Looking for opinions on The Festival of Arts! We will be there on the last day of the festival, most likely in the afternoon only. We will have two adults and two toddlers.
I have a reservation at Coral Reef for dinner, but the food stalls looks pretty intriguing. If you had a choice, would you do Coral Reef or walk around the food stalls for dinner? If we do the food stalls, is there enough space around them to be able to sit/stand and enjoy the food?
Anyone know if the festival is only open with World Showcase, or is it open with park hours? That may change our morning plans.
Any thoughts on visiting the artist stalls? I think it would be fun to try to find a unique souvenir from one of the artists. Are they spread throughout EPCOT and manned all day?
Any other comments about the Festival are appreciated!
Personally I would go for the food booths over any TS. But the best thing would be for you to check out the information at Disney Food Blog about what is available. That should give you a better idea of what will work for your family. It can be difficult to find a place to eat but we would usually find a place then one of us would go collect food from nearby booths. We found that sharing 4-6items made a meal for us.
Thanks, that helps! I havenāt been to Epcot in years, and not during a festival, so Iām having trouble wrapping my head around how it works. The menus look really tempting, so I think we may cancel CR and just hit any place that sounds good as we walk.
Great!
Another suggestion is to bring a couple of small plastic trays. We bought these at Food & Wine but you can get plain trays (like cafeteria trays but smaller) at many places. It makes it a lot easier to carry several food items back to whatever eating location you have staked out. Of course these hold your wine or beer securely while navigating a crowd.
Thatās a great tip!! Part of the reason I was hesitant was picturing juggling a little plate of expensive food with drinks and a stroller . Bringing a little tray would be totally worth it.
Here was our lunch from the festival stalls. Definitely recommend doing this. There are high top tables placed around the numerous stalls around WS where you can stand and eat, then move on to the next. Itās easier to āgrazeā than find a bunch of things and sit down for a single meal with these dishes.
The plates at the arts festival were really sturdy I thought. My daughter wouldnāt have liked too much besides a dessert maybe. The food is more āfoodieā than the other festivals. Give the kids a couple of those paintbrush churros ( that was the longest line)
and another snack and theyāll be fine though!
Thatās what Iām thinking too, which is another reason to skip Coral Reef for the festival - my kids tend to not eat all of their meals, so āsnackingā around the world will be more their speed
Hereās what I enjoyed about the festivalā¦I went the first year, so Iām not sure what has changed (also, it was just my mom and meā¦no young ones):
Walking around to all the different photo spotsā¦you can put yourself into famous paintings.
The foodā¦some of it is a bit fancy, but there are plenty of desserts and things that the kids would snack on. I usually had to wander around to find an open high top table, but people were alwyas willing to share.
The booths are nice, mostly artwork thoughā¦I found myself flipping through piles of really lovely printsā¦but that might get boring for the kids.
The Broadway Concert Series was so fun for my mom and I. They just sing a bunch of Disney on Broadway hits. I think they do a few times each night, so you could go early and sneak out if the kids donāt love it.
That all sounds right up my alley! Iād love to find a great print, so Iāll have to bring something to keep the kids occupied while we browse. Thanks for your take!
Thereās a great playground for the kids with nice chairs for the grownups on the other side of mousegears. My daughter is 8 but we still love visiting that during the festival. Have a drink, let the kids play. Everyoneās happy.
. Bringing a little tray would be totally worth it.