The EPCOT Dining Return That Surprised Everyone

After a recent closure, Disney surprises us with a new reopening timeline for EPCOT dining. See full details and grab your dining reservations.

EPCOT Dining

Disney Announces Dates for EPCOT's Food and Wine Festival — Photo Credit: Disney

EPCOT offers many great dining options. The International Food & Wine Festival is well underway at EPCOT. It's time to eat and drink around the World! Teams of Disney chefs and mixologists have been testing, tasting, and collaborating to create a variety of culinary delights.

Between the restaurants in the World Showcase, festival booths, and several quick-service and table-service restaurants, you are never more than a few steps away from amazing food.

In fact, with so many dining locations, many are overlooked by Guests.

Coral Reef Restaurant

Coral Reef Restaurant is one of EPCOT's table-service choices located in World of Nature. Here you can enjoy dining with amazing views of a living coral reef. Guests can see over 2,000 sea creatures in the aquarium during their dining experience.

Late last year, we shared that Disney was eliminating lunch dining at the Coral Reef Restaurant. When the announcement was made, it was unclear if the lunch option would return.

Dinner continues to be the only dining option offered.

Coral Reef Reopening

Disney announced that the Coral Reef Restaurant will temporarily close on September 8, 2026 for a refurbishment.

While several weeks were at first unavailable for booking reservations, just before it closed, November 4, 2026, was the first day available to book a dining reservation at the Coral Reef Restaurant.

Coral Reef Restaurant offers dining reservations on September 29, 2026.

Today, we see that dining reservations are now available for Coral Reef Restaurant for September 29, 2026. At that time, dinner will continue to be the only meal offered. This is a surprisingly short closure when Disney first announced that it would reopen "later in 2026".

What do you think of this brief closure at Coral Reef Restaurant? Have you dined here before? Share your thoughts with us, and share this news with your Disney pals.

Donna Farmer

Donna has always loved Disney even at an early age. When she was younger her family would joke that she lived in "Donna Land". Even now as an adult, she loves to plan and make magical vacations come to life as she and her family travel "Home" to Walt DisneyWorld. Join her as she brings a little faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust to Disney planning.