The date is set. The booths are coming. The concerts are booked. The cheese crawl is back.
EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival 2026 runs from August 27 through November 21, giving guests nearly three months of booths, concerts, scavenger hunts, and specialty dining that transforms the park into something meaningfully different from its off-season version. It is the longest-running seasonal event at any Disney park in the United States and one of the most attended events at Walt Disney World each year it runs.
If you have a Disney World trip anywhere in that window and EPCOT is part of your plan, here is everything you need to know before the festival starts.
The Dates, the Booths, and the Two Activities You Should Not Skip
The festival runs August 27 through November 21. Over 35 food booths will be placed throughout EPCOT during that window, with additional specialty offerings at the park's table-service and quick-service restaurants.
Two recurring fan favorites are confirmed returning for 2026.
Emile's Fromage Montage is the cheese crawl that has developed one of the most dedicated followings of any festival activity. Guests collect stamps from participating cheese-forward booths and redeem a completed card for a specialty item. It is part food tour, part scavenger hunt, and entirely worth doing if cheese is your thing. It is also a useful structure for guests who find the idea of 35-plus booths slightly overwhelming and want a curated path through a specific category.
Remy's Ratatouille Hide and Squeak returns as the family-friendly scavenger hunt that sends guests searching throughout the park for hidden Remy figurines. It extends the visit significantly and gives families a goal that runs alongside the food experience rather than competing with it.
Every Eat to the Beat Concert, Every Date, in One Place
The Eat to the Beat concert series at America Gardens Theater is included with park admission, though reserved dining package seating requires a separate booking. Dining package reservations opened July 16.
New performers joining the festival this year include Lauren Alaina, Fitz and the Tantrums, Grace Potter, The War and Treaty, Couch, Grupo Manía, Rey Ruiz, Allen Stone, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
Returning performers include Hanson, Smash Mouth, MercyMe, New Found Glory, Bowling for Soup, The Fray, Tiffany, STARSHIP featuring Mickey Thomas, Ben Rector, Boyz II Men, The Beach Boys, and Evolution: Motown, among others.
The full date-by-date schedule:
August 27 through September 3: Evolution: Motown runs August 27, September 1, 2, and 3. Hanson runs August 28 through 31.
September 4 through September 30: The War and Treaty, September 4 through 5. Yellowcard, September 6 through 7. Fly Guys, September 8 through 10. Couch, September 11 through 12. Fitz and the Tantrums, September 13 through 14. Latin Ambition, September 15 through 17. MercyMe, September 18 through 19. Grupo Manía, September 20 through 21. Metro Latino Band, September 22 through 24. Element, September 25 through 27. New Found Glory, September 28 through 29. Smash Mouth, September 30.
October: Smash Mouth continues October 1. Champagne Orchestra, October 2 through 4. Rey Ruiz, October 5 through 6. Tiffany, October 7 through 8. Viva Latina, October 9 through 11. The Fray, October 12 through 13. STARSHIP featuring Mickey Thomas, October 14 through 15. Jaclyn Hayden, October 16 through 18. Ben Rector, October 19 through 20. Allen Stone, October 21 through 22. SoundUp, October 23 through 25. Lauren Alaina, October 26 through 27. Bowling for Soup, October 28 through 29. Southbound, October 30 through November 1.
November: Boyz II Men, November 2 through 3. Big Head Todd and the Monsters, November 4 through 5. M-80's, November 6 through 8. Grace Potter, November 9 through 10. The Beach Boys, November 11 through 12. The Hooligans, November 13 through 16.
What the Festival Does to EPCOT That First-Time Attendees Never Expect
Guests who have visited EPCOT during Food and Wine before know the feeling. Guests who have not are almost universally surprised by the same thing: how completely the festival reshapes the park's rhythm and how much longer a World Showcase walk takes when there are 35-plus booths along the route.
The physical transformation is immediate. Booth structures appear throughout World Showcase and the surrounding areas. Festival signage and decor fill in visual gaps. The park looks different, sounds different, and smells different than it does during any other part of the year. That last part is not a minor detail. The concentration of food preparation across that many booths creates an ambient layer to a World Showcase walk that festival regulars describe as part of what they miss when the booths come down in November.
The crowd pattern also shifts in ways that matter for planning. August 27 is historically one of EPCOT's highest-attendance days of the year, as is the first weekend of each month throughout the festival. Weekday visits during the festival window consistently produce shorter booth lines and more comfortable pacing. If your schedule allows flexibility, weekday mornings and early afternoons are when the festival is at its most enjoyable.
The concert series reshapes evening planning too. America Gardens Theater sits in the American Adventure section of World Showcase, and a full concert night creates meaningful congestion in that area. Guests not attending the concert may want to plan their evening around being in a different section of World Showcase when the show is running.
The Practical Decisions Worth Making Before August 27
Eat to the Beat dining packages are the most reliable way to secure guaranteed concert seating, and they book up for popular acts significantly in advance. Dining package reservations opened July 16, which means availability for the earliest festival dates may already be competitive. Checking My Disney Experience now for your travel dates is worth doing before the window narrows further.
If the cheese crawl or the scavenger hunt is something your group wants to do, those activities do not require advance booking but do reward going in with the activity's format understood. Both can be picked up at festival merchandise locations within the park.
For guests who are planning EPCOT as a full festival day, arriving with a strategy rather than just wandering toward booths is the approach that tends to produce the best experience. Identifying the booths your group is most excited about in advance, having a rough sense of which direction you want to walk World Showcase, and knowing which concert is playing that night all make the day feel intentional rather than reactive.
If you are going to the festival and you have a specific act you are planning your trip around, share it in the comments. And if you are trying to figure out which dates have the lightest crowds or which booth categories are worth prioritizing on a first visit, ask below.
