We Did An Epcot Festival in One Day: International Festival of the Arts
- Oct 1
- 8 min read
How did we do an Epcot Festival in one day?
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A Guide to the
Epcot International Festival of the Arts:
A Creative Experience
(AKA: How to Do An Epcot Festival in One Day)
What is Epcot? Epcot opened in Disney World in 1982 by combining education and entertainment: edutainment. The park features two main sections.
World Celebration, formerly part of Future World, features a most unique area of any theme park: a focus on calmness, world and global human interaction, with plants, places just to sit and do nothing and a statues of Walt Disney. World Celebration has rides and attractions that focus on technology, the environment and science presented in the Disney edutainment way. At night, be in this area for special light and music presentations in which your Magic Band + is a participant.
The famous Spaceship Earth is here, the "golf ball," which is a ride and has activities. The ride is one of the last holdovers from the original Epcot park: an entertaining history lesson of communication through technology from the days of prehistoric man all the way to the beginning of the Information Age. It's a lot better than it sounds. After the ride, play with the tech games in an area that can also be entered into from another entrance without riding the ride.
Also in World Celebration: The CommuniCore Pavilion features an entertainment space that is currently hosting a dance party presentation based on Disney's movie Encanto (and other performances during the festival) and changing presentations, exhibits and other activities in the CommunicCore Hall, a multi-use venue that also has restrooms and one of the locations for character greetings. By the way, that dance party area turns into a nightly street party area with a live DJ. Look for a dining area (Connections) and the store (Creations), Guest Services, other stores and your stroller rentals in this area also.
The Imagination Pavilion is part of World Celebration, too. Figment, the mascot of the Festival of the Arts, has his own ride, Journey into Imagination With Figment, another attraction that goes back to almost the beginning of Epcot, making its debut in another form in 1983. A few updates, re-imaginings and renovations later, and Figment is teaching us about the senses and we journey through a lab. After the ride, continue to journey with interactive exhibits. Fun Fact: the Disney Vacation Club lounge is in that building. You don't have to ride the attraction to get there; use the door on the other side. At the back of that building is a restroom.
The Imagination Pavilion also has a theater, that is currently showing three short films from Pixar. Previously, it hosted many other attractions including. Michael Jackson's Captain EO and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Also, there might be character greetings here. Next door is a lounge for certain credit card holders.
World Nature, formerly part of Future World, has the interactive water attraction Journey Into Water: Inspired by Moana, exactly what it sounds like: an lovely, inviting attraction with interactive, high tech water featured activities.
The Seas with Nemo features a slow, dark ride about Nemo, based on the movie Finding Nemo and ending with one of the largest theme park aquariums spanning two levels. You don't have to ride Nemo to see the aquarium, you can enter through the gift shop. On the other side of The Seas pavilion is Coral Reef, a fine dining restaurant that also has a floor to ceiling aquarium.
Finally, in World Nature is The Land, also part of the old Future World, with so many attractions that it can get a little crowded. Start with Soarin', a hang-gliding ride that takes you all over the world (its sibling in Disney's California Adventure will take you through California). Enter the attraction downstairs.
Across that pavilion, also on the lower level, is Living With the Land, another attraction reminiscent of the original days of Epcot, about the how we live off the land and how we grow our food. Boring? Not really, because your boat will take you through a functioning greenhouse that grows food and fish for the restaurants at Epcot. Since its a real little farm, you never know what you will see, as some of the plants change seasonally. Plus, the displays change according to whichever festival is happening. Kind of cool.
Upstairs is Awesome Planet, one of the most vivid and beautifully produced short films about the earth you could see. Even if you find something on YouTube, it could never reproduce the colors of Epcot's projection of the film in their theater. After the show, head downstairs to Seasons, one of the better food court type casual dining areas. In keeping with Epcot's reputation for its sustainable messages and their fabulous food served at the 4 seasonal festivals, in our opinion, this offers a better offering of food from Connections, which is over in World Celebration, which has your typical burgers and fries theme park food. Try this location instead.
If you want character dining, the Garden Grill one of two locations in Epcot (the other one, featuring the Disney Princesses, is in the Norway pavilion in the World Showcase). Featuring food grown from Living With the Land, eat and take photos with Chip and Dale.
Back through World Celebration is World Discovery, which remember Walt Disney's interest not only in technology but in innovation. Be part of a spaceship crew in the interactive Mission: Space, which features two experiences; do the mild one which does not feature the total simulated centrigual spin of the extreme side, which has been known to cause some people to become dizzy or worse.
Test Track is a car ride attraction where you take a prototype car for a test ride, simulating what car companies do during real car manufacturing. Unlike some of other attractions, this one still has its corporate sponsorship, so you might see real prototype cars on display during the queue. You used to design your own prototype car so that you could compare your results with others in your ride vehicle, but that was removed with the last renovation.
One of the newer attractions is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, a real thrill ride roller coaster based on the movie. And last on our tour, but not least, is the unsual Space 220 restaurant, almost hidden from view, its entrance off to the side of Mission Space.
The last area is of Epcot is the World Showcase, a World's Fair type presentation that features 11 countries in permanent pavilions showcasing culture, entertainment, food, merchandise, rides and attractions. It's almost as it was when the park opened in 1982, although only 9 pavilions opened then. Although Epcot's festivals have kiosks, kitchens and entertainment scatted throughout the rest of the Worlds (especially during the Flower & Garden Festival's character shaped topiaries), the bulk of the festivals is located in the pavilions in the World Showcase.
There are four Epcot Festivals: the Flower and Garden (started in 1994) March-June; Food and Wine (added in 1995), late August-mid November; Festival of the Holidays, formerly called Holidays Around the World (begun in 1996) Thanksgiving week - December 30 or so and the Festival of the Arts (recently begun in 2017), which goes from January - February.
The youngest of the festivals is the Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Given that Disney started with a mouse drawn by Walt Disney, it seems ironic that an arts festival was not started sooner. The festival is usually mid-January to mid-February. So, read on to see what you can do at an Epcot Festival in one day.
What's an Epcot Festival anyway? In keeping with the "edutainment" concept, the festivals are more than just eating and drinking. In its full form (meaning, before the pandemic), the Festival of the Arts may have different events: art presentations, animation classes, a concert series, entertainment, a scavenger hunt, and added activities at Kidcot (the children's area in each of the permanent pavilions in the World Showcase). In addition to the normal 11 pavilions, there may be extra kiosks to include other countries, regions and artsy themes. Finally, you can shop for fine art.
Our 5 Tips for Your Trip to enjoy the Festival (make sure you download the My Disney Experience App and check out the latest information for buying tickets and visiting Disney World.) Bonus Tip: Just try to be able to stay for more than one afternoon (since I could only do this festival in one day)!
1. Check out the website for the special events that may cost extra and/or require a reservation. The Disney Broadway concert series is free, but if you want to sit up front, you can buy that with a dining package at one of the restaurants. Actually, we managed to see part of the concert while doing an Epcot Festival in one day.
2. The World Showcase usually opens up 2 hours after the park opens. But, some of the rides in the showcase, like Frozen Ever After or Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, may open up when the park opens. Keep that in mind when you purchase Genie + or Lightning Lane. Obviously, we may not have had time because we did an Epcot Festival in one day!
3. During normal times, it gets more crowded in the evening (normal closing is at 9PM, but check the app). If you have little ones, this might not be a good time to visit. However, it might be hot earlier. So, from 3PM-6PM seems like an happy medium. Also, weekends tend to be even more crowded. Also, sometimes it's harder to find the mascot for the scavenger hunt. Well, we actually tried to do the scavenger, but we did not finish.
4. The festival is all throughout the park, not just in the World Showcase. So, read the app or pick up the Passport Guide booklet at the entrances of the park for all of the little hidden gems. And then you can decide what to do if you only have one day to do an Epcot Festival.
5. There are activities for the whole family such as the scavenger hunt or the very popular animation classes, where you draw a Disney character through a guided presentation. And yes, for our one day to do an Epcot Festival, you better believe we did this!
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