It is that time of year again – The International Food and Wine Festival has begun at Epcot®. This year marks the 18th anniversary of this 46 day festival. The International Food and Wine Festival runs Sept 27 – Nov 11, 2013. With Food and Wine available from 30 different kiosks, this festival is a food and wine lovers dream come true! There are also many seminars, classes and demonstrations throughout the festival
First let’s talk food! Last year’s most popular offering was Canada’s “Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce. They served up more than 80,000 servings of this dish. It is returning this year at the Canada Kiosk, along with the Canadian Beer Cheese Soup, another very popular dish. Each Kiosk has multiple choices of food and beverages, many of the food Items are eligible for the Snack Credits on the Disney Dining Plan – for instance – the Lobster Roll or Grilled Lobster Tail at the Hops and Barley Kiosk – they would be $7.50 out of pocket – or 1 Snack Credit on the DDP.
Besides browsing your way around the “World” at the Kiosks, there are many seminars and events available, at an extra cost. More than 300 beer and wine seminars will be held. Cheese Seminars, Chocolate seminars, Special Dining opportunities – such as Parisian Breakfast, or a Hibachi Experience, the list is quite long! Disney expects to use about 500 pounds of watermelon in the “3D”Disney Desert Discovery parties. What would good food be without music? Popular music acts both past and present are scheduled to appear nightly at the Eat to the Beat Concerts, held in the America Gardens Theater. These free (with admission to Epcot®) concerts feature groups such as Smash Mouth (Oct 28-30) Wilson Phillips (Oct 14-15) and many others.
Want a very special dinner? Try Adventures in Signature dining. Costs run anywhere from $90 for a dinner at Le Cellier, with Chef de Cuisine – Al Youngman, to $525 for Dinner at Victoria and Alberts with Chef Scott Hunnel. At these dinners you will savor your way through a phenomenal dinner while a Chef takes you through every bite, explaining technique, menu choice, and wine pairings. Space is very limited at these dinners so booking before arrival is recommended and many are already sold out for this year.
A few tips to make your Food and Wine Festival vacation a success.
First – Know before you go. Check out the maps and menus to know where you are really interested in eating and what events you want to see. This will help with budgeting as well. Book any seminars and events as soon as you can.
Second – Timing is everything. Crowd levels can get high at the Food and Wine Festival. To avoid the larger crowds, be sure to go on the weekdays. On weekends the locals come and the crowd levels surge. Also be sure to hit the most popular stands (traditionally – Argentina, Canada, Craft Beer, Germany, Greece, and Japan) as soon as the World Showcase opens at 11 am.
Third – Take advantage of the payment options. If you have the Disney Dining plan, be sure to save your snack credits for using at the Kiosks. This is a wonderful deal for all those Items over $4.50 – ie, that Lobster Tail. For items like the Pumpkin Mousse, at $1.50, or alcoholic beverages, consider purchasing a Food and Wine Gift card. They even have a wrist version so you can be hands free for eating and drinking.
Some FUN facts about the International Food and Wine Festival .
- The festival’s Ocean Spray Cranberry Bog is refilled three times during the course of the 46-day event, using a total of 910,000 cranberries or more than 3,000 pounds of the sweet-tart fruit
- They will serve over 1.5 million sumptuous samplings throughout the festival
- If laid end-to-end the number of wine glasses used during the festival would reach from Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista to the Disney Cruise Line terminal at Port Canaveral, Fla.
- 360,000 beer servings will be poured, enough to fill the aquariums five times over at Rainforest Café at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Does this sound like something you would like to do? Contact your Wishing Well Travel Agent today. Our Services are Free and we would LOVE to help you plan a Disney Vacation to enjoy the International Food and Wine Festival!
Noelle has been a Travel Specialist with Wishing Well Travel since 2012, you can contact her at Noelle at wishingwelltravel.com, find her on Facebook or Request a Quote from her online.
