#7 February — Black History Month

February tends to get overshadowed by Valentine’s Day snacks, but Black History Month has become one of the more interesting times to watch Disney World’s menus. Disney celebrates Black culture throughout the month with its Celebrate Soulfully offerings, and food has regularly been a big part of the celebration. Over the years, we’ve seen dishes inspired by Southern cooking, Caribbean flavors, Creole cuisine, African cuisine, and recipes connected to Black chefs and culinary history.

Celebrate Soulfully Sweet Potato Pie

This is exactly the kind of seasonal Disney food we want more of. Give us a dish with an actual story behind it over another chocolate cupcake with blue frosting any day. The lineup changes each year, so we start watching Disney’s menus closely on February 1st.

#6 September 15th through October 15th — Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month

If tacos & margaritas are involved, we are capable of taking our calendar responsibilities VERY seriously. Disney celebrates Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month from September 15th through October 15th, and the celebration frequently stretches well beyond EPCOT’s Mexico Pavilion.

Guava and Cheese Mille-Feuille

We’ve seen special dishes and drinks pop up at the theme parks, Disney Springs, and Disney World hotels, highlighting flavors from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Frontera Cocina Margarita

That can mean everything from tres leches and guava pastries to plantains, empanadas, specialty cocktails, and, yes, plenty of margaritas. If someone needs to compare several margaritas for research purposes, we salute your dedication- responsibly, of course. This one can be surprisingly easy to miss because it lands right in the middle of Disney World’s already-busy fall food season, but it’s absolutely worth keeping an eye on.

Toasted Coconut Flan

#5 November 27th through December 30th, 2026 — EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays

Once Thanksgiving arrives, EPCOT basically hands the park over to comfort food. The 2026 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays runs from November 27th through December 30th, and the Holiday Kitchens are reason enough to put it on a Disney food fan’s calendar.

2025 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays

This is where you’ll find dishes inspired by holiday traditions from around the world, so you can go from savory meats and potatoes to cookies and festive cocktails in about the time it takes someone else in your group to suggest getting in line for Frozen Ever After.

L’Chaim Full Spread

The Cookie Stroll gets plenty of attention, but don’t let the cookies hog the tinsel. Some of the savory Holiday Kitchen dishes are routinely among the festival’s biggest reasons to visit (L’Chaim rueben, I’m lookin’ at you).

#4 January 15th through March 1st, 2027 — EPCOT International Festival of the Arts

Festival of the Arts shows us all that food can be beautiful without forgetting the rather important requirement that we actually want to eat it. Disney has already confirmed that the 2027 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts will run from January 15th through March 1st.

Full Spread at Figment’s Imagination Station

The Food Studios tend to serve some of EPCOT’s most visually ambitious festival dishes, but this festival has also produced plenty of legitimately excellent food. That’s an important distinction. We admire an artistically deconstructed dish, but we’d also like lunch.

Figment Imagination Cone

Festival of the Arts is also comparatively short, so procrastinating can hurt here. If there’s a Food Studio dish you desperately want to try, don’t assume you’ve got three months to get around to it. The extra special bonus is, it lights up with the Celebrate Soulfully events, so that’s foodie check mark bonus!

#3 March 10th through May 31st, 2027 — EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival

Spring in EPCOT means topiaries, approximately seventeen million photos of Spaceship Earth surrounded by flowers, and our annual reunion with the Outdoor Kitchens. The 2027 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is scheduled for March 10th through May 31st.

Garden Graze Prize at Flower and Garden!

Flower & Garden generally leans brighter and fresher than some of EPCOT’s other festivals. Seasonal produce gets more attention, lighter dishes show up alongside the indulgent stuff, and drinks involving fruit, herbs, and florals start multiplying around World Showcase.

Bauernmarkt Farmers Market Full Spread

And, we’re already expecting people to begin asking where the Violet Lemonade is before they’ve even cleared the entrance. This is also one of our favorite festivals for grazing. You don’t necessarily need a parade of heavy dishes to have a very good food day here. A few Outdoor Kitchen stops, one drink you’ve been thinking about since last spring, and suddenly you’ve eaten your way halfway around World Showcase.

#2 August 27th through November 21st, 2026 — EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival

You knew this one was coming. The 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival runs from August 27th through November 21st, with more than 30 Global Marketplace booths and additional festival dishes scattered around EPCOT.

Food & Wine Festival

This is the heavyweight on Disney World’s food calendar. For nearly three months, you can wander around EPCOT comparing dumplings, steak, cheese, noodles, cocktails, desserts, and dishes from kitchens representing countries around the world. It is wonderful. It is dangerous to your carefully constructed dining budget. Make sure you come prepared.

Wine and Cheese Pairing

The best strategy is rarely trying to eat everything in one afternoon. Check the full Food & Wine Festival booth menus, make a hit list, and leave room for something you didn’t plan on ordering. There is always something that smells good enough to derail the budget.

Spain 2026

But there’s another food event happening right as EPCOT Food & Wine reaches its finale, and this is the weekend we REALLY want food fans to circle.

#1 November 20th and 21st, 2026 — Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic

Here’s the date we’d put in bold, highlight, underline, and possibly stick to the refrigerator. The 2026 Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic takes place November 20th and 21st from 5PM to 9PM each night. And if you love Disney food but have somehow never paid much attention to this event, it’s time to fix that.

Signs at 2022 Food & Wine Classic

The Food & Wine Classic takes over the causeway between the Swan and Dolphin with unlimited food and beverage tastings included with an event ticket. The 2026 lineup draws from restaurants around the resort, including Bourbon Steak, Il Mulino, Kimonos, and Amare, plus themed areas like Chinatown, The Beer Garden, Bubble Lounge, For the Love of Florida, Carnival Corner, and an entire Desserts area. An entire area devoted to desserts. We appreciate a festival with its priorities properly calibrated.

Beef Sliders at the 2022 Food & Wine Classic from The Fountain

The 2026 menus include everything from Slow Braised Wagyu Beef Short Rib and Pan-Fried Shrimp & Pork Dumplings to Bavarian pretzels, Texas Red Chili, Cinnamon Roll Waffles, and a Campfire Mocha made with chocolate coffee mousse and toasted marshmallow. Tickets are currently $215 per person before taxes and service fees for one night, and there’s also a discounted two-night bundle. This event is open to the public, so you do NOT need to be staying at the Swan or Dolphin to attend.

Food and Wine Classic

And here’s the particularly convenient bit for serious Disney food people. The Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic falls on the final two days of the 2026 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. So, you could spend the day eating your way around EPCOT, walk out International Gateway, and continue the operation at the Swan and Dolphin that evening. Just beware: this is an ambitious amount of food. Bring your stretchy pants.

Keep That Calendar Handy

Disney changes menus constantly, and not every seasonal food deserves its own entry on your food calendar. But these are the stretches of the year when we start paying closer attention. The EPCOT festivals bring some of Disney World’s biggest food lineups. Black History Month and Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month can surface dishes you won’t find during the rest of the year. And the Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic packs an enormous amount of food, drinks, and live entertainment into two very busy nights.

Soul Cupcake

So if you’re the person who chooses Disney World travel dates based partly on what’s for dinner, welcome. You’re among friends. And if November 20th and 21st are still blank on your calendar, you know what to do. Stay tuned to DFB for more.

I Paid $6.99 for a Mystery Food Box from Disney Springs. Here’s What Was Inside.