Can you believe it’s almost time for the 2021 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival? We are so ready to visit all the food booths, participate in some fun activities, and see some great entertainment this year!

Last year’s event was modified due to health and safety measures, but as we’ve seen recently at Disney World, many of the health and safety guidelines at the parks have changed and things are starting to get back to pre-closure “normal”.

So maybe we expected this year’s event to look more like the festivals from 2019 and before, but so far, we’re still seeing some surprising changes to the festival. Here’s a look at three of the biggest surprises!

No Dole Whip

So something HUGE is missing from this year’s EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. When we started to look over the full menus for all the booths, not only did we notice a ton of new food items, but we saw that one item was just outright missing — the DOLE Whip.

Although DOLE Pineapple Juice is the ingredient of several items at the Hawaii Booth, none of the menus include any kind of DOLE Whip. And this is a surprise because we’ve seen DOLE Whip at the festival almost every year since 2013! Now we know that some menus could change, so Dole Whips could eventually turn up this year.

Learn More About The Missing DOLE Whip at the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

Eat To The Beat Concerts

We thought that this year’s festival would bring back the Eat To The Beat concerts which were canceled last year for health and safety reasons. These concerts bring popular bands to the American Gardens Theater for free concerts that take place three times per evening. We’ve seen everyone from Tiffany to Hanson to Sugar Ray!

But Disney has not made a statement that Eat To The Beat would return this year, and instead, have announced the same entertainment we’ve seen at previous festivals with Disney performers and local bands. Although we spied a hint suggesting Eat to the Beat might return, Disney has still not announced anything about it.

Will More Entertainment Return to Disney World in 2021?! Here’s What We Know.

Special Events

Another thing that Disney has been quiet about returning to this year’s EPCOT Food and Wine Festival are the special events we’ve seen in previous years (except for last year’s modified festival). We’ve seen no announcements about Party for the Senses, and Food Seminars (like the cheese seminars and Mexican Tequila lunch).

We’ve also seen no mention of Celebrity Chef appearances at the “Sunday Brunch With The Chef” series. In the past, we’ve seen Carla Hall, Buddy Valastro, and Jamie Deen at the festival.

Check Out Some Other Activities You Can Do at the 2021 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

So like last year’s festival, this year’s event still feels relatively modified. But if we get any announcements about these three things, we’ll be sure to share them with you first! And stay tuned on Thursday, July 15th when we take you with us through the 2021 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival!

Here’s The BEST NEWS About the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival This Year!

Will you be attending this year’s EPCOT Food and Wine Festival? Let us know in the comments!

The post 3 Surprising Changes At The 2021 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival first appeared on the disney food blog.