EPCOT International Festival of the Arts: Chalk Art, Animation Academy and 136 Festival Menu Items

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The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts pairs a 136-item festival menu with hands-on activities that do not cost extra, including Chalk Art, Animation Academy and Artful Photo Ops. planDisney panelists Christina and Mandy worked through the festival, including the Disney on Broadway costume exhibit in CommuniCore Hall.

EPCOT International Festival of the Arts: Chalk Art, Animation Academy and 136 Festival Menu Items

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts runs on two tracks: a food festival with 136 exclusive items, and a set of hands-on art activities included with park admission. planDisney panelists Christina and Mandy spent a day working through both, and the free half turns out to be the part families remember.

A man and a child are drawing on the ground with chalk while a colorful paint bottle graphic and text are overlaid on the left.
A man and a child are drawing on the ground with chalk while a colorful paint bottle graphic and text are overlaid on the left.

Key Details

The activities that cost nothing extra

Still from the The activities that cost nothing extra trailer (1)
Two women, one with long brown hair and wearing a light blue top and red and white cardigan, and another with dark curly hair and a pink jacket, are standing in a room with a large bird puppet on a shelf behind them.
Still from the The activities that cost nothing extra trailer (2)
Two women stand outdoors, looking at a mobile phone displaying event information for EPCOT, including a section for "Artful Photo Ops."
Still from the The activities that cost nothing extra trailer (3)
Two women stand in front of a Sleeping Beauty-themed photo backdrop, surrounded by potted flowers and plants.
Still from the The activities that cost nothing extra trailer (4)
A colorful chalk drawing on pavement depicts a castle, a statue of a man, and Mickey Mouse, surrounded by green grass and pink flowers under a blue sky with clouds.
Still from the The activities that cost nothing extra trailer (5)
Two women are kneeling on a reddish-brown ground, looking at items spread in front of them, with a large turquoise cylindrical structure and a tree with yellow blossoms in the background.
Still from the The activities that cost nothing extra trailer (6)
Two women walk past an art exhibit with a Disney-themed painting in the foreground, and other people and buildings in the background.

Chalk Art is the easiest entry point for younger guests, and the stencils mean the results look deliberate rather than accidental. Christina's practical tip is to set a timer, so children know in advance when the station is ending rather than being pulled away mid-drawing.

Animation Academy is the other hands-on station, where a Disney artist walks a room through drawing a character step by step. Both panelists came away with a passable Goofy, which is roughly the expected outcome and the entire appeal.

Picture-perfect moments

Artful Photo Ops place guests inside large-scale artwork around the festival, with setups that reward committing to the pose. Disney PhotoPass Service is worth using here for the practical reason that it gets the parent holding the phone into the photo.

Thirty years of Disney on Broadway in CommuniCore Hall

Once Upon A Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway occupies CommuniCore Hall, and admission is included with a park ticket. The exhibit gathers costumes from Aladdin, Mary Poppins, The Lion King and Frozen, with a sing-along component and a Pride Rock photo setup where guests can lift a Simba figure. For anyone with a musical theater kid, it is the single best stop in the festival.

The exhibit runs alongside the Disney on Broadway Concert Series at the America Gardens Theatre, where performers from the stage productions sing the same catalog live.

Art and food around World Showcase

The visual art side of the festival lives in World Showcase, where working artists sell and display pieces across the promenade. The food side is the larger number: 136 exclusive offerings, split between 59 food items and 77 drinks, with 55 new additions and two new Food Studios this year.

What this means for planners

Festival of the Arts is the EPCOT festival that gives the most back to guests who are not eating and drinking their way around the promenade. The activities are included with admission, they run most of the day, and they hold the attention of children who have no interest in a tasting flight. Personalized questions can be submitted at planDisney.com.

Originally reported by disneyparksblog.com. GenieGrove rewrote this story; the original reporting is theirs.