7. Take your time

Image: Disney

A Walt Disney World vacation can often feel like one long sprint from ride to ride, reservation to reservation. In contrast, Epcot’s festivals are a unique time to slow down and indulge all five senses as you tour the Most Magical Place on Earth. While a few attraction stops can be fun during a festival day, resist the urge to pack your festival visit with Fastpass+ and dining reservations. Instead, plan time into your schedule to peruse the art exhibitions for the Festival of the Arts or take photos of the beautiful lights and trees displayed during the Festival of the Holidays. Instead of planning multiple table-service reservations during the Food and Wine Festival, build your meals out of stops at festival booths.

If you’ll be visiting during the Food and Wine Festival, do not skip the Festival Center! For nostalgia fans, this is one of the only ways to visit the old Wonders of Life pavilion from Epcot yesteryear. Every year, the Festival Center has new films, exhibitions, wine displays, knife vendors, and festival merchandise you can’t find anywhere else. You also can score some free chocolate from the Ghirardelli section sometimes! The mimosa bar introduced in 2018 has also been a huge hit.

8. Grab merch while you can

Image: Disney

Speaking of the Festival Center, spy a piece of festival merch you’re in love with? Don’t plan on it being available next year. Every year, Epcot changes the merchandise it offers at each of its festivals. I’m not a fan of impulse buys, but if you’re truly in love with a piece of festival merch, get it before you leave or identify an online seller you can reliably purchase it from. It probably won’t be back next year! This especially goes for Annual Passholder merchandise. Some festival merchandise shows up in outlet shops throughout Orlando, but don’t count on finding that one item you’re in love with per se.

Having trouble narrowing down which piece of merch you want to purchase if you’re on a budget? You have a few options. First, identify a few pieces of merch you really like early in the day. Spend your day enjoying the festival, then come back later to see which one spoke to you the most. If you buy something then change your mind, you can always return and exchange it or get a refund.

9. Go more than once

Image: Disney

If you are a Florida local or will be visiting Walt Disney World for a good length of time, hit the Epcot festivals more than once! The Food and Wine festival in particular keeps things fresh from week to week, so you’ll always find something new the next time you visit. Passholders even get rewarded for visiting some of the festivals multiple times with special freebies mentioned above. Instead of feeling like you have to try everything a given festival has to offer, plan to visit Epcot a couple times on your trip. This can be a great reason to purchase a park hopper pass, so you can enjoy Disney’s other parks during the day then enjoy Epcot’s festival offerings at night.

What’s your favorite way to get the most out of Epcot’s festival lineup?