Taste of Epcot Food and Wine Festival: What you need to know

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 01: General view of the 360-Degree Film Presentation "Walt Disney Imagineering presents the Epcot Experience" at Epcot Center at Walt Disney World on October 01, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 01: General view of the 360-Degree Film Presentation "Walt Disney Imagineering presents the Epcot Experience" at Epcot Center at Walt Disney World on October 01, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

The Taste of Epcot Food and Wine Festival continues despite some limitations.

Epcot center in Orlando is going strong despite visitation limitations and the Taste of Epcot Food and Wine Festival offers a return to normalcy.

Have you been cooped up and ready to break free of the confines of your home? We all pretty much are at this point and Disney World has something that could make us feel more normal. If only for a few hours.

The Taste of Epcot Food and Wine Festival is going on and the good news is that the crowds are not nearly as thick as year’s past. In fact, you could bring your kids and not have to worry about running the stroller up the back of someone’s leg when they suddenly stop.

At Epcot, the pavilions are open despite health concerns and construction. The central hub to the event remains in the World Showcase as well as some of the pop-up pavilions just before you get there. There are some restrictions as Disney is taking no risks with their park guests or their cast members.

Masks are required to enter the park and masks must be left on while you are in the park. You can remove them while you are eating but they don’t want you to walk around eating but instead are asking you to sit in various areas to enjoy your experience.

Your temperature will be taken upon entry and if any member of your party has a temperature the entire party will not be permitted into the park. In addition, you can’t simply walk up and get a ticket. The festival is free as part of your park ticket but you need to call ahead and reserve a ticket as the Disney Parks are not allowing park hopping as of today.

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Once inside, make your way back past the central construction, just past the big giant ball, and follow the signs to reach the path towards World Showcase. Most of the time that pathway is to towards the Living Land exhibits to the right of the Epcot ball.

It won’t take long to start smelling the food as you trek towards the lake and then the only decision is whether you should go left or right. No worries though, both directions inevitably bring you back around to the entrance, and with fewer crowds, you shouldn’t find yourself walking against traffic.

Be sure to grab a festival pocket guide that will have each countries menu and it will make it much easier to just load up a festival card to use for your payments. Most of the samples will cost between $4.00 and $9.00. The portions are small so don’t get too upset and the drinks are pretty expensive as well but in some cases, they are worth it.

It’s a good time to go and the weather is at least starting to get better, yes it is still very hot, but it isn’t August hot. Hope you enjoy!  The festival will run through late November.