Festival of the Arts is Amazing

[famsen]

Let me say that I am a long time WDW veteran. I go to MNSSHP and F&W fest every year. I have been to the Flower and Garden Fest many times. I went to the Festival of the Arts for the first time last Thursday and feel this is best of all the fests. I'm surprised it is not getting more love on the boards and facebook groups. There are so many free things to do and see. There are so many creative and delicious food options. There are also many nice kiosks with various art media for purchase that are so unique. The paint by numbers Figment mural is very cool and makes you feel like you are making a contribution to a communal piece of art. We spent the day at Epcot from open to close and I would love to have spent another day. One of my best days ever at EPCOT. I hope everyone going down to WDW during this time takes the opportunity to explore the fest. I would love to read other's thoughts who have already been this year.

 

[roller99]

I agree! We were there last weekend and loved it! I actually liked it more than F&W.

 

[PanamaMike]

I was there opening day and I must admit, the Festival of the Arts didn't really grab me.

I was underwhelmed by most of the artwork on display.

Bring on the Flower & Garden festival.

 

[Wubar]

We were at Epcot 2 days last week and we really enjoyed it - we hadn't experienced it before and we were happy when we found out our trip was going to coincide with the festival. Most of the art was too expensive for our budget, but that was ok, we attend a lot of arts festivals and it is enjoyable for us just to walk around and view the different booths. The food kiosks and street exhibitions were a nice bonus. A little bit of warmer temps would have been gladly welcomed though. Next time we hope to take advantage of some of the paid and free seminars and classes offered to festivalgoers.

Also hoping to hit food and wine this fall, will be interesting to compare the two festivals. BTW, have dates for that been released yet?

 

[AngiTN]

We got to go last year and loved it. I want to go this year but not sure we are going to be able to swing it. We had planned a trip the last weekend but now it looks like we are going to hold off and take DGD down for her birthday a month later instead. Though I'm still not convinced we can't get in both trips.

 

[hllb]

I'm planning on eating my way through those booths LOL.

 

[Magpie]

We'll be down there in 5 days!

 

[gillep]

We are supposed to go for a few days starting Feb 3rd, and I was really looking forward to it, but we have been thinking of canceling due to some unrelated issues that have come up recently, but I just can't bring my self to commit to canceling. It really looks like a great time.

 

[georgina]

I haven't been able to find out much information about it, maybe because it is relatively new? The Disney website only lists it for the weekend, are the food and art booths open during the week?

 

[CAS239]

I haven't been able to find out much information about it, maybe because it is relatively new? The Disney website only lists it for the weekend, are the food and art booths open during the week?

Last year was the first year. Last year it was only on the weekends but this year it's daily.

 

[AngiTN]

I haven't been able to find out much information about it, maybe because it is relatively new? The Disney website only lists it for the weekend, are the food and art booths open during the week?

Last year was the first year. Last year it was only on the weekends but this year it's daily.

In typical Disney fashion, they haven't bothered to update the website from last year to this year

 

[JFox]

We went last week and I loved it, more than F&W. So many things to do, see and eat. We have already decided that we will be going back next year just for this.

 

[chicagoshannon]

We'll be there the last week of the fest. I'm excited to see everything.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We loved it, too! We spent 7 hours there on MLK Day and rode only 1 thing (MS - walk-on) and bought just 2 items at booths.

You have to pick up a times guide and really pay attention to catch all the cool things going on. I always miss stuff when I just wander and hope to stumble into things. There was little to no info online as to what was included :/

We had a wonderful time and plan to visit again in a few weeks to catch some of the stuff we missed. There are a ton of great workshops and seminars, esp midweek, that I wish I could attend!

 

[Sleepy425]

Yep, I have been to the other festivals and this is my favorite. Getting to meet the artists was awesome, and they had so much more variety in terms of artwork to purchase. I have been wanting Forest Bridge for years - but at $900 it wasn't happening anytime soon. I have never seen it in any other media before, so I was thrilled to see it as a poster at a booth. It will hold me over until I can splurge on the real thing!
I'm just upset that I booked the Star Wars dessert party for our Epcot night. I wish we could have stayed in Epcot for the concert.
The one thing that was disappointing was the lack of vegetarian options that weren't desserts. But there are enough other things in Epcot for me to eat that it wasn't a huge bummer.

 

[Euby]

We got to go last year and loved it. I want to go this year but not sure we are going to be able to swing it. We had planned a trip the last weekend but now it looks like we are going to hold off and take DGD down for her birthday a month later instead. Though I'm still not convinced we can't get in both trips.

If anyone can fit in both trips, it's you!

 

[Euby]

I'll be in WDW starting on Saturday night. I've got 2 EPCOT days planned. One for rides and one for the Festival. Depending on how things go with DAH at the MK, I may change a MK day to another EPCOT day. I'm really looking forward to it. I've signed up for the Ink & Paint Workshop on Sunday morning. I can hardly wait!!

 

[Liljo22]

Josh reviewed every food item this year on EasyWDW for those interested. There is an individual review for each country as well as a post about the ones he liked the most.

 

[BeachPrincess]

You guys are killing me! I live in north Florida and am an AP. We go down every year for F&G and F&W but have not done this festival (Epcot is our favorite park). We just got back from Marathon weekend and the next trip is not until April for F&G. Although we do NOT need to plan another Disney trip, after reading this I want to plan a quick weekend trip down for this festival but I see it ends February 19th so I'm running out of time. Just checked for hotels and most Disney resorts are sold out for the next several weeks. Even some of the other off property resorts we stay at are booked. Anything else going on down there causing there to be so many sold out resorts???

 

[jessbee25]

Very excited to see so many positive things about the festival! Really looking forward to our upcoming February trip. I just saw on Facebook that there is a free Belle watercolor print at the American Pavilion for AP holders, so cool!