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As you know, this website is all about theme park food. It’s all I talk about, all I think about, all I dream about, all I aim to be (pretty sure I’ll turn into a pretzel at this rate), so I think it’s appropriate we go over food and wine festivals at theme parks and why you ought to go to them. And if you do go to them why you should go to others (because why not?).
Before we get into the meat of this, let me explain a couple of things: food and wine festivals are special events held to celebrate food and wine culture. In this case, we are talking about them being at theme and amusement parks.
They offer guests – you! – the opportunity to sample a wide variety of culinary creations, often with a unique theme or focus. These festivals typically feature themed food booths, live entertainment, and other attractions, creating a festive atmosphere for visitors to enjoy.
Theme park food festivals have gained significant popularity in recent years. Several factors contribute to their success, including the increasing emphasis on in-person experiences, the desire for unique and shareable moments, and the ability to eat a lot of cultural (or interesting themed) food in one place.
As a result, many theme parks now host multiple food festivals throughout the year, each with their own distinct themes and menus. Some festivals require a hard-ticket for entry and others are included in the cost of your regular admission. I’ll make a note next to any festivals I mention as to which are hard-ticket.
Here’s how this is gonna go: we’ll start off with the appeal of these festivals, the types of food and wine festivals you’ll find, the benefits of attending them, tips and tricks to enjoying them to their fullest potential, and resources for you to take a look at.
Benefits of Attending Theme Park Food Festivals
OK, I absolutely get it, you’re probably wondering: why should I want to go to a food and wine festival at a theme park, Alex?
Listen, there are just some things in this world that just make sense and this is one of them. I promise.
The biggest benefit is that everything to have a super fantastic splendiferous day is in one place. Is it expensive? Sure. But are the memories worth it? Absolutely. Your experience is what you make it.
A lot of the points I’m going to make feed into each other, but I think it’s important to make some distinctions nonetheless.
Unique and Diverse Culinary Experiences
I think it goes without saying that you’re going to try new things, right?
You’ll find that there are different cuisines you get to try from different locales, states, and countries. What you see during food and wine festivals are sometimes experimental foods, foods that chefs have always wanted to create but haven’t had an audience to create it for, and these festivals are the opening for literally getting out of your own way and indulging in items that you otherwise would/may never have on a normal day.
But there are cooking and wine demonstrations, sometimes cooking lessons, journeys you go on to get rewards, activities that take you around the park looking for things you never thought to look for before, all sorts of things.
Food and wine festivals can take you out of your comfort zone and help you learn not only about the foods around you, where they came from, how they are made, but even a little bit about yourself!
Themed Food and Drink Offerings
Since these food festivals revolve around a central theme, there are some very interesting themed food and drink offerings available that you may not see elsewhere.
During EPCOT Festival of the Arts you’ll see rainbow treats and food pertaining to art whereas during Knott’s Berry Farm’s Boysenberry Festival everything will be ladened with boysenberries from the wine to the funnel cakes to the chicken.
It feeds into the unique experience that you can have all in one place.
Entertainment and Atmosphere
In between eating and drinking there’s entertainment such as live entertainment via concerts and shows (long and short) that coincide around the theme of the festival. The atmosphere of the park is also changed depending on how intensive the park decides to go.
Some concerts, which are included in your ticket, have headliners like for King and Country, Queen Latifah, Hanson, Switchfoot, and DJ Khaled. You can either line up and wait for entry or buy into dining packages that guarantee you seating or standing space in front of the stage – you’ve got options.
But when it comes to the atmosphere, Universal, Disney, Dollywood, among a few others go hard when it comes to changing up the look and feel of their parks for their festivals. And you’ve gotta be there to experience it!
During the seasonal festivals like Halloween and Christmas that’s really when you see parks show their muscle and Christmas is probably the best because the park simply sparkles. ✨
Opportunities to Try New Foods and Beverages
Given the opportunity would you be able to travel around the world and try all of the food that you’d like? Maybe, maybe not. Well, at a lot of these festivals you’re able to get your hands on foods and beverages that you otherwise may have thought about, but never got the chance to try.
For me, I got to taste the trending Birria Taco for the first time at Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras and it was all I hoped it would be. Do I necessarily think it was authentic? I think it was as close as it could be under the circumstances of mass appeal, but it was incredibly delicious.
Plus the opportunity to try seasonal limited-edition items is also an appeal if you’re someone who chases trends.
Because all of these festivals have drink options there’s a vast opportunity to get your hand on beer and wine that you may have been eyeing but didn’t have any reason to try at the time. They’re easier to share as well with your party (if you’re not a solo traveler like me) so you’re not wasting your money.
The Rides!
You’re already in the park, go on the rides, all the rides! In between eating, drinking, watching a show, and relaxing, take some time to stand in line and let your food digest and hop on a coaster, a water ride, a dark ride, any ride, and have fun. Your ticket includes all of that.
Enjoy yourself, that’s what you’re there for.
Types of Theme Park Food Festivals
There are different kinds of food festivals that happen at amusement parks: international cuisine, seasonal, and specialty. Some of these festivals can be interchanged across each kind, but I’ve tried to put them under their main category.
Recommended: Theme Park Food Events and Festivals
International Cuisine Festivals
These are typically the food and wine festivals that offer unique, diverse, culturally relevant dishes. These foods may be international or regional foods (take for example Dollywood that will do Southern USA food), but what is common between them all is that they are not relegated to a specific kind of cuisine at all times.
The largest (and longest running) festival is the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This festival runs for three months towards the end of the summer with over 25 booths representing countries from all over the world. In 2023 countries and regions including Australia, Belgium, South Africa, Germany, The Alps, Spain, and Brazil.
Its sister park, Disneyland in California, hosts its own Food and Wine Festival as well, but it happens in the Springtime.
Other major contenders are Dollywood’s Flower & Food that revolves around Southern USA specialties such as BBQ, Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras International Flavors of Carnaval focusing on the celebration of cultures far and wide with a focus on New Orleans in the United States, SeaWorld Seven Seas Food Festival with a focus on everything around the world but seafood, and Oktoberfest’s (specifically Six Flags) focus on German cuisine.
Seasonal/Holiday Festivals
Another incredibly popular version of these festivals are seasonal/holiday. These are probably easier for operators to put on because visitors typically go out of their way to do things for these holidays anyway, but not everyone knows that there are events at their local, regional, or generally any theme park.
Those holidays are namely Halloween and Christmas, but there have been some springtime festivities popping up more and I hope they become more of a thing as they help to break up the year.
Springtime
1 – Flower & Food at Dollywood
2 – Flower & Garden Festival at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT
3 – I Will Always Love You Music Festival at Dollywood
Halloween
During spooky season, festivities rear up very early, August to be exact. Disney is the villain of the bunch with events starting as early as the second week of August for almost 10 weeks worth of festivities. Everyone else starts at reasonable times around September.
These are the most popular Halloween theme park festivals:
1 – Halloween Horror Nights at Universal’s Hollywood & Orlando (hard-ticket)
2 – Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom (hard-ticket)
3 – Fright Fest at Six Flags
4 – Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm (hard-ticket)
5 – Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay & Williamsburg (hard-ticket)
Christmas
But there wouldn’t be a holiday festival worth mentioning without celebrating the biggest of them all: Christmas. And theme parks know it and they put on a darn good show, too. But hey, pretty lights!
These are the most popular Christmas theme park festivals:
1 – Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom (hard-ticket)
2 – Holidays at Universal at Universal’s Hollywood & Orlando
3 – Smoky Mountain Christmas at Dollywood
4 – Knott’s Merry Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm (hard-ticket)
Specialty Festivals
Now, this festival is pretty interesting as it aims to center itself around a core theme such as BBQ, wine or … boysenberries? Yeah, these specialty festivals are a fun way to immerse yourself in something specific and get the best of that food world.
1 – The Swan & Dolphin at Walt Disney World is part of Walt Disney World, yet not, but I wanted to include it as it is a hidden gem in the world of theme park festivals and it’s the real deal. The Food & Wine Classic (hard-ticket) is an adult-focused food festival happening across two days (encompassing eight hours total) with celebrity chef Todd English and accomplished Executive Chef, Daniel Herman, taking the helm for the menu.
The event costs a pretty penny across both days ($350 if bought both days), however, the menu comes with unlimited samplings of the food and wine available so you could presumably get your money’s worth, mingle among the event goers, and maybe meet a celebrity chef. Some booths have different menus on both days so you can find something new to try among the many hotel restaurants’ booths.
2 – Now over at Knott’s Berry Farm they have a unique shindig called the Boysenberry Festival. It’s boysenberry everything.
You get a boysenberry, and you get a boysenberry, everyone gets a boysenberry!
And if you think I’m kidding, check out this menu from 2024’s festival. From Boysenberry Pulled Pork over Pastel de Elote to Peach and Cheese Burrata Caprese Salad with a Boysenberry Dressing to Boysenberry Sausage and Hot Honey Pizza with Ricotta and Basil to Boysenberry Punch and Pineapple Juice Rum Runner, like … the list literally goes on.
This festival runs during the Spring for a small window, but they really ought to extend it a couple more weeks for more people to experience (like me!).
3 – There have been lots of Mardi Gras festivals as well, which I think are a really fun way to just let loose. (If you’re religious and celebrate Lent these events will be a temptation as they don’t subscribe to the removal of meats, but there are a plethora of options for you, no worries).
Some interesting ones are, of course, Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras International Flavors of Carnaval and parks like Busch Gardens, Sea World, and Six Flags hosting their own Mardi Gras parties.
Tips for Enjoying Theme Park Food Festivals
Regardless of where you go, and when you go, there are some tips and tricks that can help you to make the best out of your time at food and wine festivals. Some parks will have more tailored tips, but you can check out those guides as they get published here on the website.
First things first –
Budgeting and Planning
You can’t go to one of these things without a little bit of both (I mean, you certainly can wing it, be your own person). You’ll end up wasting money and time if you’re not aware of what’s available and how much things will cost you if you don’t though.
By perusing through menus, pricing, and knowing where booths are set up it can help you to stop the back and forth walking around the park to find what you like, keep more money in your pocket for foods you actually want to sample, and you’ll end up having far more fun.
You can do that a number of ways: checking out forums like Reddit for answers from other real people (hi, I’m real!) on the choices available and to find out what is worth your coin and what to skip. It’ll also give you the opportunity to figure out what may be in your dietary and allergy wheelhouse, too.
Write those options down, put them in a secure location in your bag, and use that list to navigate you through the festival.
Which brings me to my next point …
Food Sampling Strategies
Every festival is going to have a number of items to try. Some festivals will have less than 10 booths and others will have over 25, either way, you’ll want to have an idea of what you want to eat before heading in.
One of the great things about these festivals is that they generally happen across large swaths of time so you’re not forced to trying everything in a day or two. You’ve got time! But sometimes you may not have much time at all.
So, here are some strategies for all sides of the coin depending on how much time you’ve got on your hands.
1 – One easy strategy is to try one thing from every booth. Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is. But it can be hard to pick just one thing though! 🫠
2 – If that’s the case, you can choose a cluster of booths that appeal to you and maneuver through the booths that way choosing the top items you’d like to try and using that as your guide instead. You can plan your day around the rides, the booths, and keep to those general areas.
3 – Choose a category of food and focus on that. The items under entrées, desserts, or drinks are all up for grabs. For example, at EPCOT there are well over 100 items to try over the course of a 2-3 month block, but half of their menu is drinks and maybe you want to Drink Around the World limited-edition style instead of at the regular restaurants. Seems fun to me.
4 – Eat everything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If you’ve got the funds, the time, and the tummy space – do it. I would.
5 – And if you really can’t swing it, pick one or two things that stand out to you that you think you’d really enjoy and get those. That to me would make me just as happy, too. 🙂
Comfortable Attire and Footwear
Here’s the thing – you’ll be doing a lot of walking in general at theme parks, so it goes without saying that you should be wearing comfortable footwear, but after the few festivals I’ve been to there’s something special about the things you ought to wear.
Footwear: Yes, wear comfortable, supportive shoes. If you can, wear inserts to hold up the extra weight you’re about to add and the swelling you’ll experience in your ankles from the added salt. Potentially even learn how to use Kinesiology tape as well so that your joints are supported and put some moleskin in your bag, too … just in case.
Hey, I know I may be saying to do a lot, but trust me, you legitimately may need it!
Attire: Looser fitting clothing than normal. You’ll be surprised how big your food baby gets by the end of the day and you don’t want your buttons to dig into your stomach or your shirt to be sticking to you in ways that make your day unenjoyable.
Utilizing Mobile Apps and Guides
If the park has it, grab a guide. Disney is great about this and I wish other operators would catch on to this, too, however, sometimes they have their offerings in their mobile apps. But … they usually are only available when you’re inside of their parks which is a huge bummer.
Even still, download those apps beforehand and do some budgeting and planning if you can based on the ones that allow you to see their offerings without needing to be inside of the parks. If you can’t find anything there, find guides by Googling around (or come back here to Theme Park Bites and see if I’ve posted anything on the festival in question).
Those guides and mobile apps typically also tell you some dietary and allergy-specific information, too, to help you choose what’s best for you. As more people go gluten-free, vegan, or are presenting with more allergies parks are being more proactive in presenting this information.
And if the information isn’t out there, call or email the park in question and I’m sure they’ll get the information out to you in no time.
Enjoy Yourself 🫶🏾
If you’ve never had the opportunity to attend a food and wine festival at a theme park, I definitely think that you should. It creates a whole new kind of experience while there. I have resources on festivals such as when and where they are, which ones are upcoming, and even some food guides and food reviews to past parties. You should take a look!
Let me know which festival is your favorite, I’d love to hear about it. : ) Until then, I hope you have fun.
Oh, and if you haven’t as of yet, please follow us on our other social media channels (YouTube, Instagram & Tik Tok – @themeparkbites) to stay up to date on food reviews. Thank you for allowing us to be your tasty theme park companion!