I Went to Epcot’s 30th International Food and Wine Festival and Wish I Could Eat the Paella Every Day

“A dream is a wish your heart makes” might be one of the most iconic song lyrics in the entire Disney canon. Sung by everyone’s favorite rags-to-riches princess, Cinderella, it’s become synonymous with fairy-tale magic. Considering that my ultimate dream is to travel around the world, eat delicious food and write about it, I felt like Disney was answering my heart’s greatest wishes with the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

The festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary now through Nov. 21, 2026, and I was lucky enough to make my way down to Orlando for the occasion. But the trip wouldn’t be complete unless I brought one of the people responsible for making a lot of my own dreams come true: my mom, Gayle.

Gayle and I checked into our room at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and excitedly planned out how we would navigate the festival. Through heatwaves and rainstorms, we persisted. And after two days at Epcot, we both had the same favorite food and wine.

First, a Little Background on Epcot

Epcot is one of the theme parks at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In my opinion, one of the best features of Epcot is the World Showcase. Here, 11 countries have immersive pavilions of food, culture and shopping experiences. Each location is staffed by cast members from those countries, so you can practice your Japanese in Japan and your French in France if you so desire.

I believe that a visit to the World Showcase when I was 7 years old is what ignited my passion for travel. I had never seen anything so extraordinary in my life. My little brother and I ate big forkfuls of chocolate cake in Germany, thick and crispy “chips” in the United Kingdom and maple cookies in Canada. Walking from one pavilion to the other felt truly magical.

What is Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival?

The 11 World Showcase countries (Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom and Canada) have permanent year-round food offerings. The Food and Wine Festival adds even more food from more countries with pop-up booths placed along the World Showcase. It began in 1996 and has since become an annual tradition running from August to November. Australia, Belgium, Greece, India and Spain are just a few of the additional countries with booths at the fest.

And of course, no trip around the world is complete without a passport. The Food and Wine Festival passport became an incredibly handy asset for my mom and me. The passport listed the locations of the additional booths and their food and drink offerings. It made it really easy to plan our day.

Every country had a special menu for the festival, including a couple of food options and a variety of alcoholic beverages to choose from. Wherever possible, my mom and I opted to get a “flight” of beer or wine so we could sample as many different drinks as possible. We also chose one food option to split because we knew we would be eating a lot throughout the day.

Our Favorite Food and Drink Items

My mom and I thought splitting up the festival over two days would be plenty of time to try out everything. Dear reader: it was not! We had to make a lot of hard decisions during our “travels,” because there was such an abundance of offerings.

And despite my best efforts to get a cocktail in every country, I had to slow my roll by the time I got to Italy.

The fact is, we could have easily spent half a day at every booth. The quality and quantity of offerings were that good. But of everything we tried, we agreed that the Paella Caldoso from Spain and the Mimosa Flight from the Shimmering Sips kiosk were the highlights.

The paella was incredibly flavorful, a combination of chicken, chorizo and saffron rice. This was a 30th-anniversary legacy item, meaning it premiered at the very first festival in 1996. It cost $7.99 and was such a big portion that splitting it was absolutely the right way to go. But it tasted so good that we both joked about getting another plate even though we were totally stuffed.

The mimosa flight was how we started our second day at the festival, and it was incredibly delicious. Each mimosa had a different flavor profile: blood orange, berry and tropical. The ratio of juice to sparkling wine was perfection, and the trio of drinks was $15. We even saved the little glasses from this flight so we could recreate it on our own once we got back home.

My Advice for Future Festival-Goers

I was overwhelmed in the best way possible by this festival. In some ways, I felt like a kid again. I was constantly being distracted by a new, shiny toy—although the “toys” in question were risotto, shrimp, egg rolls and beer. My mom and I are already planning on a return trip for next year’s festival. This list of advice is as much for you as it is for me:

• Give yourself more time than you think. We gave ourselves two days; next time, we will do three or four. Being able to graze and sip without rushing is crucial to soaking up all that the festival has to offer. Remember, all 11 permanent countries have booths in addition to 8 “visiting” countries. Plus, there are more booths beyond that.
• Share everything. The food portions are large enough to share comfortably with one or two other people. Think of it like a tasting menu, not a full meal. And if you’re drinking alcohol, split your cocktails, too. It will allow you to sample more without getting overly tipsy and deciding you need to eat an entire steak in Italy (I might be speaking from experience here).
• Keep notes in your passport. This one’s for the real foodie nerds like me. Grabbing a festival passport and pen and jotting down simple notes about what you liked, didn’t like, and want to try again will make it much easier to remember everything. My mom and I loved flipping through our passports once we got home to tell my dad and brother all about our highlights. Plus, it’s a fun little keepsake.
• Do not plan on doing anything else. Possibly controversial, but I stand by it. There are so many things to do at Disney, and even Epcot has rides and attractions beyond the World Showcase. If you’re serious about food, then just focus on the festival. Your taste buds will thank me!

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