I was so excited to be able to go to the Festival of the Arts (FARTs) this year! It is the only Epcot festival I had never been to before and always looked so colorful and beautiful! So here is my beginners guide to Festival of the Arts and all it has to offer! It’s definitely my second favorite festival behind Flower and Garden now.
What Is Festival Of The Arts
Epcot’s International Festival of the Arts or iFarts for short…Hahahahaha, started in 2017 and was a quick hit! This festival showcases all different kinds of artists and as you can imagine is really beautiful! Most of the artists with booths here are Disney artists, everything from paintings to tile art and custom tables and statues! Disney does a really great job making every aspect of this festival artistic and a little different. Even the food is beautiful and has an artsy flare.
What Is The Food Like?
Just like any other Epcot festival, there are food kitchens throughout World Showcase with all different offerings from each country. I’ll admit I can’t call myself any kind of expert here because I haven’t had time to eat too much and I haven’t had Jay and the boys here with me yet to share things with. But I did get the Deconstructed Key Lime Pie from the Deconstructed Dish kitchen and it was DELICIOUS! It is described at the booth as “Flexible key lime curd, key lime mousse, graham cracker cake and meringues”. Each individual part was super good on it’s own but when you mixed a little of each one together it was even better!! The thing I like about festival booths is that the food is smaller and a little better price. This was only $6.25 and the perfect snack for one person. It’s also nice to be able to get a bunch of these small dishes and share with other people so you get a taste of everything.
There are tons of fun desserts at this festival but also things like the Sushi Donut that is a fan favorite and the Blood Orange-Braised Beef Tartare that I have heard is amazing!
Just like other festivals they have a food challenge within the fesitval passport to encourage you to try lots of things. This one is called the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine. There are 7 dishes included on the walk and you have to try 5 and collect those stamps in your passport to get the completer prize of the Artists Palette Cookie and a smoothie in a souvenir cup! I really love doing these at all the festivals.
Obviously, this is Figments festival! He is everywhere! So if you like that little purple dragon, this is the festival for you. Figment has an entire Imagination Station inside the Odyssey Pavilion where you can even get a Figment smoothie! They have all kinds of cool Figment projections in this area as well.
What About The Art?
This is the Festival of the ARTS so of course there are artists everywhere! All throughout World Showcase you will find pop up booths with individual artists creations. This is very cool to see in Epcot and I have to say it really fits into the vibe of this park. Most of the artists are Disney artists, some have a little of everything, some specialize in Star Wars or Marvel or specific characters or themes.
You know I had to scope out all the Orange Bird art and if anyone wants to start a GoFundMe and donate to buy me all this pretty OB art I won’t fight you! Hahahaha!
One of the really cool things here is that the actual artists are visiting on different days and you can get your artwork signed!! This picture is of Rob Kaz signing the amazing print of Orange Bird outside the Tiki Room that my friend Pam got me for my birthday. Y’all she’s the best!
On different days, different artists are signing their work at their booths but also performing on a stage near the Port of Entry where they show how they make their art and create things right on the stage!
What Fun Stuff Is There To Do?
On top of beautiful, tasty food and amazing artwork there are TONS of fun things to do at this festival! One of my favorite things was all the different 3D artwork that you can step into and be part of the picture. The one above is the famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware and Pam and I got to be part of the crew. We did a few more of these throughout the day that I’ll post on my social media, some of them were pretty funny. There are also Broadway Performers at the Americas Garden Theater as well as the Disney Animation Academy where Disney artists teach you how to draw the famous characters. When I was here last week they were drawing Donald, so cool!
There are also huge murals throughout the park that you can paint part of. This is free and really cool if you are able to come multiple times because you get to see the mural come to life! You go to the table set up and get a sponge and paint color from a cast member. It has a number on it and they tell you how many spaces to paint. We painted 6 spaces of #1 on the figment mural. All of the murals are famous pieces of art that have been “Disneyfied”!
This was really fun and something anyone at any age can do. You really feel like you get to be part of the festival!
Just like the other festivals, there is a scavenger hunt! This one is called Figments Brush With The Masters and you hunt for famous works of art throughout World Showcase that Figment has hopped into. These are always so much fun and I can’t wait to do this one with the boys, It’s only $10 and you get to choose a prize when you are done. The prize is a paint your own ceramic figurine of either Mickey, Minnie, Goofy or Figment and they are really cute.
There are also tons of hidden works of art throughout the World Showcase. This little hidden Robin Hood painting in the UK Pavilion is my favorite! But there are ones like this of different characters all over the park so keep your eyes peeled and really explore each pavilion. Character interactions have an artsy elevation to them as well. Belle has a magical easel by her meet and greet that when she is there it draws by itself! Aurora is in the France Pavilion with a beautiful piece of art created by Flora and Merrywether and Pluto even has his art collar on for pictures! Every little detail is taken care of with this festival, it’s very cool.
There is also a ton of Chalk Art in the park! There is a Chalk Walk near Port Of Entry that has smaller, but amazing works of art on the sidewalk and then other places have really big 3D chalk art that you can step into and take the coolest pictures! I have not done this yet as it’s just rained both times I have come so far so they have to do them again but if you look them up they are so wonderful!
Conclusion
Needless to say, I love this festival now! I always knew I would, seeing other peoples pictures online of all the colorful art!. I have to say, I feel like this festival has the most things to do. All the artwork you can step into, the paint by numbers, scavenger hunt and food walk and there are even spots for kids to draw with chalk. It is a very interactive festival. It’s very unique that you can go around and see all this incredible art work and meet the artists. I have a ton of postcards I want to bring over to get signed. This festival only runs until February 20th so it is definitely the shortest Epcot festival but it packs a punch in that short time!
I am looking forward to Flower and Garden but I am truly enjoying this first time at the Festival of the Arts! I hope you all get to come to this festival at some point and as usual I can’t say THANK YOU enough for being here and reading along! Have a magical day!