After months and months of waiting, Disney finally dropped some exciting news about the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival! We’ve got festival menus, people. We’ve got merchandise previews. We’ve even got the full Eat to the Beat concert lineup! We’re all set, right? Well…yes, and no.

This year’s festival runs from August 29th to November 23rd, 2024. We know that some of the most popular food booths will return, along with the Eat to the Beat Concerts each evening. But the announcement we have been most eagerly anticipating? Well, it didn’t happen. Hey, Disney? We’re here to gently poke you. Pssst. Can you bring back this classic EPCOT Food and Wine Festival event?

 

OK, it’s time for a little history lesson with DFB. Before the pandemic-related closures in Disney World in 2020, there were months of special programming that were part of EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival. Almost daily, you could attend a wine, beer, or cheese seminar. Additionally, celebrity chefs came in to host special meals, book signings, and cooking demonstrations. For example, in 2019, you could have brunch and a meet-and-greet with celebrity chefs like Cat Cora, Carla Hall, Buddy Valastro (yep, the Cake Boss guy), or Andrew Zimmern.

When the Food and Wine Festival returned in 2020, seminars and demos were not on the calendar, and the festival has continued without them ever since. Seminars and demos were an amazing part of the festival, and we miss them dearly.

Why are we bringing this up? Well, it seemed to us like EPCOT had a prime opportunity to bring back seminars and demonstrations this year. CommuniCore Hall was originally billed as EPCOT’s new dedicated Festival area. Disney called the new “home base” for EPCOT’s seasonal Festivals and live events. CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza are located in EPCOT’s World Celebration and were supposed to bring EPCOT International Festivals “to the center of Walt Disney World,” according to Disney.

But, according to the Disney World website, those live Eat to the Beat concerts will NOT take place at CommuniCore Hall, and we haven’t heard a peep about seminars and demos returning this year. In fact, there’s not even a section for seminars and demonstrations on the Food and Wine Festival website! That seems like a bad sign, right?

CommuniCore Hall is basically a big, open seating area right now, and Disney hasn’t made any announcements about updating the space. But hey– if you like airport lounges and air-conditioned buildings, come on in! At least there’s plenty of seating.

Perhaps Disney is saving this space as a place to eat your Food and Wine Festival snacks? It might be a bit of a long walk from the World Showcase festival booths to CommuniCore Hall, but if you’re determined to sit at a table in the A.C., this could be a new option for ya.

We’ll be sure to keep our eyes out for updates. Who knows! Maybe Disney still has some tricks up its sleeves. In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.

FULL MENUS Announced for the 2024 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

What are you looking forward to trying during the festival? Let us know in the comments!

The post We’ve Got a BAD Feeling About the Fate of This Classic EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Offering first appeared on the disney food blog.