The 2018 Epcot International Festival of the Arts returns for its second year at Walt Disney World Resort. Guests will enjoy a daily, multifaceted celebration of art in many forms from January 12 through February 19. Five new Food Studios will debut at the festival, giving park guests an expanded selection of creative and delicious new tastes to savor at a total of 13 Food Studios around the World Showcase promenade.
The 2018 festival, growing from last year’s long-weekend event schedule, will expand to seven days a week, with the popular Disney on Broadway Concert Series returning Fridays through Mondays. Also back by popular demand will be the festival’s artful cuisine, exhibits, seminars, workshops, performance art and interactive fun ranging from innovative photo ops and hands-on mural painting to drawing and food-styling classes.
As Epcot guests will explore the world of talent surrounding them. They can tempt their palates with culinary work-of-art creations at the festival’s Food Studios. Enticing tastes at stops around the World Showcase promenade will include photo-worthy fan favorites like pan-seared scallops with chorizo and roasted red pepper coulis at The Artist’s Table; wild mushroom risotto from Masterpiece Kitchen; a trio of savory doughnuts from The Painter’s Palate; plus decadent dessert delights and beverage standouts like the Pomegranate Mule featuring Van Gogh Vodka.
New Studios this year will be located at the following areas: France (“L’Art de la Cuisine Française” or “The Art of French Cooking”), Morocco (“Mosaic Canteen”), Japan (“Takumi Table”), Italy (“L’Arte di Mangiare” or “The Art of Eating”) and China (“The Painted Panda”). A complete list of Food Studios and menus are at The Culinary Arts: Food Studios.
Daily events will include complimentary seminars at the Odyssey Festival Showplace such as “Trailblazing Ladies of Disney Animation,” and interactive workshops ($39) like “Sculpting a Mixed Media Action Figure.”
Each Friday through Monday, the hottest show at Epcot – Disney on Broadway Concert Series – will showcase the stellar talents of performers from award-winning Disney on Broadway musicals. Here’s the lineup:
- January 12-15 and 19-22: Jenn Gambatese (NEW!) and Kevin Massey Jan. 12-15; Kara Lindsay (NEW!) and Kevin Massey Jan. 19-22, who will perform songs from “Tarzan,” “Aladdin,” “Newsies” and “Frozen.”
- January 26-29 and February 2-5: Kissy Simmons and Alton Fitzgerald White will perform songs from “Tarzan,” “The Lion King,” “Aida,” “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid.”
- February 9-12 and 16-19: Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland will perform songs from “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Tarzan,” “Mary Poppins,” “Newsies” and “Frozen.
All Disney on Broadway shows are included in theme park admission and will take place Fridays through Mondays at 5:30, 6:45 and 8 p.m. Broadway fans can book dining packages that include guaranteed seating for one of the three evening shows.
Throughout the festival, guests can get their art on by:
- Joining in the fun of “Figment’s Brush with the Masters” Scavenger Hunt
- Popping into the frame of a masterpiece for a cleverly artful photo op (think DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa,” Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” or new this year, Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”!)
- Watching new gravity-defying feats of strength and acrobatics featured among the festival’s scheduled performing arts
- Discovering authentic cultural artifacts along the World Showcase Art Walk – look for the Art Palette near each highlighted work of art at each country represented
- Marveling at exhibits showcasing works by iconic Disney artists, the new Chalk Gallery, the American Heritage Gallery and more
- Viewing some of 50-plus visiting artists at work and taking a drawing class at the Animation Academy
- Wielding a paintbrush to put their mark on the Hands-on-Wall Mural at World Showcase Plaza
The Disney on Broadway Concert Series Dining Packages, available at five participating Epcot restaurants, can be booked now online at Disneyworld.com or by calling (407) WDW-DINE or (407) 939-7463.
To book a seminar or workshop, guests can call (407) WDW-TOUR or visit the Odyssey Festival Showplace during the festival.
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