EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays: Can’t-Miss Highlights for 2025

Each year, EPCOT lights up with the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. This festival at Walt Disney World celebrates winter holidays from around the world with festive food and entertainment. The festival runs from November 28 to December 30 this year, bringing seasonal dishes and drinks, global storytellers, and celebrations.

The 2025 festival has new menu items, returning favorites, and holiday entertainment throughout the park for a flavorful and memorable way to celebrate the holiday season.

What’s New at the 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays

This year’s festival features new additions in cookies, cocktails, and kitchen menus. Nearly every festival kitchen has introduced at least 1 new option, but there are some standout newcomers this season.

CommuniCore Hall’s Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow (EPCOT) has 2 new festival cookies: the prototype cookie and a soft ginger-molasses cookie. Holiday Hearth Desserts added a cranberry-oatmeal cookie and red velvet cake pop, and France debuted a macaron de Noël aux épices.

Several holiday kitchens introduced new savory dishes, including the tostada de carne and tamal de pollo con mole at Las Posadas in the Mexico pavilion, and Shanghai Holiday Kitchen in the China pavilion now features BBQ char siu pork fried rice.

The Italy pavilion’s Tuscany Holiday Kitchen added 2 new dishes — Salsiccia e Peperoni and Pizza e Cioccolato — while Le Marché de Noël Holiday Kitchen in the France pavilion has a new hearty roasted turkey dish with mushrooms and sweet potatoes.

New beverages are also widespread this year. Highlights include a spiked hot cocoa with whipped-cream vodka at the Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow booth, a horchata margarita at Las Posadas, a warm Apfel Cider from Sommerfest in the Germany pavilion, and a frozen gingerbread eggnog at Regal Eagle in the American Adventure pavilion. A festive flight of hot cocoa is available at Holiday Sweets & Treats.

Holiday Kitchens Around EPCOT

The EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays features more than 2 dozen holiday kitchens and festival locations with seasonal eats and drinks throughout EPCOT. These limited-time flavors are available in the World Showcase and year-round quick-service spots around the park.

2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays food locations include:

• Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow: CommuniCore Hall
• Favorites of Festivals Past: CommuniCore Plaza
• Holiday Hearth Desserts: The Odyssey pavilion
• Connections Eatery: World Celebration
• Connections Café: World Celebration
• Sunshine Seasons: The Land pavilion
• Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company: World Discovery
• Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company: Showcase Plaza
• Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company: American Adventure pavilion
• Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company: Canada pavilion
• Refreshment Port: Near the Canada pavilion
• Swirled Showcase: Between World Showcase and the Imagination pavilion
• Holiday Sweets & Treats: Near Port of Entry
• Chestnuts & Good Cheer Holiday Kitchen: Between World Showcase and the Imagination pavilion
• Las Posadas Holiday Kitchen: Mexico pavilion
• Shanghai Holiday Kitchen: China pavilion
• Refreshment Outpost: Between the China pavilion and Germany pavilions
• Bavaria Holiday Kitchen: Germany pavilion
• Sommerfest: Germany pavilion
• Tuscany Holiday Kitchen: Italy pavilion
• Block & Hans: American Adventure pavilion
• Fife & Drum: American Adventure pavilion
• Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts & Barbecue: American Adventure pavilion
• American Holiday Table: American Adventure pavilion
• Funnel Cake stand: American Adventure pavilion
• Shi Wasu Holiday Kitchen: Japan pavilion
• Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina: Morocco pavilion
• L’Chaim! Holiday Kitchen: Between the Morocco pavilion and France pavilions
• Le Marché de Noël Holiday Kitchen: France pavilion
• Yukon Holiday Kitchen: Canada pavilion
• Mele Kalikimaka Holiday Kitchen: World Showcase walkway
• Nochebuena Cocina: World Showcase walkway

The largest concentration of kitchens is in the World Showcase, where the international pavilions feature regional specialties. Think mole and tamales in Mexico, maple treats in Canada, a sushi tree roll in Japan, and slow-roasted turkey in America.

Holiday Hearth Desserts in The Odyssey is the spot to satisfy a sweet tooth, and Swirled Showcase offers frozen treats with a new chocolate-peppermint mousse. Year-round dining spots — including the funnel cake stand, Block & Hans, Fife & Drum, and the Regal Eagle Smokehouse — offer festival-only drinks and desserts. Connections Eatery offers a spiced caramel apple drink, featuring caramel syrup and a cinnamon stick, with optional Fireball cinnamon whiskey.

Joffrey’s kiosks in the park offer a holiday cookie latte, a specialty drink for the festival that can be ordered with or without Baileys Irish cream.

Can’t-Miss Festival Food Favorites

With so many holiday kitchens and seasonal offerings throughout the festival, it’s impossible to enjoy it all in a single visit. Here’s our short list of festival favorites:

At Le Marché de Noël in the France pavilion, the smoked salmon brioche is a hit for seafood lovers. This salmon spread is tucked into a soft brioche roll with cucumber and radishes. We felt this was a little bread heavy as served, but it was perfect when we took off one side of the sandwich and ate it like toast.

Bavaria Holiday Kitchen in the Germany pavilion features a pork schnitzel with mushroom sauce, bringing together crispy pork, creamy sauce, and spätzle for one of the festival’s consistently best savory plates.

The Canada pavilion’s Yukon Holiday Kitchen offers a beef bourguignon with crushed potatoes that’s rich and hearty — great for cooler evenings.

In the Mexico pavilion, the tamal de pollo con mole is one of the best new dishes in 2025, featuring tender chicken, deeply flavored mole, and a generous portion.

L’Chaim Holiday Kitchen was our favorite stop of the festival. The pastrami on rye was warm, flavorful, and generously portioned. We’d order this again just to get another bite of the sour house-made pickle.

The smoked salmon potato latke was an all-around hit, with a generous scoop of salmon loaded with capers and topped with dill sour cream. The latke was a great base, though it could have been crispier.

Top sweets and sips at the festival include the ginger-molasses cookie (topped with a sweet cream cheese icing that takes it to another level) at Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow, the festive hot cocoa flight at Holiday Sweets & Treats for a fun sampler, and the liquid nitrogen chocolate-peppermint mousse at Swirled Showcase. This offers a treat with a show as it gets a quick blast of liquid nitrogen before serving.

As you eat cookies around the festival, you can get passport stamps for the Cookie Stroll. Try 5 cookies (even if it’s 5 of the same cookie), and you can get a completer prize at Holiday Sweets & Treats: a spatula, recipe, and mini M&Ms.

Holiday Entertainment

Festival food is a major draw for the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, but the entertainment hits just as prominent with interactive experiences and shows for the holiday season.

You can meet Santa in CommuniCore Hall, or head over to The Odyssey for a visit with Santa Goofy.

In CommuniCore Hall, you can see the huge Spaceship Earth gingerbread display. It’s lit up and has a clock counting down to put on a show with flashing lights and music.

Holiday storytellers share global holiday traditions around the World Showcase. This is one of our favorite traditions of the festival because the storytellers offer an engaging and fun way to see how the holidays are celebrated around the world.

These storytellers range from Chinese lion dancers and a French Père Noël to a Canadian band and mischievous Norwegian Barn Santa.

Stage shows are a major festival draw, too. At CommuniCore Plaza, you can see “Joyful! A Celebration of the Season,” which features gospel, rhythm, and blues in a celebration of Christmas and Kwanzaa. The Candlelight Processional is the festival’s main program, with 3 shows nightly telling the Christmas story with a celebrity narrator and choir with a 50-piece orchestra. Select EPCOT restaurants offer a dining package for guaranteed Candlelight Processional seats.

Living With the Land takes on a festive look with Glimmering Greenhouses. Holiday lights illuminate the greenhouses at night with a cozy and colorful glow. The ride narration is updated for the holidays, and displays highlight ingredients used in the festival kitchens.

Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition is a fun way to keep kids engaged throughout the World Showcase, as you search for Olaf and holiday traditions with a paid scavenger hunt. You can turn it in for a small prize: your choice of “Frozen”-themed plastic plates.

Tips for Planning Your EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays Visit

This EPCOT holiday festival is packed with food and entertainment. You can start planning by looking over Disney World’s festival guide to see all of the food, entertainment, and experiences available. When you arrive at the festival, pick up a festival passport — available at both park entrances, most shops, and at all of the holiday kitchens — to mark off your must-try items.

Festival crowds tend to be heavy in the late afternoon and evenings, especially on the weekends. Visiting earlier in the day is easier, and most of the holiday storyteller showtimes and Santa visiting hours are during the day. However, the Candlelight Processional is only in the evening, and Glimmering Greenhouses is best seen after dark.

Food portions are generally snack sized but can be surprisingly filling. We recommend sharing dishes to stretch your budget and appetite. This lets you try more items.

Final Thoughts

EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays is packed with global traditions, seasonal food, and festive entertainment. There’s plenty to taste and enjoy, and we love the holiday storytellers, glowing greenhouses, and seasonal bites and sips that make the holiday season come alive at Disney World.