EPCOT 2024 Festival of the Holidays Opens with New Offerings at CommuniCore Hall and Plaza

3 hours ago in "Epcot International Festival of the Holidays"

2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays CommuniCore Hall and Plaza
Posted: Friday November 29, 2024 11:00am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays begins today, and for the first time, CommuniCore Hall and Plaza are at the heart of the celebration with several new offerings.


Inside CommuniCore Hall, a gingerbread Spaceship Earth has taken center stage. This impressive 8-foot-tall creation, crafted by the EPCOT Pastry Team and Walt Disney Imagineering, mirrors the park’s iconic geodesic sphere. Made from nearly 1,000 gingerbread triangles, the display incorporates over 240 pounds of honey dough, 55 pounds of dark chocolate, and 100 pounds of royal icing. The sphere lights up and plays festive music, while guests can search for 11 hidden Mickeys symbolizing the World Showcase countries.

The hall is also dressed for the season, with its Glittering Grove by Balsam Hill providing a shimmering backdrop of holiday trees. Exclusive festival merchandise is available inside, offering guests the chance to bring home a piece of the celebration.

The Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow, a new Holiday Kitchen, serves decorated cookies, including a gingerbread triangle decorating kit inspired by the Spaceship Earth display.


Outside in CommuniCore Plaza, snowflake decorating stations invite guests of all ages to get creative, while the JOYFUL! A Celebration of the Season performance has found a new home on the plaza’s stage. The live show blends gospel, R&B, and holiday classics.

Foodies will appreciate the Favorites of Festivals Past kitchen, which is offering nostalgic dishes from previous EPCOT festivals just outside the hall.


Along the walkway between the Imagination! pavilion and World Showcase, Scentsy’s snow globe garden fills the air with the aromas of the holidays, adding an extra sensory layer to the festivities.

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castlecake2.013 minutes ago

They really are terrible. From my understanding they wanted to move away from colonial outfits, but this is not the right solution. My thought would be to either allow each performer to pick an area of the country to have their outfit sort of be influenced by while sticking to similar color palette so they all kind of go tougher as a group. But what they currently have looks really cheap and lazy.

WorldExplorer1 hour ago

That's from the Tuscany Kitchen menu in the Italy pavilion.

nickys1 hour ago

Just starting to catch up on this thread….. Those outfits are dreadful IMO. Not in any way flattering to any of the performers. What a shame.☹️

nickys1 hour ago

That is freaking awesome!

MisterPenguin1 hour ago

This kiosk isn't making new dishes, but bringing back favorites from other festivals past. Tonight, you'll be visited by festival present.

WorldExplorer1 hour ago

"Dolce Pizza - Pizza dough with sugar and cinnamon" Just call them zeppoles, Disney.

Bocabear2 hours ago

I would assume at this point, if it is not up by now, it is not coming. Yes the Gingerbread Spaceship Earth is nice...but I agree fall below the mark. Why is this "Flex Space" still sterile? As the center for celebrations at EPCOT this space should be spectacular...Think of all of the things they don't do anymore... Lights Of Winter etc...and this is the best they can come up with? Seriously if they would like to contact me for ideas I would love to work on this project. They need to budget this properly and start making it the "Celebration Center" it was supposed to be...not a cafeteria with some decorations...

WorldExplorer2 hours ago

Alright, time to start with the posts about how maybe for Festival of the Arts CommuniCore Hall will finally not be a joke. Then we'll start acting like it'll happen for Flower and Garden. Then inexplicably people will continue to hold out hope for the next Food and Wine. On and on. And it'll never actually happen.

MisterPenguin2 hours ago

I agree it could be much better. BUT... almost all the gingerbread houses bigger than 2 feet tall are just gingerbread glued to wood or cardboard. Let me know when they're made of nothing but gingerbread, and I'll be impressed. As for the whole ambience of the room: Still disappointingly sterile. Have they not heard of wall decorations? Maybe more is to come. Or maybe it'll be like other holiday displays in which the budget allows them to add more year over year (like LwtL Christmas lights).

gerarar3 hours ago

Brian3 hours ago

There's fewer Christmas trees in the 'glittering grove' than there are on display at your local Home Depot. Thoroughly unimpressive.

James Alucobond3 hours ago

I think the gingerbread Spaceship Earth looks great. Problem is that it's still floating in the middle of a mostly empty convention hall with a few decals. This space needs to have a lot more content for every single festival to even approach a state that doesn't feel utterly wasteful and pointless.