The Epcot Festival of the Arts at Disney World runs January 12 – February 19, 2024, and is one of Epcot’s newer festivals at Walt Disney World and the best reasons to head somewhere sunny during the winter months. If you’re ready to embrace this new wintertime Florida festival filled with artsy shows, artists booths, and pretty food here’s your guide to this 2024 Epcot Festival.
Contents
- 1 What is the Epcot International Festival of the Arts?
- 2 When is the EPCOT Festival of the Arts 2024 at Walt Disney World?
- 3 How Much does the Epcot Festival of the Arts Cost?
- 4 Festival of the Arts Gift Cards
- 5 Epcot Festival of the Arts Map
- 6 What is there to do at the Disney Festival of the Arts?
- 7 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Culinary Arts
- 8 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Visual Arts
- 9 Epcot Festival of the Arts Classes and Seminars
- 10 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Paint by Number Mural
- 11 Chalk Art
- 12 Figment Paint with the Masters’ Scavenger Hunt
- 13 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Photo Ops
- 14 Find the Hidden Artwork
- 15 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Performing Arts
- 16 Epcot Festival of the Arts Concert Series
- 17 EPCOT Festival of the Arts with Kids
- 18 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Merchandise
- 19 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Planning
- 20 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Recipes
What is the Epcot International Festival of the Arts?
As one of the annual EPCOT Festivals at Walt Disney World, the EPCOT Festival of the Arts showcases the arts! Namely, The Culinary Arts, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. From paintings, to intricately crafted foods, to Broadway style shows, led by the performers themselves, this festival gives you a glimpse of all things artsy! And while this festival packs in the same amount of things to do as Epcot’s other festivals, it is also the shortest! At just 5+ weeks, in the middle of the winter months, you only have a short time to enjoy it! As such, we’ve rounded up our Disney World Festival of the Arts Must Do’s 2024 so that you can prioritize the things that matter most! While we always recommend at least two days at EPCOT for festivals, if you’re short on time, the must-do list will help!
What’s New at the Festival of the Arts in 2024?
Another exciting thing about the Disney Festival of the Arts is that every year you can count on new things! With new Broadway performers, new artists, new foods at the Festival of the Arts Food Studios to try and more, even if you attend every year, there will always be something new to see. Check out What’s New at Disney’s Festival of the Arts 2024? for a rundown of the new booths, performances and more!
When is the EPCOT Festival of the Arts 2024 at Walt Disney World?
The Walt Disney World Festival of the Arts happens every year at EPCOT between mid-January to late February. We love this festival simply because Florida weather is mild in the winter and we can really just stroll around the less crowded parks this time of year. This year the Epcot International Festival of the Arts at Epcot is January 12 – February 19, 2024, bringing with it new fun, foods, and amazing art featured in the World Showcase and across the park. Be sure to check out our Disney Packing List for Winter, so you can go prepared.
What is the Best Time to Visit the Epcot Festival of the Arts?
The Festival of the Arts is by far the LEAST CROWDED of all the Epcot Festivals. As such, it’s always recommended to skip the first week of the festival if you can. This is because those first few days will draw all the bloggers, vloggers, press people and locals alike. After the first week the crowds dissipate a bit and makes for a better experience. As with all Epcot festivals you need to avoid weekends. This is key! The festival features arts of all kinds. Visual arts with art booths, very similar to what you would see at a traditional art fair. Performing arts features the vocal stylings of many different artists as well as Broadway talent featured at America Garden Theater Stage. And then for the Foodie, you can experience very pretty food with the Culinary Arts. Yum.
How Much does the Epcot Festival of the Arts Cost?
FREE with Epcot Park admission, the Festival of the Arts is a wonderful addition to a Disney vacation if you’re looking for something that adds value to your trip. While you do have to pay for your food at the booths, seeing the Broadway performances, taking part in painting the mural, and animation classes, and even watching the shows is all INCLUDED.
Does the Festival of the Arts Cost Extra?
No. The EPCOT Festival of the Arts is included in the price of your Disney Park Ticket for Epcot. And while the Festival of the Arts does not cost extra, there are things that do cost money at this event. Merchandise, food, and the Dining Package for the Broadway Concert Series are all extra.
What’s the Best Way to Budget Food at the Festival of the Arts?
Much like the Food and Wine Festival and Flower and Garden, the best way to budget your Disney spending is with a Disney Gift Card. Mainly because you decide the set amount and go from there. We recommend against connecting your credit card to your MagicBand for these festivals if you can help it. 10 little dishes per person at 8 bucks each can add up fast. So determining how much each person gets ahead of time will help your Disney Budget.
Our best advice is to consider the booths as options for your lunch the day you visit, this will save you money on a larger lunch, and give you some options to pick and choose from. In general, remember you’re spending about $100 per person per day on a Disney Food Budget, so unless you’ve prepaid for the Disney Dining Plan, the food cost here will be your highest budget item.
Festival of the Arts Gift Cards
Since our favorite way to pay for the Festival of the Arts is with Disney Gift Cards, we just had to share our best tips here. Perfect for when you want to stick to your budget, or give the kids each a “food allowance” the Festival of the Arts Gift Cards come in new designs every year, and some are offered on a wristlet, making it easy to just scan and go! Grab these at the Port of Entry gift shops before you start your festival day.
Epcot Festival of the Arts Map
2024 Festival of the Arts Map Coming Soon!
What is there to do at the Disney Festival of the Arts?
The Epcot International Festival of the Arts features performance, culinary, and visual arts. From Broadway performances to Fine Art for your Disney home, there is a ton to experience at this festival. We’ll dive into all these in more detail below!
Culinary Arts
- Try New Foods at the Food Studios: Sprinkled across the World Showcase and all of EPCOT, you can find a wide selection of Festival of the Arts Food available at the booths. Delicately crafted to look beautiful and taste delicious. Booths are Open 11 am- 9 pm.
- Joffrey’s Coffee at Festival of the Arts: We’ll share the menu of new coffees for the Festival of the Arts, as soon as they are available. But, you can find Joffrey’s in 4 locations across the park. featuring Festival of the Arts-specific treats! Make your own Joffrey’s Coffee Disney Copycat Recipes at home this year!
- Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Challenge: Eat around the world with the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine highlighting 5 dishes across the event, once collected wins you a freebie treat.
Visual Arts
- Visit Artists Booths and Galleries: Visiting Artists can be found throughout World Showcase with displays of their work for sale. Many artists are even on hand for a chat or signing.
- Find the Hidden Art Work : Known as Pixie Paintings with one character painted on a building in each country, scroll the post to see examples of these works of fine art. Of course you’ll probably recognize favorite Disney characters along the way!
Performing Arts
- Listen to The Broadway Concert Series: Check out the list of performers for 2024 below to see which ones may be available during your vacation dates! This performance takes place at the America Gardens Theatre Shows at 530, 645, and 8 pm. And Dining Packages are available.
Interactive Arts
- Unique Photo Ops: Strewn throughout the park you can find Picture boxes featuring classic works of art that you can become part of. Whether it’s crossing the Hudson with Washington or screaming with The Scream, check out all the Photo Ops at Festival of the Arts in 2024. Photo Ops are always open. Photo Pass begins at 11 am
- Complimentary Seminars & Workshops: Chalk Art, the Animation Academy and even the community mural are available as part of the Interactive Art Academy offerings. Check out details below.
- The Figment Brush with the Master’s Scavenger Hunt Game: Find Figment in paintings across EPCOT at the Festival of the Arts. Just grab a gameboard, and see where here’s hiding. When finished you can collect a prize!
Special Event Merchandise
If you’re visiting the festive of the arts, then get ready for new Disney Merchandise for the festival. Of course you can also grab some cute Disney Festival of the Arts original designs in our shop at polkadotpixieshop.com.
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Culinary Arts
As with all Disney Epcot festivals, there are food booths set up throughout the World Showcase. But, in this Epcot Festival of the Arts Guide, the food is not the main event. The Art is. As the kitchens are not the centerpiece of the festival there are not nearly as many foods as you would expect to find at the Food and Wine Festival. Still, with 16 kitchens, and a new one this year, Cuisine Classique, there is plenty to be had just the same. Check out all the Best Foods at EPCOT Festival of the Arts at Disney World.
Festival of the Arts Menus 2024
From beautiful desserts to mouthwatering main dishes, and beautiful drinks, there is plenty of food at Festival of the Arts to be had. With Outdoor Food Studios in World Showcase and across the park, plan to be there when they open. Food Studios Open 11 am- 9 pm. And be sure to check out the Festival of the Arts Menus for details on which culinary masterpieces you can find in each food studio across EPCOT.
Can I use the Disney Snack Credits at the Festival of the Arts?
Yes! If you’re using the Disney Dining Plan you can use the DDP to pay for select Festival of the Arts menu items. Dishes included will be noted with the DDP notation on the booth sign. This is a great use of a snack credit as we saw some food items priced as high as $8.50. We love stockpiling our snack credits for Festival days at EPCOT. And it’s a great way to save some money.
Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine
If you’re headed to the festival with the intention of trying as many foods as you can, then take the challenge! The Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine highlights 5 dishes across the event, that you can try and get a stamp on your game card. Once all 5 are collected you win a freebie treat.
Joffrey’s Festival of the Arts Coffee Selections
Joffrey’s Coffee Carts across the park at EPCOT have Festival of the Arts specific treats! So be sure to stop by and check out all the new flavors popping up at the four coffee carts located in EPCOT park. Or make your own Joffrey’s Coffee Disney Copycat Recipes at home this year!
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Visual Arts
The visual arts include art prints and original works. You can see chalk art on the sidewalk to art demos set to music(our favorite!). Everything is scattered throughout the World Showcase, so no matter where you turn there will be something artsy waiting. Prints and original works of art from artists around the world are available for purchase.
Artists Booths
You can also meet some of the artists that are present and even have something signed. With over 100 artists at the festival, now is the time to get that gallery wall piece you’ve been eyeing! This is a very experiential portion of the Festival. We enjoyed just browsing through the art tents and admiring the beautiful work of these talented artists!
Epcot Festival of the Arts Classes and Seminars
Our favorite part of the Visual Arts parts of the festival is an interactive mural that Disney has set up as a paint by number. Just see the cast member at the front of the mural for your paintbrush and paint! The mural painting is only open to painters for part of the day. While we’re not sure this will be available every year, it was super fun to interact with the art.
Festival of the Arts Animation Academy | 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm
Kid’s Chalk Art | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Paint by Number Mural
Leave your creative mark on a larger-than-life EPCOT festival of the arts paint by number wall mural! Where: World Nature. When: Daily 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. This interactive art experience is perfect for families. You’re given a small tub of paint and instructed to pain a few squares. Keep checking back to see the progress during your visit.
Chalk Art
Located at the main park entrance and near the entrance to World Showcase under the Monorail beam, you can find an illusion of art on the ground. Created in Chalk, the artists craft a perspective illusion that allows you to be part of the magic! Just follow the instructions on where to stand ( noted on the ground) and snap a pic!
There is also a slew of 2D and 3D artwork for the Chalk Art at EPCOT. Featuring Disney characters, and movie scenes, there is plenty to take pics of along the bridge between World Celebration and the World Showcase.
Figment Paint with the Masters’ Scavenger Hunt
Similar to Remy’s Hide and Squeak during the Food and Wine Festival, the International Festival of the Arts has a scavenger hunt. The Arts Festival scavenger hunt is Figment’s Brush with the Masters. It will cost you to buy the map and at the end of your hunt, you will receive a Figment magnet for your hard work. The game map costs $9.99 plus tax
Basically, you will travel around the world showcase and in each country find a painting with Figment. We enjoyed this game, however, it was a little more difficult to get started than the Remy game. Figment is hidden really well, just about everywhere. I’ll give you a hint though- they’re inside the buildings, not outside. And you can sometimes find Figment near the Kidcot stops. However, this wasn’t true 100% of the time. Another tip to remember is that these are large Figment paintings, so if you don’t see it, it’s not there. Read our guide on visiting the Festival of the Arts with Kids.
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Photo Ops
In addition to the artwork throughout the World Showcase, there were several Photo ops where you can become part of the art! Oversized framed artwork serves as a backdrop for the photo and Photo Pass photographers are situated with each piece for ease of photo taking. An essential part of any Epcot Festival of the Arts Guide, we think this fun interactive photography is a must-do! Photo Pass begins at 11 am. Check out the EPCOT Festival of the Arts Photo Ops for all the photo op booths to look for! Featuring famous paintings, here are the ones to look for.
- Frida Kahlo Self Portrait
- Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci)
- The Scream (Edvard Munch)
- Washington Crossing the Delaware (Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze)
- Luncheon of the Boating Party (Pierre-Auguste Renoir)
- Peter Pan Storybook
- Birth of Venus (Sandro Botticelli)
- Café Terrace at Night and Sunflowers (Vincent van Gogh)
Festival of the Arts Magic Shots
If you have Disney PhotoPass then you can grab a variety of Magic Shots across the park! Many featuring Figment and unique light art. Check out the lineup of options at Disney Photopass locations.
Find the Hidden Artwork
Hidden Art Work known as Pixie Paintings with one character painted on a building in each country. See if you can spot them all.
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Performing Arts
The performing arts are covered with acrobatic artists at the fountain stage. Featured Broadway stars are found at the America Garden Theater Stage in the America pavilion. You can see different Broadway talent each weekend of the festival.
Epcot Festival of the Arts Concert Series
This concert series gets you up close and personal with New York City’s brightest stars on Broadway. Show in the America Gardens Theatre Shows at 530, 645, and 8 p.m. There’s also a stage set up between the entrance of the World Showcase and Future World where you can listen to the vocal talents of different groups from orchestra to Acappella. This seemed like a great place to take a break and always seemed to have somewhat of a crowd. And even better, we were able to catch a pretty cool performance by an artist who painted to music! Super fun and really awesome to watch.
Details
- Location: America Gardens Theatre at EPCOT
- Dates: January 12 to February 19, 2024
- Showtimes: 5:30 PM, 6:15 PM and 8:00 PM
Disney on Broadway Performers 2024
Here’s the full lineup of the Broadway performances you can see throughout the festival.
- Jan. 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23
- Caissie Levy (“Frozen”) & Patti Murin (“Frozen”)
- Jan. 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 25
- Heidi Blickenstaff (“Freaky Friday” and “The Little Mermaid”) & Gavin Lee (“Mary Poppins” and “Beauty and the Beast”)
- Jan. 26, 28, 29, Feb. 1, 3, 5, 6
- Ashley Brown (“Mary Poppins” and “Beauty and the Beast”) & L. Steven Taylor (“The Lion King”)
- Jan. 27, 30, 31, Feb. 2, 4, 7, 8
- Kissy Simmons (“The Lion King”) & Josh Strickland (“Tarzan”)
- Feb. 9, 11, 12, 15, 18
- Mandy Gonzalez (“Aida”) & Michael James Scott (“Aladdin” and “Tarzan”)
- Feb. 10, 13, 14, 16, 17
- Bradley Gibson (“Hercules” and “The Lion King”) & Shoba Narayan (“Aladdin”)
- Feb. 19
- Special, extended finale performance featuring Gonzalez, Scott, Gibson & Narayan
Disney on Broadway Dining Packages 2024
Available starting December 19, 2023, you can grab a Disney on Broadway Dining Package for dinner and a guaranteed seat at any of these eight EPCOT Restaurants. The seating included with the Dining Package at EPCOT is typically the first few rows of the theater, giving you a great spot for the performance.
- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
- Biergarten Restaurant
- Coral Reef Restaurant
- Garden Grill Restaurant
- Rose & Crown Dining Room
- Le Cellier
- Spice Road Table
- Regal Eagle Smokehouse (same-day, in-person walk-up packages only)
Disney Character Paintings on Stage | World Showcase Plaza
Behold a high-energy, on-stage performance by a guest visual artist painting favorite Disney characters. In just minutes, colorful Disney images magically appear before your eyes. Performances are offered Thursday – Sunday and select Mondays throughout the festival. Be sure to check the My Disney Experience App for all the showtimes.
Featured Artists Coming Soon!
Art Defying Gravity and Physical Art Performances
At the main stage at Port of Entry you can see a variety of performances featuring physical artists. Acrobats, gymnasts and more! Some of the best shows at the festival!
EPCOT Festival of the Arts with Kids
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Merchandise
Offering new Festival of the Arts Merchandise every year, you can find exclusives here featuring Figment, Mickey and Minnie and other characters. Be sure to check out shopDisney.com for the items that you can grab if you’re not visiting the parks.
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Planning
The EPCOT Festival of the Arts is by far one of the easiest EPCOT festivals to enjoy. With better weather, and fewer crowds, it’s easy to do Epcot Festival of the Arts in One Day if you’re time is limited. Check out our Disney’s Festival of the Arts Planning Tips for all the things to know before you go. From checking out the menus ahead of time, to deciding what events, shows and activities to try, there is plenty to plan. And if you’re ready to just dive in, take a look at our Festival of the Arts Top 10 Tips so you can go extra prepared and not miss a thing!
EPCOT Festival of the Arts Recipes
Last but not least, we just had to share some favorite Disney copycat recipes from the Festival fo the Arts. Mainly because there are certain dishes from the festivals that just stick with us! Try the Deconstructed Apple Pie à la Mode Festival of the Arts Copycat Recipe for a delicious apple pie treat, elevated, and scoopable with a spoon. Or the classic poptart recipe with our Festival of the Arts Recipes at Home: Pop’t Art copycat recipe.
Epcot Festival of the Arts Review
Overall we really loved the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts and think it’s a great addition to Epcot’s lineup of festivals. If you still need to be talked into adding this to your travel plans, check out Disney Festival of the Arts 5 Reasons You Should Visit in 2024. With great food, a great vibe, and lots of beautiful and fun artwork to peruse, we think this is a great event for art and Disney lovers alike! You find more about Epcot Festival of the Arts Menus, Tips, and Merchandise on our Festival of the Arts page.
Melanie Renee is a photographer, writer, designer and mom. Visiting Disney destinations since 2010, she is also an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. When she's not creating her next coffee recipe, or designing apparel at Polka Dot Pixie Shop, she's seeking beautiful sunsets and planning her next trip .
