Festival forays: Your guide to Epcot arts, Universal Mardi Gras, SeaWorld Seven Seas

Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel
·3 min read

February brings us full throttle into festival season at Central Florida’s theme parks. We’re in the midst of SeaWorld Orlando’s Seven Seas Food Festival, Epcot International Festival of the Arts and Universal Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval simultaneously.

Each has a dominant theme, but there are overlaps between the events. They each have a substantial investment in serving up distinctive food items, and they each have notable musical components. And, aside from edible purchases, they’re all included with regular park admission.

There’s still time to attend all three events, but check the park calendar because not everything happens on every day of the festivals. Here’s the low-down on the current special events.

Hip-hip-parade

• What and where: Universal Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval, Universal Studios

• Run dates: Nightly through April 7

• Main events: A bead-happy parade winds through the streets of the theme park. New floats are themed to the elements (Water, wind, fire, etc.). Start times vary.

• Musical moments: Universal scheduled 10 main-stage concerts for the event (primarily Saturday nights and a few on Sunday). There also are strolling New Orleans-style musicians and the piped-in music is effective in getting folks moving.

• This weekend’s concerts: All-American Rejects, Saturday

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• Edible fare: Menus at 14 nation-driven stations drift from po boys, including spicy smashed cucumber (China), crispy lumpia (Philippines), butterfly pea blossom tea (Thailand), vegan wild mushroom poutine (Canada)

• What else: The new Tribute Store has a haunted river cruise theme.

Floating along

• What and where: Seven Seas Food Festival, SeaWorld Orlando

• Run dates: Select days through May 19

• Main events: SeaWorld features 28 food and beverage stations during the fest, including newbies with French and Indian cuisine, a vegetable-driven stop and Half Pipe Pavilion, which dives into vodka-lemonade options. (The festival markets have numbers that coincide on event maps and kiosk signs.)

• Musical moments: Several Bayside Stadium concerts are scheduled.

• This weekend’s concerts: Colt Ford, 7 p.m. Saturday; Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi tribute band), 2 p.m. Sunday; Never Stop Believin’ (Journey tribute band), 4 p.m.

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• Edible fare: Among the new items for the SeaWorld event are boudin balls (Gulf Coast Market); tempura-battered sushi and deep-fried dumplings (Asian Market); jalebi, a funnel cake with wildflower honey (Indian Market); and duck confit (French Market).

• What else: SeaWorld continues its fest-within-a-fest strategy, starting with Mardi Gras overlays (Feb. 8-11, 15-18). That’s followed by celebrations for St. Patrick’s Day (March 7-10, 14-17) and Cinco de Mayo (April 25-28 and May 2-5).

Arts-a-rama

• What and where: Epcot International Festival of the Arts, Walt Disney World

• Run dates: Daily through Feb. 19

• Main events: Disney has spread the art activities around with a giant crowd-participation paint-by-numbers mural, chalk art displays, masterpiece-driven walk-in photo ops and artists lining the banks of World Showcase.

• Musical moments: The centerpiece is the Disney on Broadway series at America Adventure Theatre, and there are other performers on hand daily.

• This weekend’s concerts: Mandy Gonzalez (“Aida”) and Orlando’s Michael James Scott (“Aladdin”) Friday and Sunday; Bradley Gibson (“The Lion King”) and Shoba Narayan (“Aladdin”) on Saturday. Showtimes are 5:30 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. daily.

• Edible fare: Among the fresh options for the 2024 fest are grilled pork belly (Craftsman’s Courtyard Food Studio), wagyu bun (Japan), chocolate cake with pomegranate mousse (Tangierine Cafe) and smoky banana bliss margarita (El Artsita Hambriento).

• What else: There will be a brief break after the arts fest ends, but Epcot International Flower & Garden is scheduled for Feb. 28-May 27. (Note: Last year, it ran through July 5. Also, dates have not been announced for the 2024 edition of Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which started on July 27 last year.)

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

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