Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2026: The Ultimate Disney Foodie Guide
Addicted to the Mouse: Disney Podcast | Disney World, Universal, & Cruise Vacation Planning - Dan and Leslie Lowry
Dan and Leslie Lowry dive into the Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2026, celebrating its 30th anniversary with a special lineup of returning and
Key takeaways
- The 2026 Epcot Food & Wine Festival marks its 30th anniversary with 30 special food items returning or reimagined from past years.
- Eat to the Beat concerts feature popular acts like The Beach Boys, Hanson, Mercy Me, and Bowling for Soup, with premium seating available through dining packages.
Main topics
- Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2026 launch date and duration
- 30th anniversary celebration with nostalgic food items
Notable quotes
"This is our 11th year going to Food & Wine together, just the two of us. But we will, of course, take the kids at some point."
"I mean, The Beach Boys is going to be a popular one."
Conclusion
With a mix of nostalgia, new experiences, and exciting culinary offerings, the Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2026
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) After months of salivating and waiting very patiently, it is finally here. Hello and welcome to Addicted to the Mouse. Today is Wednesday, August 19th. You're listening to episode number 825. And today we have the foodie guide for Epcot's 2026 Food and Wine Festival. Speaker 2 (0:30) Hey, everybody. Dan and Leslie here. Thanks for joining us today. Patiently, I don't know if patient is the Speaker 1 (0:35) correct term. I Speaker 2 (0:35) mean, Speaker 1 (0:35) as patient as I could possibly wait for this thing. Speaker 2 (0:39) There you go. We Speaker 1 (0:41) are huge Food & Wine fans. In fact, our first couples trip down here was for Food & Wine in 2015. So this is our 11th year going to Food & Wine together, just the two of us. But we will, of course, take the kids at some point. Well, at least Jennings, Aiden. Aiden's going to be doing his own HHN universal thing for pretty much the entire time. But we'll take Jennings at some point, but I'm so looking forward to it. So today is Wednesday, August 19th. Next, was it Thursday? That's the opening day? Yes, Speaker 2 (1:10) August 27th. Speaker 1 (1:11) So next Thursday is opening day of Food and Wine Festival. It goes to November 21st, 2026. Next weekend, we are going to be doing HHN opening weekend. But the following week, the first full week of Food and Wine Festival, we are going to go two afternoons. to record. We're going to do an on-the-go podcast. We're going to bring it to you on the YouTube channel, which is also Addicted to the Mouse and here on the podcast. I cannot wait. Speaker 2 (1:34) Yes, absolutely. So before we get into food and wine news though, I have a quick review and a couple of little news stories. So first, this one's from Miyamasu and it says, thanks for your tips. It says, Dan and Leslie, thank you so much for all the advice and tips. I've been listening to your fabulous podcast for about a year after searching for the perfect podcast for me. We recently visited the Disney world bubble, stayed on property and employed tips and tactics that made this trip magical for my wife and I. Thank you for helping two older nest free. parents be kids again and not pass out. You two are amazing and we adore your podcast. Well, Speaker 1 (2:09) that is high praise. Thank you so much. I appreciate the review. I love that you are empty nesters and you are turning into kids again. That is so awesome. We are about to be empty nesters. Aiden has Speaker 2 (2:20) already Speaker 1 (2:20) flown the nest and the other one, the littler one, he is less than three years. Yeah, Speaker 2 (2:29) I don't want to talk about it. Speaker 1 (2:30) He just started his sophomore year. Speaker 2 (2:31) I'm going to be an emotional mess. Speaker 1 (2:33) I know. Oh, Speaker 2 (2:34) it's just going to be awful. Okay. All right. Let's dive into a little bit of news. So first, I don't know how I feel about this. So beginning Wednesday, September 16th, the Play Disney Parks app will no longer be available. Select in-park experiences like Star Wars, Batuu, Bounty Hunters will continue to be available through Magic Band Plus. What they don't mention is... What happens to DuckTales? I Speaker 1 (2:58) was going to say, I don't care about Star Wars Batuu. I want to do the DuckTales adventure in Epcot around the world showcase. What is going on here? Speaker 2 (3:05) I know. And I mean, like, surely that's going to Speaker 1 (3:07) stay around. I know. Speaker 2 (3:08) I hope that they're not just abandoning that altogether. Like, that's such a fun. I think there's too much infrastructure Speaker 1 (3:13) there to abandon it. And it's been through so many iterations. Surely, surely not. Surely not. Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:18) But they give no information. This is it was literally the entire Speaker 1 (3:21) that's the entire press release. What day? What is it on Speaker 2 (3:24) September? 16th. Oh my goodness. Speaker 1 (3:27) So a month. So sometime after September 16th, we got to go over to Epcot and see how, if we can still do the DuckTales adventure. Figure it out. Yeah. I Speaker 2 (3:35) know. Maybe whenever we're there for food and wine, if we think of it, we could ask somebody like, Hey, what's going to happen with DuckTales? I doubt anybody Speaker 1 (3:41) at the booths are going to know, but yeah, maybe we could find somebody that's, um, gosh, they don't have those tech stations up. Speaker 2 (3:47) I know. Maybe a blue umbrella. Yeah. Yeah. And then in more positive news, airport luggage transfer at Disney expands to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. So now Caribbean Beach. One Speaker 1 (4:00) resort at a time. Yeah. All Speaker 2 (4:01) the all stars, Art of Animation and Pop Century are now eligible if you are flying Southwest, American or United. So a little particular. So Speaker 1 (4:11) we are, oh my, so we are like adding one airline at a time, one resort at a time. So now it is all of the values, right? Isn't that what you said? Yes. So we got pop. All Speaker 2 (4:20) the Speaker 1 (4:20) values. All the all-stars and art of animation plus the one moderate Caribbean beach. And for, you said United, Southwest, and American? Yep. Because originally when it was trialing, it was just Speaker 2 (4:31) Southwest Speaker 1 (4:31) and just, was it only a couple of values or was it all the values? I don't even remember, but slowly but surely we're adding this back in. So if you remember pre COVID, this was a thing for, I think all the resorts, wasn't it? And a ton of airlines. Speaker 2 (4:43) Yes. It was, I think it was like pretty much widespread. So Speaker 1 (4:46) interesting. I wonder how long it'll take to get back to that. Speaker 2 (4:49) I don't know. We're creeping along though. It is Speaker 1 (4:51) a cool offer though. So if you are flying one of those three domestic airlines and staying at one of those resorts, it's a fantastic... Speaker 2 (4:58) I Speaker 1 (4:58) mean, you basically... So the morning you are departing, you just go to the Bell Services area where they're doing this luggage check-in. It's its own separate thing. And then you check them in. We haven't done it since Saratoga Springs, like 2016 or something, 17. But it was amazing. You just walk right up, you give them your checked baggage, and it just magically shows up on the plane for you. Speaker 2 (5:17) Yep, yep. So... Anyway, all right. I am ready to talk food and wine. Let's do it. And, you know, I know we introduced it, but I want to talk, I want to tell everything about food and wine, and then we'll dive into the food. Okay. But did you know, I didn't realize this until the Foodie Guide was released, that this year is extra special because it marks 30 years of this fan favorite festival. Speaker 1 (5:36) I did not know that. 30 years. So it's the 30th Speaker 2 (5:38) anniversary of Food and Wine. So to help celebrate this momentous occasion, there are 30 items that have returned or have been reimagined from across the years. That's Speaker 1 (5:50) kind of a broad statement there. So returned or reimagined. Yes. So, okay. Speaker 2 (5:56) Yes. So, all right. So let's just dive in. First off, we've got the Eat to the Beat. concerts. Um, so if you are dying to see, you know, one of the performers that is performing during Eat to the Beat, which concerts happen every single evening, um, at 530, 645 and 8 PM in the American Garden Theater at Epcot. Um, but they've got everybody from Hanson to, uh, let's see, Mercy Me. We've got Element. We've got Smash Mouth. We've got, uh, Tiffany's coming, The Fray, Sound Up. I don't know some of these people. Bowling for Soup. Bowling for Soup. Yeah. So lots of, I mean, there's definitely ones that I recognize that are very, very big. Boys to Men. Boys Speaker 1 (6:42) to Speaker 2 (6:42) Men, The Beach Boys. I Speaker 1 (6:44) mean, I think that, I mean, The Beach Boys is going to be a popular one. Speaker 2 (6:48) Oh my gosh. Yeah, because you know John Stamos will be there. I Speaker 1 (6:50) think that for a essentially free concert, and I hear everybody, you're going to say, well, you paid for park admission. I get it. But... Park admission, you would pay the same whether there is this concert or not. So I kind of feel like this is a free or included add-on that isn't normally there during the cost of park admission. But to get basically a free concert included with your park admission and also get... food and wine and the rides and everything that's already there normally, I think that's a really good value for the fall. Speaker 2 (7:23) It's really fun. And then if you're, if you just want to be able to like kind of stroll up to the back and, you know, not have to wait in line forever and, uh, just listen, then, you know, you can definitely do that. But if you want a good seat, then I would highly recommend booking a dining package, an eat to the beat dining package. And that's where you get like, basically, uh, you pay a set price at. different various restaurants around Epcot. And you have to make sure that you're booking the eat to the beat dining package, not just that restaurant. And then you get like a little voucher so that you've, those people get let in first. Yeah. It's a Speaker 1 (7:59) separate line. So it's a separate queue, but they let all of those people in fill in all of the seats in the pavilion first before they ever let any of the standby people in. And I I've seen people in that standby line for hours and hours and hours and not get in. Depending on how popular the concert is. We've done it both ways. We've done the dining reservation that includes the admission to the pre-load queue. And we've done it just by standing in the America Pavilion and either grabbing a drink at the outdoor bar by Regal Eagle or maybe grabbing something at the food and wine booth. And I think both are great if you just want some ambient background music. I like standing in the American. Yeah, I do too. It's fun. Speaker 2 (8:40) So, all right, next up. And I mentioned this on a previous podcast when they announced it, but, uh, cheers to cheese is happening. I really, I really want to see Speaker 1 (8:49) this. Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:50) And so it doesn't start until September 18th. So it will not be because, uh, we've still got goofy core in the hall for the remainder of, uh, kids cool summer. So. So it doesn't start till September 18th and it goes through November 8th of the food and wine festival. So you won't see it in any of the, you know, vlogs, ours included of, you know, food and wine festival, whenever it first comes out. But if you're coming between September 18th and November 8th, definitely check it out because I, I just can't imagine that. cheers to cheese isn't going to be fantastic. I Speaker 1 (9:23) definitely want to go back and see it when it does open. But yeah, we're going to have to do our video before that opens. Speaker 2 (9:27) Yes, for sure. And then, you know, continuing on with the cheese theme here, Emile's fromage montage is Speaker 1 (9:35) back Speaker 2 (9:35) again. And so you can try different cheese dishes and then you earn a reward at the end. So make sure whenever you enter the festival. or into the park, you're picking up your festival passport. Um, you can also typically pick them up at all of the food booths as well. And then in the very back, there will be a little place to stamp for five different of the featured dishes. And whenever we go through the food, I'll try to, uh, point out what dishes those are. And once you've collected five stamps, you go to shimmering sips marketplace to receive a little, uh, you know, yummy treat. It's typically like, uh, like