Jacqueline Dole

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival returns to Walt Disney World from August 27 through November 21, 2026, marking the event's 30th anniversary. To celebrate the milestone, Disney has introduced “Around the World in 30 Plates,” a collection of 30 returning or reimagined dishes from three decades of festival menus. The nearly three-month event transforms the park into one park-wide culinary crawl, with limited-time food booths, drinks, concerts, scavenger hunts, and plenty of festival-exclusive merchandise. Festival admission is included with a valid EPCOT ticket, although food, drinks, and select activities cost extra. Here's everything you need to know before eating your way around the World Showcase. What is the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival? Food & Wine is one of EPCOT's four annual festivals. You'll find Global Marketplaces throughout the park, serving snack-sized dishes and drinks inspired by countries and culinary traditions worldwide. The 2026 marketplace lineup spans six continents, with booths representing Australia, Mexico, China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Greece, Belgium, Brazil, France, Canada, and more. You'll also find themed concepts like Gyozas of the Galaxy, Flavors from Fire, and The Fry Basket. Not every marketplace opens on day one. Coastal Eats, Earth Eats, India, and The Alps start serving on October 2. The Wedge, a cheese-centric marketplace inside CommuniCore Hall, runs from September 18 through November 8. The kiosks serve smal

For 35 years, Universal Orlando has turned spooky season into one of the best times of the year. Halloween Horror Nights returns to Universal Studios Florida on select nights from August 28 through November 1, 2026, bringing a new lineup of haunted houses, scare zones, live entertainment, and, of course, unhinged snacks. The milestone season puts two legendary HHN icons back in control: Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow. They preside over a lineup that combines major horror franchises with the elaborate original stories Universal has crafted for the occasion. Throughout the night, scare actors take over the streets while movie-quality sets turn familiar corners of the park into places you’ll want to escape as quickly as possible. Whether you’re a devoted fan who plans an entire vacation around the event or you’re still working up the nerve to enter the fog for the first time, you need to go in with a plan. Here’s everything you need to know about Halloween Horror Nights 35, including the houses, scare zones, tickets, and strategies that will help you experience as much as possible. When is Halloween Horror Nights 2026? Halloween Horror Nights 35 runs on select nights from August 28 through November 1, 2026, at Universal Studios Florida. The event begins at 6:30 pm and typically continues until 2 am, although hours may vary by date and some houses open before the event officially kicks off.​ Do I need a separate ticket for HHN? Yes, it requires a separate ticket from regular da

As a food and travel journalist, I find myself racking up thousands of miles and flying several times a month. And thanks to my Platinum status with Delta, sometimes I can enjoy a free upgrade. So when the airline announced a “first-of-its-kind partnership” with Shake Shack—serving up the brand’s iconic cheeseburger to first-class passengers—I had to cash in some of my points. First, let’s get through the smallprint. The burgers are only available to first-class passengers on flights departing Boston’s Logan Airport after 9:46am, on routes that are more than 900 miles long. (Delta has teased plans to launch the collaboration in more cities starting in 2025.) And here’s the big thing: Passengers must pre-select the cheeseburger at least 24 hours before departure. So if you’re keeping your fingers crossed to score a last-minute upgrade, you might miss out on trying the cheeseburger at cruising altitude because there won't be any extras onboard. While airplane food is polarizing, I’m someone who genuinely loves having a hot meal in the air, rather than a sad granola bar that’s been in my carry-on bag for who knows how long. It may not always be restaurant-quality, but when you’ve cut things too close and don’t have time to stop by the lounge for a quick bite before the flight, an in-flight meal is a welcome sight. However, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this new item landing on the in-flight menu. Pasta is one thing, but a cheeseburger? I could only imagine a sad, mushy bun a

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better souvenir of your trip to Portland than a haul from one of the southern Maine city’s standout bakeries. Portland has long been home to a number of skilled pastry chefs—and at this year’s James Beard awards, two in particular were honored. ZU Bakery is this year’s Outstanding Bakery award-winner, and Atsuko Fujimoto of Norimoto Bakery was named Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. Meanwhile, Boston was snubbed. (David Standridge from The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic, Conn., was named Best Chef: Northeast; and Dakar NOLA, a Senegalese restaurant in New Orleans, bested Dorchester’s Comfort Kitchen for the title of Best New Restaurant.) Check out the full lineup of winners here. At just under two hours by car or slightly longer on the Amtrak Downeaster, Bostonians can easily visit Portland’s two winners in a weekday trip or weekend stay in Maine.  ZU Bakery has been based in Portland’s West End since November 2022, though founder Barak Olins launched his Maine-centric bakery in 2000. Despite a small footprint at 81 Clark St., Olins manages to produce some of the best baked goods in the country. All crafted with Maine-grown grains that are milled in-house, fresh loaves of bread and pastries roll out of the large deck oven throughout the day at ZU, so you don’t need to arrive at the start of the day to find your choice of treats. Visitors will also find something different every day, including raisin croissants, apple galettes, seeded levain

Halloween Horror Nights at the Universal Orlando Resort is often regarded as one of the premier Halloween events in the country—and for good reason. Running for a 32nd year and a record-breaking 48 nights now through November 4, it brings to life both original Universal content and beloved titles like Stranger Things, The Exorcist, The Last of Us and Chucky. Though I’m admittedly a bit of a scaredy cat, as a lover of all things spooky and a lifelong theme park fan girl, I knew I had to check it out. So when I was invited to the media event on opening night this year, I jumped at the opportunity—even if it meant going it alone. RECOMMENDED: Our ultimate guide to Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Orlando Resort I’ll get straight to the point: I absolutely loved this event. The dedication to theming, incredibly talented scare actors and movie-quality set design make this a can’t-miss experience for anyone looking to take their Halloween celebrations to the next level. As a media guest, I had the privilege of skipping both the standard queue and Express lanes on an  “RIP Tour” during the opening night. This ticket option can be booked by the public (for a hefty price tag), basically ensuring that you’ll be able to experience all of the houses, even on the busiest nights. Photograph: Jacqueline Dole However, I also attended the event the following evening with a standard ticket that did not include an Express Pass, and even with longer lines for houses, I had an amazing