As you may know, we spent the last week in Orlando on vacation. At the time of booking, we were unaware that the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival was going on. It was a totally welcome surprise. We were so busy around the time of our departure that I didn’t have time to really look into it, plus I figured it wouldn’t be of any interest to my 2 year old. That was a huge mistake.
Basically, the entire park was transformed into an enormous showcase of international food and wines. We stopped in the Welcome Center first where some wine and other products were being showcased. There was an Italian cheese and wine pairing seminar going on at the time, which I would have loved to have attended if I had a reservation. The seminars and demonstrations looked fantastic. They had an entire series on cheese, Epcot Wine School, French Regional Lunches, Mexican Tequila Tastings, Winemaker bottle signings and so much more. The Festival seems to be designed around learning rather than something touristy, in my opinion. Here is a link to the Festival Guide which outlines everything that they have going on.
We left and cruised out into greater Epcot and headed toward the World Showcase Area. If you’ve never been there, it’s a collection of pavilions representing 11 different countries that wraps around a large lagoon. So you walk in a huge circle to hit them all. Each pavilion has food, some shopping and live entertainment. For the International Food and Wine Festival, it seemed like every 20 feet was a new booth selling wine and food from a particular region. It was amazing. According to the Festival map, there were 27 of these booths but it felt like so much more! It was heaven. I didn’t know this at the time, but you could buy a Disney gift card and travel through these booths using it as a debit card. A lot of people had these around their necks or on their wrists. Brilliant. Here is a link to the Festival Guide Map so you can see what I mean.
My regret is that I didn’t have enough time to pay attention to which wines were being served at which booth in the World Showcase area. There were a lot of people, some lines, and we were trying to see as much as possible prior to La Jolla Girl’s afternoon nap.
If you happen to be in Orlando at this time or if you’re thinking about planning a trip, I would recommend that you attend this yearly event. La Jolla Girl actually enjoyed herself and didn’t complain once that we spent our entire time at Epcot drinking wine and eating. There were tons of kids there actually.
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What a wonderful treat…maybe next year. Orlando in October or November? Sounds like a good idea to me.
It is a lot of fun as a couple, family, group of friends. It’s like going on a trip around the world (due to the different countries featured in the “World Showcase) and tasting and drinking their best.
The focus is on fun; but there are some fantastic seminars and lectures on the different foods/wines of the various regions.
If you like food and wine, it’s a great spot! Booking early is the key so you can latch on to the seminars/tasting/food demonstrations that you really want.
We offer gourmet food and wine tours worldwide (think Africa, Germany, Italy, France and beyond). Cheers!