Things at Disney World are a little different this year, as is much of the
rest of the world. However, Epcot found a way to make sure guests were
still able to enjoy a Taste of the Epcot International Food and Wine
Festival. While this event is a bit smaller than in years past, it
actually makes it much more manageable in my opinion! There's enough booths to
keep it interesting, but not so many that you wind up overwhelmed with
choices.
September 1st was the "official" first day of the Food and Wine Festival, merchandise was released, Flower and Garden merchandise was discounted, and we were excited to kick it all off. However, some booths weren't actually open on this day. Some were listed as "coming this fall" and some we saw open on Friday. We were told that a few booths were only open on weekends, but not sure how that's going to evolve over the course of the festival.
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| Festival Merchandise |
While the construction walls were a bit of a nuisance in the Future
World section of the park, the World Showcase was as lovely as ever. The
lighter crowds meant lots of space to move around, some beautiful views, and
very little lines for the booths! On Friday evening, we did notice moderate
lines forming, but all day Tuesday and Friday afternoon we never waited for
more than one party in front of us at any booth. This is pretty typical of
Epcot Festivals where Friday nights and Saturdays are very popular times for
eating and drinking around the world.
Everything we tried was quite delicious. The food was hot,
fresh and full of flavor! There was borderline too much sauce on my
empanada, but that was really my only complaint. The frozen mojito
was light and refreshing on the incredibly hot day and the wine was sweet
to start but had a nice dry finish so it went great with the bit of heat
in the food items.
Another booth that left our bellies happy! We've had hit or
miss luck with bao buns in the past, but this one was so pillow soft and
piled high with delicious beef. The chicken dumplings aren't going to drop
any big surprises, but they were hot, fresh and delicious.
Definitely a good option for someone who wants a more familiar
food.
The Alps
I've been known to say that "mac and cheese is my love language" so
it took a lot for me to not try one of each! Ultimately I went with
the classic mac topped with Boursin (which I like on its own as well) and
was not disappointed. It was hot, creamy, flavorful and mmm just so
good! It paired beautifully with the chenin blanc which is also one
of my favorite white wines in general. However, my mom was not as
big of a fan of the Boursin on top as it does have a bit of a strong
flavor.
Shimmering Sips
France
Do any of these items speak to you? Are any of your favorites not
mentioned? Let us know your thoughts on the Taste of Epcot
International Food and Wine Festival 2020 in the comments below!
Maci Schau
One of our favorite parts of the festival was the abundance of tables and places to eat! They were all distanced and we never had trouble finding somewhere to pop our food down so we could take our mask off and enjoy our food and drink while stationary.
We spent two days in Epcot this September and ate at quite a few booths, but we didn't get to them all. Here's a review of the items we tried.
Islands of the Caribbean
We were wildly disappointed to find the Islands of the Caribbean booth
closed on Tuesday since it was a "must-try" for us, but so happy when we
walked by on Friday and it was open! This was when we were told
about the weekend-only booths. It's also possible it's normally only
open Saturdays, but since it was leading into Labor Day Weekend they
included Friday. The Cast Member I spoke with said
he thinks that was the case for this booth, Spain and The
Alps.
The booth is light and airy, and offers two savory options and one sweet.
They also offer beer, sangria and a frozen mojito. When we arrived,
they let us know about a brand new menu item, a peach white wine. Of
course we had to try that in addition to what we were already
getting!
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| Open on Friday! |
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Closed up on Tuesday |
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Frozen Mojito & The off-menu wine |
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| Ropa Vieja Empanada with Tomato Aïoli & Jerk-spiced Chicken with Roasted Sweet Plantain Salad and Mango Chutney Yogurt (GF) |
China
The China booth is always a favorite for many as it is more familiar
flavors that could be kid friendly. We were pleasantly surprised to
see our food being prepared to order. The hot dumplings topped with
the cold slaw, and the bao bun being piled high with beef.
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| Happy Peach: Peach Liqueur and Dark Rum along with our two food items |
The Alps
The Alps quickly became a festival favorite after it's debut last year,
because, well, who doesn't love melty cheese? You can get the swiss
raclette with or without ham, a blueberry tart, and a variety of wine
beverages here.
We opted for the alpine ham version of the savory dish to share. We
were once again greeted with hot and fresh food, you could see them
cutting the cheese off the big block in the booth which is always a
treat. The wine was cold and refreshing to the melty cheese. The
picture might not look like much, but buried under there are lots of
little baby potatoes and the cutest little pickles you ever did see.
Even though it was a hot day, you couldn't keep us away from this warm,
comforting goodness!
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| Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Alpine Ham, Baby Potatoes, Cornichons and Baguette & Masion Willm Reserve Gewurztraminer |
There are a few stops around the American Pavilion that offer up Food and
Wine Festival treats. The main booth is Hops and Barley, which we
skipped this go around. But there's also the Block and Hans which
has a great assortment of domestic adult beverages ranging from beer to
cider to mead. This isn't necessarily a festival exclusive, but I still
love to stop by to see what they have on the menu.
However, what I think is a bit of a hidden gem of this year's festival is
the Funnel Cake Stand. They are offering up a special festival
version of this classic American treat, topped with Mexican-style street
corn for a savory take on this fried delight. This was a "must-try"
for me going into the festival since I love elotes (Mexican street corn)
and funnel cake!
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Mead from Block and Hans |
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| Street Corn Funnel Cake topped with Roasted Corn, Cotija Cheese, Cilantro and Cumin Crema dusted with Paprika |
I was not disappointed with my choice to try the funnel cake and I ate
the whole thing! It was light and airy with a hint of sweetness in
the dough, balanced so nicely with the cheese and spices. The mead had a
nice hint of berry and wasn't too sweet so it was very refreshing on a
hot day,
World Showplace
This was perhaps one of my favorite changes/additions to this year's
festival. There were four great booths, all close together, and in
AC with lots of tables! Bonus: they had live entertainment playing
intermittently! I love some piano playing of Disney tunes to get me
in the food-eating mood :)
Now, this area can be a bit hidden if you haven't been there before, it's
tucked back between the UK and Canada Pavilions. This sign helps
pull you in but there's also a Joffrey's cart to the right that helps be a
landmark for you as well. Everything is housed in that blue building
down the path.
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World Showplace Entrance Marker |
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| Decor inside World Showplace |
In addition to the booths, there was also a festival merchandise shop set
up inside where I was able to find my must-have item of this year, the
stainless steel wine tumbler!
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Festival Merchandise Shop |
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| Some of the merch for sale |
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Plenty of space for social distancing in lines! |
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| Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese with Boursin® Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese topped with Herbed Panko & L’Ecole No. 41 Chenin Blanc Old Vines, Columbia Valley, WA |
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| Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream, Poland |
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| Bleu Spectrum: Blanc de Bleu Cuvée Mousseux with Boba Pearls & tenshən Rhône Style White Blend, Central Coast |
Festival Favorites had actually our only disappointment of the
festival this year. The pierogis were room temperature at best,
but borderline cold. The flavor was there, but the temperature
just really threw off the whole dish for us. The Spanakopita from the same booth was nice and hot and delicious with
the flaky layers of pastry and yummy spinach filling. One of
my favorite festival drinks was also featured here, which I first
had at Epcot's 35th Anniversary so I was happy to see it make an
appearance.
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Nitro cake pops are finished to order! |
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| Liquid Nitro Chocolate Cake Pops with Crumbled Twix® Chocolate Bars & Frozen S’mores with Whipped Cream Vodka |
This was a great way to cap off our day at the festival! The nitro
cake pop was surprisingly large and I loved watching the cake get dipped
in the chocolate and then the liquid nitrogen - made just for me!
The frozen s'mores (also available in a non-alcoholic version) was so
delicious without being overly sweet so it went nicely with the
chocolate.
Any other fans of the "POG" (Passion Fruit, Orange & Guava) Juice you
can get at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort? Well Shimmering Sips takes it up a
notch by making it into a mimosa! Definitely one of my favorite
beverages for earlier in the day. Last year, they offered a mimosa
flight which was delightful, but flights aren't a part of the current
festival this year so I just picked my favorite. The booth also
offers strawberry ice cream and banana bread if you'd like to nibble while
you sip!
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| Tropical Mimosa |
France is an ever-popular booth, and it's so easy to see why. The
last few years, everything I've tried from the booth has been just
delicious and this year was no different. I tried one of each and
was impressed with each one! The set up was slightly different here,
with the order being taken on one side of the booth instead of at a little
stand before you get to the booth like most others, but otherwise it was
great as ever!
Pictured Below: Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chévre: Goat Cheese Tart
with Caramelized Onions on a Flaky Pastry Crust; Canard Confit à l’Orange:
Braised Duck Confit à l’Orange with Mashed Sweet Potatoes; Tarte
Tropezienne, Coulis Framboise: Brioche Cake filled with Light Pastry Cream
and Raspberry Coulis; La Vie en Rose Frozen Slushy: Vodka, Grey Goose
L’Orange, St. Germain Liqueur, White and Red Cranberry Juice.
Earth Eats
Earth Eats is intimidating for some, amazing for others, and somewhere
in-between for many. Why is this? Earth Eats is entirely plant-based
in their food offerings! If you are vegan or vegetarian, this is
amazing for you! If you're a meat-lover, you might be wary of these
substitutes, and many might not even notice. If you haven't tried
plant-based items before, this is a great chance to sample and see what
you think. I'm personally an omnivore, but really like the
Impossible™ brand meat
products.
The other confusing thing about this booth, is they are using souvenir
cups marked "Trowel and Trellis" for their adult beverages, since that's
where the drink originated. So this booth is a bit of a hybrid of
the Flower and Garden Festival booth and the Food and Wine Booth.
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Here I am getting our food! |
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| Impossible™ Farmhouse Meatball with Lentil Bread, Spinach, Marinated Vegetables, and Creamy Herb Dressing (Plant-based) & Bloomin’ Blueberry Lemon and Ginger Tea featuring Twinings of London® with Tito’s Handmade Vodka served in a Mason Jar |
There were more than a few other booths that we didn't quite make it to,
there just wasn't enough room in our bellies for all the
deliciousness!
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| The Donut Box - marked as "Coming this Fall" |
Maci is an avid foodie and loves trying out new restaurants and seasonal food offerings in the parks. You can email Maci at maci@kingdomkonsultant.com.
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