2025 Epcot Festival of the Arts Guide

The Epcot International Festival of the Arts is an annual festival event at Walt Disney World Resort typically held in January and February featuring specialty food, activities, entertainment, and merchandise. In this post, we’ll cover essentials you need to know about the Epcot Festival of the Arts.

Other Epcot Festivals

If you’re completely new to the idea of Epcot festivals, we have an Epcot Festival Calendar and Tips post that is a good place to start.

Epcot Festival of the Arts 2025 Basics

The 2025 “Epcot International Festival of the Arts” will be held held January 17 to February 24, 2025. Dates for 2025 were announced October 21, 2024.

Festival offerings are expected to include:

  • 20ish (depending on how you count) Food Studios serving culinary art all around the park

  • Animation Academy — learn how to draw a Disney Character from an animation artist

  • Disney on Broadway Concert Series

  • Works by Disney and other invited artists on display in marketplaces encircling World Showcase Lagoon

  • Special photo locations scattered around the park

  • A paint-by-number mural that serves as a collaborative art project for all

  • Visiting artists create magic right before your eyes

  • Scavenger hunt — search for famous paintings around World Showcase

  • Festival-exclusive merchandise

What is the Epcot International Festival of the Arts?

The Epcot International Festival of the Arts is one of Epcot’s newer festivals, which transform the park with limited time offerings of food, merchandise, entertainment, demonstrations, seminars, and decorations.

Festival of the Arts sort of flies under the radar. It’s short—only about a month long—and overshadowed by the bigger name festivals—particularly Food and Wine Festival and Flower and Garden Festival. But it’s definitely not a festival to ignore, so keep reading!

When is the Epcot Festival of the Arts?

The 2025 Epcot Festival of the Arts is being held from January 17 through February 24, 2025.

How much does the Epcot Festival of the Arts cost?

The festival itself is included in the price of admission to Epcot. This isn’t a special ticketed event. If you want to enjoy the special food, merchandise, demonstrations, etc., those come at an extra cost.

What Do I Need To Do Ahead of Time?

It unfortunately appears that the specialty, advance booking events at festivals are a thing of the past. While these didn’t attract huge numbers, I always felt they went above and beyond the standard festival experience. In any case, nowadays the only thing you’ll want to consider in advance is securing a seat at “Disney on Broadway.”

If you’re interested in guaranteeing your seat at the Disney on Broadway show, you might want to consider a dining package. This can be a good use of your Disney Dining Plan credits.

Where should I stay to visit the Festival?

Any Disney hotel will do a fine job of getting you to and from Epcot. That said, some are better-situated than others if you’re spending a lot of time at the Festival. It’s a short walk to Epcot from Boardwalk Inn, Yacht Club, and Beach Club.

Riviera Resort and Caribbean Beach are just a single, pretty short ride on the Disney Skyliner away from the park. Pop Century and Art of Animation are also on the Skyliner, but you’ll have to transfer at Caribbean Beach.

We cover this topic in more detail in our post on the Best Hotels for Visiting Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

epcot festival of the arts skyliner.jpg

Navigating Festival of the Arts

Festival of the Arts is adding more and more each year. To help you navigate, Disney provides a Festival Passport, along with information in the My Disney Experience app.

Available at all Epcot festivals, you’ll want to grab the Festival Passport. This small booklet includes checklists for every booth at Festival of the Arts as well as information on some of the other festival offerings.

Don’t confuse this with the World Showcase’s toy passport available throughout the year. The Festival Passport is a free booklet available widely throughout the park.

On the home screen of the My Disney Experience app you can scroll down to the Festival of the Arts box and click “View Guide” to be taken to a digital times guide showing you whats available as part of the festival:

Alternatively, you can go through the Attractions, Entertainment, and Events & Tours sections of the app to find what activities are available (and when).

Festival of the Arts Activities

Festival of the Arts has several fun activities scattered throughout the park, giving guests a chance to get involved in the artistic transformation of the park.

Paint-by-Number Mural. One of the highlights of the festival is the daily paint-by-number mural. Every guest has the opportunity to paint a few squares of the mural, which comes together throughout the day. The mural is typically scheduled to be completed by 5:00PM. In 2024 the mural is located near the Imagination and Land Pavilions, on the path toward the World Showcase.

Chalk Full of Character. Chalk drawings of Disney characters can be found throughout the park.

Artful Photo Ops. Fun photo ops where you insert yourself into an artistic work.

epcot festival of the arts 04.jpeg

Figment’s Brush with the Masters Scavenger Hunt – Like all festivals, Festival of the Arts has a pay-to-play scavenger hunt. Purchase a map for $9.99+tax, find art around the park, and collect a prize once you’ve completed the hunt.

Kids’ Chalk Art. Opportunity for kids to engage in some chalk artistry of their very own.

Animation Academy. Learn to draw a Disney character from a Disney artist. In 2024, Animation Academy is held in the America Gardens Theater, opposite the American Adventure pavilion.

epcot festival of the arts 03.jpeg

Galleries, Art, and Meet the Artists

Around the park (primarily the World Showcase) you’ll find new galleries, art for sale, and the opportunity to meet the artists themselves.

Festival of the Arts Entertainment

You may have figured out by now that “Art” is more than just painting! The Festival of the Arts features a variety of unique entertainment, including…

Art Defying Gravity, an acrobatics show performed several times daily. Showtimes vary, so you’ll have to check the app to see when/if this is being shown during your visit (it is pretty cool, though).

Art (or “Visual Art”) in Performance, a high-energy performance where an artist paints a Disney character while the audience cheers them on.

Musicians in Showcase, live musical performances held throughout the day in World Showcase Plaza.

Disney on Broadway Concert Series

Every day of the festival features a performance at the America Gardens Theatre as part of the “Disney on Broadway” Concert series. This series features live performances from stars of Disney on Broadway shows. The 2025 lineup includes Patti Murin and John Riddle (“Frozen”), Alton Fitzgerald White (“The Lion King”), Ashley Brown (“Mary Poppins”), and more!

You can lineup and wait for these shows, but they’re also available as part of the Disney on Broadway Dining Package.

Festival of the Arts Food & Beverage Booths

There are about 19 festival booths at Epcot’s Festival of the Arts. This is significant fewer than the 30+ you’ll find at Food & Wine Festival, but still more than enough to satisfy your festive cravings for an afternoon or two.

These are basically pop up booths (though many of them are permanent now) around the park that offer small portions of food and beverage for around $5-$10 an item. Most of these menu items count as snacks on the Disney dining plans, and these are one of the best ways to use your snack credits.

Festival of the Arts Merchandise

New: As part of the official event webpage, Disney has included previews of some merchandise coming to the 2025 event.

Here’s a look at some of the 2024 merchandise (a few of these are passholder exclusives):

Do you have any questions about Epcot’s Festival of the Arts?

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.

Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.