If you’ve ever eaten your way around an EPCOT festival, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve enjoyed at least one snack while standing over a trash can. It’s practically an EPCOT tradition at this point. But with the 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival beginning this week, Disney is giving guests some actual tables to use instead.
New wooden tray-style tables have been installed along railings at various locations around EPCOT. Rather than taking up space along the already busy walkways, the tables attach directly to existing railings and provide a convenient spot to set down a festival dish and drink.
And the timing probably isn’t a coincidence.
Disney has been replacing many of EPCOT’s traditional trash and recycling cans with new receptacles that include foot pedals, internal compactors, and, on outdoor models, solar panels beneath their rounded tops. The new cans are being themed for different areas of the park, including the World Showcase design and pavilion-specific details you see below.
They’re pretty fancy for trash cans. There’s just one problem. You can’t easily eat off the top of them anymore.
For years, EPCOT festival regulars have used the flat tops of Disney trash cans as unofficial standing tables. When you’re juggling a small plate, fork, drink, Festival Passport, and whatever else you’ve accumulated while wandering World Showcase, you take whatever flat surface you can find.
So when those familiar flat-topped cans began disappearing, Disney fans noticed. There was plenty of discussion online about the new design and the loss of our beloved, if slightly questionable, “trash can tables.”
Apparently, someone was listening. The new railing tables have a decent amount of surface space without creating another obstacle in EPCOT’s walkways. A raised edge along the back helps keep plates and cups from sliding into the landscaping, and a small symbol reminds guests that these are tables, not seats. In other words, please don’t climb up there with your Belgian waffle.
Disney is adding more of these tables around the park as Food & Wine gets closer. We’ve already seen them in several different areas, and they blend into the existing landscaping nicely. They’re simple, practical, and honestly, something EPCOT probably could have used years ago.
The 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival runs from August 27 to November 21. The park will have many Global Marketplaces throughout, serving a variety of small dishes and drinks. However, it can be hard to find a place to eat, especially on busy evenings and weekends. Hopefully more of these tables are on their way this week.
Will this finally put an end to dining atop EPCOT trash cans? Let’s not get carried away. That’s tradition.
But having a few more actual places to set down our food is a change we’re very happy to see.
