Food & Wine Festival Strategies.....What are your must eat's / drinks???

[dopeys biggest fan]

Ok I'm getting excited for the food and wine festival, but i haven't been in 5 years! any reccomendations for strategies???? I will be there 9/28 - 10/11.

 

[dopeys biggest fan]

I'm so suprised no one has any suggestions! did I post in the wrong spot?

 

[msmouse]

This will be my first time for this event myself. I am not sure what to expect. Wish I could be of more help, but I am looking forward to exploring on my own!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Strategy? Fill your pockets with dollar bills, pick up a booklet at the entry gate, review it for those places that sound good to you and head out to the world showcase and sample yourself silly.

That about covers it.

Now, if you want to attend any of the free demonstrations, plan on being there well ahead of time.

 

[julfre]

The only stategy you will need is to realize they have a lot of booths. I usually make 2 trips because I am full by the time I go half way around the showcase. If you see something interesting try it. I don't read the pamphlet alot because I think it is more fun to walk up to each booth and decide then. They have a display of what each thing is at the booth that you can see before you buy anything.

I've only gone to one demo since I don't like standing in line, but it was fun. If you want to go to demos and other formal programs the previous poster was right, just plan on getting there early to wait in line.

 

[perfectmatch300]

I'm looking forward to my first time at Food & Wine myself. Sounds like we should plan to do a lot of grazing!
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Angel16]

Can anyone tell those of us new to The Food and Wine Festival what we should make sure we do not miss? What we can pass on by?

Would really appreciate your help. I know there is a lot of knowledge on the Dis boards

 

[dopeys biggest fan]

That's what I'm trying to find out, but this seems to be a very slow moving thread. I hope we both get some ideas soon! I'm leaving in 6 days!!

 

[kenneyjo]

At first when I read about this festival, I did not care for it.

But the more people talk about it the more I am quite looking forward to sampling items.

Are the sample costs astronomical? Someone wrote about bringing dollar bills, Is that how much a sample costs?

And as the previous poster mentioned, any sure fire places to not miss?

 

[Teri1]

We have been several times. The items at the booths are from $1. to $4. We are usually full before halfway mark. So you will have to visit more than one day. My favorite one was Greece.

 

[figment27]

This is a great thread, but wish the experienced F&W Festival attendees would begin posting soon!
I would love to know in advance the "have-to-try" items.
Figment

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Sorry you're not getting very many replies.

We attended the F & W festival in 2002, and 2003, and it was one of my favorite activities!

One of my favorites (this wasn't available at any of the boothes last year! ) was chocolate-dipped bananas. They weren't like frozen choc bananas on a stick. They were sold on a small sample-size plate and had the most delicious chocolate syrup drizzled over them! Also, close to Canada, vendors were selling sample-size cheddar cheese soups.

I love the F & W festival, because the portions are just right to sample many delicious foods! Unfortunately, we won't be going to WDW until January and will miss it this year

 

[206bones]

2 years ago I had maple glazed salmon in Canada & it was great! I hope they have it again this year. That's what stands out the most in my mind.

There was also a Florida booth that had some citrus shrimp cocktail and some citrus wine.

Plan on 'grazing'; avoid making any priority seatings on Epcot days.

 

[Raggedy]

Yes this is very slow moving thread. I am very excited about this myself. Like someone said. I wasn't going to do it, but it sounds like it will be alot of fun. My husband and i like to walk through the different countries and sample wine and beer. I can't wait.

 

[CPM]

I like to do half one day and half another day.
I love the Sangria in Spain!! Cheap and good.
Another favorite is the Quesadilla in Mexico. I also like the food at the African booth.
I check to see what demos I would like to attend ahead of time, they fill right up!
I did the beer one last year. I'm not big fan of beer but it was interesting and they had us sample chocolate beer!!
I try not to spend more then $20.00 a day on samples. That usually gives me ample tastes of wine and about four food samples.

 

[phyllis1966]

We LOVE the F&WF!! Let's see what I can remember from the past 2 years...DH enjoyed the Maple-glazed Salmon at the Canada booth - we both enjoyed the Ice Wine there! Other favorites include:

-Pierogies at Poland booth
-Baked Pasta Carbonara at Italy booth (my favorite!)
-Onion Tart at France booth
-Sausage Pizza at Italy booth
-Peanut Sha-Cha chicken at China booth
-Beef skewers with a delicious sauce and couscous at Morocco booth
-Chicken Taco al Carbon at Mexico booth
-Beef Stroganoff with noodles at Russia booth

That's all I can remember right now - maybe DH can tell me more tomorrow...oh, great - now I'm hungry!

 

[Leota]

2001 Standouts for me were:
-Cheddar Cheese Soup at Canada's Booth (I know you can get it all the time at Le Cellier, but I can never get enough of it!)
-Chicken Skewer with a peanut sauce at the African Booth

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We're going for our first time on the first day of the F&WF, so I can't give you advice. Of course everyone has personal tastes so what someone likes you may not and visa-versa. That's why they're selling samples.

If you're going with other people then get a sample and if you like it you can always buy more.

We're vegetarian so our samples will be more limited so I figure that we'll buy anything that we can eat and if I don't like it my DH will.

Does anyone know how long the food lines would likely be on a weekday?

T&B

 

[jsmla]

We were there in 2001 and it looks like the choices have changed somewhat but I have a strategy that we developed back then and plan to use on our upcoming trip. We made one loop of the showcase sharing samples of the "real food" items and then a second round splitting desserts. We were a party of 5 so with sharing no one got too full, especially since everyone didn't try everything. I remember liking Canada the best for the salmon and the cheddar soup!

Jennifer

 

[webmomom]

When I was there last year I fell in love with Watermelon Ice. it is a drink at Mexico. It is so refreshing. I love watermelon so I sort of knew I would like it, but DH also liked it. Actually one day we were walking and were very thirsty and the only thing we could think of to help us was the watermelon ice. I just wish they would serve it in a larger size.

Almost everything we tried we liked. there was one we did not care for, but that is just us. We just started walking around WS and stopped at what sounded good at that time. There are so many to choose from and we really got full.

Go have a good time and enjoy.