Walt Disney World's EPCOT to be festival-free for summer 2024

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Posted: Tuesday April 23, 2024 10:37am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

EPCOT will be festival-free this summer as Disney adjusts the timelines of its seasonal offerings for 2024.

2023 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival overview

This year, the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival will come to a close on May 27, 2024, with the 2024 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival not beginning until August 29.

The event date adjustments mean that EPCOT will be free of festivals for the bulk of the summer from May 28 through August 28, 2024.

Coco Topiary at 2024 EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival

In 2023, the Flower and Garden Festival ended on July 5 and was followed quickly by the Food and Wine Festival, which began on July 27.

Disney may have been thinking that EPCOT in recent years has become over-saturated with festivals and will be hoping that by pulling back on the dates, the festivals will feel more special and connected to each season.

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HauntedPirate7 days ago

Why is Orange Bird bad? :angelic:

monothingie7 days ago

My eyes are down here.

ToTBellHop7 days ago

Bad, Orange bird!

monothingie7 days ago

Never Forget.

ToTBellHop7 days ago

How nice for them that they can also close Tangierine Cafe all summer and not have to staff it. The Morocco pavilion is practically a ruin nowadays. They’ll tell stories about how ancient peoples used to tolerate bad food to watch a belly-dancer nearby.

Disstevefan17 days ago

Its not about attendance any more. Now I think everything is about per capita spending at the parks. Now that they have Genie+ and ILL, maybe they don't need the food booths as much.

ToTBellHop7 days ago

Of course, that overlaps the addition of Rat, two fireworks spectaculars, and GotG. So new attractions don’t move the needle either? They need more inventive cupcake flavor profiles. Mango habanero would get butts in the park.

wdwfan227 days ago

Epcot doesn't need a summer festival. Epcot needs to invest in attraction updates and additions. There wasn't any boost in Epcot attendance during the summer when the festivals were extended to cover the summer dates.

Disstevefan17 days ago

Attendance used to be THE measuring stick on the assumption more people spend more money. Now they are actively limiting attendance for those they think do not spend enough money. Now I think everything is about per capita spending.

Epcot82Guy7 days ago

I'm not sure a Taste of Mirabel in World Celebration (given it's central feature) would be "more family"....

bmr15917 days ago

I mean, I don’t think that’s totally fair. If the investment wasn’t driving attendance (or was seen to be affecting attendance in later months), it only makes sense to restructure.

Disstevefan18 days ago

FIFY ;)

ToTBellHop8 days ago

A Taste of the Epcot International Mirabel and Friends Festival?

PREMiERdrum8 days ago

It's less about that... ish. The festivals were designed to give Epcot an extra draw in the slower periods. As the park grew stale and lacked enough destination attractions, the festivals were expanded. What started as a way to focus crowds to certain seasons became, unfortunately, a year-round expectation. Eventually, that was going to need to be corrected. With the park's makeover "complete," this became a natural opportunity to reset guest expectations. If it works, they'll successfully fix guest expectations for summer and refocus the festival crowd back to fall and spring. If it doesn't work, there will be a new festival in summer '25. FWIW, I do expect some lighter "festival-like" offerings to be announced for summer to compliment the Encanto show. The central gardens were designed for this, and they will be in use at least somewhat year round.