Theme Park Scope

We stopped by CommuniCore Hall recently and found it dressed head to toe in cheese-themed decor ahead of its newest tenant…

…and it’s exactly the kind of over-the-top theming detail that makes wandering EPCOT during Food & Wine season worth doing slowly.

The building’s glass doors and windows are now covered in cheese and dairy-themed decals: wedges, wheels, and slices layered together with a banner of sliced cheese triangles strung along the top of the entrance. The centerpiece is a circular logo reading “Cheers to Cheese: Celebrating Cheese Culture,” flanked by a second decal declaring “The Age of Cheese: The Food, The Myth, The Legend.” It’s a genuinely fun bit of graphic design, leaning into a retro, almost mock-historical tone that fits right in with CommuniCore Hall’s futurism-meets-nostalgia architecture.

This decor is announcing two things happening inside CommuniCore Hall at once, both running September 18 through November 8:

Cheers to Cheese! is a new interactive exhibit exploring the history and culture of cheese through a series of hands-on displays and fun facts — genuinely on-brand for a building originally built to house EPCOT’s earlier educational exhibits.

The Wedge, hosted by Dairy Does More, is making its debut as a brand-new Global Marketplace-style food booth for this year’s EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, which marks its 30th anniversary this year, running August 27 through November 21.

The Menu at The Wedge

Here’s what’s actually on offer once the booth opens:

• Selection of Cheeses with accompaniments featuring Proudly Wisconsin Cheese — a 30th Anniversary Legacy Item, reimagined from past festivals, and part of the returning Emile’s Fromage Montage cheese stroll
• Crab and Corn Macaroni and Cheese with smoked cheddar sauce, bacon, crab seasoning, roasted corn, herbed panko, and jalapeños — $7.19, also an Emile’s Fromage Montage item and 30th Anniversary Legacy reimagining
• Cheesesteak Macaroni and Cheese with shaved beef, peppers, onions, and bread crumbs
• Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with smoked cheddar sauce and herbed panko
• Wine and Cheese Pairing
• Wine Flight
• Cannoli Milk Shake topped with chocolate shavings, a cannoli shell, and a maraschino cherry (non-alcoholic) — $5.49

If you’re working through Emile’s Fromage Montage this year (the festival’s cheese-themed food stroll, where five stamped purchases earn you a redemption at Shimmering Sips) The Wedge gives you two more items toward that goal in one stop.

CommuniCore Hall has become one of EPCOT’s more flexible seasonal spaces in recent years, and its calendar this fall tells the story well: the building just wrapped hosting GoofyCore for Cool KIDS’ Summer, which explains why The Wedge and Cheers to Cheese don’t open until three weeks into the festival rather than on opening day. Once this cheese takeover wraps on November 8, the building turns around again for the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, where it becomes home to the gingerbread Spaceship Earth display starting November 27. It’s a genuinely efficient use of one indoor space across three completely different seasonal identities in the span of a few months.

The Wedge and Cheers to Cheese don’t open until September 18, a full three weeks after the festival itself begins on August 27, and they close on November 8, nearly two weeks before the festival wraps on November 21. If you’re building a trip specifically around this cheese takeover, make sure your dates actually fall inside that narrower window rather than just the broader festival dates.

We’ll have a full taste-test once The Wedge officially opens, so check back with Theme Park Scope for our take on the menu.