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It’s the start of the 2025 Epcot Festival season at Walt Disney World, and the International Festival of the Arts never disappoints!! Mark and I made a quick 36-hour trip to experience one of our favorite Disney festivals of the year, and here are all the details!
The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is one of Walt Disney World’s most vibrant and interactive festivals, celebrating visual, culinary, and performing arts. It is traditionally the first festival of each year, held in January – February, but is also known to be the shortest duration of all the festivals. This year, the Festival runs from January 17 – February 24, 2025!
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Overview of the Art Festival
Our first stop is always to pick up the Festival of the Arts Passport, which you’ll find at displays at the park entrances and each food booth. Next, we pick up a festival gift card!
Pro Tip: Go into the Port of Entry gift shops or the official Festival gift shops, buy a wristband gift card, and load it up with funds. Most items are $5-17 at the stands, and it’s super easy to order and scan your wristband gift card instead of pulling out cash or swiping a credit card dozens of times – plus, you can set a budget much easier!
How does the Epcot Art Festival work?
Admission to the Epcot Art Festival is included in your ticket to Epcot! Look through your“passport,” once you know the items you’d like to try, start walking! The Epcot loop is about 1.2 miles, and we usually walk around it at least twice to see all the options and work off some of the calories. We always start in Mexico – yes, we are those people! (Unless we come in the back entrance, it’s France!)
This year, they had over 20 stands with special food and drink items for the festival on top of the standard quick service and sit-down restaurants. Our favorites from this year’s festival were Mexico, Canada, Pop Eats, Figment’s Inspiration Station, and Japan!
Culinary Arts
- Festival Food Studios (Booths) – Try art-inspired dishes and beautifully plated food from specialty kiosks around EPCOT.
- The Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine – A food challenge where you collect stamps for colorful dishes and earn a free treat at the end.
- Food & Beverage Pairings – Certain dishes are designed as an artistic blend of flavors, often inspired by famous artwork.
- Decorative Food Presentations – Many festival-exclusive snacks feature bold colors and unique artistic elements.
Each stand will also have a menu to show you the items and pricing with ingredients. Plus, there are some photos of the food and drinks. Next, you stand in line to place your order, get your receipt, then hand it to a lovely cast member, and they give you the food when it’s ready. Your next step is to find a table (or a trash can- IYKYK) and enjoy it! Don’t forget to snap a photo, as the food and drink are usually worthy of an image. Then, at the night’s end, it helps you remember what you tried and you can mark it off on your passport!
Visual Arts
- Art Booths & Galleries – Explore Disney-inspired and original artwork from local and Disney artists, with many pieces available for purchase.
- Artist Meet & Greets – Meet the artists behind the creations, get the artwork signed, and learn about their inspiration.
- Animation Academy – Join a Disney artist to learn how to draw beloved Disney characters.
- Expression Section: Paint by Numbers Mural – Help create a giant paint-by-numbers mural that changes throughout the festival.
Chalk Art
- Chalk Art – Watch artists create stunning chalk art masterpieces along the park’s walkways.
- Chalk Full of Characters – Hunt for hidden chalk drawings of Disney characters around World Showcase.
Hidden Chalk Characters
We loved the “Chalk Full of Characters” element of the festival. Throughout the entire World Showcase, you can look for unique chalk drawings of Disney characters tucked away in hidden corners of each country. We found a few!
Once Upon A Stage
New this year to the Festival of the Arts is Once Upon A Stage: 30 Years of DISNEY ON BROADWAY at CommuniCore Hall. This exciting walkthrough exhibit celebrates DISNEY ON BROADWAY and is incredible to see up close. CommuniCore Hall transforms into a space to discover costumes and props from favorite stage musicals. Plus, you can learn how classic animated films like The Lion King and Aladdin were reimagined for the Broadway stage.
This was such an inspiring space and a great addition to the festival. Finally, it was an excellent use for the brand-new festival space in Communicore Hall! Bravo, Disney!
Festival Photo Ops
Artful Photo Ops – Step into famous paintings like “The Birth of Venus” or “The Scream” for fun photo moments – we have done those in years past. This year, we loved the ones from Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty, and new this year – Moana!
Plus, anytime you are at Epcot, you HAVE to join the virtual queue for one of the best Disney rides ever – Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind! I swear we will never get a good ride photo, but that is a testament to how fun this ride is, LOL! Until next time!
Once Upon A Stage sounds awesome! I hope they do that again.