My Day at Epcot's Festival of the Arts

 

This past weekend I was able to make it to Epcot for the 2024 Festival of the Arts. I was only there for the day, but I packed a lot in. Let's check it out!

We really enjoyed this festival last year, so I was excited to be able to go back.  It's a shame this festival runs for the shortest amount of time.

The must dos for this festival are:

1. Immersive Photo Ops

2. Participate in the Art ( create either a chalk drawing or participate in the paint by number mural)

3. Grab a snack  ( or 2 or 3) from the festival booths.

4. Check out the Artists/vendors.

5. Enjoy the Disney on Broadway performances.

The first thing I did was check out the immersive photo ops. Note, there are no photo pass photographers at these phot ops.

The immersive art pieces this year were scenes from Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty, and the new movie Wish. 

Next up was my turn to paint the mural. 

You do have to wait in line to get a small container of paint and a brush, and then wait in line again for your turn to paint. This is a paint by number/color. You will know exactly where to paint your color on the mural. I was surprised to see how much of it was completed already. We didn't come to the festival till February last year and I don't think this much of the mural was completed by then.

At the mural, we were also given this bookmark, that shows what the mural will look like when it is completed.

I did check out the chalk art. I didn't get to do a chalk drawing, but Sybie did get to write a note! 

I walked around the booths to see what all the artists had. Some of the pieces were so large and some were pieces of furniture. I wondered how some of these vacationers were going to get them home. I suppose they will mail them. 

Now it was time to grab my festival passport and scope out the food booths.

Lines for all the booths were SO long, so I decided to wait in line for just the "new to me" items, instead of also getting some of my favorites ( I'm looking at you grilled cheese and tomato soup from Pop Eats)

My first item was the grilled marinated skirt steak sandwich from the Craftsman's Courtyard.

This was really tasty with the caramelized onions and mushrooms. It was a bit heavy on the blue cheese though, so if you don't like blue cheese, stay away from this one.

Next up was the Gourmet Landscapes booth near Canada.  Here I got the Wild Mushroom Risotto and the Verjus-roasted beets.

The line at this booth was extremely long, so I was hoping the food was going to be worth the wait.

The risotto was very flavorful and creamy, but not sure it was worth the wait.

The beet salad had a lot of good flavors with the candied pecans and pears. It was strong with goat cheese, but I like goat cheese so I enjoyed it.

The last festival booth I visited was El Artista Hambriento, near Mexico. Here I got the Tostada de Langosta ( Tostada with lobster).

Anything on a tostado is great! There was nothing at all wrong with this dish! 

I did end up getting a sweet treat as well, but it wasn't from the festival booths. It was the ice cream in a brioche bun from L'Artisan des Glaces in France. I'll share more about this "experience" later. 

 Finally it was time to relax and watch the Disney on Broadway concert series. This is a free event, included in your ticket price.  These are Broadway actors/actresses that have performed in Disney productions on Broadway. This night I saw Patti Murrin, who played Princess Anna in Frozen on Broadway, and Caissie Levy, who played Elsa.  We had seen Patti Murrin last year at the festival. It was nice to hear her again and equally nice to hear someone new too!

It was actually a bit chilly this night, (in January), so after the concert I decided to call it a night!

Since the Festival of the Arts only runs till February 19th this year, I probably won't return to EPCOT until the Flower and Garden Festival!  See you then ~ L

You might also like this posts:

A more in depth look at Festival of the Arts 2023

Food to try at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival

Scavenger Hunt and Tea Tour at Epcot