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Greetings fellow Rope Droppers,
Food & Wine is one of my favorite stretches of the year at EPCOT (the holidays being the other), and the menu drop has always been one of my favorite news days. That goes back to my Orlando years, when covering the parks meant I could call “reading a menu closely” work.
I'll admit my ideal festival weather comes later, late September into October, when Orlando remembers that fall is a thing. And I still miss Party for the Senses. But the guide is out, and that's the E-Ticket of Food & Wine.
Let's head in.
| 1 | Every Food & Wine menu is out, 30th-anniversary items included. |
| 2 | Disney handed out opening years at D23. Two big ones got none. |
| 3 | One Disney World app goes dark September 16. |
| 01 | This Week's E-Ticket Food & Wine Turns 30 and Brings Back the Hits |
Disney Parks Blog
Disney posted the full 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Foodie Guide on Wednesday: every Global Marketplace, every menu, every drink (Disney Parks Blog). The festival runs August 27 through November 21, which is 87 days of World Showcase grazing.
The hook this year is the birthday. It's the festival's 30th, and Disney built the celebration into the menus: 30 items that have returned or been reimagined across the last three decades, each tagged in the guide with the year it debuted.
The Dumplings Trio at China goes back to 1996, the festival's first year. Pão de Queijo at Brazil is a 1999 original. Canada's Cheddar and Bacon Soup dates to 2000, Australia's Roasted Lamb Chop to 2006.
Signage went up on two dozen marketplace kiosks last week, with teal “Cheers to 30 Years” ribbons on several of the longest-running booths (BlogMickey counted them, WDWNT photographed the decor). BlogMickey also has the full menus with prices if you're budgeting.
| RDR picks: back for the 30th | RDR picks: new this year |
|---|---|
| Dumplings Trio (1996) · China | Tartiflette · The Alps |
| Pão de Queijo (1999) · Brazil | Basil Pesto Chicken Dumplings · Gyozas of the Galaxy |
| Roasted Lamb Chop (2006) · Australia | Boeuf Braisé vin Rouge · France |
| Schinkennudeln (2010) · Germany | Pumpkin Pie Milk Shake · Regal Eagle |
| Belgian Waffle (2010) · Belgium | Smoked Chocolate Bread Pudding · Flavors from Fire |
For your planning:
August 27 through November 21, 2026. No separate ticket; park admission covers it.
Emile's Fromage Montage is back. Buy five cheese-flagged items across the marketplaces, get the Festival Passport stamped, then redeem at Shimmering Sips.
“Cheers to Cheese!” runs September 18 through November 8 in CommuniCore Hall. The Wedge is pouring cheese flights and a Cannoli Milk Shake alongside three macaroni and cheeses.
Coastal Eats doesn't open until October 2. If the crab cake and seafood pot pie are on your list, that's a fall trip, not a Labor Day one.
Which new bite are you making a beeline for?
Build your list off the year tags, not the “New!” tags. And if your calendar is flexible, late September into October is still the better trade, especially if you can go during the week. Festival weekends are always significantly busier, no matter the month.
| 02 | On the Horizon Disney Gave Us Years. Just Not All of Them. |
Disney Parks Blog
Last Thursday we told you the thing worth writing down from D23 wasn't a name or a render, it was a year. Here's the scoreboard.
Dozens and dozens of announcements ran through the Horizons showcase Saturday (WDWNT has the full list). Most of it was progress on projects already under construction, which is roughly what Disney told us to expect. The real surprises were older and smaller.
The Expedition Everest Yeti is finally getting fixed, ending nearly twenty years of strobe-lit “B mode.”
Spaceship Earth gets its first meaningful reimagining in about two decades, shifting from human communication to human connection.
And Dreamfinder is coming back to Journey Into Imagination alongside Figment, 28 years after he left (Disney Parks Blog). Glenn Close turned up in full 1996 Cruella regalia during the Villains Land reveal, visibly outraged that Maleficent got the coaster, and roasted her for it (Yahoo Entertainment).
The dates we actually got:
Monstropolis: 2027, in phases at Hollywood Studios. The Glob Theater show, Harryhausen's, Archie's Scare Pig Pizza and the Scareporium first; the door coaster later.
Tropical Americas: 2027 at Animal Kingdom.
Piston Peak and Villains Land: nothing. The two biggest Magic Kingdom projects in the park's history, and neither got a year.
Want to go deeper? Here's where to read up on each one:
Piston Peak: Cars Ridge Run Rally plus Miss Fritter's Daredevil Spin-Along, a school-bus-sized Miss Fritter animatronic, and a ride vehicle built to actually drive the terrain rather than simulate it. (Disney Parks Blog)
Villains Land: Galaxy's Edge in scale, built around a corrupted wishing well, with a Maleficent coaster Imagineering says uses elements it's never attempted and a Magic Mirror dark ride into the Mirror Realm. (BlogMickey)
Monstropolis: “Welcome to Monstropolis” at the Glob Theater with an original Randy Newman song, plus Harryhausen's and its tentacled sushi-chef animatronic. (WDWMagic)
Tropical Americas: Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto, 50-plus Colombia-accurate animal species, and Stephanie Beatriz, Jessica Darrow and Diane Guerrero back as Mirabel, Luisa and Isabela. (Attractions Magazine)
Spaceship Earth: the story pivots to human connection. No scenes, narrator, or timeline announced. (AllEars)
Expedition Everest: the Yeti is being repaired, not replaced, and stays in place. No closure window announced. (WDWMagic)
Opening year also means opening crowds. If you can be patient, 2028 looks like the better trip: everything from that 2027 wave is open and past its debut rush, and Piston Peak and Villains Land are far enough out that you won't be trading walls for wait times either way.
| 03 | Ears to That The Believe Gets a Face, and DCL Gets a New Class |
Disney Parks Blog
Three weeks ago we told you Disney Cruise Line had put October 7 on the calendar for the Believe's full reveal. But, some of it landed at D23 anyways.
The Grand Hall goes to Moana, anchored by a bronze cast statue of Moana with Pua and Heihei and layered with Polynesian finishes (Disney Parks Blog).
Woody and Buzz ride the stern, writing the ship's name in giant yellow crayon in Toy Story block letters instead of the fleet's usual looped script, and Tinker Bell is hand-painted on the bow in her 1953 Peter Pan form, flanked by Peter, Wendy and Hook.
The bigger news is what comes after. DCL further detailed three ships in an entirely new class, starting in 2029 (Disney Cruise Line Blog). They sit between the Magic class and the Dream and Wish classes in size, roughly 3,000 guests and 100,000 gross tons, with panoramic windows running along the lower decks instead of the Wish class's enclosed Grand Hall.
For planners, that's the real headline. More home ports means more chances the Disney ship you want leaves from somewhere you can drive to.
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| 04 | From Around the Kingdom Odds, Ends, and an App Going Dark |
Game Over: The Play Disney Parks app shuts down September 16, taking the Star Wars: Datapad and the in-queue games with it. Batuu Bounty Hunters survives via MagicBand+ and the land's screens. (WDWMagic)
Falcon Meets Fortnite: Link your Disney and Epic accounts and Smugglers Run now hands you a Hondo mission whose loot follows you home into Fortnite's new “Smuggler's Gambit” island. Accept it in the app while you're still in the queue. (Attractions Magazine)
Bags Handled: Airport Luggage Transfer added Caribbean Beach, the first Moderate in a program that was Values-only until now. Register between 30 days and 24 hours out, and only if you're flying American, Southwest or United. (BlogMickey)
Capa, Booked: Capa and Ravello at Four Seasons Orlando are now reservable in My Disney Experience, Goofy's character breakfast included. Dining plans still don't apply. (Disney Food Blog)
Balloon Season: A Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey balloon debuts at the 100th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 26, ninety-two years after Mickey became the parade's first Disney balloon. (Disney Parks Blog)
Spaceship Earth is getting rewritten, so somebody went back and stacked the Phoenician scene up across narrators: Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons, Judi Dench, one after another.
I never got to hear the Cronkite version inside the sphere, and watching this I'm a little sad about it. That voice narrating the invention of the alphabet must have been something.
Which one is your Spaceship Earth?
| 05 | See Ya Real Soon Eat Well, Plan Early |
A menu drop, a scoreboard of opening years, a ship with crayons on the stern, and one app taking its last bow. Not a bad Thursday.
See ya real soon,
Gabe
