Why the Longest Lines in EPCOT Might Not Be for Rides

We’ve GOT to talk about the wait times we experienced at the opening day of this year’s EPCOT International Festival of the Arts!

EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts officially kicked off on Friday, January 16th, and we were there to check out all of the eats, entertainment, and merch at this year’s festival! And while we found lots of winners on the menus of the festival food booths, there was also one big drawback we need to warn you about.

There’s nothing quite like the excitement of the start of an EPCOT festival. Between the Festival of the Arts, the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, and the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, it feels like there’s constantly something fresh to experience in the park.

One of our favorite things to do at an EPCOT festival is to taste our way around the food booths that serve themed eats and drinks available only during the event…but we’re not the only ones who feel that way!

As we’ve cautioned in the past, the crowds at EPCOT festivals can be pretty intense. That’s especially true on opening day, when people rush to check out the new festival offerings, and on weekends, as Annual Passholders often visit on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. And this opening day was no exception!

The chilly morning temperatures kept the rope drop crowds manageable on the opening day of the festival. But by the time we made our way to the food booths, the crowds had descended as well. We tracked our wait times in line for a few of the busier food booths to see how long it took.

Starting at The Craftsman’s Courtyard, it took us 5 minutes to get to the front of the line to order, and 8 minutes from the time we got in line to actually receive our food.

Things kept climbing at Gourmet Landscapes, where it took 18 minutes to get to the front of the line to order, and 25 total minutes from entering the line to getting our food.

The timing at Vibrante & Vívido: Encanto Cocina was similar — we had our food in hand 22 minutes after we first got in line.

The longest food booth line we waited in on opening day was at The Artist’s Table in the American Adventure Pavilion. It took us a whopping 33 minutes just to get to the front of the line to order!

To put it in context, the wait times at several popular attractions were less than the wait times for some of the festival food booths. We checked while we were waiting on food and saw that we could have spent less time in line to meet Mickey & Friends, ride Mission: SPACE, or ride Soarin’ Around the World.

Of course, we probably experienced some of the heaviest festival crowds since we went on opening day. But again, the weekend crowds can be just as heavy, especially around lunch and dinner time.

If you do plan to visit the festival, you may want to aim for a weekday in hopes of lighter crowds. But whenever you go, be sure to build in some buffer time for the food booth lines in your plans so you aren’t caught off guard if you experience similar waits!

We’ll continue to bring you all of the news from around the Disney parks, so stay tuned to AllEars for the latest!

Your Guide to the BEST Eats and Drinks at the 2026 EPCOT Festival of the Arts

What’s at the top of your must-try list at this year’s festival? Let us know in the comments!

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