Planning your first EPCOT Food and Wine Festival? Learn what to eat, what to do, when to visit, common mistakes to avoid, and how to fit the festival into your EPCOT day.

Estimated reading time: 29 minutes

---

If there is one EPCOT festival that pretty much explains itself in the name, it’s the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival.

There is food… and wine. There is actually a lot of both.

Every year, EPCOT adds dozens of Global Marketplaces and other festival food locations throughout the park, with small plates inspired by countries and cuisines from around the world. There are specialty cocktails, beer and wine, too, along with concerts, a scavenger hunt and a few other festival extras.

And yes, I really like the Food & Wine Festival.

But I’m going to start this first-timer guide with what may be an unpopular Disney opinion:

Food & Wine isn’t my favorite EPCOT festival.

I have planned Disney World trips specifically so I could visit the Festival of the Arts. I’ve planned trips around Flower & Garden. And I absolutely think Festival of the Holidays adds something special to an already magical time of year at Disney World.

Would I plan an entire Disney World vacation specifically to attend Food & Wine?

Probably not.

Because… it’s food. LOL.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s really GOOD food. But EPCOT already has fantastic food. There are incredible snacks throughout World Showcase, excellent quick-service restaurants and some of my favorite table-service restaurants at Disney World.

So, for me, Food & Wine is something that makes an already fantastic EPCOT day even better. It isn’t necessarily the reason for the EPCOT day in the first place.

And if you’re visiting the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for the first time, I actually think that’s an important distinction.

What Is the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival?

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is one of four major festivals held at EPCOT throughout the year.

The festival typically runs from late summer well into fall. For 2026, for example, Food & Wine runs from August 27 through November 21. And unlike Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, you don’t need a separate event ticket. The festival is included with regular EPCOT admission.

Of course, the food isn’t included.

Throughout EPCOT, you’ll find Global Marketplaces selling festival-sized portions of food and drinks. The exact booths and menus change from year to year, although quite a few favorites return again and again.

And there are a LOT of them.

Recent festivals have had 30-plus marketplace and festival food locations, and Disney has started staggering the opening of some booths rather than having every single location available for the entire festival. That’s one reason I wouldn’t get too attached to a particular menu before checking what’s actually going to be available during your trip.

Here’s the other thing I think first-timers need to hear:

You aren’t going to eat everything.

At least, I certainly can’t.

Don’t Try to Eat Your Way Through Every Food & Wine Booth

This is one of those places where watching Disney influencers can give you a very distorted idea of what a normal day at Food & Wine looks like.

You’ll see teams arrive on opening day and try food from every booth. That’s their job.

Unless you have four stomachs, that’s probably not going to be your day. LOL.

I’m usually good for food from maybe two or three booths before I’m basically done. And these aren’t necessarily tiny little one-bite samples. Some dishes are pretty substantial.

Then consider everything ELSE you might want to eat at EPCOT.

Maybe you’ve been looking forward to something from Les Halles in France. Or maybe you want caramel popcorn from Karamell-Küche. Maybe your family wants fish and chips in the United Kingdom. Or maybe you’ve made a reservation at one of EPCOT’s table-service restaurants.

Suddenly, trying twelve Food & Wine dishes doesn’t sound quite as reasonable.

This becomes even more important if you’re only spending one day at EPCOT. Food & Wine doesn’t replace EPCOT. It’s layered on top of EPCOT.

You still have Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land and everything else you came to the park to experience.

And World Showcase doesn’t stop being World Showcase just because festival booths popped up around the lagoon.

For a first visit, I’d rather choose a handful of festival foods I’m genuinely excited about and enjoy them than turn my entire EPCOT day into a race to consume as much food as humanly possible.

So, Which Food & Wine Booths Are Actually Worth It?

Menus change every year, so I don’t think it makes sense for a first-timer guide like this to give you a definitive ranking of every single booth.

There are, however, some recurring locations and dishes that have built pretty impressive track records.

Canada is almost always a yes for me

Canada is probably the easiest recommendation I can make.

The Canada marketplace frequently serves variations of dishes associated with Le Cellier Steakhouse, including the Canadian cheddar cheese soup with a pretzel roll and a filet dish.

Sign. Me. Up.

It’s basically an opportunity to get a little taste of Le Cellier without sitting down for an expensive table-service meal.

And if you’ve ever wondered whether that famous cheese soup deserves its reputation… yes. Yes, it does.

The Alps

If warm raclette cheese sounds like something you would enjoy, put The Alps on your list.

Warm melted Swiss cheese. Potatoes. Bread. Cornichons. Sometimes ham.

This is not complicated food. It is cheese melted over delicious things, and I am completely fine with that arrangement. 😂

The raclette has become one of the festival’s recurring favorites and is exactly the kind of dish I look forward to when Food & Wine rolls around.

Spain

Spain is another booth where I’ve had really good luck.

We’ve had excellent dishes here over the years, including panzanella and paella-style dishes. This is one of those marketplaces where I’ll usually stop and at least look at the current menu before walking past.

Hawai’i

The slow-roasted pork slider from Hawai’i is another perennial favorite.

It’s one of those Food & Wine dishes that just seems to work: flavorful pork, sweet-and-savory toppings and a portion that’s substantial enough to feel satisfying without completely ending your food crawl.

This one rarely misses.

Belgium

Belgium frequently brings back its Belgian waffles, and they’re popular for a reason.

They’re also a good example of why I like sharing festival food. If I’m with a friend, we can split something like a waffle, move on to another booth and actually manage to taste more than three things before waving the white flag.

France

France is almost always worth checking.

Of course, this presents another Food & Wine dilemma because the France Pavilion already contains an absurd amount of good food. Festival France is competing against regular France, which is a pretty high bar.

Still, there are usually several interesting savory and sweet choices here, plus plenty of beverage options if the “wine” half of Food & Wine is more important to you than it is to me.

Ireland and Greece

I’ve had a fantastic chocolate cake from Ireland, and my friend still raves about one of the cheese dishes she’s had from Greece.

That’s part of the fun of Food & Wine. You don’t necessarily need to hunt down some universally agreed-upon “best” list. Look at the menus and eat what sounds good to you.

There are enough options that you can afford to be picky.

And Then There’s Italy

Poor Italy.

You would think that Italy + food festival would be one of the safest bets imaginable.

And yet, somehow, the Italy marketplace has developed a pretty consistent reputation for being one of the festival’s weakest values.

This isn’t just me being mean to Italy, either. Festival reviewers have repeatedly criticized the booth for relatively high prices and dishes that don’t live up to what you can already get elsewhere in the Italy Pavilion. TouringPlans named Italy its worst booth of the 2025 festival, and AllEars similarly gave it one of its lowest booth ratings.

Which brings me to a broader first-timer tip:

Don’t assume the country with your favorite cuisine will automatically have your favorite festival booth.

And don’t forget that EPCOT’s permanent restaurants are still right there.

If I’m standing in the Italy Pavilion and deciding where to devote limited stomach space, I’m going to have a very difficult time choosing an iffy festival dish over something I already know is fantastic elsewhere in the pavilion.

The Biggest Food & Wine Problem: Florida Is Hot

Here’s another thing those gorgeous Food & Wine photos don’t adequately convey.

Food & Wine starts in August.

In Florida.

Why, Disney? WHY? 😂

I like food. I like really good food.

What I don’t particularly want when it feels like 95 degrees outside is a plate of hot raclette cheese followed by cheddar cheese soup and beef stew.

Give me air conditioning.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t visit Food & Wine during the hotter part of the festival. It just means I’d be strategic about when you do your eating.

The Global Marketplaces generally begin serving around 11 AM, so one of my favorite strategies is to hit several priority booths right when they open. You’re getting to the food before the afternoon heat is at its worst, and lines may be more manageable than they will be later.

Then stop.

Go ride something. Find air conditioning. Drink water. Do normal EPCOT things.

Your other excellent option is to wait until evening, when the sun is going down and eating your way around World Showcase suddenly sounds appealing again.

I would much rather have two intentional Food & Wine windows than spend six hours slowly melting while carrying a plate of cheese soup around EPCOT.

Pace Yourself if You Have a Dining Reservation

This is a big one.

If you have a table-service reservation at EPCOT that day, plan your festival eating around it.

Disney table-service meals aren’t exactly known for sending you away hungry.

If you have a 5 PM dinner reservation and start pounding festival dishes at 2 PM, there’s a decent chance you’re going to arrive at your expensive dinner wishing you could just order a glass of water and lie down.

Likewise, if you have a big lunch reservation, don’t assume you’ll be ready to start eating festival food again an hour later.

This is another reason I don’t think first-timers need to make Food & Wine an all-day eating marathon.

Pick your priorities. Share dishes when you can. Take breaks.

And remember: you are allowed to be hungry at Disney World. You don’t have to fill every available stomach vacancy immediately. 😂

Food Isn’t the Only Thing at Food & Wine

Food is obviously the centerpiece, but there are several other festival experiences worth knowing about.

The biggest is the Eat to the Beat Concert Series, which takes place at the America Gardens Theatre in the American Adventure Pavilion.

The concerts are included with EPCOT admission and feature a mixture of recognizable touring artists and local performers. In 2026, performances are scheduled nightly during most of the festival, generally with three shows per evening. Disney also offers dining packages that include guaranteed concert seating.

I’ve never actually done Eat to the Beat, but there have absolutely been performers on the schedule that made me stop and think, Oh! I’d go see them.

And this is where Food & Wine can affect which EPCOT day you choose during a longer Disney World trip.

Check the concert schedule before you decide.

If there’s an artist you really want to see, fantastic—schedule EPCOT that day.

If there’s a particularly popular act you don’t care about, you may decide you’d rather visit on another day. Or you may decide to use the concert crowd to your advantage and focus on attractions while other guests are gathered around the America Gardens Theatre.

That’s exactly the kind of second-order planning I think first-time festival visitors tend to miss.

Don’t Skip Living With the Land During Food & Wine

This is one of those little festival touches I really enjoy.

During Food & Wine, the greenhouse portion of Living with the Land gets festival-specific additions highlighting crops and ingredients used in dishes around EPCOT. The 2026 overlay is back again, with signage connecting things growing inside The Land to actual festival menu items.

It’s not a completely different attraction or anything.

But it’s a fun connection between one of EPCOT’s classic attractions and a festival that’s fundamentally about food—and it’s exactly the sort of detail I think is worth noticing while you’re there.

Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak

And, because apparently an EPCOT festival cannot legally exist without a scavenger hunt, Food & Wine has one too. 😂

Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak sends you around EPCOT looking for little Remy statuettes hidden throughout World Showcase and the festival marketplaces.

You purchase a map and stickers, find the Remys and turn in your map for a keepsake. In 2026, the map costs $11.99 plus tax, and Disney specifically says you can receive the prize even if you don’t finish the entire hunt.

This can be particularly fun with kids, but I wouldn’t consider it a must-do for every first-time Food & Wine visitor.

If scavenger hunts are your thing? Absolutely.

If you’ve got one EPCOT day and you’re trying to fit in rides, World Showcase, festival food and a concert?

This is something I’d be perfectly comfortable skipping.

Emile’s Fromage Montage

This one, on the other hand, speaks my language because… cheese.

Emile’s Fromage Montage is essentially a festival food crawl. You pick up a Festival Passport and purchase five qualifying cheese dishes from participating locations. Get the appropriate stamps and you can redeem them for a festival treat.

And here’s an important detail: you don’t have to complete it in one day. Disney allows you to collect the stamps over multiple festival visits.

That’s particularly useful for Annual Passholders or anyone with multiple EPCOT days.

For someone with one day?

Again, I wouldn’t let a challenge dictate what I eat. If five qualifying dishes happen to be five things you genuinely want, great. If not, there are way too many other delicious things at EPCOT to eat something solely because you need another stamp.

Is the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Worth It?

Absolutely.

But I think we need to define what “worth it” means here, because the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival is different from something like Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

There is no separate ticket to buy. If you’re visiting EPCOT during Food & Wine, you’re going to Food & Wine whether you specifically planned for it or not.

The better question is:

Is the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival worth planning an entire Disney World vacation around?

For me?

No.

And I know that’s probably not the answer you’ll get from every Disney blogger. LOL.

I really enjoy Food & Wine. I’ve eaten some fantastic food there. I love walking around World Showcase and seeing what sounds good. And if my Disney World vacation happens during the festival, I’m absolutely going to take advantage of it.

But I wouldn’t move my Disney vacation specifically to attend Food & Wine.

And here’s probably the most important context for that opinion: I absolutely DO plan Disney trips around the other three EPCOT festivals.

Festival of the Arts? Yes.

Flower & Garden? Definitely.

Festival of the Holidays? Absolutely.

Food & Wine?

If it’s happening while I’m there, fantastic.

Part of that is simply personal preference. I’m not a foodie, although I certainly appreciate good food. I’m also not a big drinker, so half of the “Food & Wine” equation doesn’t have much pull for me.

But there’s another reason.

EPCOT already has incredible food.

If Food & Wine disappeared tomorrow, you could still spend an entire day eating your way around World Showcase and barely scratch the surface.

That’s why I think Food & Wine works beautifully as an addition to an EPCOT day, rather than something that necessarily needs to take over your EPCOT day.

Who Will LOVE the Food & Wine Festival?

Now, if food is one of the primary reasons you travel?

You may have exactly the opposite opinion.

Food & Wine gives you the chance to sample dozens of dishes without committing to full restaurant meals. You can try cuisines you might not ordinarily order. And because portions are smaller, you can potentially try several things instead of choosing one entrée and calling it a day.

The same is true if you’re really interested in wine, beer and cocktails.

And if one of your favorite artists happens to be performing during Eat to the Beat?

Suddenly you’ve got another very good reason to arrange your EPCOT day around the festival.

That’s why I wouldn’t tell anyone that Food & Wine isn’t worth planning around.

I’d just decide whether it’s worth planning around for YOU.

How Much Time Should You Give Food & Wine?

This may be my biggest first-timer tip:

You don’t necessarily need a separate Food & Wine day.

If you’re already planning an EPCOT day during the festival, you can incorporate Food & Wine into that day pretty easily.

And unless Food & Wine itself is one of your primary reasons for visiting Disney World, that’s exactly what I’d recommend.

Pick a few dishes you really want to try. Maybe catch an Eat to the Beat concert. Notice the festival additions on Living with the Land. Do the scavenger hunt if that appeals to you.

Then…

Go ride Guardians.

Explore World Showcase.

Watch Impressions de France.

Eat caramel popcorn in Germany.

Do all the other EPCOT things.

The festival will still be there as you move through your day.

That’s one of the things I really like about EPCOT festivals. You can participate as much or as little as you want.

Check the Festival Calendar Before Choosing Your EPCOT Day

This is something I think first-time visitors can easily overlook.

If you have several possible EPCOT days during your Disney World vacation, check the Eat to the Beat schedule before choosing one.

Maybe someone you love is performing.

Well, that’s easy. Go that day.

But the reverse can also be true.

A popular performer can draw additional people into EPCOT, particularly around the American Adventure area of World Showcase. If you don’t care about that concert, another day might make more sense.

Or—and this is where Disney planning gets fun—you might decide to take advantage of it.

If a huge crowd is waiting for a concert you have absolutely no interest in seeing, perhaps that’s a lovely time to be somewhere else in EPCOT doing something completely different.

Disney crowd strategy isn’t always about finding an empty park.

Sometimes it’s simply about figuring out where everybody else wants to be and going somewhere else.

If You Can, Choose a Weekday

Food & Wine is extremely popular with locals.

And that makes sense. If I lived 20 minutes away from EPCOT and could pop in after work to eat cheese soup and listen to a concert, I would probably do that too. 😂

But I don’t.

And if I’m spending thousands of dollars on a Disney World vacation, I’d rather not deliberately choose a time when World Showcase is likely to be at its busiest.

Generally, I’d favor a weekday over Friday night or Saturday if your vacation schedule gives you that flexibility.

That doesn’t mean weekends are disastrous or that you shouldn’t go if Saturday is your only EPCOT day. But if I’ve got Tuesday and Saturday sitting in front of me and everything else is relatively equal?

I’m probably picking Tuesday.

Use the Festival Passport Before You Start Eating

When you arrive, grab a festival passport.

You don’t have to turn it into homework.

In fact, please don’t. LOL.

But it gives you an easy way to see the festival offerings and start figuring out what actually interests you.

I like doing a little research before my trip, too. I’ll look at the menus and make a loose list of things that sound especially good.

The important word there is loose.

I don’t want an EPCOT food itinerary that looks like:

11:07 AM — Canada
11:34 AM — Greece
12:02 PM — Spain

That sounds exhausting.

Instead, I want to know that when I get near Canada, I’m probably stopping for cheese soup. If I’m passing Spain and there’s something fantastic on the menu, I’m interested. And if I suddenly see something at another booth that looks better than whatever I planned?

I’m eating that instead.

This is vacation.

Share Your Food

If you’re traveling with someone who is willing to share, Food & Wine gets significantly easier.

Order one dish.

Split it.

Move along.

Now instead of filling up after three dishes, maybe you can taste five or six.

Of course, this requires traveling with someone who isn’t going to stab you with a plastic festival fork because you took the bigger half of the Belgian waffle.

Choose your travel companions wisely. 😂

Consider Using a Festival Gift Card

Disney typically sells small festival-themed gift cards that can be worn on your wrist, and I actually think they’re useful for Food & Wine.

You can load one with whatever amount you’ve decided to spend and use it at festival locations.

There are two benefits.

First, it’s convenient. You’re not digging through a wallet or pulling out your phone every time you buy a $7 snack.

But I think the bigger advantage is psychological:

It gives you a food budget.

Because these are small plates.

Seven dollars doesn’t sound terrible.

Neither does nine dollars.

And then there’s another eight dollars… and eleven dollars. And maybe a drink.

Suddenly you’ve spent $75 eating “little snacks.”

Food & Wine can get expensive remarkably quickly, particularly if you’re buying alcoholic drinks along with your food.

Loading a gift card with the amount you’re comfortable spending makes it much easier to see when you’ve reached your limit.

Don’t Forget to Drink Actual Water

Speaking of drinking…

Florida is hot.

Food & Wine starts in August.

Alcohol plus Florida heat plus walking eight miles around EPCOT is not exactly a hydration strategy.

Even if you’re mostly there for the wine portion of Food & Wine, pace yourself and drink plenty of water.

This sounds incredibly obvious until you’re standing in World Showcase in September wondering why you feel terrible.

Don’t Waste Stomach Space on Something You Don’t Really Want

There is no prize for eating the most Food & Wine dishes.

Well, unless you’re doing one of the official food strolls, in which case there literally might be a prize. 😂

But even then, don’t let a checklist convince you to spend money and stomach capacity on food you don’t actually want.

This is particularly important because you will run out of appetite long before EPCOT runs out of food.

If you look at a booth menu and nothing sounds particularly good?

Keep walking.

There will be another booth.

And another.

And another.

Don’t Forget About Regular EPCOT Food

I cannot emphasize this enough.

The permanent food at EPCOT doesn’t suddenly become mediocre because Food & Wine showed up.

World Showcase is packed with food I would happily choose over plenty of festival dishes.

That’s why I wouldn’t automatically cancel a table-service reservation just because you’re attending Food & Wine, either.

If eating at Le Cellier or Via Napoli or another EPCOT restaurant is something you’ve really been looking forward to, keep the reservation.

Just plan accordingly.

Maybe festival food becomes lunch and your table-service reservation is dinner.

Maybe you have a substantial table-service lunch, ride attractions for a few hours and then sample a couple of festival dishes in the evening.

What I wouldn’t do is eat six festival dishes at 3 PM and then wonder why the dinner reservation you’ve been looking forward to for six months suddenly sounds terrible.

A Word About Drinking Around the World

You will see people drinking around World Showcase during Food & Wine.

A lot.

And if trying wines, beers or cocktails from different countries is part of the fun for you, great.

But you certainly don’t have to drink to enjoy this festival.

I don’t drink very much, and I’ve never felt like I’m missing the point of Food & Wine because of it.

There is more than enough food to keep me occupied.

Also, again: Florida. Heat. Hydration.

You know yourself.

What About Kids?

I wouldn’t avoid Food & Wine because you’re traveling with kids.

The festival isn’t an adults-only event, and EPCOT remains EPCOT.

But I also wouldn’t necessarily expect most kids to be as excited as you are about spending four hours wandering between food booths.

That’s where things like Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak can help. It gives kids something to look for as you’re making your way around World Showcase.

And, more importantly, don’t stop having a normal EPCOT day.

Ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

Go see Frozen Ever After.

Ride Spaceship Earth.

Visit the aquarium.

Go inside the pavilions.

Let the kids pick a snack.

Food & Wine doesn’t have to become the entire family’s personality for the day.

What I Would Do on a First Visit to Food & Wine

If I had one EPCOT day and it was my first Food & Wine Festival, I would keep things remarkably simple.

I’d do my priority attractions in the morning.

When the food booths start opening around 11 AM, I’d probably sample two or three dishes that I was particularly excited about.

Canada would almost certainly be involved.

I’d then take a break from eating and continue with my EPCOT day.

If there were an Eat to the Beat performer I wanted to see, I’d build one of the evening shows into my plans. If not, I’d use that time for World Showcase, rides or whatever else was important to me.

Then, once the sun started going down and I actually felt hungry again, I’d hit another couple of booths.

That’s it.

I would not try to conquer Food & Wine.

I would let Food & Wine enhance my EPCOT day.

And I think there’s a pretty good chance I’d enjoy it more because of that.

The Food & Wine Festival Used to Be a Bigger Culinary Event

There’s something else worth knowing if you’ve been researching Food & Wine and keep encountering longtime Disney fans talking about things you can’t find on the current schedule.

You’re not imagining it.

Before 2020, Food & Wine included substantially more culinary programming.

There were cooking demonstrations, beverage seminars, food-and-beverage pairings, cheese seminars, hands-on workshops, celebrity chef appearances and special events like Party for the Senses.

Those experiences gave Food & Wine more of a true culinary festival identity rather than simply an enormous collection of food and beverage marketplaces with entertainment attached.

Many of those offerings disappeared after the COVID-era changes and, as of the current festival, have not returned.

There are Disney fans who would absolutely love to see some of that programming come back.

And I understand why.

Because right now, if you’re asking what makes Food & Wine fundamentally different from EPCOT’s other festivals, the answer really is:

More food. More drinks. And Eat to the Beat.

That’s not necessarily a criticism. It’s a LOT of excellent food.

But it helps explain why this isn’t the EPCOT festival I personally build a Disney World vacation around.

Biggest Food & Wine Mistakes First-Timers Make

Most of the mistakes really come down to trying to do too much.

Don’t arrive expecting to eat at 15 booths.

Remember, those $7, $9 and $12 purchases add up.

It’s not a good idea to fill yourself up right before an expensive table-service reservation.

Don’t forget about water because you’re sampling alcoholic drinks.

For goodness sake, don’t spend the hottest part of an August afternoon eating heavy food in direct sunlight if you’re miserable doing it.

And don’t assume every highly hyped dish is something you need to try.

And definitely don’t become so focused on Food & Wine that you forget you’re standing in the middle of one of the best theme parks at Disney World.

Is Food & Wine Worth It for a First-Timer?

Yes.

If your Disney World vacation overlaps with Food & Wine, I absolutely think you should experience it.

Look at the menus before you go. Pick a few foods you’re excited about. Check the Eat to the Beat schedule. Grab a festival passport. Wander around. Try something you wouldn’t normally order.

Just don’t feel like you need to experience Food & Wine the way someone who visits EPCOT every week experiences it.

You don’t have to eat every dish and you don’t have to drink around the world.

You don’t have to finish every challenge.

And you definitely don’t need a spreadsheet containing 34 festival snacks.

Unless spreadsheets containing 34 festival snacks make you happy.

In which case, you do you. 😂

For me, the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival is a really enjoyable bonus to an already fantastic EPCOT day.

I love the cheese soup in Canada. And I totally love finding dishes I wouldn’t normally try. I love that there are so many options that everyone can find something that sounds good.

But I’m also perfectly happy eating two or three festival dishes, riding Guardians, wandering through World Showcase, eating something that has absolutely nothing to do with Food & Wine and calling that a fantastic day.

And for most first-time visitors—especially those who only have one EPCOT day—I think that’s exactly how I’d approach it.

Let the festival make your EPCOT day better. Don’t let the festival take over your EPCOT day.

More EPCOT Planning Guides

Food & Wine may be happening during your visit, but there is a lot more to experience at EPCOT. These guides can help you plan the rest of your park day:

• Best Snacks at EPCOT: Festival food is great, but EPCOT has some pretty amazing snacks year-round too. Check out my guide to the best snacks at EPCOT before you devote all of your stomach space to the festival booths.
• Best Quick-Service Restaurants at EPCOT: Sometimes you want something more substantial than another festival small plate—or you just really want to sit down for a while. My guide to the best quick-service restaurants at EPCOT covers some of my favorite options around the park.
• EPCOT Table-Service Restaurant Reviews: Planning a sit-down meal during Food & Wine isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Check out my EPCOT restaurant reviews for places like La Hacienda de San Angel or Via Napoli if you’re trying to decide whether to add a table-service meal to your day.
• Best Rides at EPCOT Ranked: Yes, you should eat the cheese soup. But you should probably ride Guardians too. 😂 My EPCOT rides ranked guide can help you decide which attractions deserve your limited park time.
• Best Shows at EPCOT: EPCOT has some fantastic shows and entertainment that are very easy to overlook when you’re focused on rides and food. My guide to the best shows at EPCOT can help you decide which ones are worth working into your day.
• Where to Meet Characters at EPCOT: Food & Wine doesn’t replace EPCOT’s regular character experiences either. If meeting Mickey, princesses or other Disney characters is important to your family, check out my EPCOT character guide before your visit.
• EPCOT Lightning Lane, Early Entry and Rope Drop Strategies: If you want to spend more of your afternoon and evening enjoying Food & Wine, having a solid attraction strategy in the morning can help tremendously. Check out my guides to EPCOT Lightning Lane Multi Pass, EPCOT Early Entry, and rope drop at EPCOT to figure out the best strategy for your park day.