Epcot's Food and Wine Festival can be a great time for the entire family, kids included! Last week I enjoyed the festival with my two daughters, ages 8 and 11. My 11-year-old said she enjoyed the festival more than the rides! I wanted to share a review of what we sampled and a few tips to help you make the most of this festival.
What is Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival?
Let's start with the basics. Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival runs each year from mid-July through late November. This year the dates are July 27-November 18. The festival features more than 25 Global Market places where you can order specialty drinks and food. These come in small portions leaving you room to try foods from many different market places. Each item generally costs between $5-$10. This doesn't sound like much, but if you consider grabbing a drink and food item at several different stops, it can add up quickly!
Plan ahead.
Menus are available on the my Disney experience app and here .Take a look before your visit This will allow you to prioritize and save room for the foods the foods you really want to try. When you arrive you will find festival passports available with all the offerings you can pick up as well. My kids really enjoyed looking through these and checking items off the list.
Set a budget and share food.
With items $5-$10 it's easy to keep spending. Considering there are over 25 Global Market places, there's potential for this to really add up! One strategy you can use to help budget is to purchase a Disney gift card with the amount of money you intend to spend. This can keep you from overspending. Once the gift card balance is gone, you know you are done spending! Sharing food is also a great idea, especially if you tend to fill up quickly. This gives everyone an opportunity to try a variety of foods. It's also fun to try something you may not have considered ordering yourself. One of my daughters really wanted to go to the Noodle Exchange, which would have not made my list, but I really enjoyed the Thai Shrimp noodles!
Enjoy the entertainment & scavenger hunts.
The festival offers more than just food. Check out the Eat to the Beat schedule. There's some great live shows and local talent. Showtimes are at 5:30 pm, 6:45 pm and 8:00 pm right in front of the American Pavilion. You'll also find a few scavenger hunts available. If you want to look for Remy around Epcot you can purchase maps at the locations below and pick up a prize at the end!
Disney Traders
Port of Entry
Creations Shop
World Traveler at International Gateway
Festival Merchandise Kiosks
Here's a sampling of the food.
Now on to the food! Below are pictures of what we tried organized by the location.
The Noodle Exchange
Thai Shrimp
Impossible Pork Ramen
Mexico
Taco de Costilla
The Alps
Warm Raclette Swiss cheese
Dark Chocolate Fondue
Spain
Seafood Salad
Canada
Canadian Filet Mignon
Ireland
Fisherman's Seafood Pie
Italy
Cavatelli
Here's my thoughts. My personal favorites were the filet mignon from Canada, the seafood salad from Spain and the fisherman's pie from Ireland. The fisherman's pie was REALLY good. My kids were not fans of the seafood salad or fisherman's pie, which just meant more for me! They loved the filet mignon, the chocolate fondue and the taco from Mexico. The warm raclette swiss cheese from the Alps was very good and we all liked it, but the cheese bread ratio was a little off. We were left with a lot of bread at the end. It also had small pickles on the bottom which I found very tasty with the cheese, but my kids didn't care for it. The Cavatelli from Italy tasted very good and my kids loved it, but I was not impressed with the presentation. Everyone enjoyed the Thai shrimp and Impossible pork ramen from the Noddle Exchange. We did learn that the Impossible pork ramen is not a vegetarian dish. The broth is meat based. We were tempted to try the pickle milkshake they were serving at the Brew-Wing Lab, but decided to pass. The urge to try this was more curiosity than anything else. We joked about trying this item much of the day. At each market they do sell both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, but they do not offer cups of water (they do have bottled water for purchase). This is important to keep in mind, because you will get thirsty as you are eating. If you want to get a cup of water you'll need to go to a quick service resturatant or just bring your own water bottle.
Ready to start planning your next Disney adventure? I'm Irene, a travel agent with Mouseketrips, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and I would love to work with you! My planning services are free and I price monitor saving you time and money! Request a no obligation quote here.
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