daily seminars and workshops and galleries of work by famous Disney artists. This year's exhibit was a display of Disney attraction poster art. Where else can you find art? Check out the galleries in each of the countries in the World Showcase, as well as a Walking Chalk Gallery with live chalk artists, near the Universe of Energy.
Looking for fun? I'm always up for a scavenger hunt and enjoyed Figment's Brush with the Masters. For this scavenger hunt you purchase a map at Disney Traders or World Traveler (at the entrance to World Showcase), which has a sheet of painting stickers and a map of World Showcase. You search for a painting in each country where Figment is hiding, and once you find the painting, place the correct sticker on the map. Hint: the painting is usually inside a shop and might be near a KidCot stop, and the country of origin of the painting just might give you a clue. When you turn in your complete map where you purchased it, you can choose a special Figment prize. The prize was a Figment magnet in 2017 and a a Figment pin in 2018.
There are fun photo backdrops set up around World Showcase where you can be a part of a famous painting, like The Scream and the Mona Lisa, Washington Crossing the Delaware and a Monet. Use that PhotoPass! (And as always PhotoPass photographers will use your own phone or camera, too). We noticed that there were no PhotoPass photographers at the backdrops this year, which was a bummer.
Take part in an group mural and make your mark! Cast members will give you a cup of paint and have you paint 9 squares of a collaborative mural. Or watch one come to life before your eyes!
Character meet and greets are going on as usual, and have the added element of a fun easel that represents the character, like this one for Belle in France.
entertainment
The third branch of the arts is performing arts. Enjoy living statues and live performing groups. At the America Gardens stage every evening you can experience a taste of Disney Theatrical and Disney on Broadway. Two Broadway stars take the stage and perform songs from musicals such as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, and The Lion King. We really enjoyed listening to Broadway powerhouses Ashley Brown (who originated Mary Poppins on Broadway) and Josh Strickland (Tarzan). You can purchase a dining package and get reserved seating, but we walked right up at about ten minutes until the second show and were able to easily get seats.
final thoughts
We enjoyed the Festival of the Arts! Although there are plenty of kinks to be ironed out as it becomes more established, for an inaugural festival (that I don't think was planned very far in advance) it was nice. I would like to see some Passholder perks similar to Epcot's other festivals. I am looking forward to what is to come in the future for this festival. I loved seeing Figment back front and center as Epcot's ambassador, and I appreciate that Disney is paying attention to guests' love of all things retro Disney. While the Festival of the Arts might be seen as a gap-filler in-between Christmas and Flower and Garden, I hope it becomes something just as great.
All photographs Copyright 2017 by Dreams Magic Adventure - Mackenzie Clark