Epcot may be famous for its nearly year-round festivals, but not many people know SeaWorld has a festival of its very own. SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival happens every Friday-Sunday from February to May and features all of your favorite theme park festival staples including great food and concerts. How does the Seven Seas Food Festival compare to the other area theme park festivals? Read on to find out!

Updated for 2021

The Food at Seven Seas Food Festival

Similar to its Disney counterpart, the Seven Seas Food Festival highlights cuisine from around the world. Each booth features a couple of dishes, desserts, and an alcoholic beverage. Similar to Epcot’s festivals, there is a festival booklet that features all of the menus in one place. One of our biggest tips for any festival is to take a moment and read through the booklet to find items that jump out to you.

Tasting Lanyard

Because Epcot requires you to pay cash (or card) for each item you buy, our biggest piece of advice is to buy a gift card and go from there. The Seven Seas Food Festival requires you to pay for each item as well, but Seaworld does it a bit differently with their sampling lanyards.

A sampling lanyard allows you to pre-purchase a punch card to use at any of the booths for any item. The sampling lanyards are a really great deal because, depending on what you get at each booth, you can almost come out ahead.

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The food and drink items are individually priced and the prices vary, so if you use your punches on the most expensive item at each booth you visit you can practically make money. We aren’t saying this is the strategy to take, but it feels good knowing you can get whatever you want without having to worry about the price.

If you are a SeaWorld Pass Member, you can get a special lanyard which includes bonus punches!

The Concerts

Free concerts are a big part of the Seven Seas Food Festival and Seaworld brings in a great selection. Most of the musical acts will be familiar to Orlando festival-goers, but SeaWorld goes the extra mile by bringing in artists with more of an international appeal and some unique acts. Some of the more interesting artists from years past include stand-up sets from Jay Leno and Jeff Foxworthy, music from acclaimed violinist Lindsey Stirling and various Spanish-language artists.

Festival concerts are free and accessible to anyone in the park, so make sure you look at who’s playing when you’re there. If it’s someone popular, it would be a good idea to get to Bayside Stadium early to grab a seat.

For 2021 – seating is running at limited capacity to ensure proper physical distancing. If you aren’t able to grab a seat, don’t worry. The live concert audio is broadcasted to different areas of the park as well. If you want to learn more about what SeaWorld is doing safety-wise check it out here.

The Verdict

It may not be the most well-known festival, but SeaWorld’s Seven Seas Food Festival is definitely worth visiting. The international flair of the festival is on par with Epcot’s, but the money-saving punch card makes getting your food efficient and easy. Concerts are a big part of the festival scene and SeaWorld routinely gets some great acts. The Seven Seas Food Festival is a laid-back, fun theme park festival.