With Disneyland going all in on festivals this year, I thought I would ask what your favorite annual theme park festivals are? Not counting Halloween and holiday events here - I'm thinking food festivals, music festivals and other seasonal events here.
Thanks.
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I love the Festival of the Arts and the Food and Garden Festival at Epcot. Sampling all of the food carts and listening to the music has become an annual tradition in our house.
Before the pandemic, for me it would be no contest that the EPCOT F&W Festival is the absolute best. However, since the pandemic, the fall festival is a shadow of its former self completely abandoning most of the seminars, demos, special events, and Party for the Senses. While the kiosks and Eat to the Beat concerts have been maintained, it was the rest of those events that really set the EPCOT festival off from other regional food and wine festivals. Personally, I think the regional parks have gotten just as good as the EPCOT F&W festival has been over the past few years, not only in terms of quality but also in size. I did like the EPCOT Festival of the Arts and some of the added elements scattered around the World Showcase, but it's still not on the same level that the EPCOT F&W Festival was pre-pandemic.
I'd probably take the BGW F&W Festival or SWO Seven Seas Festival over EPCOT's over WDW's signature food festival these days purely from a value perspective.
@Mischief: I agree 100%. These are my 2 new favorite fests. I prefer at food to these and they are both presented before the park gets too hot to bear. I also agree with you @Russell in that the F & W fest, while highly enjoyable, is but a shadow of its former glory.
I can’t speak to any other parks’ fests because I haven’t been to any other ones. I want to say that when I visited DCA in autumn one year there was some sort of food fest happening because I remember kiosks with varying food offerings. But I can’t really remember what it was and due to time constraints we didn’t really partake in it enough to offer a fair opinion.
@ Russell - I've noticed that online too from watching video's that the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens ones actually looked really good and better value. I just hate SeaWorld right now for having booking fees when buying tickets so we haven't gone again. It's a small thing I know but I hate supporting it.
I really do want to try the Mardi Gras festival one day at Universal. Every year it seems to get bigger and seems to be turning into a food festival. :)
aww just HHN for me :)
Haven't really experienced many since we tend to go to Orlando for HHN only but we just got back from Orlando last week. We really liked the weather during this time and loved the Hollywood Studios after hours party.
Top of my list for festivals to experience one day though would be Mardi Gras at Universal and would love the try the Food & Wine festival at Epcot from what I've seen online seems really good.