Have you packed your stretchy pants? Yes? GOOD! Then get ready because EPCOT’s 2022 International Food & Wine Festival is officially HERE!

From new and returning food booths to the returning Eat to the Beat Concert series, there is a whole bunch to explore at this year’s Festival, and we’re taking you with us to see it ALL! Follow along with us as we report LIVE from the 2022 Festival, and be sure to check back throughout the day as we’ll be continually updating this post with more videos, photos, and details!

Festival Dates

EPCOT’s 2022 Food & Wine Festival started on July 14th and will run all the way through November 19th, 2022. That gives you a LOT of time to stop by and see everything it has to offer.

Now, let’s get started with our day in EPCOT!

Getting Started

We arrived at EPCOT very early this morning (gotta get to all the fun A.S.A.P.!). We arrived at EPCOT around 8:30AM (the park officially opened at 8:30AM). We opted to go through the main entrance and we weren’t alone.

Just us and some of our closest friends waiting to enjoy the park!

As we walked in through the main entrance, we found the Food & Wine Festival signage in the main planters right before Spaceship Earth. This is a popular spot to stop for a photo so don’t be surprised if you see quite a few people standing around, waiting for their perfect shot!

To start your time at the Festival the right way, be sure to pick up a Festival Passport.

This handy dandy passport contains details about the food booths, entertainment, and merchandise you’ll find at the Festival.

And don’t forget you can get a head start on your planning by checking out our page with the FULL menus for the 2022 Food & Wine Festival!

You can also download our DFB-exclusive Food & Wine Festival map, and download our FREE DFB-exclusive Food & Wine Festival printable with all the booth details!

Crowds

As we mentioned above, we weren’t exactly alone in EPCOT during the start of the Festival. The opening day of an EPCOT festival can be a huge draw for crowds. You’ll also generally find some hefty crowds at EPCOT festivals during the weekends (when the locals come out to play). So just keep that in mind when planning your trips!

On the Festival’s opening day, we saw some crowds in the front of the park, but there were still gaps and spaces for walking about.

Big crowds can equal big lines at the food booths, so be sure to keep an eye on those lines throughout the day. And watch for lines at the popular merchandise spots in EPCOT (Creations Shop being one of them), especially for that limited-release Food & Wine Festival merchandise.

We’ll be watching the crowd levels throughout the day and keeping you updated on just what we see.

Food and Drinks

Of course, the main attraction at the Food & Wine Festival is…well, the food and wine! We’ll be making our way through the food booths today, so keep checking back for more updates on all of the items we’re eating!

Remember that not all of the booths will be open right away. Coastal Eats, Hawai’i, Mac & Eats, and The Noodle Exchange will not be opening until August 15th so keep that in mind for your trip planning!

Click here to see a full list of the booths and menus for the Food & Wine Festival

And click here to see our page where we’ll be posting our full booth reviews

Entertainment

In terms of entertainment, this year the Eat to the Beat concert series is back! This year, you’ll find concerts from big-name bands and singers from Friday to Monday, with local musicians performing from Tuesday to Thursday. Click here for the FULL list of Eat to the Beat performers!

If you’re hoping to catch some of the more popular performers (like Boyz II Men, for example) you may want to look into booking an Eat to the Beat dining package. These are available with advance reservations at select EPCOT restaurants, and you can also get some limited day-of dining packages at certain places (if available).

Reservations for these dining packages are now available for dates within 60 days.

Click here to see more details about the Eat to the Beat concerts and dining packages

Activities

The Food & Wine Festival might focus a lot on the food and wine (of course), but there are plenty of other things to do too! If you want to participate in a food challenge of sorts, you can check out Emile’s Fromage Montage, which has returned to the Festival this year with some CHANGES.

With this activity, you pick up a Festival Passport, which will list some of the cheeeeesy dishes you need to buy to get a stamp.

Get the required 5 stamps and you can turn in your Passport to get a special prize.

This year things are a bit different though. Rather than listing just 5 cheesy options or booths you have to buy from, Disney has listed 10(!) cheesy dishes you can pick from.

So get ready to get your cheese on! We’ll be checking out this activity and giving you more details soon, so stay tuned for that.

Also returning this year is Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak. In this activity, kids of all ages can search for Remy figures that have been hidden throughout EPCOT. You can pick up a map to complete this activity. Once you get the map, you can begin your quest to find the figures. Match the figures to the stickers, place the stickers on the map to mark where you found each Remy, and turn in your completed map for a prize! In the past, prizes have included plastic cups and other items. We’ll be sharing updates on this soon!

And NEW to this year is the upcoming Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit! This scavenger hunt will run from September 29th through October 31st. We’re still some weeks away from the start of this experience, but we wanted to mention it here to give you a heads up about it! With this special event, you’ll purchase a game board and stickers at participating locations, hunt for pumpkins (decorated to have looks inspired by Disney characters) around the park, and then return your game board for a prize! This is new to the festival this year but is similar to an activity we’ve seen at Disneyland.

Merchandise

If you’re all about merchandise, there is plenty to check out at the Food & Wine Festival. You’ll find Minnie ears, spirit jerseys, all kinds of cups and tumblers, and much more!

This year, there are 5 main collections of merchandise. There’s the Festival Event Logo Collection…

…the Chef Mickey and Minnie Mouse collection…

…the Princess Tiana collection…

…the Chef Figment collection…

…and the Chef Remy Annual Passholder Collection! And don’t forget that you can pick up a fun Remy-themed SPORK at this year’s festival too.

Stay tuned for our full look at the merchandise from this year’s festival.

Can’t make it to EPCOT for the Food & Wine Festival? Don’t stress! You can pick up some of the Food & Wine Festival Merchandise ONLINE right now.

Click here to shop the 2022 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival merchandise collection online!

And remember that you can also pick up a fun gift card at the Festival. It’s a great little souvenir but also a useful tool throughout your time in EPCOT. You can load the gift card with your Festival spending budget and then make sure that you stick to your set spending amount!

And that’s all we’ve got for now!

Remember that we’ll be updating this post throughout the day so be sure to come back for all the latest details! 

Looking for more tips to help you conquer the festival this year? Check out our posts below:

• The cheapest days to attend the 2022 Food & Wine Festival
• 4 things you MUST do before the Food & Wine Festival
• What to pack in your park bag for the 2022 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
• DFB Exclusive: These tees are giving us all the EPCOT Food & Wine vibes!

Stay tuned for more!

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What are you most looking forward to at EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival? Tell us in the comments!

The post Follow Along as We Explore EPCOT’s 2022 Food & Wine Festival! first appeared on the disney food blog.