International Festival of the Arts...have you been?

[pam66]

Hello!
Has anyone been to the Art Festival at EPCOT in January? I have been reading about it and it sounds fun. I loved the Food and Wine Festival and this sounds like another fun experience.

 

[Disneygal27]

I went the first year and it was fun. I enjoyed the photo ops and some of the shopping, and the food was yummy. It wasn't as much food choice as flower and garden but I heard they were expanding it, and nothing close to f&w from what I hear (I've never been in fall). Not sure I'd plan a special trip just for this, as I'm a 16 hr drive away, but definitely would make time in an existing trip for it.

 

[Mome Rath]

I went the second year (this January) and we had a lot of fun with it. They expanded it a bit this year, so it will be interesting to see what they do with it next year. I concur with Disneygal; the photo ops were fun and different, there's unique food offerings and some neat displays to look at, as well as artist kiosks around WS in EPCOT with unique handmade items to buy as well as art prints (half the fun was browsing their wares). I'm really glad we went and we did time our trip to make sure it was there. However, it's not a make it or break it for us, meaning it's great if it's there but we won't be making a special trip just for it. If it expands or adds more content that could change.

 

[famsen]

We did Festival of the Arts for the first time this January and we all LOVED it! It was like a mini Food and Wine Fest. We found there were so many unique experiences. We stayed from open to close. It was a long day but crowds were low and weather was chilly but it was one of my most fond memories of all our Disney World trips. We are planning to go again next year.

 

[Dug720]

I enjoyed it a lot! Especially the Disney on Broadway concert!!

 

[mvrafanan]

Do we know if they are doing this again in 2019? I thought I saw somewhere that it wasn't on the schedule for the upcoming year

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We did it winter 2017, missed it this year. Thought it was great - good weather, low crowds, unique picture opportunities. It was like a smaller (but more fun) version of F&W, from my perspective. The scavenger hunt for the kids was good fun.

We went just planning to do a quick lap around to see what it was all about, but ended up spending a good chunk of the day there.

 

[CAS239]

Yes I've been

 

[Texans_loyal]

Loved it, Favorite Epcot festival by far!

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

We went this past January.
We had a great time & it was quite crowded. Food lines were especially long. We had only planned 1 day st Epcot, so we did our best to see as much as possible.

 

[Tracilyn]

Yes! Great food and we loved the drawing classes, especially since the Animation Academy left Hollywood Studios several years ago. We tried to make attend as many of them as possible.

 

[winnieofpooh]

We did it this year! The photo ops were so so fun and the photogs had great fun with posing us as well. We didn't try much of the food, but just looking at all the different artist stalls was amazing! If you love art I would definitely recommend.

Edited to add photos!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We went this past January and it was okay. We enjoyed Disney on Broadway, the food booths and the artists. We wished that there was more non-Disney themed artwork, though.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I've been to Food and Wine and to Festival of the Arts.

Food and Wine wins hands down. I certainly wouldn't make a special trip for Festival of the Arts. It was okay, but not really anything special.

 

[Nohal]

We went this past January and enjoyed it. As others have said it's not as extensive as Food & Wine in regards to food, but there are so many other things to do. Loved watching the artist do the chalk art. My favorite thing was painting on the mural. I wouldn't make a special trip just for that but we were going anyway so it was a bonus for us.

 

[OhhBother]

We went this past year and enjoyed it. I bought a beautiful necklace, and we had a lot of fun with the photo ops.

 

[Chaoticsweetness]

My sister & I went both 2017 & this year. While the first year seemed like they working out the kinks & having it only on the weekends was much more busy. This year they expanded it & we were able to do many of the photo ops. Wonderful festival & I loved chatting with the artists that had their work on display. Food was amazing as well.

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

My husband and I went in January 2017 and loved it. It happened to be our very first visit to Disney World. We liked the different photo ops and the paint by number mural. We only did a few of the food stalls.

 

[tinabina919]

I went this year and last. I love it, the weather is beautiful, the Broadway concerts are great and theres tons of other fun stuff to see and do. We love doing the free drawing class and watching the all the performers.

 

[fla4fun]

I have been to both the 2017 and 2018 festivals and it’s my favorite of the Epcot festivals. I really hope it comes back next year. If I remember correctly, last year they didn’t firm up the plans until October, so it’s still a bit of a wait.