EPCOT festivals are a way of life for us at DFB.

2023 Food and Wine Festival

We live for the next festival. When one is done, we’re prepping for the next. We try every single booth at all four festivals and check out all the entertainment and merchandise. If there’s an EPCOT festival logo on it, we’re checking it out.

Possibly our favorite EPCOT festival is the Food and Wine Festival. This fall festival is loaded with fun! As we wait for the dates of the 2024 Food and Wine Festival to be released, we’re starting to wonder if it might be starting a little later this year.

We’ve started prepping for the 2024 Flower and Garden Festival in EPCOT, but we’ve also started looking a little further into the future at the 2024 Food and Wine Festival. This got us predicting when we may get an announcement for the festival’s dates and how long it might run in 2024. We thought about the following four clues that have us questioning if it’s going to be shorter this year than the past few years.

It Used to Start in August

Way back before the pandemic, the Food and Wine Festival started in August and ran through November. Close to the last day in August, we would gather our crew and head to EPCOT to test out all the food and drinks. But all of that ended in 2019.

2019 Food and Wine Festival

In 2020, closely following the re-opening of the parks, the Food and Wine Festival began in JULY! We have continued to see it opening in July since then, but is it possible that Disney will turn things around and go back to the old ways of the festival? It was meant to be a fall festival after all.

The 2023 Festival Started 10+ Days Later Than in 2020, 2021, and 2022

Following this same idea, the 2023 Food and Wine Festival started 10 or more days later in July than in 2020, 2021, and 2022. It wasn’t August, but it was late July instead of mid-July.

2023 Food and Wine Festival

Is it possible that 2023 was the beginning of a new trend meant to start the Food and Wine Festival later in the year again? It could be possible that Disney is working it back into a fall festival rather than a half-summer, half-fall festival.

The 2024 Flower and Garden Was Shortened

Now hear us out, the 2024 Flower and Garden Festival was shortened by a whopping 36 days compared to 2023! And we just told you that the 2023 Food and Wine Festival was shorter by 10 or more days than the previous three years.

2023 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

It’s unclear why the Flower and Garden Festival was shortened by a whole month this year, but could the Food and Wine Festival suffer the same fate? This makes us very curious about the start and/or end date of the fall festival that we so dearly love.

Is Disney Trying to Make Space for a New Festival?

If we put all of these clues together — a shorter 2024 Flower and Garden Festival, shortening the 2023 Food and Wine Festival, and the fact that it used to start in August — we have to wonder what is going to happen with all the time between the Flower and Garden Festival and the Food and Wine Festival, if indeed it is shorter.

2023 Food and Wine Festival

As we discussed in a separate post, is there any chance that both the Flower and Garden and Food and Wine Festivals are being shortened to accommodate a new, summer festival? There are already festivals for each of the other three seasons — spring (Flower and Garden Festival), fall (Food and Wine Festival), and winter (Festival of the Arts)– why not include a summer festival to round it out? By shortening the Flower and Garden Festival and the Food and Wine Festival, Disney would have two or more months to bring in a new addition.

2024 EPCOT Festival of the Arts

While this is all just speculation at this point, it is possible. The 2024 Food and Wine Festival may be shorter this year than in the past few years, but we’ll just have to wait and find out! (And we wouldn’t complain about a NEW festival!)

In the meantime, keep following DFB for more Disney news!

FULL REVIEWS of ALL the 2023 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival FOOD BOOTHS

Do you think Disney will shorten the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival in 2024? Let us know in the comments!

The post Is This a CLUE That Disney Could SHORTEN the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival? first appeared on the disney food blog.

Not allowed into a Grand Floridian restaurant because he wore his swimming trunks, a drunk South Carolina man slapped a teenage Disney Cast Member and then threatened to sue Disney as he was arrested, according to a newly released arrest report.

Drunk Man Slaps Teenage Cast Member at Citricos

John Munro, 64, has been charged with misdemeanor battery and pleaded not guilty, court records show.

Munro knows something about luxury hotels. He is the Vice President of Hospitality, Sales, and Marketing at the prestigious Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head, where he lives. The resort confirmed Munro works there but did not comment further.

“It’s a personal matter,” The Sea Pines Resort spokeswoman Karen Moraghan said.

Munro was arrested in Orlando following the incident at Citricos, the fine dining restaurant with the Mary Poppins Returns theme.

“Guests are expected to dress accordingly in attire that respects the restaurant’s sophisticated and upscale aesthetic. Clothing should be clean, neat, and in good condition. Please no swimwear,” Disney said on the restaurant’s website.

At 8:55 p.m., on November 19, 2023, Munro showed up to his reservation in swimming shorts and a T-shirt, and the Disney Cast Member warned him he could not eat with the rest of his family who was dressed appropriately, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s arrest report. (The sheriff’s office takes months to release public records so that’s why we’re writing about it now.)

Munro said that would be no problem and wanted to wait with his family before they got seated. He waited for 15 minutes and then tried to walk in with them to their table anyway, still wearing his swimming trunks.

One of Munro’s family members asked the cast member for help.

“Please don’t allow him to sit with us. He is really drunk, underdressed. It’s my birthday and I’m embarrassed!” the woman said, according to the arrest report.

The cast member told Munro he wasn’t allowed into the restaurant.

Then Munro got aggressive with the Cast Member who wore a name tag.

He slapped the Disney Cast Member three times on her forehead and taunted her, saying her name over and over again, the arrest report said.

The 19-year-old Cast Member “stood in shock while she held onto the restaurant menus with both hands,” the arrest report said. She wasn’t injured but the incident made her cry, the report said. She wanted to prosecute Munro.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office intervened and arrested him.

“During my interactions with John, whom I identified via his South Carolina driver’s license, he appeared intoxicated based on his slurred speech, glossy red eyes, and John constantly repeating that he was going to sue Disney,” the arrest report said.

Munro’s attorney did not respond to a message for comment Friday.

Munro talked about the importance of hotel staff nine months before his arrest when The Sea Pines was recognized in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hotels” rankings.

“Perhaps even more important than achieving a ‘Best Hotel’ ranking for the very first time is sustaining excellence over several years,” Munro said, according to a resort press release. “This is a tribute to each welcoming staff member who understands our commitment to go above and beyond to ensure guests make memories here and keep returning with family and friends.”

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The post Drunk Man in Swim Shorts Slaps Teenage Disney Cast Member 3 Times at Citricos Over Dress Code appeared first on WDW News Today.

New signage, including a “Waterloo” crest, was installed Wednesday morning above the United Kingdom Pavilion restrooms in EPCOT.

U.K. Pavilion Restrooms

We saw two crew members installing the signs. The restrooms have been closed since June of last year, with the nearby World ShowPlace restrooms open for the time being. Construction walls came down from outside the restrooms earlier this month, but planters continue to block access.

These were one of the last restrooms in EPCOt that still sported its look from when the park opened in 1982, but we suspect it will look completely different inside when it does reopen.

The men’s and women’s signs were covered with black tarps, as was a long sign between the restroom archways. Above the center sign is a new bronze Waterloo plaque. It features two lions facing each other across a “WC” shield, above waves.

Waterloo is a district in London. The name is used here as a bathroom-based pun. “WC” stands for “water closet,” a term mostly used in England to refer to a room housing a toilet. Of course, a “loo” is also a term used for such facilities across the pond.

After the crew members left, the tarp slipped from the women’s restroom sign, revealing a new symbol for the restroom. The standard women’s room stick figure is pictured with a wide-brimmed hat and an umbrella, maybe inspired by Mary Poppins, but the hat seems too big to be so.

There’s a word is on the sign below the symbol and it might be “ladies”, but it is too early to tell.

It seems the U.K. Pavilion restrooms will be opening soon. Stay tuned to WDWNT for updates.

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The post PHOTOS: Remodeled United Kingdom Pavilion Restrooms Adorned with NEW ‘Waterloo’ & Entrance Signs at EPCOT appeared first on WDW News Today.