2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition Evaluation: Remicrowaved Leftovers

Walt Disney World’s flagship pageant is now underway with the beginning of the 2024 EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition. Not solely is that this the 12 months’s greatest occasion, but it surely’s the primary since 2019 with a wall-less EPCOT because of the completion of the overhaul. Given all of that and the completion of CommuniCore Corridor and World Celebration, expectations had been excessive for the 2024 foodie fest.

Earlier than we get going, it’s price noting that it is a evaluation of the 2024 EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition as an entire. It looks as if the World Marketplaces suck up the entire oxygen in terms of protection of this occasion. We imagine it is a mistake. We’ll even be updating our meals sales space opinions and posting new ones over the course of the approaching days, however the World Marketplaces will not be the totality of the occasion. Or at the very least, they shouldn’t be.

Each single EPCOT pageant of the 12 months has meals cubicles. All the different ones additionally supply one thing else. Protection of these different occasions additionally focuses on the opposite highlights, and for good cause–it may be plenty of enjoyable and compelling! Loads of Walt Disney World followers and out-of-state Annual Passholders e-book journeys throughout these festivals simply to expertise what they’ve to supply.

Anyway, when you’re solely involved with the World Marketplaces and don’t care about what else these occasions usually supply, this evaluation isn’t for you. It is best to as an alternative await the person meals sales space opinions and better of listing. Spoiler alert: the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition is definitely fairly good if you’re singularly centered on the snacks and drinks!

In reality, the lineup of meals cubicles and menus on the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition addresses considered one of our greatest points with the occasion in the previous couple of years–that it was skewing too far within the path of crowd-pleasing, consolation delicacies. I’m a agency believer that it is advisable to meet company the place they’re, however on the identical time, it is a meals pageant. The brand new additions from the previous couple of years would’ve been the equal of Cannes Movie Competition solely screening motion pictures from the Boss Child franchise.

The World Marketplaces on the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition thread the needle significantly better. Sure, there are nonetheless the fundamental cubicles with boring menus, however there are additionally fascinating and bold ones. (Sadly, given the lengthy traces on the former, it’s comprehensible why Disney goes this route–giving the individuals what they need.) In any case, it’s not the delicacies on the occasion that’s the problem. It’s every little thing else.

For the 2024 EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition, the iconography, in-park photograph ops, decorations, and logos are all just about unchanged from final 12 months…which had been unchanged from the 12 months earlier than…and 12 months earlier than…and so forth. In reality, this very same visible fashion has been used yearly for the reason that 2020 Style of EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition. Therefore these being re-microwaved leftovers as an alternative of microwaved leftovers. (Technically, they’re re-re-remicrowaved leftovers!)

Shows, logos, graphics, and so forth., all used to vary each single 12 months of the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition. The contemporary look was one thing we at all times appreciated, particularly as a distinction to Weight loss plan EPCOT. 5 years of principally equivalent stuff for Walt Disney World’s longest seasonal occasion feels extremely drained at this level.

They didn’t precisely nail these visuals so nicely in 2020 within the first place. It’s not as if the workforce can’t prime what was executed again then and is selecting to not mess with perfection. The graphics are effective, however nothing particular. Worse but, there aren’t lots of them on show all through the park.

The 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition was speculated to be the park’s popping out occasion. For the primary time since 2019, the middle of EPCOT is lastly with out building partitions (nicely, minus those round Take a look at Monitor, however these are totally different). World Celebration has changed the Big EPCOT Dust Pit, CommuniCore Corridor & Plaza are open, and the overhaul is “completed.”

A part of the promise, at the very least so I assumed, in regards to the reimagined central backbone of the park is that it may turn into a canvas for seasonal occasions. Our World Celebration & CommuniCore at EPCOT Evaluation: Higher Than a Dust Pit & Partitions, I Guess? lamented simply how boring the World Celebration Gardens and CommuniCore Corridor seemed.

One little bit of solace to that was that bland planters and clean areas may simply be remodeled for festivals. We simply had but to see that as a result of the overhaul wrapped up throughout the summer time, which was “Weight loss plan EPCOT” season this 12 months. This made a point of sense, and definitely defined all of the uninteresting and drab areas all through World Celebration.

Sadly, now the flagship 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition is right here and the park doesn’t look all that a lot totally different than it did throughout Weight loss plan EPCOT this summer time. I’m really pretty assured that it had extra decor again throughout the 2020 Style of EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition.

There’s no show behind Spaceship Earth, nothing in that bizarre planter (above is the way it seems to be proper now), no Chef Figment topiary (or any topiary, for that matter), and there are not any installations in any way previous the planter proper on the entrance entrance. And that one is precisely the identical because it’s been for the previous couple of years. I may actually share a photograph from final 12 months and also you wouldn’t know the distinction.

I’m not anticipating Flower & Backyard Competition 2.0 right here, but it surely’s wild to me that nothing has been executed with any of those planters. Most of them are simply easy inexperienced areas, and whereas they’re higher than concrete and Nineties datedness, they’re nonetheless bland and begging for extra ornamentation and installations. As an alternative, you might stroll from Spaceship Earth to the entrance of World Showcase with out understanding {that a} pageant is even occurring.

Then there’s CommuniCore Corridor. Oof.

Some followers implored the skeptics to “wait and see” how this flex house would look as soon as a pageant rolled round. From our perspective, this was at all times ludicrous. The inside seems to be like a hospital cafeteria or conference heart flex house or airport terminal, and no quantity of dressing it up modifications the underwhelming inside design.

However possibly these followers had been on to one thing and CommuniCore could be put to such nice use that we’d overlook that? In any case, the idea artwork (above) seemed very totally different and rather more bold than the completed product that opened in June.

In some way and in opposition to all odds, CommuniCore Corridor is worse throughout the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition than it was throughout Weight loss plan EPCOT.

As anticipated, CommuniCore Corridor is house to the Macatizers sales space, together with a large overflow queue and seating for this market. That’s effective, I suppose. Not excellent, however no matter.

The issue is that the opposite half of CommuniCore has been taken over as a short lived merchandise location, promoting EPCOT Meals and Wine Competition objects. This very a lot seems to be non permanent, on par with the makeshift merchandise facilities for runDisney occasions. Nothing right here is purpose-built for the placement. It seems to be like racks you’d see at Walmart or Kmart or wherever.

By itself, that’s a foul look. It’s downright pathetic as in comparison with idea artwork exhibiting installations and displays for festivals. Then once more, I feel most cheap followers had way back given up on such lofty ambitions for this flex house.

What provides insult to harm is the abject greed in considering there was enough house in right here for (one more!) merchandise spot. This house may very well be all seating for Macatizers, and it nonetheless wouldn’t be sufficient. The tables listed below are at all times full, and that may be true even when there have been twice as many.

What’s actually wonderful to me is that CommuniCore Corridor is objectively worse than any pageant house used at EPCOT within the final decade. That’s proper, the brand new purpose-built pageant venue that took 5 years and untold a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} to carry to life, is inferior to previous makeshift areas even from a pageant perspective.

All the issues it promised have been squandered. There’s the “state-of-the-art present kitchen” that Disney teased “might even entice just a few particular culinary company.” It’s now getting used to place the ending touches on mac & cheese. There’s the “dynamic house to anchor” EPCOT Festivals and occasion house “restricted solely by the boundaries of creativeness.”

CommuniCore Corridor is as an alternative now getting used for merchandise racks, as one more strategy to juice memento gross sales and attempt to beat final 12 months’s numbers. If that is what boundless creativeness seems to be like, I’m completely effective with the present administration leaving Journey Into Creativeness alone for now.

From a visitor perspective, CommuniCore Corridor will not be superior to the retrofits executed with the Odyssey or Wonders and even the World ShowPlace Pavilion. If something, I choose all of these current venues. The Odyssey has extra home windows and good views. The Wonders pavilion is way bigger and has a bunch of quirky house that, prior to now, was used for enjoyable and random functions.

World ShowPlace is completely large, and when utilized in 2020, it had much more to supply–a number of cubicles, tons of seating, areas to decompress, and indoor leisure. Walt Disney World received inventive and put all three to make use of brilliantly for occasions.

CommuniCore isn’t inventive on any stage–the one wonderful factor about it’s {that a} venue created particularly for festivals is worse at internet hosting them than those above. By no means thoughts the truth that it’s not likely even functioning as a pageant heart, however slightly, a glorified meals & merchandise sales space.

When it comes to different stuff, none of it has returned for the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition. This consists of culinary seminars, demonstrations, meals with movie star cooks, and different particular occasions. These have been on hiatus since 2019–the final regular 12 months of the occasion–and we had hoped that they’d return now that CommuniCore Corridor is open.

It’s unhappy to see that none of that is again. As defined in EPCOT’s Meals & Wine Competition Is Stale. Right here’s What We Need Disney to Change, the occasion actually wants a shot within the arm. That is speculated to be EPCOT’s flagship pageant, however has turn into the weakest occasion of the 12 months with the least substance.

As an alternative, the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition is principally simply the World Marketplaces, Eat to the Beat live shows, a scavenger hunt, and merchandise. Once more, although, all of that is current at different occasions. There’s nothing to tell apart this from any of the opposite EPCOT festivals. All the relaxation have “one thing else” that makes them distinct attracts.

Nonetheless, I’m guessing lots of you’ll not care. That’s completely effective! We all know loads of Walt Disney World followers who love EPCOT’s Meals & Wine Competition. It’s their favourite occasion of the 12 months as a result of they get pleasure from revisiting acquainted favorites and have a sure sentimentality in regards to the longest-running pageant.

Accordingly, it’s possible you’ll wish to take my perspective on the 2024 EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition with a grain of salt when you’re a giant fan of this occasion. Particularly when you solely care in regards to the delicacies and are fairly happy with this 12 months’s menus. (And once more, we’re! That is in all probability the most effective 12 months for meals since at the very least 2021. My greatest criticism on that entrance is that a number of of the menus are smaller.)

Meals & Wine has been my least favourite of the EPCOT festivals for some time, which is usually resulting from every little thing except for the meals & drinks. For years, I’ve felt this occasion has been substantively missing and much too reliant on individuals spending cash on meals and alcohol, slowly eliminating the “edutainment” elements of the pageant that make it enjoyable and spherical out the occasion.

Nonetheless, it boggles my thoughts that Walt Disney World utterly phoned in every little thing besides the World Marketplaces on the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition. Once more, when you merely don’t care, that’s effective. For a lot of followers, EPCOT’s Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition is all in regards to the…meals & wine.

The factor is, simply as I can acknowledge that not each fan has the identical issues or priorities as me, those that don’t care ought to have the ability to admire the identical. Again after we had been out-of-state Annual Passholders residing within the Midwest, we may very well be enticed to e-book lengthy weekend journeys for particular occasions like this.

We did that repeatedly for EPCOT festivals, Star Wars Weekends, and different themed occasions. I can say with full certainty that, however for this weblog, I might not be drawn to the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition. It might be safely skippable. Whereas I received’t fake that everybody is like us, I do know there are a not-insignificant variety of out-of-state followers who do assume equally.

By Disney’s personal admission, the parks are seeing a slowdown and the corporate’s ahead steerage suggests decrease attendance and lodge bookings into 2025. And that is after final summer time and fall had been already slower than the prior-year. Provided that, I’d assume that Walt Disney World may wish to put the nominal quantity of effort into making the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition a much bigger draw.

It’s not like new banners, a Chef Figment topiary, massive shows, and different visuals would break the financial institution. It’s actually baffling how an organization that routinely wastes large quantities of cash can be so low-cost and penny-pinching, even in downright counterproductive methods! If Walt Disney World by some means doesn’t have the money to spend on decorations, possibly they may companion with a kind of sponsors they’re at all times touting and convey again interactive experiences (RIP Cranberry Bathroom) and different fascinating elements of the occasion.

To finish on a constructive notice, I’ll say that it’s good having the entrance of the park free from building partitions. Regardless that a bunch of the lighting results within the World Celebration Gardens are busted, it’s satisfying to spend time on the entrance of the park within the night. The dwell music in CommuniCore Plaza provides an ideal vitality. The sunshine reveals on Spaceship Earth are glorious, as at all times. As I’ve mentioned earlier than, the completed product is nicer than a dust pit.

Total, what’s nonetheless lacking from the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition firmly cements this as our least favourite occasion of the 12 months at EPCOT, and by a reasonably vast margin. Regardless of that, Meals & Wine nonetheless generates way more protection than any of the opposite occasions at EPCOT and appears to have extra diehard followers. I’m nonetheless not completely positive why that’s, however Walt Disney World hype constructed over time normally takes years to undo (for instance, Le Cellier remained well-liked for a number of years after the Disney Eating Plan eroded its worth).

My honest hope is that somebody at Walt Disney World acknowledges this earlier than it’s too late, and stops attempting to take advantage of Meals & Wine to the purpose that it turns into passe and unpopular. This pageant may very well be a lot extra, and has been prior to now. With EPCOT’s overhaul now completed, there’s completely no excuse for the occasion to proceed being a shadow of its former self.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Are you excited for the 2024 EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition? Disillusioned that the look of the occasion is just about equivalent to the previous two years? What do you consider the lineup of World Marketplaces? Upset that there’s nothing when it comes to “edutainment” or something particular to separate this from any of the opposite EPCOT occasions? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!