PHOTOS: The 2022 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Opening Day CROWDS Are Shocking

We’re having a great time at the opening day of the 2022 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts!

We’re ready to party!

Today, we’ve seen incredibly long lines for the Figment popcorn bucket, checked out a brand-new line of merchandise, and chowed down on some delicious food. But we’re not the only ones here — the opening day brought the crowds!

As we’ve been making our way around the park to eat all the snacks available, we’ve had to wait in quite a few lines. The crowds arrived early this morning, and we were already seeing guests fill the park during Early Theme Park Entry.

Crowds

Seriously, it got backed up FAST. It looked like guests were really hyped for a day of festival fun!

Crowds

But once we got out of World Discovery, we easily found the line for the Figment popcorn bucket. At one point in the day, it was estimated to be more than 6.5 hours long!

Figment Line

And those who wanted to dine at Pop Eats weren’t too happy. Since the popcorn bucket is here as well, you’ll have to wait in the long line to order food from the booth. Thankfully, we were able to kill two birds with one stone!

Pop Eats

Targets acquired! Now let’s check out the rest of the park.

Pop Eats! Spread

At the Creations Shop, we found quite the crowd shopping for merchandise. This is the perfect time to take advantage of the Mobile Checkout feature in the My Disney Experience app, because it was bananas in here.

Creations Shop crowds

Although, if you were looking to check out some of the artsy activities early in the day, the crowds weren’t too bad. Painting the mural over in World Nature has usually been a pretty popular activity, but today you wouldn’t have had to wait too long. (At least in the early part of the day.)

Does anyone want to paint by number?

Once we started walking around to the food studios, we were able to get more of a feel for the crowds. At first, things weren’t bad. Like when we stopped at Deco Delights.

Deco Delights

However, as more and more guests made it through the Figment popcorn bucket line, the crowds started to distribute more, especially at the front of the World Showcase. Refreshment Port was definitely more popular than what it’s used to being!

Refreshment Port

And the Painted Panda in China was downright PACKED. The line zigzagged through the designated queue and then spilled out into the walkway. We guess Chinese food is a crowd favorite!

Painted Panda

Refreshment Outpost also had a longer line than we expected. We had to wait in line quite a while for just a bratwurst and some beer. Weird.

Refreshment Outpost

But the other side of the park didn’t seem to be much better! While the crowds aren’t shoulder-to-shoulder in the UK Pavilion just yet, this is still pretty packed for midday on a Friday.

Crowds

By the time we made it to the American Adventure pavilion mid-afternoon, the line was VERY backed up. Here, we had to wait a full 90 minutes to get our food!

Crowds in American Adventure

Keep in mind that it’s also the beginning of MLK weekend here in the U.S., so many students will have time off from school. Either way, this is one of the busier festival opening days we’ve experienced, and we’ve still got quite a few stops to make. Wish us (and all the other guests) luck!