Food& Wine Festival directions

[RumpleMom]

Could someone please explain the Epcot Food & Wine Festival if you are not booking a special event, like the Party for the Senses....?

What does one do without these special ticketed things?

I think each country has a small sample of food for a few dollars, but am I missing something?

What time does it start? Is there a pamphlet explaining the food at each country? Is it a lunch event, just dinner or all day? Is anything free? Is the food available outside or is some of it indoors? TIA

 

[DisneyDeeva]

There are food and beverage samples available for sale at booths around World Showcase. If you go to allearsnet.com, you can see menus from previous years. In addition, to the pay events, there are periodic free seminars for food and alcohol. Each day is different - you have to check the schedule for details. There are special displays and the opportunity to purchase limited edition merchandise.

Last year, I attended a free tea seminar in the garden in England hosted by Twinings (gotta get in line for this one early as seating is quite limited). I also discovered the free culinary seminars at the Odessey - got to sample free chocolate while listening to a head chocolatier from Callebaut.

YUMMY!!

 

[minie_meese]

We love the Food and Wine Festival and have necer gone to any of the paid evemts that need a reservation. You can get a brochure of events at the park enrance. Disney hotels may also have them, not sure.

We just enjoy walkinhg around the world and sampling the different cuisines and beverages, and talking with the people from the country at the food kiosks. I learned a lot about the different countries. There are quite a few more countries and areas represented than just the countried in the world showcase. We especailly loved the Australian wine tasting where we got to hear about the different regions in Australia and taste the really good wines.

 

[gokenin]

Besides the booths the festival offers free seminars offered by diffrent wineries throughout the day. When we went a two years ago I attended a few of them and it was usually you are offered three tastings from the winery and there is usually someone from the winery to explain the wines and answer any questions you may have. I felt it was a good way to expand your tasting of wines from across the globe, there is a listing of the times and wineries for each day in the brochure that you get when you enter the park

 

[Mr. Pig]

We have also gone during F&W several times and never attended a special event. Future World opens at 10:00 and the booths are open all day. You can pick up a pamphlet listing all the events and booths (but not prices) as you enter Epcot. allears will have detailed info posted once the festival starts since Disney does not usually release the details of the individual booths early. You will also find more booths than countries and many booths from countries that don't have pavilions like Ireland or New Zealand.

And of course nothing is free. The booths are all outside.

 

[gokenin]

This is not true the seminars that run during the day are free and as I mentioned earlier you usually get samples during these seminars and I know that some of the countries have seminars exploring the diffrent regions that produce wine in the country. You can find free samples during the festival you just have to actually stop and attend a seminar teaching you something about the wine and country or wine maker

 

[karrit2000]

We have also gone during F&W several times and never attended a special event. Future World opens at 10:00 and the booths are open all day. You can pick up a pamphlet listing all the events and booths (but not prices) as you enter Epcot. allears will have detailed info posted once the festival starts since Disney does not usually release the details of the individual booths early. You will also find more booths than countries and many booths from countries that don't have pavilions like Ireland or New Zealand.

And of course nothing is free. The booths are all outside.

Future world opens at 9AM not 10. World Showcase opens at 11:00 AM, this is where the food booths are.

And as someone else pointed out there are many "FREE" seminars. They usually begin the daily offerings around 11AM. There is an average of 8 different free wine seminars daily. This year it seems they will be held in the Wonders of Life Pavilion. There are also "FREE" culinary demonstrations which in the past few years have been held at the Odyssey building. There are usually at least 3 each day, some days there are more. In past years you could check at the info podium at the F & W Welcome center to see exactly what wines were being served at each "FREE" seminar. There have also been a few seminars in past years that served Meade from Ireland and I believe scotch or whisky was offered last year from possibly Jack Daniels and also there are Champagne ones (These fill up fast so get there early). They also sometiomes post the menu for the culinary demos near the two walkways that lead to the Odyssey from the main walkway & World Showcase. Make sure you pick up one of the Festival guides when you enter the park. I've never seen them available elsewhere. Last year a few different websites posted the listings for the free seminars once the guides became available the first day of the festival. So you may want to search around to do some planning before you arrive.