All You Need To Know About Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival

As much as my husband and I enjoyed taking my 7 year old twin nieces to Disney World last June with the family, we really enjoy being two grown ups alone in the parks. There are a few advantages to going without kids, 16 hour days, minimal stops to eat and rest, no pesky height requirements, and only minimal tantrums (I've been known to throw one or two in my day).

Epcot has always appealed to a more adult crowd likely due to it's lack of thrill rides (before the addition of Test Track in 1998) and focus on world cultures which is hard to get a kid excited about when you're within a bus rides distance from Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road. Disney has seemed to capitalize on this and Epcot offers several special events throughout the year that cater to more refined tastes, specifically the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival every fall.

True story: when I went to the F&W festival for the very first time I was so hung over from my wedding the night before that when we walked by the France pavilion and saw that the menu included mimosa's prepared with Moet & Chandon champagne, I almost got sick. Right then and there. Seeing as how I drank almost two full bottles of the stuff the night before, I feel like I showed an incredible level of restraint by not upchucking the nuggets and mickey ice cream bars that I had previously wolfed down.

The IF&W Festival is a foodies paradise and totally awesome if you're feeling snackish and don't want to drop that dining plan snack credit on another sugar cookie. Aside from shrimp on the barbie (always wanted to incorporate that in to a sentence) with pepper berry citrus glaze, here are five other reasons to attend the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival:

You'll walk the calories off. So eat six of them.

1. Lime Strawberry Margarita on the rocks (Mexico): Do I really need to elaborate on this? While it may get you through your hundredth time on Journey Into Imagination with Figment, I would not recommend powering through one and hopping on Soarin' you guys. At least not the front row. Or Maelstrom. "Tilgi meg, men jeg spydde på troll din. Mange unnskyldninger."is Norwegian for "Please forgive me, I vomited on your troll. Many apologies." There, half the leg work is done for you. You're welcome. 
2. Apple Strudel with Werthers Karamel Sauce & Vanilla Sauce (Germany): OMG. YOU GUYS. First of all, eating a Werthers Original is like having a religious experience. The fact that someone has decided to liquify them and slather it on strudel is enough to make you believe in a higher power that loves us and wants us to be happy. 
   
3.  Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (Canada): Four of my favorite words exist in this sentence, which is enough to make me think I've reached the nexus of the universe. Canadian. Cheddar. Cheese. Soup. It contains cheese, bacon, and beer. Those are all good words too.
4. Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey (Greece): 
   
   Honey and cheese never sounded like a great mix to me, but I tried it at a Christmas party once after several glasses of wine and I swear I saw a bright white light and a choir of angels sang. Sweet fruits, raisins, and honey mixed with cheese is frickin' amazing. Especially with a nice hard water cracker. It would be even better when mixed with the Moet & Chandon Ice Imperial, but same rule applies for the Lime Strawberry Margarita. No Test Track unless you want to be reliving the outcome of drunken college joyrides.
5. Cannoli al Cioccolato (Italy):  a chocolate covered cannoli shell filled with sweet ricotta cheese, chocolate and candied fruit. I didn't think you could perfect cannoli any more than it already was but once again Disney has played God. Speaking of cannoli, Buddy Valastro aka The Cake Boss is going to be at WDW on October 8th at 3:00PM doing a pastry demonstration! So if you have an extra $13.00 and just can't get enough of Jersey accents and colloquialisms, head on over for this 45 minute demonstration!

If you really love desserts you can participate in 3D-Disney's Dessert Discovery in which you sample a variety of desserts and cordials and have VIP viewing for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth (the fireworks show that takes place over the World Showcase lagoon and is the most intense and expensive fireworks display at Disney, costing an average of $30,000-$45,000 a night!)


The Disney Dining Plan allows you to use your snack credits on most of the items offered so take advantage! This is a great opportunity to try new things. My husband is notorious for not branching out culinary-wise and definitely refuses to eat anything that: a) looks "weird", b) he can't identify all the ingredients of, and c) isn't chicken. We get a dining plan that allows for four snacks a day between the two of us, so when we go to the booths we each get something different and share in order to maximize our tasting palette. He's much more willing to eat something new if he's not committed to eating the whole thing, and I find this is usually the case with smaller children. Another advantage if your child is on the dining plan is that once they've taken their one mandatory bite out of what they ordered, and they hate it, it's all yours. 

Prices are reasonable too, a Belgian waffle with fruit compote and whipped cream is only $2.75  and steamed mussels in a garlic cream sauce with a baguette is only $3.75. I don't know that I've seen anything that costs much over that range unless you're looking at something with more unique ingredients like the Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's pie at the Ireland pavilion, which costs $5.75 but can be purchased with a snack credit. So your best bet might be to use your snack credits on tastings that are more expensive and save your credit cards and cash for the ones in the $2.75 range.


If you have never had the pleasure of dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, I suggest heading over to the Scandinavian pavilion and giving the rice pudding with Driscoll's berries a try ($2.75, dining plan eligible). The rice cream at Akershus is absolutely amazing so I'm certain this will be the same. 

One of the complaints that I see frequently about Epcot dining experiences is that the food looks strange and that they don't offer anything "kid friendly". I specifically remember reading a review on Akershus that mentioned something like this. The woman in question seemed highly offended that they did not serve burgers and french fries, and her precious little snowflake refused to eat anything else. I believe she said she was forced to go to the fresh meat and cheese buffet there and build her daughter a sandwich (I might add that the Akershus kids menu offers cheese pizza and hot dogs). Let me get started by saying I completely understand picky kids. I have a niece that won't eat anything if it even looks like it has cheese on it (if she wasn't a twin I would think she was switched at birth). But Epcot and especially the Food & Wine festival are about trying new things and branching out beyond your typical American fare so while the offerings may look bizarre, and don't get me wrong some of them look like regurgitated cat food, you need to take that plunge and try it. You never know, you may learn you love something you've never even heard of and can't even pronounce!


Like your grandma always said: "Try it, you'll like it!"

The Disney Iditarod aka "How I Won Park Hopper of The Year"

Ellen: "Honey why don't we forget the Pig-on-a-Poke itinerary and just play it by ear like normal people?"

Clark: "Honey we're not normal people, we're the Griswolds!"

                     -Vacation, 1983

If there is one thing about Disney World that is universally disliked (and there aren't many to choose from), it's waiting in lines. As a spring breaker and a summer vacationer, I have witnessed the true meaning of "filled to capacity". We have not yet been during the Christmas holiday but from what I'm to understand, the park usually hits capacity at some point early in the day and guests are refused entry shortly thereafter. We plan on conquering a Disney Christmas when we take our kids for the first time, but for now I can only share my experiences about the sweltering heat and the torrential downpours that Florida is known for and which are even less fun when you're standing in them for 60 minutes to ride the Tower of Terror.

I get asked all the time what I do to overcome the problem of waiting in lines all day, so I thought I'd share a couple of my secrets. Here are a couple of my suggestions:

1. There's an app for that!: Wait time applications are an absolutely indispensable part of your Disney Survival Kit (Which I will cover in another post). My husband and I both use iphones and the one we prefer is Walt Disney World Wait Times Free by VersaEdge Software, available on iTunes or in the app store. It's user dependent, so it relies on people who have the application and are currently waiting in line to update it with correct information, but it's always been completely accurate. Generally the only time it's inaccurate is when the ride has just changed wait times and no one has had the chance to update it. In fact as I write this I'm seeing that there is only a 5 minute wait to get on Pirates of the Caribbean! *sigh*
2. Get a map: if you're like me then you know the park layout like the back of your hand, but the map stand also has a sheet telling you what time all the parades and shows will start at, their location, and in the case of the parades, the intended route (which is really helpful if you want to be on one side of the park during that time because crossing over the parade route is a nightmare!)
3. Get a Fastpass: I put this second because if you don't know what the wait times are for the most popular rides, then you won't know which ride to get a Fastpass for. Getting a Fastpass can mean the difference between checking off all the rides on your list, or watching with envy as people bounce happily off Expedition Everest! Later on I'll explain how to get a Fastpass and the best way to utilize them, but for right now just know that they are a must. (My Pal Mickey Note: Fastpasses are your friend! You can get one per hour.)
4. Make an Itinerary:  not to sound too much like Clark Griswold, but having an itinerary is the best way to get the most out of your vacation. I will give an example of the one my husband and I use, but between Extra Magic Hours and character dining reservations it is always good to have a written account of what you'll do for the day, with built in wiggle room of course!



An Example of a Fastpass

5. Keep calm, and carry on:  If one line is full and it looks miserable, move on. If you have a proper itinerary and a well laid plan, you will have another opportunity. You would be surprised how a ride with a 120 minute wait will go down to a 20 minute wait at a random time. We experience this every time we're at the park. Small World is a classic example of a ride that can go from a 80 minute wait to 5 minutes any time of the day, so if you're in the park for the day anyway just keep coming back or checking the app that I know you've rushed off to download!  (My Pal Mickey note: If there is a ride that you don't manage to get on one day, it always moves to the top of your itinerary for that specific park on the next day!)