Question about Food and Wine Festival at Epcot.

[PeterGriffin]

I will be going to the Food and Wine Festival for the first time this fall and wanted some info about the food. Are there enough choices there, where we could eat there every night? Also, what are some of the best things to eat and what countries have the best choices?

 

[jaklgreen]

Well this year there will be 35 food and drink booths. And each booth has several dishes. Although they are small, you can easily fill up after a few booths. Over the years I have tried most of the food options. Some do change from year to year. I think my favorite last year was the duck confit from the greenhouse guru. And I always get several of the Belgium waffles. Don't forget that the food and wine fest is not just the food booths. They have several food and drink seminars a day at the festival center(for a small fee). Plus all of the signature events. The Disney food blog is the best place to see what they have. We should be getting all of the info in the next couple of days.

 

[tractor tipper]

Also going for first time. How does it work?

 

[susan lees]

We've generally just had a wander around world showcase and bought samples if we have fancied them. I have added a link from Disney website.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/

 

[tractor tipper]

Some food fests sell tickets good for so many samples. I assume you buy at each place with card, cash, or magic band.

 

[susan lees]

Some food fests sell tickets good for so many samples. I assume you buy at each place with card, cash, or magic band.

You do but you can buy a F&W gift card in epcot which you can use at all booths. If you have any credit left you can use it at any Disney shop or restaurant.

 

[newhorizons1]

I've always enjoyed the apple streudel with vanilla sauce from Germany, spanakopita from Greece, the beef empanada from Patagonia, and the Kalua pork slider from Hawai'i. The Food & Wine Festival is one of my favorite events at WDW. I usually go during the day and start right when World Showcase opens that way I typically don't have to wait in long lines. I would definitely recommend avoiding weekend nights because it gets really crowded with a lot of locals coming to the event.

 

[tpoly88]

I will be going to the Food and Wine Festival for the first time this fall and wanted some info about the food. Are there enough choices there, where we could eat there every night? Also, what are some of the best things to eat and what countries have the best choices?

Ive been going to this now for 20 yrs and its a lot of fun. it has changed over the last several years to have more beer than before but plenty of wine and specialty drinks. You go to each kiosk and pay for what you get there, plenty of choices for everyone and it usually is not too bad in the way of crowds except certain Saturdays and only certain country's. i would suggest getting one of the pre-paid gift cards (need at least $100) to use, as some of the items are only $2-$12 and if you credit card company keeps seeing all those little charges they might shut your card off (happened to me years ago). you can use apple pay but it rarely works. you can spend the day there easy but it is really more for the grown ups and the kids will get bored. in all its a good time and better with more people.

 

[danyoung56]

Also going for first time. How does it work?

The best way to do it is to simply wander around the World Showcase and check out the menus in front of the booths. If it looks good, buy it, munch, and head on to the next booth. For me the hits were the lobster sandwich in the American pavilion, and the cheese soup and beef filet from the Canada booth. I usually start at America and go either direction. After 4 or 5 stops I'm both stuffed and tipsy. I never miss the F&WF!

 

[worldofsounds]

I will be going to the Food and Wine Festival for the first time this fall and wanted some info about the food. Are there enough choices there, where we could eat there every night? Also, what are some of the best things to eat and what countries have the best choices?

There are so many booths at this event but one way to help you decide before you arrive is to download the Food and Wine Festival guide from the Disney Food Blog. They have pictures and descriptions of every menu item at the festival. Currently the 2017 guide can be pre-ordered (the full list of booth offerings isn't out yet) but the 2016 guide is available and from what I've heard only about 10-20% of the food changes from year to year.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Closer to your trip it would be a good idea to check out the menus that are posted on-line. Some websites will have pictures of the food. I’m a picky eater so I don’t sample from each country but I always find enough there that I like to fill me up. I would also suggest sharing some of the samples this way you get to try a bigger variety.

 

[Mickey5150]

I go to F&W every year and the best advice I can give to a newcomer is don't be afraid to try anything. There may be items some people consider "weird," such as escargot, but Disney has done an incredible job making the food edible for everyone.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Before you leave home, when you're all excited about your trip, just go to the WDW site and they will list the menus in full. Some will be the same as last year, some will be new (it will obviously all be new to you.) Browse those menus just to get an idea and make a mental note of favorites, or if you want, write them down or put them into your phone. (notes, or screen shots if you're reading it on your phone.)

When you get there, there will be little "passport" booklets they give you which list the offerings at each country, in order. That helps, also. Stop at the first one that sounds good, and while you're eating that, read ahead to the next few stops so you can see what you want to skip and what is a "must do." Some booths I will just get the food, some booths I will just get the drink.

We like to split everything. The whole thing is about tasting different things. So if you order two different things at each booth and split them - more tasting to go around!

It's fun. The bites are small-ish in most cases, but again, the point is to sample and experience many different tastes and cuisines rather than fill up at one booth.

 

[dreamfinder]

Figure each booth to have 2-5 or so different tastes of food. Some may be dessert based, so keep that in mind. Many of the tastes are only a few bites, so you will most likely need to eat several to equal a meal. And when they each seem to run in the $4-6 range, that gets expensive pretty quick.

Yes, you can make several meals worth. My DW and I usually tried to get one thing from each booth, and that would usually take us 2 days in Epcot, where we shared the food/drink from each booth. Keep in mind that the crowds will build as it gets closer to dinner, and can be pretty hectic Fri/Sat nights. Unless you have no other choice, I'd avoid it Fri/Sat evening. There are lot of past threads, and also info here -> http://www.wdwmagic.com/events/international-food-and-wine-festival.htm with pictures, prices and reviews. A few booths will change each year, but that should give you an idea of what to expect.

 

[Phonedave]

My wife and I go to F&W quite often, but we have moved away from going to the booths, for a number of reasons.

1) Lines are, most of the tme, insane - unless you are there early

2) Booth food has gone downhill in quality. Most of it is now mass sourced from speciality suppliers. Wander the world showcase sometime when they are setting up for the day. A good deal of the food can be purchased from restaruant supply houses. I suspect this is partly because of the sheer volume of food they must put out each day

3) Booth food for us has become repititious. There are some new items evey year, but many are "old favorites"

4) The cost of the booth items has gone up up up

5) The lack of places to actually sit and enjoy (i.e taste) the booth food. WDW has gotten better with this in recent years, putting out benches and tables, but still, especially during busy times, you are lucky if you can eat your $6 "gourment" bit of food from on top of a garbage can.

That is not to say it is still not a fun experience, especially for somone who has not gone before - because then everything is new.

However, we now tend to do a lot more of the seminars, the food and wine pairings, and other ticketed events. The tequila lunch at Mexico and both wine lunches in Italy (one at each of the restaruants) are very good. We find that you get more information about the food and or dirink, are in a much more relaxed atmosphere, and have more of a variety at these events - of course the downside is you are paying extra (on top of park admission) for them. Some of the free stuff in the festival centers (either in the old Odessey building where first aid is, or over in the old Wonders of Life pavillion) are good too. One year they had the USA finals for the Bocuse D'Or competition in the convention building over by Canada - that was really interesting as well.

I guess my advice is to look into the other events that are going on as well - its more than just the food booths.

-dave

 

[jaklgreen]

My wife and I go to F&W quite often, but we have moved away from going to the booths, for a number of reasons.

1) Lines are, most of the tme, insane - unless you are there early

2) Booth food has gone downhill in quality. Most of it is now mass sourced from speciality suppliers. Wander the world showcase sometime when they are setting up for the day. A good deal of the food can be purchased from restaruant supply houses. I suspect this is partly because of the sheer volume of food they must put out each day

3) Booth food for us has become repititious. There are some new items evey year, but many are "old favorites"

4) The cost of the booth items has gone up up up

5) The lack of places to actually sit and enjoy (i.e taste) the booth food. WDW has gotten better with this in recent years, putting out benches and tables, but still, especially during busy times, you are lucky if you can eat your $6 "gourment" bit of food from on top of a garbage can.

That is not to say it is still not a fun experience, especially for somone who has not gone before - because then everything is new.

However, we now tend to do a lot more of the seminars, the food and wine pairings, and other ticketed events. The tequila lunch at Mexico and both wine lunches in Italy (one at each of the restaruants) are very good. We find that you get more information about the food and or dirink, are in a much more relaxed atmosphere, and have more of a variety at these events - of course the downside is you are paying extra (on top of park admission) for them. Some of the free stuff in the festival centers (either in the old Odessey building where first aid is, or over in the old Wonders of Life pavillion) are good too. One year they had the USA finals for the Bocuse D'Or competition in the convention building over by Canada - that was really interesting as well.

I guess my advice is to look into the other events that are going on as well - its more than just the food booths.

-dave

This is me too. I do a bunch of seminars, some of the less expensive and some of the big ticket ones. I go alone so am only paying for myself. But it is worth it to me to be able to enjoy these food events and try new foods.