Epcot International Festival of the Arts- UPDATED Times Guide on Post 61

[gardengalB4]

Is there a Chase lounge during this festival?

 

[Gina Starr]

Oh wow. The food and the mural look great. If I may ask 2 questions, Which item was sold out when you went? I'll get there early if it's something I really want to try. And did you notice if the AP shirts had a good size stock? We won't be there until 2/5. Thanks!

I just bought the AP shirts in innoventions today. They had the larger sizes- XL, XXL, and XXXL. Someone said they went to Odyssey and only had the the smaller sizes- S, M, L. The CM said they were selling them very quickly and will more than likely sell out.

 

[yulilin3]

Thanks for all the details, @yulilin3! I'm really glad I've scheduled a little extra time in Epcot for our trip.
It looks like that margarita is regular size - did you happen to notice if any of the other beverages were?

I didn't sorry

Is there a Chase lounge during this festival?

No, this festival is not Sponsored by Chase

 

[xthebowdenx]

Are the booths doing the 3 snacks for a quick service credit?

 

[RyMickey]

Does anyone know if the three daily shows in the American Gardens theater have the same playlist? I imagine they likely do, but if they're singing different songs each show, we may want to catch a second show.

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

I just bought the AP shirts in innoventions today. They had the larger sizes- XL, XXL, and XXXL. Someone said they went to Odyssey and only had the the smaller sizes- S, M, L. The CM said they were selling them very quickly and will more than likely sell out.

Awwwww man. That really stinks. Thanks for the info though. It's greatly appreciated!

 

[yulilin3]

Does anyone know if the three daily shows in the American Gardens theater have the same playlist? I imagine they likely do, but if they're singing different songs each show, we may want to catch a second show.

I've done the 5:30 and 6:45 and it's the same

 

[Mjkre]

Does anyone have any information concerning the classes you pay for? The one that is on the day we are there sounds interesting, but for a family of 5, costly. So I was wondering if it is worth it? Everyone (except DH) is psyched for the animation studio. That was our favorite part of DHS. That is free, correct?

 

[yulilin3]

Does anyone have any information concerning the classes you pay for? The one that is on the day we are there sounds interesting, but for a family of 5, costly. So I was wondering if it is worth it? Everyone (except DH) is psyched for the animation studio. That was our favorite part of DHS. That is free, correct?

yes the animation academy is free. Starts at 12:15pm and the classes are on the hour until 6:15pm, they take 33 people per class
Not sure about the paid classes, but they do them in the same space as the free classes and anyone can see the tv monitors and hear what the speakers are saying from outside the roped area, not sure if they are worth it or not.

 

[yulilin3]

Festival of the Arts times guide for this coming weekend:

 

[itbesjaime]

Strange question: But anyone know if they'll be selling the Festival Passholder shirts during the week, or do they only sell them exclusively during the festival?

My mother and I were hoping to get them two weeks from now, but are afraid they'll sell out. I figured the sooner the better.

 

[HelloMimi]

We just got back from our trip last night so I thought I'd mention a few things about our first Epcot festival experience. We checked out Epcot for about five hours on Saturday night and two hours yesterday afternoon.

Compared to our full Epcot day on Monday (01/09), crowds were kind of insane. I expected big crowds because of the festival's first week + MLK weekend, but seeing long lines for everything (as opposed to almost no lines on Monday) was still a bit surprising. It probably didn't help that the weekend was much warmer than it was earlier in the week.

We participated in the 5:15 Animation Academy class on Saturday. We were told each class could accommodate 32 people, but as yulilin mentioned, I think 33 is the actual count since there was an empty seat next to me. The CM started turning people away just before 5:00. We drew Goofy, and while it was neat to see the animator's process, the class wasn't quite as fun as I'd hoped. We didn't have time for the class on our first HS visit, and by our trip last year, the class was gone, so we were so excited to see it come back for the festival. All the reviews I'd seen made the class seem like a must-do (esp. since 2/3 of my party are artistically inclined), but it was just okay. When you leave the class, you're offered a bag to keep your drawing safe. We took the bag but ended up just folding our papers because we were pretty sure they wouldn't survive the rest of our day anyway.

Out of all of the festival food available, we only tried the wild mushroom risotto from Canada and the gingerbread funnel cake from the US. We are fairly adventurous eaters, but nothing else really appealed to us, especially for the prices they were asking. We did enjoy both of the things we bought though! The wild mushroom risotto was SO good, even if it was only half a small cup for $9. Split between the three of us, it definitely wasn't enough, but for one person, it could be. We especially enjoyed watching the chef take out the tweezers for the garnish! The gingerbread funnel cake had only a hint of gingerbread flavor, but we thought that was better than having it taste like a Michaels store. We devoured it pretty quickly!

The three of us each got a map for the scavenger hunt so we could get three of the Figment prizes. When we purchased the maps, we gushed over how much we liked the prize pins, and the CM let us know that they were actually magnets. He also mentioned that a lot of people had already expressed their disappointment over the prizes not being pins. I figured I could always just turn them into pins, but now that they're on our fridge, I think they might just stay there!

We started the scavenger hunt on the Canada side, and that ended up being the only one we couldn't find (though tbh, we gave up on that one pretty quickly). Once we realized we were looking for Figment frames (wish they'd sell small versions of these!), it made the hunt a lot easier. We probably wouldn't have found the China one either if the Kidcot CMs hadn't offered their help in Chinese. We must have looked very lost, and very Chinese - both accurate. The "painting" is right at the main doorway of the gift shop. If you walk through that door, you'll have to turn around to see it.

We didn't spend a lot of time looking at the art booths, but we did ooh and ah over a lot of the art as we passed by. We were particularly impressed with the chalk art! We got to see one being worked on and one completed. Anyone know how long the completed pieces will stay around? I'm thinking they start over each day, but that seems like such a waste.

We really loved the photo ops with the art backdrops! There were long lines for all of them (including the ones in Future World), but they moved quickly.

Of all of the festival's events, we were most excited for the Broadway performances. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how long it would take us to walk around World Showcase on Saturday, so by the time we got back to America, the final performance was more than half over. We really enjoyed what we saw/heard though, and the Frozen finale blew us away! There were plenty of seats available, and we were able to sit somewhere in the middle without squeezing past anyone.

There wasn't as much festival-specific merchandise as I'd hoped, but I suppose Disney wanted to play it safe for the first year (or they couldn't get it in time). We really wanted pins of Figment holding a paintbrush (like on the tote bags), but there were, surprisingly, zero event pins. That was probably our biggest disappointment for the festival.

And I'm going to end the novella here!

 

[memakwed]

I asked once before and never got an answer so I'll ask again since it was on the first few pages. Does the dining package for the concert series accept the dining plan? I thought perhaps it was like candlelight processional.
Those that went this past weekend and did animation academy what was the wait time...similar to when in HS?
TIA

 

[TheyThinkImCrazy]

I asked once before and never got an answer so I'll ask again since it was on the first few pages. Does the dining package for the concert series accept the dining plan? I thought perhaps it was like candlelight processional.
Those that went this past weekend and did animation academy what was the wait time...similar to when in HS?
TIA

Per https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...-international-festival-of-the-arts-culinary/

Dining Event Details

• Dining packages are paid for at the individual restaurants
• Guests should check-in 15 minutes prior to reservation
• Guests will receive badges at the restaurant for guaranteed concert seating at the America Gardens Theatre
• Requires 2 entitlements for Guests using a Disney dining plan
• Advanced reservations are highly recommended as this event fills up quickly
• Guests under 18 years of age must have parent or guardian permission to call

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

We just got back from our trip last night so I thought I'd mention a few things about our first Epcot festival experience. We checked out Epcot for about five hours on Saturday night and two hours yesterday afternoon.

Compared to our full Epcot day on Monday (01/09), crowds were kind of insane. I expected big crowds because of the festival's first week + MLK weekend, but seeing long lines for everything (as opposed to almost no lines on Monday) was still a bit surprising. It probably didn't help that the weekend was much warmer than it was earlier in the week.

We participated in the 5:15 Animation Academy class on Saturday. We were told each class could accommodate 32 people, but as yulilin mentioned, I think 33 is the actual count since there was an empty seat next to me. The CM started turning people away just before 5:00. We drew Goofy, and while it was neat to see the animator's process, the class wasn't quite as fun as I'd hoped. We didn't have time for the class on our first HS visit, and by our trip last year, the class was gone, so we were so excited to see it come back for the festival. All the reviews I'd seen made the class seem like a must-do (esp. since 2/3 of my party are artistically inclined), but it was just okay. When you leave the class, you're offered a bag to keep your drawing safe. We took the bag but ended up just folding our papers because we were pretty sure they wouldn't survive the rest of our day anyway.

Out of all of the festival food available, we only tried the wild mushroom risotto from Canada and the gingerbread funnel cake from the US. We are fairly adventurous eaters, but nothing else really appealed to us, especially for the prices they were asking. We did enjoy both of the things we bought though! The wild mushroom risotto was SO good, even if it was only half a small cup for $9. Split between the three of us, it definitely wasn't enough, but for one person, it could be. We especially enjoyed watching the chef take out the tweezers for the garnish! The gingerbread funnel cake had only a hint of gingerbread flavor, but we thought that was better than having it taste like a Michaels store. We devoured it pretty quickly!

The three of us each got a map for the scavenger hunt so we could get three of the Figment prizes. When we purchased the maps, we gushed over how much we liked the prize pins, and the CM let us know that they were actually magnets. He also mentioned that a lot of people had already expressed their disappointment over the prizes not being pins. I figured I could always just turn them into pins, but now that they're on our fridge, I think they might just stay there!

We started the scavenger hunt on the Canada side, and that ended up being the only one we couldn't find (though tbh, we gave up on that one pretty quickly). Once we realized we were looking for Figment frames (wish they'd sell small versions of these!), it made the hunt a lot easier. We probably wouldn't have found the China one either if the Kidcot CMs hadn't offered their help in Chinese. We must have looked very lost, and very Chinese - both accurate. The "painting" is right at the main doorway of the gift shop. If you walk through that door, you'll have to turn around to see it.

We didn't spend a lot of time looking at the art booths, but we did ooh and ah over a lot of the art as we passed by. We were particularly impressed with the chalk art! We got to see one being worked on and one completed. Anyone know how long the completed pieces will stay around? I'm thinking they start over each day, but that seems like such a waste.

We really loved the photo ops with the art backdrops! There were long lines for all of them (including the ones in Future World), but they moved quickly.

Of all of the festival's events, we were most excited for the Broadway performances. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how long it would take us to walk around World Showcase on Saturday, so by the time we got back to America, the final performance was more than half over. We really enjoyed what we saw/heard though, and the Frozen finale blew us away! There were plenty of seats available, and we were able to sit somewhere in the middle without squeezing past anyone.

There wasn't as much festival-specific merchandise as I'd hoped, but I suppose Disney wanted to play it safe for the first year (or they couldn't get it in time). We really wanted pins of Figment holding a paintbrush (like on the tote bags), but there were, surprisingly, zero event pins. That was probably our biggest disappointment for the festival.

And I'm going to end the novella here!

Thanks so much for the review! That'll help me plan. Quick question, did the long lines for food seem to stay pretty steady throughout the day or worse as it got towards evening? Thanks!

 

[HelloMimi]

Those that went this past weekend and did animation academy what was the wait time...similar to when in HS?
TIA

When Animation Academy was at HS, I think they took place every 30 minutes, but for the festival, there's only one class every hour. The classes start at the 15-minute mark of each hour, and we were let in a couple of minutes before then. Be sure to get there at least 20 minute before the class starts because they do fill up.

Thanks so much for the review! That'll help me plan. Quick question, did the long lines for food seem to stay pretty steady throughout the day or worse as it got towards evening? Thanks!

On Saturday, we were at Epcot around 4:00-9:00, and on Sunday, 3:00-5:00, so we were only there later in the day. From what I could tell, lines were about the same both days, but they were definitely shorter the later it got, starting from around 7:30. We didn't buy any food until 8:00-ish on Saturday, and by then, there was only one person in front of us at the Canada booth, and about three people in front of us for the funnel cake. All of the non-festival kiosks selling alcohol had consistently long lines though!

 

[yulilin3]

just got back from Epcot, for those that made the AP reservations:
Remember to go first to Innoventions West (by MouseGears) to pick up your sticker credential. Only the person that registered needs to go, with ID (they are checking) and they gave me the number of stickers for everyone that I registered
The check in is to the left of the American Gardens Theater entrance (same as the dinning reservations from Candlelight)
We arrived at 5:23pm for the 5:30pm show and they had just opened up the fp section for everyone but we still got good seats, the theater was not completely full for that show

 

[MoonFaerie]

I've tried looking for the answer to this and probably am overlooking it, but how did the AP reserved seating for the show work? I've got to buy my AP later this week, and I'm trying to figure out of its worth buying the AP now vs buying tickets and upgrading when I get there next month. Or I can just try to book the dining package for the late show. I only have from 2-close on the last Sat of the festival. I was considering flying in a day early, but then my car broken down in a very expensive way.

 

[yulilin3]

I've tried looking for the answer to this and probably am overlooking it, but how did the AP reserved seating for the show work? I've got to buy my AP later this week, and I'm trying to figure out of its worth buying the AP now vs buying tickets and upgrading when I get there next month. Or I can just try to book the dining package for the late show. I only have from 2-close on the last Sat of the festival. I was considering flying in a day early, but then my car broken down in a very expensive way.

They sent an email to apholders with a link to follow and I believe all the spots are taken by now

 

[yulilin3]

Forgot to mention that yesterday we attended the Photography, Light and Perspective free seminar and enjoyed it very much. Lots of great info on camera settings and angles and light techniques. It started at 4:30pm but we had to leave by 5pm because we were watching the concert, by 5pm he was still taking questions. Loving this festival vert much