It’s no secret that Disney World is hard at work getting EPCOT ready for this year’s Food & Wine Festival but we just ran across an update we weren’t expecting to find!
With all of the booths starting to pop up throughout the park (including a few new ones lined up to join in on the fun this year) and Disney finally releasing menus of what we can expect to pick up at this year’s event, it’s safe to say we’re pretty stoked that we’re just days away from EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival’s opening day. But, we recently discovered a change that we weren’t anticipating that could change EVERYTHING we know about what’s to come this year!
It’s always a treat when we get to pop in for a visit to EPCOT during our day and today yielded some interesting details! While making our way around the park we decided to stop by the CommuniCore Hall to see how things were going there. If you’re not as familiar with this building, it’s one of the newest to debut at EPCOT from its massive transformation into the area we now know as World Celebration. This building hosts a large seating area inside (with some high-quality A/C), is home to a Festival Favorites food window where you can pick up a few light bites and drinks of past festival offerings, and even has a large outdoor area built for enjoying the nearby live entertainment.Â
This is also where you’ll catch Mickey & Friends if you’re looking to say hi to a few of your favorite Disney pals during your day!
Ok, we’re getting distracted because this place is beautiful and huge, but when we went to check it out today we were met with a slight disappointment. We learned that access to the inside of CommuniCore Hall has been temporarily closed.
While that was sad to learn it was what was mentioned next that really perked our ears up! According to the Cast Member we spoke with, it was closed due to preparations for the upcoming 2024 Food & Wine Festival! In fact, the CM even used the word “demonstration,” but wouldn’t elaborate further.
It would certainly be interesting to see this space included in this year’s plans because when it was originally announced in its very early stages, Disney had originally planned for it to become an integral part of the various EPCOT festivals and be used in the celebration. Is there a chance we could see festival demonstrations and exhibits return to EPCOT as early as this next festival?
For now, it seems we’ll have to wait to be sure however, that could be a possibility that was mentioned to us when we asked about the festival prep taking place inside. However, it is important to note that culinary demonstrations and seminars have been noticeably missing from the incredibly popular EPCOT festival for years, so having them return this year would be a welcomed change to getting back some of the experiences we had lost.
All of this possibility makes it even more intriguing to keep an eye on until the opening day of the festival to see what’s inside!
We’ll be bringing you all of the exciting details, food, drinks, and entertainment LIVE during EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival opening day! Be sure to stay tuned with us right here for all the updates!
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Which of this year’s EPCOT Food & Wine booths are you planning to visit first? Tell us in the comments below!
It would be awesome to have demos again. I’ve been looking for something to be announced but so far zilch.