The first festival of the 2019 season kicked off on January 18th and ran through February 25th. This year’s festival brought in Broadway performers, numerous artists, and of course, delicious food and drinks. While the festival is still new, debuting for the first time in January of 2017, it did not disappoint! While there is so much to see and do, there are a few things that made the bucket list for the majority of the festival attendees.
Food and Drinks:
Probably the best part of any Epcot festival is the items that are exclusive to the festival, both food and drink. Some of my favorites from this year are the paintbrush churros, the brie bowl and all of the dishes from the deconstructed booth! Some honorable mentions enjoyed by many visitors were the Sushi donut and the lobster macaroni and cheese roll.
Photo Ops:
There are always fun photo opportunities present at Epcot Festivals, but this year Festival of the Arts took it to a new level with opportunities scattered throughout the World Showcase. These were so fun to do and I wish I had taken the time to do more. The cutest of them all (in my opinion) was the mermaid lagoon photo op.
Character Paintings:
One cool aspect of this years festival was the paintings that were portrayed next to character meet and greets this year. The picture below shows a picture of Aurora meeting guest with the beautiful painting displayed to her left. My favorite was the painting of White Rabbit next to Alice in the United Kingdom.
Paint by Numbers Mural:
Each day of the festival offered a fun paint by number mural. You were able to pick a color and paint a few squares to help create a beautiful picture!
Broadway Shows:
One of the top reasons to check out a festival at Epcot is for the live shows and concerts. This year, Festival of the Arts offered Broadway performances from Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and MUCH more. If you did not stop by and experience a show, you missed out on a breathtaking experience.
Live Performers and Artist:
Located at the front of Epcot were 3 “statues”, one bronze, one copper and one gold.. from afar, they look like a regular statue, but when you make your way closer, they may have reached out and really grabbed your attention.. they were REAL people! They also had artist located at booths around Future World as well as the World Showcase to talk about their pieces.
I am excited to see what the rest of 2019 brings in to Epcot with 3 more festivals to go and to see what Festival of the Arts can bring us in 2020!
Tori Walters is a Columnist for the Boardwalk Times
