Festival of the Arts
I have attended the Festival of the Arts 4-5 times now. And I have attended the Festival each year that Epcot has had it. It is not my most favorite Festival, but it is my second favorite (maybe one day I will do a post ranking the Epcot festivals and why, ha!). Anyhow, we go to this Festival so often because it takes place in January and February when we travel to Disney the most. I have yet to do a post just about the Festival, so I thought I would do it this year. I will show a few of the things we did each year, but my main focus will be 2019 since that is the most recent Festival.
2017
So 2017 was the first year of the Festival. And back then it was only on the weekends. So while I went to Disney twice during the Festival, we didn't have as much of an opportunity to do much. Honestly, we only tried two things at the festival. The first was the White Chocolate Figment Puzzle on an Artist’s Palette. So the idea behind it was neat, but I never have (and likely never will) ordered this again. It is really hard to eat, and it is fairly messy. You need a place to sit it down to really be able to accomplish anything with it. I made the mistake of ordering it was we were leaving the park too. Not smart at all. It isn’t quite as thrown together these days because they put the extra toppings in bowls like the paint, but it is still a bit too messy for us. And it really isn’t worth the money or snack credit for a few pieces of chocolate, ha!
The second was the pan seared scallop. I did not care for the chorizo (not a fan in general), but Brad liked that, and we both liked the rest. I think it is a good use of your snack credits too. This is a dish they have had every year so far.
Seriously, 2017 wasn’t impressive for us. Sure there were other things we could do (performances, shows, art) but seeing that the festival was limited to just the weekends, it made it hard to spend a lot of time participating and trying everything.
2018
In 2018, the Festival was expanded to every day. So when we visited the one time during the festival, we were able to spend more time doing things. Outside of a cookie (and I didn’t get a picture of it), we only tried one real dish at the festival. We tried the Gallery Bites: a trio of Hors d'Oeuvres. The first was chilled shrimp with cucumber cream cheese on a crostini. The shrimp was ok, but the crostini with the cream cheese was great. Then there was the deviled egg with candied bacon. The deviled egg was a traditional deviled egg, nothing fancy. Of course I guess the fancy part was the candied bacon, but I hate candied bacon (and now I can’t eat pork). Mom loved the candied bacon and ate it. Lastly was the risotto ball with truffled aioli. It was pretty overcooked for us. It was really hard to bite into. Once you got into it, it was good, but it’s hard for sure. This is also a dish still being served.
We did really love the pass holder t-shirts for the festival this year, so we each bought one. I wear it often.
I also bought a cute Tervis tumbler that I use often too. The merchandise was adorable this year.
And I felt like there was a lot more art since the festival was offered everyday.
2019
This year we were more involved in the festival for two reasons, 1 - we were looking for art for our house; 2 - we were staying at The Boardwalk and we went to Epcot every day.
We did find lots of art. We even bought some. I didn’t buy the piece below, but isn’t it adorable??
I did try a few dishes. I have to be honest, the food is find of weird during this festival. I mean that is pretty much the point. It is meant to be more artistic, but that keeps me from trying as much. One thing I had to try, and I loved were the paintbrush churros. Not only are the adorable, but how can you go wrong with churros dipped in chocolate?? Melody and Brad weren’t interested in these, so I had to force them all down myself, but I managed :)
I also tried the deconstructed strawberry cheesecake. I could have eaten this every day it was so good. Luckily it wasn’t the most convenient to get to for us, so I only had it once, ha! This was good regardless if you ate each part individually, or if you decided to dip the cookie in the whipped cheesecake and top with the strawberry. AH-Mazing!
The last thing I tried was the Frose. It is what is sounds like, Frozen Rose. It was ok, not the best drink I have had at Disney, but not bad either.
Brad only tried the Sushi Doughnut. He really loved it. I love sushi but wouldn’t try it since it contained raw fish. He highly recommends though.
This year we also took a few pictures specific to the festival. Melody asked to stop at few of the places (and then refused to smile, ha).
And there were some neat spots of chalk art and other art as you walked around the World Showcase.
They even had a special magnet for Passholders specific to the festival.
Overall the festival itself is really neat. Like I said, it is my second favorite festival. They always have wonderful art and great merchandise. It is very girly though (lots of pinks and purples). The food is ok. The few things we have tried have been great, but there is not enough things that I am interested in trying because it is a little out there for me (or I am allergic to it). We aren’t really interested in the shows and performances, but I do hear those are great. I do enjoy having a festival when we go (although it was less crowded before they started it, ha!). If you are ever looking for art, I highly recommend going!
