Disney chefs at EPCOT turned the 30th anniversary of the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival into a Make-A-Wish day for Connor, a young aspiring chef from Minnesota. His wish was a food tasting tour with Disney chefs at Walt Disney World, and EPCOT’s culinary team spent about 10 months planning it, from Global Marketplace stops to a personalized chef coat presented by Chef Goofy.
His wish carried extra weight. Disney shared that Connor lives with a neurological condition that may affect his ability to enjoy food later in life. The festival runs through November 21, and if you are planning your own visit, our marketplace-by-marketplace guide to everything new at the 2026 Food & Wine Festival covers the booths Connor toured.
EPCOT Culinary Director Chef Eddie first got the call about the wish about 10 months before the visit. Ahead of the trip, the team mailed a welcome box to Minnesota with World Showcase pavilion T-shirts, a Disney Culinary crossbody bag, a cap signed by the team and welcome cards from EPCOT’s food and beverage locations.
Connor’s day started in World Celebration Gardens with a group that included Executive Chef Daniel, Chefs de Cuisine Tony and Amanda, Chef Marco and EPCOT Vice President Matt Simon. From there, the group set out on the festival’s Global Marketplaces, with early stops at the Fry Basket for its Fry Flight and at Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey. Connor told the team the fried pickle spears might be his favorite food of the day.
The chefs worked ahead to keep the surprises coming. “As we walk from each marketplace, we’re reaching out to team members to let them know we’re on the way, so they can begin preparing everything for the family,” Chef Marco said. Food and beverage cast members joined the group at each stop, and Chef Tony said the team “wanted to surprise his family with one of everything from the entire menu,” explaining how each dish was created before the festival. Senior Vice President of Operations Jason Kirk and Food and Beverage General Manager Mike Driscoll stopped by during the day too.
The big moment came in a nearby kitchen, where Chef Goofy and Chef Eddie presented Connor with his own personalized chef coat and officially welcomed him to the team. “It was my favorite part of the entire day,” said Jessica, Connor’s mom, who shared that seeing him in a chef coat meant a lot because cooking is what he hopes to do one day.
Then Connor got to work. At Connections Café & Eatery, he made pizza with Chef Joey and pastries with Chef Amanda. The day wrapped up with dinner at Space 220, the space station restaurant next to Mission: SPACE, and a round of surprise desserts.
Disney has worked with Make-A-Wish for more than 45 years and is the organization’s largest wish granter, granting a Disney wish about every hour. Many of those wishes come true at the parks, and this one came together because a team of EPCOT chefs and food and beverage cast members decided to build an entire day around one young chef. It is the kind of cast member story we love to tell, like the holiday services leader who started in overnight custodial 23 years ago.
The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival runs through November 21, 2026. For dates and details on every EPCOT festival, visit our EPCOT Festival Guide. Read Disney’s full story on Disney Experiences.
