16 years ago, our youngest daughter worked in the Disney College program and we were able to attend the Food Festival with her. We have been back to Disney World several times since then, but not during the festival. We had a family Disney Cruise for the week of Thanksgiving, so we flew in early and took our son Jade to the festival. We had an amazing time and Jerie helped with Lightning Lane from her computer in Idaho, so we could do as many attractions as possible, while eating our way around the” world”. We do not drink, so our experience was all about the food!!

We flew out of SLC to Houston, then onto to Orlando. We were worried about long lines, due to the effects of the government shutdown, but we had no problems. In Austin, we enjoyed brisket for dinner.

There is a dedicated gate in Houston for the Orlando flights. It was very whimsical with Interimaginery Departures. There is an automated ticket booth, where you answer questions and receive a “personalized” ticket. Our tickets were to Chi Chi Raha and the City of Brass. They also had fun announcements and clever departure boards.

We arrived at our resort after midnight but the next morning we hit the store for our groceries for the week…we were okay with frozen pizza and salad

The resort is located on Lake Bryan, and there was a warning about snakes and alligators.

After a good day of rest, we headed to Epcot. We were at the park before “rope drop”, so stopped and picked up our Festival Swag. We decided to buy the festival gift card wrist band to make it easy to purchase food at the 30+ booths.

For our first attraction, Jerie snagged us a Lightning Lane for Test Track…It opened in 1999, replacing the World of Motion Ride. It was renovated in 2012 and you designed your car before you got on the ride. After a recent renovation in 2025, designing the vehicle is now part of the ride.

Inside the ride

The track travels outside, where we reached a top speed was 65 MPH

After the ride, we checked out the GM/Chevrolet exhibit, where a very nice lady asked if we wanted information to buy one of the vehicles and we were impressed that they had towel animals in the restrooms!!

The Pixar Short 3-D Film Festival was fun

Journey into Imagination with Figment was very colorful

The Journey of Water inspired by Moana…as you run your hand over the water streams, they make a musical note

Lots of fun with water

We enjoyed the Remy Scavenger Hunt…there were 14 statues hidden throughout the World Showcase and stickers that corresponds to the statue.

Once your book is complete you get a prize.

We loved getting all of the different foods representing numerous countries. There were over 30 booths to choose from. Our gift card wristbands were awesome to use and they were also a souvenir. Some of our favorites were the pineapple cheesecake from Hawaii, the Cheddar Bacon soup from Canada, and the non-alcoholic Strawberry Hibiscus Aquas Frescas.

We got an order of fish-n-chips from England and a very agressive squirrel tried to steal it…we did not get his picture, only the frantic battle

As part of the food festival, there was a cheese challenge. Buy 5 select cheese dishes and get a “cheese” reward. It was Key Lime cheesecake ice cream…yummy

In between our festival food eating we enjoyed visiting Mexico. The ride inside the Pavilion is The Gran Fiesta Tour with the Three Amigos

We had candid shots throughout the day of Spaceship Earth Sphere

There were numerous Christmas Trees to celebrate the holidays

There were views of the World Showcase Lagoon

And Miniature trains in Germany and Japan’s Tori Gate

We rode Living with the Land. We learned that the Disney World Gardens produce 20 tons of fruit and vegetables that are used throughout the park.

To save space, the vegetables are grown on a trellis and in hydrated pots. Disney is doing some innovative agriculture.

We enjoyed the Canadian movie Far and Wide, as well as their maple popcorn

We rode Soarin’ which is a tour of the world while riding in a glider. Jerie then sent us “instructions” for our next attraction in France, on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure…

Your car was a Rat

During the ride, you are the rat on the floor of a restaurant, with the chef trying to grab you. At the end, you attend a Rat party.

Spaceship Earth is a slow moving ride inside the large sphere near the entrance of the park. It follows the history of communications.

There were exhibits from throughout time

At the end of the ride it shows you what your future looks like based on a series of questions. For some reason, Jim’s face didn’t transfer…lol

Before exiting Spaceship Earth, there is an interactive center, where you can test your computer skills. Jim and Jade played a robotic skills game in assembling a skeleton. They were very intent and completed within the time limit, earning Master Surgeon status.

Guardians of the Galaxy was our final ride, thanks to Jerie for getting the Lightning tickets (she had to get up at 5am Idaho time). We had a 35 minute technical delay, but it was well worth the wait. It is an indoor, in the dark, fast-paced spinning roller coaster. Think Space Mountain on steroids. We are really glad we did it at the end of the day, because it does make you abit sick.

In front of The American Adventure area is the Gardens Theater. which is where the Eat to Beat the Concert Series was held. The night that we were there, the Beach Boys played and John Stamos was on the drums. They played (3) 30 minute concerts. People lined up 4 hours in advance, so we sat in the outdoor dining area and listened while we ate seafood rolls from the American booth. During the day, it was hard to get a picture of our food, as Jim and Jade were already tasting it. The seafood roll was really good, as it has a lobster bisque poured over it.

The last event at Epcot is the fireworks, which are launched from the middle of the lagoon

Luminous, The Symphony of Us, is a light and firework show that can be seen from anywhere in the World Showcase

Lots of smoke afterwards but it made the laser lights look cool. The boats are for private groups to view the fireworks. We did this years ago. It is really fun and comes with appetizers, or at least it did.

What an amazing day we had at Epcot