Hello and welcome to my runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2025 trip report! I’m returning to the blow-by-blow diary format for this trip. Today we review some of the offerings from the food booths at the Festival of the Arts in Epcot. Read all the posts in this report here. Onward!
Don’t lie: half the reason you get excited for Epcot festivals is the food booth scene. More than half? Depends on the festival. I loved my first Festival of the Arts – the photo ops! The interactive activities! The Broadway stars! But trying all the fancy snacks was definitely a highlight.
Even thought the Festival of the Arts is over for this year, I figured I would still put together a food review post. After all, a lot of these items will come back – and don’t you want to hear my opinion? Well? Don’t you? Shut up.
FROM THE ARTIST’S TABLE
Deviled Egg Trio: Pimento Cheese, Green Goddess, and BLT
The deviled egg trio contains no deviled eggs. What you had here was three hard boiled eggs, halved, with toppings. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it’s not… like, they’re not deviled eggs. With deviled eggs you scoop out the yolk, mix in mayo or whatever else, and put the mixture back in. So if you like hardboiled eggs, great. But there are no deviled eggs to be had here. Okay?
Lost Coast Brewery Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout
I don’t know why, but I really enjoy drinking milk stouts at Epcot festivals. Specifically milk stouts, which are a milder version of an otherwise aggressive version of beer. I never drink stouts of any kind in regular life. Then I arrive at Epcot during a festival and suddenly a milk stout sounds good to me. No, I don’t get it either.
Anyway, this was a milk stout. I didn’t find much more than a whisper of either peanut butter or chocolate, so don’t count on that, but if you too enjoy a milk stout every once and again you’ll be happy.
FROM THE CRAFTSMAN’S COURTYARD
Beef Wellington-inspired Croissant Supreme with creamed spinach croissant pinwheel, mushroom-gorgonzola ragout, mustard-grilled flank steak, red wine sauce, and pickled mustard seeds
I did not order the beef Wellington Croissant Supreme, but the Cast Member at the register misheard me and then the distribution CM had already handed me the croissant, which is apparently a one-way interaction. Luckily she just gave me the below marrow anyway, so I got both like the lucky duck I am.
I’m not upset about it ultimately, because this dish was solid. It’s kinda hot and heavy, so maybe a climate-dependent choice, but the flavors were enjoyable. I liked the creamed spinach croissant pinwheel especially, and the mushrooms as well. The meat was clearly medium-grade at best, but it was well-cooked. I’m sure no one’s shocked.
Roasted Bone Marrow with onion marmalade, pickled mushrooms, and petite lettuce
Ah, the roasted bone marrow. I’ve always wanted to try this… and maybe I still do? I’m not convinced I didn’t get a bad batch, because unless I misunderstand how bone marrow normally works there was barely any marrow in the bone. It’s supposed to be soft and creamy, right? Because I scraped and scraped and hardly got anything. The grilled bread and onion marmalade were nice at least.
FROM THE DECONSTRUCTED DISH
Deconstructed BLT: Pork belly, soft-poached egg, onion bread pudding, watercress espuma, and tomato jam
Maybe I’m missing the spirit of this booth, but I think all these very enjoyable individual elements would’ve been better mixed together. The pork belly wasn’t particularly fatty, almost to a fault. The onion bread pudding was the most interesting part of the plate; you’d love it if you’re a fan of stuffing.
FROM EL ARTISTA HAMBRIENTO
Carne Asada: Ancho-marinated beef sirloin with pasilla chile sauce, grilled queso fresco, nopales salad, and chicharron dust
Tasted like meat. Good if you want meat. I was more excited by the sauce, which was flavorful-spicy, not mouth-on-fire spicy. The green beans were an unexpected standout, well-cooked with snap to spare. The cheese did not make an impression on me I’m afraid.
FROM FIGMENT’S INSPIRATION STATION AT THE ODYSSEY
Raspberry Pastry Tart: Sugar cookie with raspberry and lemon cream cheese filling
A pop tart in shape, a stuffed cookie in construction, this raspberry pastry tart is very much a WYSIWYG item. If the description doesn’t give it away, the colorful purple and orange decorations should be the aposematic coloration that warns of sugar overload.
That being said, I rather liked this! The sugar cookie was crisp enough to hold its innards in check while soft enough to bite through easily with minimal crumbling.
The raspberry portion tasted like an unsophisticated jam as you might purchase in the grocery store. I was surprised by the lemon cream cheese part, however – in a good way! I love a good lemon curd, but the cream cheese in particular impressed me. Far from the packaged cheesecake filling I expected, it was minimally sweetened and provided some much needed balance. Don’t get me wrong, this is NOT a restrained item, but if you have a sweet tooth up to a point and love Figment (me!) it’s worth buying.
Beer Flight: 81Bay Brewing Co. Green with Envy Blonde Ale, Blue Butterfly Lager, and Make All Things Purple Ale
Cider Flight: 3 Daughters Brewing Black Cherry, Blood Orange, and Pineapple Hard Cider
I’m going to review both flights together, as my take remains the same across the board: I did not care for either. The beers all tasted like, y’know, beer. The ciders were cloying. The black cherry in particular was undeniably medicinal in flavor. Full disclosure: we did it for the ‘gram. At least we tasted the rainbow?
FROM GOSHIKI – JAPAN
Taiyaki: Crisp, flaky fish-shaped pastry filled with sweet red bean served with whipped topping and blueberry popping boba
I will eat just about anything with “sweet red bean” in the description. That being said, the taiyaki was not my favorite iteration. The pastry was just too crispy for me, and the bean ratio too low. I strongly prefer sweet red bean in mochi form, although some might argue by contrast that it’s too soft. If you’ve never had sweet red bean paste, though, you should definitely give it a try!
Wagyu Bun: Steamed bun filled with American wagyu beef served with Japanese karashi mustard sauce and violet shiso sauce
Speaking of things I will eat just about anything with, my kingdom for a steamed bun! I was pleased with how soft and fresh the bun was this time around; sometimes they sit out too long at these festival food booths. The filling was undistinguished by my reckoning, but neither was there anything wrong with it. American wagyu is a contradiction in terms, at any rate, so do it for the bun or don’t do it at all.
FROM OPENING BITES
Cheddar and Chive Scone with smoked salmon salad topped with crème fraîche and caviar
My favorite item of the festival! But then I love cheese scones and I loved smoked salmon, so of course it was. The scone was dense, but then that’s a scone for ya; I could’ve used a smidge more cheese, but I was pleased with the texture. The salmon was salty and savory and not too fishy. I feel like they could drop the caviar and make it just a little cheaper without affecting the dish.
Enchanted Rose: Milk chocolate rose with raspberry and rose center
Chocolate, check. Raspberry, check. Rose? Rose, where are you? I’m probably the minority in this opinion, but I like a punchy floral flavor and so rarely is one delivered. The dominant force was the mild milk chocolate, which was smooth and creamy and pleasant enough. The cookie at the bottom was largely for looks I think. Would you buy it for the flavor or the picture? That’s the question.
FROM THE PAINTED PANDA – CHINA
Har Gow: Shrimp dumplings with pumpkin purée and drizzle of chili oil
These are undoubtedly straight out of the freezer. Duh. Aren’t the dumplings always? But I was more in it for the pumpkin puree, which I did find highly enjoyable. I don’t necessarily feel like it added a lot to the shrimp dumplings themselves, which were soft and inoffensive. On the other hand, I’d take a bowl of pumpkin puree as soup if Disney is looking to grant some very niche wishes.
FROM POP EATS
Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese
This is tomato soup with grilled cheese. Mind you, it’s a good grilled cheese, with thick griddled bread of the Texas toast variety. The tomato soup comes in an adorable tin can receptacle, presumably to distract from the fact that it is standard issue tomato soup. I’m not mad I got this, especially since it was a slightly chillier day, but if you’re looking for a unique spin on the medium this ain’t it.
FROM TANGIERINE CAFE: FLAVORS OF THE MEDINA – MOROCCO
Stone-baked Moroccan Bread with assorted dips
I feel like the stone-baked bread shows up in Morocco at every single Epcot festival… and I buy it every single time. Who doesn’t love bread? I love baguettes, I love focaccia, and I love this flatbread, which is pillowy and soft and perfect for dipping. I never remember what the two dips that aren’t hummus are and it never matters; my favorite is the green chimichurri-looking one. Do you think they’d just give me three cups of that?
Chai Tea-Mint Mimosa: Twinings Chai Tea with Key Lime Sparkling Wine and mint
Let’s close it out with a weird one. The chai tea-mint mimosa was… weird. I think that’s mostly on the Key Lime sparkling wine, which had that odd lime hard seltzer taste that’s almost sweet but also not really? Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Combined with the tea and mint – and mint tea is my favorite! – it all just tasted kinda… herbal cough-drop-y. I did finish it, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if I liked it or not. Perhaps further investigation is warranted? Bring me another!
MY FINAL EPCOT FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS FOOD STUDIO THOUGHTS
I hope against hope, I wish against wish that Disney will extend the Epcot Festival of the Arts into Princess Half Marathon Weekend for 2026 (and that I get a bib, yikes!). It’s an excellent festival all around, but what I particularly enjoyed about the food studio booths was that there were way less of them.
Perhaps this sound counterintuitive? Yet one of the thing that was so nice about it was that it was less overwhelming than, say, the Food & Wine Festival. I managed to make a decent dent in the menus without spending days upon days in Epcot. Although I could absolutely spend days upon days in Epcot if the opportunity arose. Where’s my Epcot After 4 Pass, Disney?
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Threads @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!