Why We’re Already Worried About the 2025 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

The 2025 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival is still a ways off, but we’re already keeping a close eye on a few things that could make or break this year’s event.

Between missing fan-favorite experiences and the brutal Florida heat, there’s a lot to be nervous about. If you’re planning on heading to the festival later this year, here are a few early red flags that have us concerned.

Where Are the Seminars and Demos?

Remember when you could pop into a wine tasting seminar or catch a live cooking demo from a pro chef at EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival? Yeah, we do, too. But it’s been years since those extras made a real comeback, and we’re wondering if they’re gone for good.

What makes this even more confusing is that Flavors of Florida—the summer event over at Disney Springs—is offering food and drink seminars again this year. So the infrastructure and interest clearly still exist.

If that event can support demos, why not bring them back to the biggest food festival on Disney property?

Guests loved those offerings. They added variety, broke up the booth-hopping routine, and gave us all a chance to sit down in the AC. And let’s be real: not everyone is in EPCOT just to eat and drink around the world. Some folks genuinely loved learning something along the way.

We’re holding out hope that Disney will surprise us and announce their return closer to the festival’s start, but as of now…still radio silence.

What’s the Plan for CommuniCore Hall?

This is the big wild card. CommuniCore Hall has been open for almost a year now, and if you’ve been keeping up with the festivals, you already know it’s finally showing signs of potential.

During Festival of the Arts, CommuniCore Hall hosted an impressive Disney on Broadway exhibit. It had real Broadway costumes, models, and set pieces, and it actually gave the space some life.

That was followed up during Flower & Garden with a full-on plant nursery theme — complete with purple glow lights, floating garden displays, and some deep-dive info on Disney’s horticulture team.

So, yeah. We were impressed.

Now the question is: what will Food & Wine do with the space? This building could be the perfect place to bring back wine tastings, cheese pairings, or global cooking showcases. But if Disney skips over that opportunity — or just turns the space into another generic merch location — we’re gonna be more than a little disappointed. Two festivals in a row have finally made the space feel exciting. Here’s hoping the third keeps that momentum going.

The Heat Is Getting Brutal

This isn’t just “it’s Florida, it’s hot.” It’s “I-stepped-outside-and-walked-into-a-sauna” hot. And it’s only June.

If you’ve been in the parks lately, you know the humidity has reached a new level of sticky, and that makes the idea of walking around World Showcase while holding a tray of heavy food in the sun a lot less appealing.

Food & Wine will be running August 28th through November 22nd, 2025, and that means some of the festival takes place in the peak of Florida summer. It’s hard to enjoy rich dishes and heavy snacks when you’re already sweating through your shirt by 11AM.

We’d love to see Disney invest in more shaded seating areas or cooling zones throughout the festival. Because right now, it’s starting to feel like survival of the fittest out there.

Where Are All the Tables?

This is one that never gets old because it never really gets fixed. Finding a table at Food & Wine can feel like winning the lottery. Yes, there are a few high-top tables scattered around the booths, but they fill up fast, and they’re often awkwardly placed in full sun or right in the middle of high-traffic walkways. Eating while juggling a tray, a drink, and possibly a kid (or two) shouldn’t be part of the experience—but it is.

Disney has had years to add more convenient, shaded standing or sitting areas, and somehow this still isn’t a priority. With the amount of food-heavy booths at this festival, it’s just strange that table space still hasn’t been addressed in a meaningful way.

We’re Anxiously Awaiting the Menus

We’re always excited to see what’s coming back to the booths—but that’s also part of the stress. The menus don’t drop until much closer to the festival, so we’re left crossing our fingers that our favorites make the cut.

Some of our top picks from last year include:

• The Grilled Bison with butternut squash purée and huckleberry gastrique from Bramblewood Bites.
• The Filet Mignon from the Canada Pavilion—one of the most popular dishes every year, and for good reason.
• The Roasted Warm Water Lobster Tail with garlic butter from Coastal Eats. It was shockingly good for a theme park dish.
• The Fry Flight from the Fry Basket. Three kinds of fries in one dish? That’s a win.
• The Red Wine-Braised Beef Short Rib with goat cheese polenta from Earth Eats.
• And let’s not forget the Crispy Duck Bao Bun from China or the Wagyu Temaki Sushi from Japan.

Losing any of those would be a major bummer, especially for returning guests who look forward to them every year. Disney has a tendency to rotate dishes in and out, so nothing is ever guaranteed. The waiting game is real, and the anxiety is already setting in.

Bottom Line

We’ll definitely be at the festival when it opens, ready to taste, explore, and report back. But right now, we’ve got our concerns, and we want you to be ready for what could go either way.

As always, be sure to keep following AllEars for more Disney news and updates.

6 Dates to AVOID the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival in 2025

Will you be going to EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival this year? Tell us in the comments! 

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