EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival 2026: Dates, First Dishes, Merchandise and a New Cheese Exhibit
The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival runs August 27 to November 21, 2026, an 87 day stretch marking the festival's 30th year. Disney has confirmed the first three returning marketplace dishes, the return of Emile's Fromage Montage and Remy's Hide and Squeak, the Eat to the Beat concert series presented by Enterprise, and a Cheers to Cheese exhibit opening at CommuniCore Hall on September 18. Marketplaces open in phases, no prices have been published, and the full Foodie Guide is still to come.
The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival runs from August 27 to November 21, 2026, an 87 day stretch that carries the park from the end of summer through Thanksgiving week and marks the festival's 30th year. Disney has now confirmed the dates along with the first three returning marketplace dishes, the return of both festival scavenger trails, the Eat to the Beat concert series, and a new exhibit at CommuniCore Hall devoted entirely to cheese.
Key Details
- Dates: August 27 to November 21, 2026, the festival's 30th year
- Where: World Showcase, World Celebration and CommuniCore Hall at EPCOT
- Admission: Included with EPCOT theme park admission, with food, drink and scavenger hunt kits priced separately
- New this year: A Cheers to Cheese exhibit at CommuniCore Hall from September 18
- Marketplaces: Some open in phases, and the full Foodie Guide with menus and per-booth opening dates is still to come
- Concerts: Eat to the Beat presented by Enterprise at the America Gardens Theatre, included with admission, with dining packages on sale since July 16 for guaranteed seating
- Prices: Not published for the menus or the merchandise
Festival dates and how long it runs
The festival has been part of the EPCOT calendar since 1996, and it is still the longest of the park's four annual festivals. It opens on Thursday, August 27, the week before Labor Day, and closes on Saturday, November 21, the weekend before Thanksgiving, so a single festival covers three very different versions of the park: late summer evenings, Halloween season and the first cool weeks of fall. That makes it the EPCOT event most likely to land on a fall Walt Disney World trip whether or not anyone planned around it. The two halves of the run are not the same trip either. The opening weeks sit in peak Central Florida heat with the lighter crowds that go with it, while the back half runs into cooler evenings, the park's holiday build up and much busier weekends.
The length is worth planning around. Marketplaces open in phases rather than all at once, so a late August visit and a November visit are not the same festival. Disney has confirmed that the full Foodie Guide, with complete menus and per marketplace opening dates, is still to be published, and it has not published prices for anything.
How the marketplaces work, and the first three dishes
The shape of Food and Wine has barely moved since 1996. Temporary kitchens ring the World Showcase promenade and spill into the front of the park, each pouring a short menu built around a country or a theme, usually two to five tasting size plates and a drink or two apiece, and guests order, share, and walk to the next one.
Disney has not released the 2026 marketplace list yet, because chefs are still finalizing menus. Three returning items have been named so far:
- Street Corn-style Dumplings at Gyozas of the Galaxy: chicken dumplings with tomatillo salsa verde, street corn salad, cotija, lime crema and cilantro.
- Grilled Bushberry-spiced Shrimp Skewer at the Australia marketplace, served with sweet-and-sour vegetables and a coconut chili sauce.
- Kirschwasser Torte at The Alps: cherry-brandy buttercream, fondant, sugared almonds and cherry compote.
All three are returning rather than new, which tracks with how the festival tends to work. A core of proven dishes anchors the marketplace list and the new items get announced closer to opening day, usually in the Foodie Guide, which is also where the opening date for each individual marketplace will appear.
The phased openings are the real planning trap. A single day visitor chasing one specific dish can turn up on opening weekend and find that kitchen still shuttered, and the Foodie Guide is the only document that settles which booth opens when.
Emile's Fromage Montage returns
Emile's Fromage Montage is back for another year. It is a food stroll rather than a booth: guests collect a stamp in a festival passport for each qualifying cheese dish they try at participating Global Marketplaces, and five stamps completes the card and earns a festival treat. Named for the cheese loving brother in Ratatouille, it has become the most reliable way to give a festival day a structure beyond wandering. It is also one of the few festival activities that costs nothing beyond the food you were going to buy anyway, which is why it has stuck around.
The eligible dishes sit at marketplaces spread around the park rather than clustered in one spot, and each stamp comes with a purchase, so a completed passport means a full lap and a party willing to sample widely rather than settle in at one booth. Both sweet and savory cheese dishes count toward the total, which is the detail most first timers miss: the dessert options are part of the list, not a distraction from it. Disney has not said how many items will carry the marker this year or where the redemption booth will sit, and both normally arrive with the Foodie Guide.
Remy's Hide and Squeak returns to World Showcase
Remy's Ratatouille Hide and Squeak is also confirmed. A themed map and sticker sheet are sold separately, and guests use them to track down small Remy figures tucked around the World Showcase pavilions along with the ingredients he is gathering. Finding him in every location earns a keepsake.
It is the most family friendly thing the festival does, and it doubles as a reason to walk into pavilions a family might otherwise skip. It is also the most reliable way to keep younger guests moving through eleven pavilions of largely adult food and drink, and the route follows the World Showcase promenade, so it maps onto the loop most parties are already walking. For anyone traveling with children who have no interest in a cheese passport, this is the version of the festival that works.
Eat to the Beat at the America Gardens Theatre
The Eat to the Beat Concert Series, presented by Enterprise, returns to the America Gardens Theatre at The American Adventure pavilion, with several performances a day through the festival. The full artist lineup and schedule have already been announced, and multiple shows a day means a concert usually fits into a park plan without rearranging the rest of it.
Concerts are included with EPCOT admission and seating is first come, first served, so the practical cost is time in a queue rather than money, and for the better known acts that means arriving well ahead of showtime.
Festival dining packages went on sale July 16 for guests who would rather not queue. A package pairs a meal at a participating restaurant with a guaranteed seat for a designated show, which is the only way to lock in a seat in advance and the only way past the standby line on a busy weekend night.
Cheers to Cheese arrives at CommuniCore Hall
CommuniCore Hall has been running GoofyCore through the Cool KIDS' SUMMER programming, and it changes over on September 18 to an interactive exhibit called Cheers to Cheese. Disney describes it as a walk through the history, production and trivia of cheese, with facts tucked into every corner of the room, which pairs neatly with the Fromage Montage happening a few hundred feet away in World Showcase. It is also indoors and air conditioned, which makes it a useful mid afternoon stop in a park with very little shade in World Celebration.
The September 18 date matters for anyone visiting in the first three weeks of the festival, because it will not be open yet. Guests visiting from mid September onward get both cheese offerings on the same trip.
The 2026 festival merchandise
This year's collection works in blue, orange, yellow and purple across apparel, accessories and kitchenware. Disney has not published prices. It has detailed several pieces so far:
EPCOT International Food and Wine tee
Food and Wine tee, pocket detail
EPCOT International Food and Wine ears
Food and Wine ears, close view
Food and Wine sweatshirt
EPCOT International Food and Wine baseball cap
The tee is white with the festival logo stitched onto the front pocket in navy, plain enough to wear well outside a park day. The ears are the most detailed piece: navy and orange discs printed with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse working a kitchen, topped with a small white chef's toque carrying the festival logo, and a moveable rolling pin and mini whisk mounted on the ears.
The sweatshirt is a maroon hoodie with the festival name spelled out in colored blocks and 2026 across the bottom of the patch, and it will earn its keep on a November morning when World Showcase after dark actually gets cold. The cap is a lightweight raspberry style with the festival logo in rainbow lettering across the front, which covers the August end of the run.
Disney's own festival photos also put a Minnie Mouse tank top in the line, slate blue with Minnie in a chef's apron carrying a dish and the festival logo printed alongside her. It is the one piece Disney has not described in writing yet.
The rest of the line leans novelty: a churro plush that unfolds into a tote bag, a wine glass sized to sit in the festival food tray, and a mug with a pastry lid. An apron rounds out the kitchenware. The tray detail is the practical one, since the festival trays are how most guests carry four small plates and a drink at once.
PhotoPass Magic Shots around the park
Disney PhotoPass photographers will have festival photo ops across EPCOT, including one new Magic Shot and four returning ones:
- New: Waiter Mickey Mouse, available throughout World Showcase at the Mexico, China, Italy, Japan and France pavilions.
- Returning: the Giant Empanada.
- Returning: the Leaning Tower of Cheeza, with Max Goof.
- Returning: The Swedish Chef.
- Returning: Chef Figment.
Magic Shots are composited in after the fact, so they only appear on photos taken by a PhotoPass photographer and cannot be recreated on a phone. Downloading them means either buying the individual shots or adding a Memory Maker package to the trip, which is the cheaper route for anyone planning more than a couple of photos.
The rest of EPCOT during the festival
The festival does not replace the park. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Test Track, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, character greetings across the pavilions and shopping at Creations Shop all run as normal, and Celebracion Encanto continues its sing along run at CommuniCore Plaza. Pairing a marketplace crawl with a couple of attractions is the standard way locals do a festival evening on a single park day, and the walking loop of World Showcase is the natural spine to hang the rest of the day on.
What this means for guests
Admission covers the festival itself and the concerts, and food and drink are pay as you go, booth by booth, so the budgeting question is how many small plates a party works through in an afternoon rather than whether to buy a separate ticket. Anyone booking an EPCOT day between late August and Thanksgiving is going to hit this festival whether they planned for it or not, which makes the question which weeks to book rather than whether to catch it. Weekends draw the heaviest marketplace crowds, so a weekday visit buys shorter booth lines for the same menus.
On the calendar, late September through mid October is the window that gets the most out of a single day: every marketplace open, Cheers to Cheese running, and the worst of the heat gone. Dining packages are already on sale, and those are the only element with a real deadline attached.
Everything else can wait. Full marketplace menus, prices and phased opening dates land with the Foodie Guide, and Disney has teased Halloween offerings arriving once the festival is underway. Guests booking the front end of the run should note that Cheers to Cheese does not open until September 18, and anyone building a trip around one specific booth should wait for the Foodie Guide before locking in dates. Festival details are posted at DisneyWorld.com.