EPCOT’s International Festival of the Arts runs until February 22, 2021 at Walt Disney World. This guide offers info, tips, food recommendations, and our must-see highlights of this annual winter special event. (Updated January 14, 2021.) This is already the 5th Anniversary of what Walt Disney World has dubbed the “ultimate celebration of world-class food, amazing visual art, and live entertainment.”

The Epcot International Festival of the Arts is a special event celebrating the visual, culinary, and performing arts from around the world. The event includes Food Studios (naturally!) and an array of entertainment options.

The first thing you need to know is that there’s a lot to see and do at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, but the vast majority of the entertainment is not continuously running. Quite the converse, in fact.

While there is virtually always something occurring throughout the park between park opening and 5 p.m., many of the live performers are only out a few times per day, and some of their sets are fairly short. Because of this, it’s absolutely essential that you consult a times guide or entertainment schedule for the day your visiting, and plan around the entertainment that is the most “rare.” Alternatively, if you have a surplus of time, you might want to take a slow approach, just meandering around World Showcase and stumbling upon art as you stroll. We really enjoy that sense of “discovery.”

The Food Studios, exhibits, and interactive art opportunities can be slotted in whenever, so fit those into your schedule when you have down time, but plan around the live entertainment. Aside from the snacking, Epcot’s International Festival of the Arts offers Walt Disney World guests the ability to peruse artwork by Disney artists in galleries.

For the 2021 Epcot Festival of the, you should make sure to check out World ShowPlace, which is a quasi-festival center and home to numerous galleries, exhibits, and food booths.

Additionally, there are live artists creating artwork in Epcot. It’s really interesting to watch them; we were so captivated by one of the artists that we watched him complete an entire Mickey Mouse painting, which he did in ‘unison’ with music.

Other artists will be painting landscape scenes throughout World Showcase. Additionally, chalk artists will reproduce classic works on park sidewalks, Epcot Living Statues will do roaming art, and guest performance artists will create live art with the wave of a paintbrush.

Interactive guest art is another one of our favorite aspects of Festival of the Arts. We have had a chance to help complete several different murals. It’s also a really fun experience in the moment, and satisfying once you see the finished product a few days later, knowing I helped make that!

There will also be more structured entertainment for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Unfortunately, there is no Disney on Broadway concert series on the America Gardens Theatre stage during the 2021 Taste of Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Expect that to return in 2022.

However, the Voices of Liberty return to that stage for the 2021 Epcot Festival of the Arts, and the Animation Academy is also available in the same venue–all physically distanced. We highly recommend experiencing both. Ultimately, Epcot International Festival of the Arts has proven itself to be something different.