Disney released the menus for this year's EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays on November 12. The festival opens November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, and runs to December 30, 2026. Disney counts 186 things to eat and drink this year, 98 of them new, and 20 Holiday Kitchens.
Two new Holiday Kitchens
The Diwali Holiday Kitchen is on the walkway between World Showcase and the Imagination! pavilion. It has Pani Puri filled with curry-spiced potatoes and chickpeas, served with tamarind water, and a Chicken Biryani with yogurt sauce, pomegranate seeds and bird's eye chilis. The Thandai Milkshake is milk flavored with almond, fennel, poppy seed, cardamom and saffron, topped with rose petals and toasted almonds. The Pani Puri and the Mango Mousse Cup are both plant-based.
Season's Eatings is in CommuniCore Plaza, in World Celebration. Its Holly Jolly Bánh Mì is a Vietnamese-style sandwich with smoked turkey, cranberry-Chambord mayonnaise, pickled vegetables, Fresno chilis and cilantro. There are Reuben croquettes and a cranberry-almond frangipane bar too, and the beers include Great Lakes Christmas Ale and Southern Tier's Black Forest Cake Imperial Stout.
The Holiday Cookie Stroll
Buy five of the cookies on the stroll and you get a stamp for each in a Festival Passport. Take the full passport to Holiday Sweets & Treats, near the Port of Entry, and trade it for a sweet treat. Nine cookies count this year:
- Ginger-Molasses Cookie with cream cheese icing, at Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow in CommuniCore Hall
- Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookie (plant-based), at Connections Café
- Christmas Sugar Cookie with M&M'S Holiday Blend, at Holiday Hearth Desserts in The Odyssey
- Hazelnut Linzer Cookie with raspberry jam, at the Bavaria Holiday Kitchen in Germany
- Chocolate Cookie with SNICKERS pieces and salted caramel, at American Holiday Table in The American Adventure
- Mickey-shaped Almond Black and White Cookie, at L'Chaim! Holiday Kitchen, between France and Morocco
- Raspberry-Walnut Rugelach, also at L'Chaim!
- Maple Leaf Shortbread Cookie with maple buttercream, at the Yukon Holiday Kitchen in Canada
- Coffee-Mocha Cookie with coffee buttercream and cacao nibs, at the Mele Kalikimaka Holiday Kitchen
Two of the nine are at L'Chaim!, so one stop there fills two stamps. The new Prototype Cookie (a caramel blondie with peanut butter buttercream and TWIX pieces on a shortbread cookie) is sold at the same counter as the ginger-molasses cookie, but it isn't on the stroll.
Disney PhotoPass has a new Magic Shot for the stroll. Look for the photographer with the cookie tray prop by the Christmas tree at the entrance to World Showcase.
New around World Showcase
Most of the new food is in the World Showcase kitchens. Going around the lagoon from Mexico:
- In Mexico, the Las Posadas Holiday Kitchen has a Taco Nochebuena, barbacoa beef in a corn tortilla with crispy grilled Monterey Jack and birria sauce, and a Churro-Horchata Margarita.
- In Germany, Sommerfest serves a Christmas Market Bratwurst with sauerbraten pot roast, red cabbage and sweet mustard on a warm pretzel roll.
- In Italy, most of the Tuscany Holiday Kitchen menu is new: tortellini carbonara with crispy pancetta, a potato and cheese croquette with pomodoro sauce, and a biscotto with candied orange, pistachio and white chocolate.
- At The American Adventure, American Holiday Table carves a roasted ham with sweet potato casserole, fried apples and a whiskey-mustard glaze. The Funnel Cake stand has a Hot Cocoa Funnel Cake with chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream and marshmallows.
- In Japan, the Shi Wasu Holiday Kitchen has a Miso Ramen with grilled chicken, corn and butter, and a Strawberry-Chocolate Bun, which is a dessert bao.
- In Morocco, Chorba is a stew of lamb, chickpeas, tomatoes and farro, served with pita.
- In France, Le Marché de Noël has truffled chicken and mushrooms in a tarragon, shallot and white wine sauce, and a salmon burger on house-made brioche.
- Near Canada, La Poutinerie has an English Pub Poutine with cheese curds, bangers and caramelized onion gravy.
On the same walkway as the Diwali kitchen, Nochebuena Cocina has new dishes too: a Rotisserie Lechón with arroz mamposteao, maduros and salsa verde, and a warm Bauducco Chocottone with almond turrón ice cream and pistachio sauce.
Back from past years
Disney calls out three returning dishes: the Lomilomi Salmon at Mele Kalikimaka (tomatoes, onions, salmon roe and yuzu mayonnaise with yuca chips), the Potato Latkes at L'Chaim!, and the Hazelnut Linzer Cookie in Germany. Also back are the Glühwein and the cheese fondue in a bread bowl in Germany, Beef Bourguignon in Canada, the Sushi Tree Roll and Toshikoshi Soba in Japan, and fire-roasted chestnuts near Disney Traders.
If you eat plant-based
Disney marks these plant-based: the Pani Puri and the Mango Mousse Cup at the Diwali kitchen, the Potato Latkes at L'Chaim!, the Ras el Hanout Cauliflower Bowl in Morocco, the Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookie at Connections Café, a raspberry DOLE Whip in a waffle cone at the Refreshment Outpost, and the cinnamon-glazed cashews, cinnamon-glazed pecans and fire-roasted chestnuts at Chestnuts & Good Cheer, near Disney Traders.
With kids
Disney's Kids Picks include the Prototype Cookie, the Hot Chocolate Mousse Cup at Holiday Hearth Desserts, a Snickerdoodle Milkshake at Sunshine Seasons in The Land, the cheese fondue in Germany, the turkey dinner with stuffing and mashed potatoes at American Holiday Table, the Hot Cocoa Funnel Cake, and a Chocolate-Peppermint Soft-serve at Holiday Sweets & Treats. Holiday Sweets & Treats also pours a flight of three hot cocoas with no alcohol: Christmas sugar cookie, gingerbread and cookie butter.
This year's novelty is a Figment Holiday Sweater Bucket filled with jelly doughnut popcorn, at Holiday Hearth Desserts in The Odyssey. It's sold while supplies last, with a limit of two per person per transaction.
The shows
The Candlelight Processional plays nightly at America Gardens Theatre, with a celebrity narrator, a mass choir and a full orchestra. JOYFUL! A Celebration of the Season is a holiday show of gospel, jazz and R&B. The Holiday Storytellers perform around World Showcase, and the Voices of Liberty sing Victorian-style carols as the Dickens Carolers. Disney also sells dining packages for the Candlelight Processional. If you'd like one, tell me when we plan your trip.
Disney notes that every item is subject to change and availability. Its festival page has the latest.
If you're planning a holiday trip to Walt Disney World, I can book your resort hotel and your park tickets. Book a free consult and we'll plan your EPCOT day around the festival.
Cover photo: Greg Park on Unsplash, at EPCOT's Flower and Garden Festival in 2021.
