Food and Wine Reviews

[FierceAXboi]

Whos just back from the Festival? Was wondering what you rated as the not to be missed foos and wines

 

[mrslane]

I've posted a bit already, but I did find that the earlier you eat, the smaller the lines are. We went into WS at 11am and walked around to see what was available. Each booth has an example plate made for viewing. We started eating at 11:30. Some rain kept the lines small, but around 6PM there were waits at most booths. I don't think the waits were very long, but earlier we did not wait at all! Spain has tapas to include tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelet), a cod with sauce, and cured Serrano ham. I did not enjoy Spain's $8 wine tasting. I have been to Spain and liked the wines--just not the ones at Epcot. Australia has a wine walkabout for $7. I've had most of their wines. My advice would be to skip breakfast and wait until 11am to start eating something from every booth! It's hard to say what you will like vs. what I liked. Someone posted the 05 brochure a couple of weeks ago. IF you don't see the list of foods before you go, you can get to Epcot at 9am and get the brochure and study up by 11am! (I liked the pot stickers from China, escargot from France, skewers from Australia and Morocco, and samosas? from India. The spicy tuna roll from Japan was only 3 pieces. Not enough for me! Overall, it was so much fun!

 

[daisylove]

I se ethat alllearsnet has the full menus up. I am getting hungry just reading it.

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

We also went on Saturday and I agree with mrslane - it was very manageable in the afternoon, but after 6 pm the place was crazy! We still had a blast though, and ate and drank way beyond our fill. New highlights for me included the shrimp coconut milk soup in Singapore, smoked salmon in Ireland, chicken with peach salsa at the Tortilla booth, and the guava turnovers in Puerto Rico. Also, the flourless chocolate cake (which is an oldie but a goody) is fabulous, especially with a nice Pinot Noir.

I would also encourage everyone to go to a Wine Tasting. It's a pain to stand in line for them, but it's so worth it. Our expert was a most intersting young man from Germany whose family has owned a winery there since the 1200s! We listened to his stories while we drank 4 free glasses of wine. It was wonderful! We can't wait to go back...

 

[weluvslinkydog]

This will be my first time at the food and wine festival...so I have a totally uninformed question....what/where/how do we know about the wine tastings available? do you need to sign up for them ahead of time? if so, where?

I also read that there is a Great Beers of History demo...suppposed to be great, but read that you should sign up right away. how/where do you do that?

last one...(for now!)...can you use a disney rewards card or credit cards at the booths, or just cash?

thanks so much for the patience with all of my questions!

 

[PortieOwner]

I think I was there every evening Fri-Mon. Fri and Sat the lines were pretty bad at many food and booze stands. But Sunday and Monday the lines were short or non-existant. Also lines at some of the less popular foods were always pretty short--Puerto Rico, India, and Turkey all had pretty short lines while the USA, Australia, and Italy lines were quite long.

I am not a fan of the Food and Wine Festival at all. Most of the food is okay and reasonably priced but it is clear that the food part is just a cover for Disney to sell over-priced booze to guests. I saw many people on Fri/Sat who had too much to drink. Not exactly a nice family atmosphere. I even began discussing with my wife that the Orange County sherriff's vehicles we saw by the exit of EPCOT might be there waiting to stop drunks. I think all the drinking might have something to do with the atrocious condition of some of the World Showcase restrooms last weekend.

Portie

 

[mrslane]

what/where/how do we know about the wine tastings available? do you need to sign up for them ahead of time? if so, where?

I also read that there is a Great Beers of History demo...suppposed to be great, but read that you should sign up right away. how/where do you do that?

last one...(for now!)...can you use a disney rewards card or credit cards at the booths, or just cash?

thanks so much for the patience with all of my questions!

Don't worry about these questions. This was my 1st F&W! THe F&W guide/map/brochure is available at every gate and food kiosk. It contains times of the tastings. However, I got lucky at the Rose & Crown by hoping to get in on the 2:10 tasing. As soon as it began, they handed out the passed for the 3PM tasting. There is a green podium outside the R&C. I also know that there is a free wine tasting in the Australia area. They post times and you get in line early. First come, first to get in. I believe the other tastings are the same at the F&W headquarters. Line up and wait. You can pay $7 for the wine walkabout in Australia and $8 for the one in Spain. There is a beer tasting in America too, I think. We used our debit cards and cash for the kiosks. You can use your room card if you are a WDW hotel guest (excluding Swan and Dolphin). You will have a wonderful time!

 

[TDC Nala]

That wine walkabout just keeps going up a buck a year...

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

weluvslinkysdog - When you enter the park gate, make sure to get a F&WF guide where you pick up a park map. It will have a listing of where and when the wine tastings are.

The F&WF is one of my favorite times of year at Disney. It's festive and fun and there is so much to experience and learn. In my many years of going, I have never experienced an atmosphere like Portie described. At any time of year at Epcot there will be people who have had too many yards of beer or too many frozen margaritas in the heat, but it has never once ruined the Disney atmosphere for me. Maybe I've just been lucky!

 

[weluvslinkydog]

Thanks much for all this great info! We are so excited for our 1st F&W...we plan to be there on the actual day/evening of our 10 year wedding anniversary so we're especially looking forward to a great time! Thanks again!

 

[dndfrank]

We are going Oct 15-22 and plan on spending Mon, Tue, or Wednesday at EPCOT. This will be our 2nd time to EPCOT and first for the festival. We are really looking forward to it.

 

[Skroops]

We went this week. I made a mistake making an ADR for an Epcot dinner, which was good as usual, but I wish I had more tummy space for the booths! I tried the Polish cabbage roll, and perogie, and then in Japan I tried the spicy tuna roll and the california roll. I enjoyed it all! The cabbage roll was tender, and the perogie was flavorful. The Japan rolls were the same good ones that you can get anytime of year up in the sushi bar next to the Teppanyaki restaurant. I am an adventurous eater, and would have loved to try all of the booths. The group I was with were not adventurous eaters and did not enjoy the food and wine like I did. We weren't there for the food and wine festival, it was just a bonus for it to be going on during our stay! It didn't help that it was a rainy day, and that made it more of a challenge for our fuddie duddies in our group. I would totally love to go again.

 

[Skroops]

I also wanted to add that we were there Sunday night, and the lines were fine. A few people in every line, but the wait wasn't bad. It was a rainy day though. We also didn't notice any drunks. But we weren't looking for them ...

 

[byoung]

Thanks for the reports. I'll be there in 13 days.

 

[tinker1bell]

We did the F & W on Saturday, Oct 1 and the only thing I would recommend is take an umbrella along if it is sunny. It got very hot and shade is at a premium. You don't get much wine at the booths so no way could I get a buzz on and I am not a beer drinker so I could not take advantage of a 6oz serving Kansas played for over half an hour and we were rocking Where else can you get good food, music, and wine in one place? We still had a few snacks on our dining card so we were able to use them. Otherwise most booths accepted cash only.

 

[Minnesota]

Is there a cost to all of the wine tastings or are there some where you can just go and try fro free? Just wondering how much money to set aside for it. I am not going to do any of their big dinner type venues as I am going with one person who has never been to WDW and wants to see as much as possible but if we could sample on the way around the showcase it would be great. Thanks,
Minnesota

 

[PortieOwner]

Re: drunks. They were a problem especially Friday night, somewhat less so Saturday night, and I can't recall seeing or smelling one on Sunday or Monday night. I think most of them were were locals.

Re: Kansas and the Commodores. I saw both of them performing to half-full audiences at the USA Pavillion theatre. Sort of reminded me of the scene where Spinal Tap plays for the theme park audience.

Portie

 

[weluvslinkydog]

Otherwise most booths accepted cash only.

That's the first time i've read that...I thought I read others' reports that the booths took credit cards? I'm sure there are plenty of ATM machines, anyway!

 

[PixieDust742]

For a vegetarian, there is not much to eat at Food and Wine, but I love it anyway (go figure). Of course, you can always buy a meal at one of the counter service or table service restaurants. However, when I went the other day, I made a point of checking with the Chefs to make sure there was food I could eat. Here's what I found....

From Greece: spanikoppita (phyllo pastry shell filled with spinach and parmesan cheese)

From Morocco: hummus with a pita
Last year they had vegetable couscous, I'm dissappointed they got rid of that

From Ireland: Potato and Leek soup with Cheddar Crisp

All were delicious, but it's too bad they don't have more vegetarian offerings. Oh well, I still love it!

 

[Wendy1953]

I can't wait, it sounds great.....I'm going to cook with a chef, dh is going to wine school 101, and the rest sounds wonderful! Thanks!