MickeyBlog’s Favorite Items at the 2023 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays!
The 2023 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays kicked off right after Thanksgiving, bringing us festive food, entertainment, merchandise, and more. We were at the first day of the festival to check everything out!
Festival of the Holidays
One of the most exciting parts about the festival is definitely the food, but how do you know which items to try and which you should skip? Well, we’re here to help — we’re breaking down our favorite items from this year’s Festival of the Holidays!
The Best Items at EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays
Holiday Hearth Desserts
We’re kicking things off at Holiday Hearth inside The Odyssey Pavilion! There are a bunch of sweet treats over here, but a couple of them stood out in particular.
2023 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays Meet Santa at the Odyssey Holiday Hearth Desserts
First up, we have the Chocolate Covered Toffee Brittle for $4.25. The chocolate and toffee in this both have a great snap, and the sugar just melts in your mouth.
It’s rich, sweet, and nutty and we’d definitely get it again!
The other item we really liked was the Apple Caramel Crumb Cake for $4.75. The cake is fresh and moist with a nice crumb on top and chunks of apple inside.
The icing and caramel on top make this treat absolutely delicious!
Overall, this booth was a favorite of ours and definitely worth a visit!
Nochebuena Cocina
Nochebuena Cocina is located in World Discovery and has two great options for the festival! We loved the Ponche Navideño for $4.
It’s a non-alcoholic Mexican Christmas punch with apples, pears, guava, oranges, dried hibiscus, brown sugar, tamarind, cinnamon sticks, and clove. It has a lot of apple flavor, but you can also taste the orange and cinnamon.
There’s some subtle sweetness and the spices are tasty, too! The drink is served warm, which makes it a winner, especially on a cooler day.
We also loved the Spiced Chocolate Cookie for $3, which is an item on this year’s Cookie Stroll! The cookie reminded us of a classic crinkle cookie but topped with a horchata-style glaze.
It was chewy, sweet, and had some nice spice to it — we loved it!
Las Posadas Holiday Kitchen
Las Posadas is located right before you get to the Mexico Pavilion and has two of our favorite eats at this year’s festival!
First up is the Giant Tostada de Chorizo for $11.50. This is a giant tostada with chipotle black bean purée, ground chorizo, salsa verde, queso cotija, crema Mexicana, and pickled onions.
The tostada was crunchy, even with everything on top of it, and we got a little bit of spice and extra flavor from the salsa. We really enjoyed it, but watch out for that spice!
Next, we also loved the Tamale de Barbacoa for $8.50. This is shredded barbacoa beef in a corn masa topped with mole negro, queso cotija, crema Mexicana, and pickled onions.
The corn masa is seasoned well and was nice and creamy, while the mole negro adds a little bit of heat and sweetness. We also enjoyed the crunch and tang from the pickled onions.
The meat is tender and tasty — this is another favorite!
Refreshment Outpost
Refreshment Outpost (between China and Germany) always has a few festival offerings, and we really liked the one they have for Festival of the Holidays!
This is the Peanut Stew for $5.25. This is Sweet Potatoes, Mustard Greens, and Roasted Peanuts and it’s completely plant-based.
The sauce on this is thick and hearty, and the flavor is delicious! But, it is on the spicier side, so be wary of this one if you can’t handle any spice.
Funnel Cake Stand
The Funnel Cake Stand is in the American Adventure Pavilion and has a different specialty funnel cake for each EPCOT Festival, and the cake for Festival of the Holidays is a hit!
Holiday Cinnamon Celebration Funnel Cake
This is the Holiday Cinnamon Celebration Funnel Cake for $12. It has powdered sugar, vanilla ice cream, and cinnamon cookie crunch, and is topped with cream cheese, whipped cream, and gold dust.
One of our reporters said that this might be one of the best funnel cakes they’ve ever eaten! The flavors, when combined together, were perfect and it’s a great sweet treat.
L’Chaim Holiday Kitchen
L’Chaim is located between Morocco and France and serves up “classic deli noshes with a side of New York flair,” according to Disney. We absolutely loved the Potato Latkes here!
These potato latkes come with a dill sauce and are a plant-based item for $4.50. They were crisp and soft, and very well seasoned. There’s also a ton of flavor in that dill sauce!
Le Marché de Noël Holiday Kitchen
Le Marché de Noël in France is where we find our last favorite item of the festival! The Crème de Saumon Fumé en Brioche à l’Aneth, Concombre for $8.50.
La Marche de Noel
This is cream of smoked salmon in house-made dill brioche bread with cucumber. We loved the creamy salmon flavor alongside the crunchy cucumbers — the soft brioche roll also has a fun and festive look to it!
Stay tuned for more Disney World news and updates!
