Travel by Lauren · Field Guide No. 06
EPCOT Food & Wine Festival 2026: what to eat, and how to eat it gluten free
More than forty places to eat, eighty-seven days, and a menu long enough to be useless. This is what to order, when the booths actually open, and how the whole thing works if someone in your group cannot have gluten.
You already paid to get in
There is no festival ticket. If you have park admission to EPCOT on any day between August 27 and November 21, you are at the Food & Wine Festival whether you planned to be or not. Depending on your ticket type a park reservation may still be required, but nothing extra is charged for the festival itself. What you spend from there is food money, and that is where a little planning pays for itself.
Most dishes run $5 to $13 and arrive in three or four bites. That is deliberate. The festival is built for grazing across a dozen counters, not for sitting down anywhere, and the portion size only feels like a ripoff if you treat one booth as lunch. Drinks are where the number gets away from people: a beer is single digits, but the specialty cocktails and the wine and cheese pairing run to $17.50. Two people splitting eight or ten dishes and a few drinks land near $100. A family of four ordering whatever catches their eye will clear $250 and not notice until the gift card balance hits zero.
One structural fact drives every decision below: the festival does not open all at once. Disney phases the marketplaces in across five and a half weeks. Go on Labor Day weekend and you are getting roughly three quarters of the event, including none of the four booths that open October 2.
Field Guide No. 06
Take the whole thing with you
The printed version runs 16 pages: the opening calendar, every pick by area, the gluten-free shortlist and the plant-based list, laid out to read on your phone while you are standing in a line at World Showcase. No email required.
Four waves, not one opening day
Disney calls this a phased opening and buries it in a sentence near the bottom of the announcement. If a specific booth is the reason you are going, check this before you book the dates.
- Aug 27
Opening day
Most of World Showcase is live: Australia, Mexico, China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Greece, Belgium, Brazil, France, Canada and Hawaiʻi, plus the front-of-park kitchens like Brew-Wing Lab, The Fry Basket, Flavors from Fire and Gyozas of the Galaxy.
- Sep 9
Festival Favorites arrives
The anniversary booth, and the reason to shift a late-August trip two weeks later if you can. Potato Pierogi from 1996, the Bo Ssam Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps from 2010 and the Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse Trifle all live here.
- Sep 18
The Wedge opens at CommuniCore Hall
A cheese-focused counter indoors, hosted by Dairy Does More, with air conditioning, seating, a Proudly Wisconsin Cheese board and a wine and cheese pairing. The “Cheers to Cheese!” exhibition opens the same day in the same building.
- Oct 2
The last four booths
Coastal Eats, Earth Eats, India and The Alps. This is the day the festival is finally complete, and it is also the day the crowds arrive. If you want everything, this is your earliest date.
- Nov 8
The Wedge and the cheese exhibition close
Two weeks before the festival itself ends. Worth knowing if a November trip is built around the indoor cheese stop.
- Nov 21
Last day
Booths break down overnight and EPCOT turns over to the holiday festival within days.
Opening dates come from Disney's own Foodie Guide and can move. Confirm the week you travel, especially for the October 2 group.
Six habits that change the day
None of this is about knowing secret menu items. It is about the fact that forty-odd counters with no reservations and no seating behave in predictable ways, and most guests walk in and do the opposite of all six.
Go Tuesday through Thursday, and get there at eleven
Booths open around 11am, not at park open, and the first ninety minutes are the only quiet ones. October Saturdays in World Showcase are among the most crowded hours EPCOT has all year.
Split everything, without exception
Two people sharing every dish get through twelve booths on the money one person would spend at six. It is also the only way to fail gracefully. A dish nobody likes costs you two bites instead of a whole order.
Load a gift card and stop doing math
Set the number in advance, put it on a Disney gift card, and hand that card over at every counter. It removes the running tally that makes people either overspend or quit early.
Pick up the Festival Passport at the entrance
Free, paper, and it lists every booth and every item. It is also the only way to play Emile's Fromage Montage, which needs five cheese stamps for a free treat.
Start at the far end and walk back
Nearly everyone enters World Showcase from the front and stops at the first three booths they see. Go to Canada or China first, then eat your way home. Same lap, noticeably shorter lines for the first hour.
A water between every drink, and eat before the first one
The pours are small and they add up fast in Florida heat. Free ice water is available at any quick-service counter.
The short list, by where you are standing
More than forty counters is more than anyone eats in a day, so this is not the full menu. Disney publishes that for free in the Passport. These are the dishes worth walking to, with the returning anniversary items flagged because 2026 is the festival's thirtieth year.
World Celebration and the front of the park
Rodizio-style Grilled Beef Skewer · Flavors from Fire
Marble potatoes, charred shallots, roasted baby peppers and chimichurri. It has been on and off the festival since 2009 and it is still the most food you get for the price in the front half of the park.
Fry Flight · The Fry Basket
Three portions in one order: sea salt and malt vinegar, truffle Parmesan with black garlic aioli, and a sweet potato casserole version with cinnamon sugar, candied pecans and marshmallow cream. Best shareable on the property and it buys you a savory and a dessert in one stop.
Potato Pierogi · Festival Favorites, opens Sep 9
Kielbasa, caramelized onions and sour cream. This one goes back to the very first festival in 1996 and it is the item most likely to make a Northeast Pennsylvania family stop and stare.
Crab and Corn Macaroni and Cheese · The Wedge, Sep 18 to Nov 8
Smoked cheddar sauce, bacon, crab seasoning, roasted corn, herbed panko and jalapeños. The Wedge is indoors at CommuniCore Hall with actual seating and air conditioning, which in September matters more than the menu does.
World Showcase, Mexico through Italy
Tostada de Osso Buco · Mexico
Pork osso buco on a fried corn tortilla with chipotle black beans, salsa verde, queso fresco and chives. A meal-sized bite for festival pricing, and the booth line moves faster than the pavilion line beside it.
Dumplings Trio · China
Pan-fried chicken, pork and vegetable dumplings with a sweet and spicy sauce, on the menu since 1996. Three dumplings makes it one of the easiest things to split three ways without cutting anything.
Tartiflette · The Alps, opens Oct 2
Potato gratin with caramelized onions, bacon, thyme, crème fraîche and brie. The Alps also brings back Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese, which first appeared in 1997. Both count toward the cheese stroll.
Paella Caldoso · Spain
Chicken, chorizo, gigante beans, romano beans and saffron rice, running since 1997. Order the Basque Cheesecake at the same window: crustless, orange sauce, and it counts for Emile's Fromage Montage.
Chicken Tikka Masala · India
Fennel-spiced yogurt and naan, back from 2004, alongside the Potato-Pea Samosas from 2005 which Disney marks plant-based.
World Showcase, Japan through Canada
Beef Wagyu Temaki Hand Roll · Japan
American Wagyu, pickled ginger and spicy mayonnaise. The Spicy Temaki beside it dates to 1996 and is the cheaper order, but the Wagyu is the one people walk back for.
Griddled Cheese · Greece
Pistachios and honey. Two minutes of work, one of the best plates at the festival, and a cheese stamp. The Chicken Souvlaki Gyro at the same booth has been running since 1997.
Pão de Queijo · Brazil
Brazilian cheese bread, running since 1999, made with tapioca flour rather than wheat. It is a cheese stamp and the single most useful order at the festival for a gluten-free guest.
Cheddar and Bacon Soup · Canada
With a pretzel roll, on the menu since 2000, and the most reliably good thing in World Showcase. Skip it in August. In November it is the best three dollars per bite at the festival.
World Nature and the walkways
Cast Iron-seared River Trout · Bramblewood Bites
Vanilla butternut squash purée, Brussels sprouts salad, candied pecans, spiced pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and maple dressing. It sits on the walkway between the Imagination pavilion and World Showcase, which is why almost nobody finds it.
Pumpkin-Mascarpone Ravioli · Forest & Field
Brown butter vinaigrette, pecorino, pomegranate seeds and hazelnut praline. Forest & Field is also where the plant-based Black Bean and Mushroom Chili lives.
Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib · Earth Eats
Goat cheese polenta, tomato ragù, shaved pecorino and petit herbs. Another cheese stamp, and the polenta base makes it one of the few braises here built without flour.
Freshly Baked Carrot Cake · Milled & Mulled
Walnuts and cream cheese icing, from 2014. Order it with the Butternut Squash and Ginger Bisque at the same booth and you have the closest thing the festival offers to a fall dinner.
Eating here without gluten
Start with what Disney will not tell you at the counter, because it changes how you plan the day. Every marketplace is an outdoor kitchen: two fryers, a flat top, a few feet of prep space and a line out front. Disney does not promise an allergen-free item at any of them, and they say so in writing on their own menus. Shared oil, shared tongs, shared surfaces.
If your celiac reaction is severe, that is a real problem and it deserves a real answer. The festival is a harder call than a table-service restaurant at the same resort, where a chef can come out, talk to you, and plate your food in a separate space. Plenty of people with celiac still do Food & Wine every year and do it safely. But the ones who do it well plan it, and they do these five things.
- 01
Ask for a Special Diets trained Cast Member, in those words
Every location has access to one. The phrasing matters more than people expect. “Is this gluten free?” gets you a guess from whoever is at the register. “Can I speak to someone about a food allergy?” gets you the ingredient sheet and someone whose job it is to read it.
- 02
Check the official allergy menu the week you go, not before
Disney publishes an Allergy-Friendly Options at Global Marketplaces menu on disneyworld.disney.go.com every season, and it posts late. When it goes live it is the only source that is actually Disney's word rather than someone's guess, so wait for it. For anything you need settled in advance, email Special.Diets@DisneyWorld.com, which Disney asks you do no sooner than fourteen days before you arrive.
- 03
Ask about the fryer before you order anything fried
The Fry Basket is the first place a gluten-free guest heads and it is also the one that needs the question asked. The potato is not the issue. The oil is. Same for the Fried Pickle Spears at Brew-Wing Lab, which share a kitchen with breaded wings.
- 04
Order the modification out loud, at the register
A lot of dishes here are gluten-free food served on a piece of bread. Chicken Tikka Masala arrives with naan. Warm Raclette arrives on a baguette. The Black Bean and Mushroom Chili comes with cornbread croutons. Ask for it held and you often get the dish you wanted.
- 05
The drink list is the easy half
Every wine, most ciders, the spirits and all three mimosas at Shimmering Sips are fine. Beer is not, and beer is close to half of what this festival pours, including every flight in Germany, Belgium and the American Adventure.
Dishes worth asking about
These are built without wheat according to their published ingredient lists. That makes them the right dishes to ask about first. It is not the same as Disney calling them gluten free, and it says nothing about the fryer or the prep surface. Confirm each one at the window.
Tapioca flour, not wheat. Disney has designated this one gluten friendly in past seasons.
Crustless by design, served with orange sauce.
Saffron rice base. Ask about the chorizo, which is where a filler would hide.
Cheese, pistachios and honey. Nothing else on the plate.
Potato, onion, bacon, crème fraîche, brie. Opens October 2.
Over goat cheese polenta rather than a flour-thickened base. Opens October 2.
Almond flour, with a whipped Greek yogurt panna cotta.
Mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Disney has marked this gluten friendly before.
Mint pesto and crushed salt and vinegar chips. Ask about the chips.
Sweet and sour vegetables, coconut-chili sauce.
Fried corn tortilla. The fryer question applies here.
A berry ice pop with condensed milk and chili-lime seasoning.
Potatoes, shallots, peppers and chimichurri.
Cinnamon cream and toasted pumpkin seeds. Confirm the thickener.
The one that gets missed: you can still finish Emile's Fromage Montage. The cheese stroll needs five stamps, and at least five eligible dishes are built without wheat: Pão de Queijo in Brazil, Basque Cheesecake in Spain, Griddled Cheese in Greece, Tartiflette at The Alps, and the braised short rib over goat cheese polenta at Earth Eats. Two of those open October 2, so the math only works from that date forward. Confirm each one at the window and the free treat is yours.
The plant-based list is short and it is real
Unlike gluten, this one Disney labels itself, which means you can plan around it instead of interviewing a Cast Member at every counter. Eleven dishes carry the plant-based mark this season.
Plant-based cilantro crema and spicy peppers.
Butternut squash purée, caramelized onions, sage and garlic aillade.
Plant-based garlic-cilantro aioli.
Part of the Fry Flight.
Cinnamon sugar, candied pecans, marshmallow cream.
Plant-based coriander-lime cream. Wheat pastry, so not a gluten-free option. Opens October 2.
Beans, peppers, carrots and tomatoes, on the menu since 2004.
Chickpea salad, golden raisin relish, pita.
Tomato-cucumber relish, garlic sauce, Moroccan flatbread.
Plant-based sour cream and cheddar, cornbread croutons.
The only plant-based dessert on the grounds.
Plant-based and gluten free are not the same list. Disney's plant-based mark means no animal meat, dairy, eggs or honey. It says nothing about wheat. The samosas, the falafel wrap and the cornbread croutons in the chili all contain gluten. Two labels, two conversations.
Two plans that actually work
The people who enjoy this festival most are the ones who decided in advance whether it is the day or part of the day. Trying to ride Test Track and eat thirty dishes is how you end up doing neither.
Food & Wine as part of a normal EPCOT day
Six booths, roughly $60 for two, and you still have most of a park day left.
The festival is the reason you came
Fifteen or more booths, both festival games finished, and you never stood in one line twice.
New for 2026
It is the thirtieth festival. Disney has pulled about thirty dishes back from previous seasons, some unchanged and some reworked. The oldest date to the first festival in 1996: the Potato Pierogi, the Dumplings Trio in China, the Apple Strudel in Germany, the Spicy Temaki in Japan and the escargot in France.
The Wedge is new, a cheese-focused counter inside CommuniCore Hall hosted by Dairy Does More, built around Proudly Wisconsin Cheese and running September 18 through November 8. The “Cheers to Cheese!” exhibition runs alongside it in the same building on the same dates.
Emile's Fromage Montage returns. Buy five dishes marked with the cheese symbol in your Festival Passport, collect the stamps, and redeem at Shimmering Sips for a festival treat.
Remy's Ratatouille Hide & Squeak is back and it is not free. You buy a map and stickers, then hunt Remy figures around World Showcase for a keepsake. Worth it with kids, skippable without them.
Eat to the Beat runs at America Gardens Theatre with multiple shows most days. Dining packages that include guaranteed seating went on sale July 16.
Six things worth knowing
- 01
There is nowhere to sit
This is the complaint I hear most and the one nobody anticipates. World Showcase has a handful of benches and they are all taken. The Wedge at CommuniCore Hall, Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey and the air-conditioned quick-service spots are the only reliable places to put a plate down.
- 02
Booths open at 11am, not at park open
Early entry gets you rides, not food. If the festival is the point, an 11am arrival costs you nothing and saves you an hour of standing around.
- 03
Late August and September are the quiet weeks
Same festival, a fraction of the crowd, and lower resort rates. The trade is Florida heat and the four booths that are not open yet. October weekends are the opposite of all of that.
- 04
The Passport is free, the Remy map is not
Grab the Passport at the park entrance or any festival kiosk. The Hide & Squeak map is a separate purchase and only worth it if you have kids who will actually hunt.
- 05
Handle a serious allergy before you leave home
Disney's advance channel for special diets is Special.Diets@DisneyWorld.com, and they ask that you write no sooner than fourteen days before you arrive. The 407-939-5277 line is general vacation assistance, not an allergy desk, so email is the better first move. Then ask again at each booth.
- 06
Menus and dates move mid-season
Booths sell out of items, opening dates slide, and Disney swaps dishes without announcing it. Everything here is current as of the opening of the 2026 festival. Check the My Disney Experience app the morning you go.
Common questions
When is the 2026 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival?
August 27 through November 21, 2026. It is the thirtieth year of the festival, and Disney has brought back roughly thirty dishes from previous seasons to mark it.
Do you need a separate ticket for the Food & Wine Festival?
No. The festival is included with regular EPCOT park admission on any day it runs, though a park reservation may still be required depending on your ticket type. You pay only for the food and drinks you order, which run about $5 to $13 for food and up to $17.50 for the specialty cocktails.
Are all the booths open on opening day?
No. Disney phases the marketplaces in. Most open August 27, Festival Favorites opens September 9, The Wedge at CommuniCore Hall opens September 18, and Coastal Eats, Earth Eats, India and The Alps open October 2. October 2 is the earliest date the festival is complete.
Can you eat gluten free at the Food & Wine Festival?
Yes, with planning. Every marketplace is an outdoor kitchen and Disney does not guarantee allergen-free preparation at any of them, so cross-contamination is a real consideration for anyone with celiac disease. Ask to speak with a Special Diets trained Cast Member at each booth, check Disney's Allergy-Friendly Global Marketplaces menu the week you travel, and ask about shared fryers before ordering anything fried.
Which Food & Wine dishes are plant-based?
Disney marks eleven items plant-based this season, including the Sweet Chile-Lime Plant-based Chicken Strips at Brew-Wing Lab, the Edamame Dumplings at Gyozas of the Galaxy, all three fries in The Fry Basket flight, the Potato-Pea Samosas in India, the Ras el Hanout Cauliflower Bowl and Plant-based Falafel Wrap at Tangierine Café, and the Strawberry Champagne Trifle at Shimmering Sips. Plant-based does not mean gluten free.
What is Emile's Fromage Montage?
A cheese food stroll. Buy five dishes marked with the cheese symbol, collect the stamps in your free Festival Passport, and redeem at Shimmering Sips for a festival treat.
Building an EPCOT trip around the festival?
I plan Disney and Universal vacations for families across the Wyoming Valley and nationwide, and I do not charge a planning fee. Picking the right week, knowing which booths will actually be open when you are there, and building the rest of the trip so nobody is exhausted by Thursday is exactly the kind of thing worth handing to someone who books these every week.
Get Your Free Custom QuoteMenus, prices, opening dates and entertainment are subject to change without notice, and Disney adjusts them during the season. Confirm current offerings in the My Disney Experience app the day you visit. Dietary notes on this page are ingredient-based guidance for starting a conversation with a Special Diets trained Cast Member, not a Disney allergen designation, and Disney does not guarantee allergen-free preparation at outdoor kitchens. Menu list current as of the opening of the 2026 festival. EPCOT and the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival are trademarks of The Walt Disney Company. Travel by Lauren is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company.