EPCOT is known for it's festivals that bring a variety of marketplace food booths, special entertainment, and decor mainly featured in the World Showcase area of the theme park. These festivals are incredibly popular especially with locals that tend to visit EPCOT more frequently in the evenings to see the new offerings.
For the first time in years, this summer EPCOT will have NO festivals taking place at all. This is a big change from the past few years which has seen festivals overlapping most of the summer months leaving hardly any time festival free at EPCOT.
Let's get into why I think this change is taking place by looking at the current EPCOT festival and my speculation on why I think we might see NEW offerings at EPCOT this summer instead.
Current 2024 EPCOT Festival Calendar
Disney recently released the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival dates this morning with the first date of the festival taking place on August 29th and the end date on November 23rd.
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The EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival comes to an end on May 27th which means from the end of May through the end of August there will be no EPCOT festivals taking place. Last year's Food & Wine festival started on July 27th with the Flower & Garden festival ending on July 5th. This has been the common pattern at EPCOT since 2021 with these two festivals overlapping most of the summer months.
The EPCOT International Festival of Holidays always starts immediately after Thanksgiving and the EPCOT International Festival of Arts picks up right away in January after that holiday festival.
So for the first time in years, we will see a considerable gap of time at EPCOT with no festivals taking place during the 2024 summer.
Why Is There No EPCOT Summer Festival?
So why is Disney not holding a summer festival for 2024? The most likely answer is that perhaps folks are getting a bit tired of festivals back to back. Since festivals are heavily attended by locals and repeat visitors, the long duration of these festivals may not be worth the investment if sales are beginning to take a hit.
Not every Walt Disney World guest is a fan of repeat festivals all year long. Some guests prefer to enjoy EPCOT in its normal state, rather than to see it covered with marketplace booths, themed entertainment and decor. It could be that the festival turnout has been lower in the summer especially with Flower & Garden and Food & Wine extending far longer than the other festivals in the year.
It is also helpful to keep in mind this was the usual festival schedule for EPCOT pre-pandemic, it wasn't until the past few years we saw these two festivals extended to include the summer months. As “revenge travel” post-COVID continues to wan, Disney might anticipate lower summer crowds that do not necessitate longer festival schedules.
NEW EPCOT Summer Offerings
This summer is also a bit unusual as we are finally seeing the construction at EPCOT come to a close with the opening of the CommuniCore Hall & Plaza on June 10th in World Celebration.
CommuniCore Plaza is going to be the new area for live entertainment at EPCOT and this summer it will host its first live entertainment in the new sing-along Encanto themed show “¡Celebración Encanto!”which begins June 20th and runs through September 6th.
It hasn't been confirmed yet if all the EPCOT live entertainment will be moved from the America Gardens Theatre to CommuniCore Plaza or if this new stage area will just be an additional place for MORE festival entertainment. Since the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival begins on July 27th, I anticipate we'll still see the Eat to Beat Concert Series take place in the America Gardens Theatre while the new Encanto show continues its run until September 7th.
Once CommuniCore Hall opens it will also feature the new permanent home to the Mickey & Friends meet and greet.
With this new area opening in EPCOT at the start of summer, we could see a focus placed on this new area to celebrate the end of EPCOT construction along with this brand new Encanto show which is sure to be a hit. Perhaps Walt Disney World will turn this into a summer event of its own to fill any gaps left by not having a summer festival.
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