If you like your Disney with a side of buzzed snacks and sweaty crowd navigation, welcome to the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. It’s the longest, booziest festival of the year, and if you do it right, it’s also one of the best.
Whether you’re coming to eat, drink, people watch, or hide from the sun with a frozen cocktail in each hand, this guide has you covered. Some details for 2025 are still TBD, but we’ve included the latest info (and plenty of honest takes) to help you plan it like a pro.
Festival Basics
- Dates: August 28 – November 22, 2025
- Location: EPCOT, Walt Disney World
- Included with Admission? Yes. Food, drinks, and some extras cost more.
- Crowd Warning: Weekends can become a frat party. Go midweek if that isn’t what you’re after.
You don’t need a separate ticket for Food & Wine, but you will need a strategy. Portions range from snack-sized to “wait, that’s it?”, so costs add up fast. And, let’s not forget that Florida humidity is not your friend. But if you pace yourself, drink some water, and know where the shady tables are? Chef’s kiss.
Grab a free Festival Passport at the park entrance. It lists all the booths, menus, scavenger hunts, and concerts, plus it doubles as your food crawl stamp card if you’re doing Emile’s Fromage Montage.
Love EPCOT Festivals? Don’t Miss These Adult-Focused Guides:
- Festival of the Arts for Adults
- Flower & Garden Festival for Adults
- Food & Wine Festival for Adults (you’re here!)
- Festival of the Holidays for Adults – COMING SOON!
See all the festivals in one place: EPCOT Festival Guide & Calendar
What’s New (and What’s Back) in 2025
While we wait on Disney to spill the full 2025 tea, here’s what we do know:
- Confirmed dates: August 28 – November 22, 2025
- CommuniCore Hall: Back again as an air-conditioned seating area with booths (bless it)
- Scavenger Hunts: Remy’s Hide & Squeak and Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit are expected to return
- Fromage Montage: Confirmed and still cheesy (in a good way)
- Concerts: Eat to the Beat is back with a lineup of 90s/00s throwbacks and bands your mom still loves
Full menus and event schedules usually drop in June or July. Most booths repeat their hits from the previous year, so 2024 menus are a solid preview.
How Much to Budget for Food and Drinks
Here’s the honest truth: you’ll drop more cash at Food & Wine than you meant to, and you’ll still wish you had room for one more drink.
To stay in control (ish), try this breakdown for a one-day fest visit:
- $50 on food (4–5 small plates)
- $30-$50 on drinks (go for the smaller sizes whenever you can if you want to try more things)
- $15 buffer for impulse snacks or one overpriced souvenir
Want to feel like you’re budgeting? Load that exact amount onto a gift card and treat it like your festival credit line. When it’s gone, it’s gone. (And you still have your credit card for emergencies. Like a surprise flight of sangria.)
Best Booths and Bites for Adults
We’ll update this section with 2025 details once menus drop, but here are our picks from 2024 worth stalking for a return:
- Bramblewood Bites: Fall flavors, no regrets
- The Fry Basket: Always a line, always worth it
- Brazil: Because cheese bread is elite
- Flavors from Fire: Solid food, solid cocktails, decent seating
- Belgium: Waffles and beer. Enough said.
- Macatizers: Carb central with zero judgment
We recommend that you avoid booths that serve hot seafood in 100-degree weather unless you enjoy culinary roulette.
Pro Tip: Start at the front of the park before the booths get swarmed.
Emile’s Fromage Montage: Worth It?
This is Disney’s official cheese crawl, and it can be a fun way to try booths you may not have planned on visiting.
You buy five cheese-based dishes from select booths, collect your stamps in the Festival Passport, and trade them in for a “free” dessert at Shimmering Sips. It’s usually some kind of cheesecake or mousse cup, and it’s…fine. You’re not doing it for the prize.
Do it because cheese and wine in 90 degree temps may sound like a bad idea, but it really isn’t. Do it because checking boxes feels good. Do it because you’re three drinks in, and it sounds like just the purpose you need in life.
Scavenger Hunts (Yes, Adults Can Do These)
Remy’s Hide & Squeak
Buy a map for $9.99, find Remy statues around World Showcase, win a prize. Great excuse to stroll, sip, and feel mildly competitive.
Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit
Starts closer to Halloween. Same deal: buy a map, find pumpkins, claim your trophy. Not essential, but fun with a drink in hand.
No one’s checking your age. Go full detective mode. We won’t tell.
Eat to the Beat: Free Concerts + Nostalgia
The Eat to the Beat Concert Series runs Friday through Monday nights with performances at 5:30, 6:45, and 8 PM, and it’s way more fun if you time it right.
Fridays and Saturdays can get rowdy, crowded, and honestly it can feel kind of like a party. If that’s your scene, grab a drink, snag a bench early, and go full concert mode. If you’d rather sip a cider without hearing someone’s bachelorette recap, Sunday and Monday nights are your best bet.
Dining packages are available for guaranteed seating, but we don’t think most adults need it, unless it’s one of the bigger names, and you’re set on front-row views.
Food and Wine Festival Tips for Grown-Ups
- Go on a weekday. Avoid the Friday-Sunday mess unless chaos is your kink.
- Start at 11AM. Booths open early. So should you.
- Pace yourself. Food and drinks add up fast. Share when you can.
- Hydrate. Powerade counts. So does water. Frozen mojitos… less so.
- Bring a tray. No, seriously. A $5 Amazon tray = less juggling and fewer spills.
- Set a budget. Pre-load a gift card and pretend you have self-control.
Best Spots to Escape the Chaos
- CommuniCore Hall: AC, seating, booths. Praise be.
- Odyssey Building: Quiet, cool, and after the first few days of the festival, it isn’t typically too crowded
- American Adventure Pavilion seating: Look for tables in the shade
- UK Pavilion Patio: There’s a small patio area in the UK pavilion, next to the Rose & Crown (on the Canada side)
Food & Wine Merch
Disney releases multiple themed collections each year, usually featuring Figment, Remy, and Chef Mickey.
Top picks from 2024 included:
- Figment ears
- Festival-logo Corkcicle
- “I did it for the cheese” shirts (ok, maybe this one isn’t real but it should be)
If you love it, grab it early. Popular items can sell out fast.
Final Thoughts
EPCOT Food & Wine is chaotic, delicious, slightly overpriced magic. You can do it casually or treat it like an Olympic sport. Either way, a little prep goes a long way.
More 2025 details are coming soon. In the meantime, brush up on your cheese crawl strategy, charge your phone, and practice saying “I’ll just have one more drink” with conviction.
We’ll see you in the France booth line.
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Planning your festival crawl? Check out our Ultimate EPCOT Drinking Guide and Best Bars at Disney World. And don’t miss our Festival of the Arts and Flower & Garden Guides for adults!
