It’s that time again…

Every year, a massive change ripples through EPCOT that fundamentally alters how to approach a day at the park: The EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. The litany of special events and offerings offered by the crowds they draw – – along with the crowds they draw – – makes the park a very different place than it is normally. Whether you’re a festival veteran or have never been, it’s best to bone up on all the ways EPCOT is about to change. 

When the 2024 EPCOT International Food begins on August 29th, there are three major things to be aware of:

International Marketplaces

The core element of the Food and Wine Festival are the food booths spread throughout the park. There are booths and marketplaces from a ton of different cultures. You can find all sorts of different dishes and desserts along with fine wine, craft beer, and so much more!

You can see ALL the booths coming to the 2024 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival here!

Eat to the Beat Concert Series 

Another major part of the Food and Wine Festival is the Eat to the Beat concert series. Offered as part of the standard EPCOT admission ticket, this series features world-renowned musical artists performing several times a day during the festival at the America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase. New and returning artists this year include The Fray, Sugar Ray, Yellowcard, Tiffany, Sheila E., Joey Fatone, Hanson, Boys II Men, and Smash Mouth. The full schedule of performers can be found here.

Crowds

While the food and drink offerings are fantastic, they also tend to draw in LARGE crowds. The festival will usually be especially crowded during its first week (August 19th-September 8th in 2024) as well as holiday weekends and the festival’s closing days. In addition, some of the larger concerts (we’re looking at you Hanson) have a tendency to draw even larger crowds on the days they’re performing. 

Whether you’ve been to the Food and Wine Festival before or this is your first time hearing about it, keep in mind that EPCOT is going to be drastically different than usual over the next few months. 

If you are going the first week of the festival, be prepared for larger crowds than usual. You could find yourself waiting in long lines for booths. So just be prepared for that. Weekends tends to be pretty crowded during festivals as well. It has also been a few months since the last festival, so we think locals and out of town guests alike a really itching for EPCOT to be back in festival mode.

We will be LIVE from the festival reporting on all of the booths and new food. Be sure to stay tuned for our annual best of the fest so you know exactly what you need to try when you visit the festival!

Do you prefer EPCOT during the Food and Wine Festival? Let us know in the comments below. 

The post You Have 3 Days Left to Prepare For EPCOT’s Biggest Change first appeared on the disney food blog.