What I’m about to say might be shocking, but it’s the truth. I went to a theme park food festival, and it wasn’t at EPCOT.

I grew up going to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, and while I haven’t spent much time in the park over the past few years, I recently got the chance to check out Busch Gardens Christmas Town — a holiday festival featuring food and entertainment, plus tons of rides and animals. So, how does it compare to an EPCOT festival?

Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay runs from now through January 5th, 2026, and during this festival, the park is transformed into a winter wonderland. Not only that, but you can expect holiday-inspired treats and culinary delights, meet-and-greets with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and friends, festive entertainment, holiday shopping, and favorite Busch Gardens rides and attractions.

Entry to the festival is included with park admission, and it runs from park open to close — though the food booths don’t open until 4 PM. There are 19 different food booths, each with its own menu of holiday eats and plenty of drinks. Most of the food booths are located in one central area — the Festival Marketplace — but there are additional booths spread throughout the park, too.

You can expect dishes like slow-roasted prime rib, toasted pumpkin ravioli, favorite desserts like apple pecan cobbler, a traditional holiday yule log, and more — but I’ll warn you that these items tend to run out quickly. I arrived at the park around 4 PM, when the booths began serving food and drinks, and I was able to grab a drink pretty quickly, but I wasn’t quite ready to eat just yet — which proved to be a big mistake. More on that later, though.

What I did appreciate about this festival was that they have Food & Beverage Sampler cards available for purchase, in increments of 5 and 10. These are somewhat similar to the Sip & Savor Pass available at Disneyland festivals — and something I wish EPCOT offered. Instead of purchasing food and drink items individually, you pay one price for the card and can choose up to 10 items to sample. While the food items were full-sized, the drinks were sample sizes, so keep that in mind.

The park really does get fully decked out for the holidays, with lights in the trees…

…and other fun holiday decor scattered throughout the park.

There are also fun meet-and-greets, including with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and even the Abominable Snowman!

While beer isn’t included in the Food & Beverage Sampler, cocktails are — though they’re batch cocktails served out of a tap. The sampler sizes were smaller, but the drinks still packed a punch! I picked up the Mistletoe Margarita, which is made with tequila, pomegranate syrup, and margarita mix. There was an extra tartness to this thanks to the pomegranate syrup, and it was a festive color to go with all the fanfare.

As far as the food goes, nothing I tried was super remarkable. I did enjoy the Toasted Pumpkin Ravioli, which was pumpkin-filled ravioli lightly toasted to a golden crisp and served in a rich brown butter cream sauce finished with sage and parmesan. While I could taste the pumpkin and parmesan, I didn’t get much of the brown butter element or any sage.

I didn’t get to sample much more of the food — and it wasn’t for lack of trying. By the time I went back to other booths to grab some more of the food, many of them had run out. The food started at 4 PM, and it was only around 6 PM by the time this happened — so it wasn’t even that late into the night. Eventually, the booths did restock with more food, but by that time, I was truthfully kind of over it.

Even the desserts booth started running out of items, but I was able to snag this Yule Log…

…and a couple of Chocolate Chip Cookies. Both were fine, though the Yule Log had a strange, Play-Doh-like quality to it, and the Chocolate Chip Cookies were a bit too crunchy for my liking. They were served warm, though, which was a plus!

To end the night, I grabbed a glass of Coquito, which is one of my favorite holiday drinks. This one was the bottled Bacardi version, which is a rich cream-based coconut liqueur made with Bacardi Superior Rum, with notes of vanilla and cinnamon, served over ice, garnished with a cinnamon stick. Mine was garnished with cinnamon powder, but it was pretty good for being a bottled cocktail!

Overall, I would say the Busch Gardens Christmas Town festival is worth it for the holiday vibes, roller coasters, and seeing the gorgeous lights and decor. The food booths left a lot to be desired, and I wish I had been able to try more of the items had they not run out. But if you’re expecting an EPCOT-like festival, you might be disappointed.

One thing is for sure: this food festival doesn’t hold a candle to EPCOT festivals. And, if you’re looking forward to the next one, the EPCOT Festival of the Arts kicks off on January 16th! 

We’ll be on the lookout for more theme park updates and beyond. In the meantime, make sure you stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog for the latest Disney news.

Learn more about the EPCOT Festival of the Arts right here!

Have you been to a food festival at Busch Gardens Tampa? Let us know in the comments below.