So Sky and I went to the Epcot Food & Wine Festival for the first time ever a few weeks back and it was so much fun! There are tons of different foods and drinks from all over the world for you to give a try! If you are an adventurous foodie like we are, you'll absolutely love this one.
If you haven't been or are planning on going before it ends (or even next year!) Here are some of our top tips.
Stay on property if at all possible
If you are planning on spending a good chunk of your trip essentially eating and drinking around the world, having set in stone transportation without having to drive is a great idea.
We personally didn't stay on property, but we did have to make sure at least one of us were sober enough to drive at the end of the night lol. So if you're with a group that all like to get their drink on, I suggest staying at a hotel that at least has a shuttle service to and from your hotel.
The other perks of staying on property (not including neighborhood hotels) is that you can use your magic band as your method of payment. One of the things that really sucked for us was that every time we purchased something we had to pull out the wallet with our credit card. Now if you are planning to drink alcohol, you'll likely need to do that anyway to show ID. But the worry and hassle of possible losing your card could be very much avoided with the use of the magic band.
Use a gift card
To kind of jump off my last point, if you can't stay on property, there is another option for payment. At the festival, many kiosks sell special gift cards that are on a bungee-style bracelet that you can load up and use with ease.
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| 2019 Food & Wine Festival gift card (Disney Parks Blog) |
In addition to easy access, you can also much more easily budget yourself. When you choose the amount you want to put on your card, you now know just how much you have to spend. This is handy, since buying a $5 snack here and a $4 drink there can really add up quickly.
Don't try to do it all in one day
This festival is LARGE. There are a LOT of booths and tons of food for you to try. There are also a LOT of people there doing the same things you are! So making your way around the entire World Showcase can take quite a while if you add in waiting in line and pulling over to eat every 15 minutes.
We went for two days and did the festival as well as rides and shows in Epcot. We were able to get all the way around, but even so, we still didn't get to try everything. We hit up the ones we knew we really wanted to try first and then went back to the others the next day.
There's also other things going on in the park, like the rides and shows that happen regularly. There's also the Eat to the Beat concert which is really cool and a nice break in the America Pavilion after eating yourself halfway around the world lol.
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| Eat to the Beat—America Gardens Pavillion |
My suggestion is just to make sure you have somewhat of a plan. Figure out the things you really want/have to see and do and make those a priority. Then the other things will just fall into place!
Sharing is caring
Most of the items available for purchase are big enough to share, and some of them aren't really. However, my suggestion is that if you are trying something you're not sure you're going to like, just share it with the people you're with and then if you really love it, go back and grab one just for you!
What Sky and I did was if there was a booth that had multiple things we wanted to try, we'd each get one and then we'd share them.
It was more than enough food and a lot of times we wound up each preferring one or the other then eating most of it anyway lol.
Skip the tray
A lot of people will encourage you to either buy or bring a tray to the festival. With this method you would, I assume, grab a few things from a couple different booths, use your tray to hold them all, then find somewhere to plop.
Personally, I don't think you need a tray. Between the two of us, we were able to carry a few things. Plus I kinda feel like the longer you take to collect your food, the more likely it will get cold. PLUS if you DO have a tray then whenever you aren't using it you have to lug it around.
So I'd say if you're planning on doing any rides and don't have a non-rider or stroller in your group, it's not really worth it.
Again to jump off my last point, if you DO plan to have a tray, bring a backpack! There are also other things you may need to lug around like souvenir glasses or anything you can't resist at Mouse Gear.
I find having a small backpack with me always is really convenient.
Even though you may not feel like you're doing much other than getting buzzed and stuffing your face, it's still scorching in that Florida sun. So don't hesitate to give yourself a minute to go inside somewhere and cool off and have some water.
Dehydration is the real deal so you want to make sure you don't forgot to drink lots of water, especially if you're drinking alcohol or eating spicy or salty foods.
We enjoyed checking out the Epcot Experience which was indoors and had a few photo spots, so that was a fun little break!
There are plenty of stores and other attractions throughout the World Showcase that you can just pop into to cool off or just take a break from eating lol.
Here are some of our favorite bites and drinks from the festival! Descriptions for each are in the caption below! We liked most of what we tried, but these all stood out to me! We went back for seconds on two of them. I'll let you figure out which ones!
[Top left: Hawaii—AULANI Sunrise (Vodka, DOLE® Pineapple Juice, and Grenadine); Top right: Islands of the Caribbean—Quesito (Puff Pastry with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce); Bottom left: Brazil—Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread); Bottom right—Refreshment Outpost: No Worries Panna Cotta (Raspberry, Papaya, and Mango Panna Cotta with a Cookie Crumble Base topped with a Lion King White Chocolate.)]
And that concludes my tips for this one! Have you been to the Food and Wine Festival? If so, what are your tips?
So I'd say if you're planning on doing any rides and don't have a non-rider or stroller in your group, it's not really worth it.
Bring a backpack
Again to jump off my last point, if you DO plan to have a tray, bring a backpack! There are also other things you may need to lug around like souvenir glasses or anything you can't resist at Mouse Gear.
I find having a small backpack with me always is really convenient.
Don't forget to take a breather!
Even though you may not feel like you're doing much other than getting buzzed and stuffing your face, it's still scorching in that Florida sun. So don't hesitate to give yourself a minute to go inside somewhere and cool off and have some water.
Dehydration is the real deal so you want to make sure you don't forgot to drink lots of water, especially if you're drinking alcohol or eating spicy or salty foods.
We enjoyed checking out the Epcot Experience which was indoors and had a few photo spots, so that was a fun little break!
There are plenty of stores and other attractions throughout the World Showcase that you can just pop into to cool off or just take a break from eating lol.
BONUS!
Here are some of our favorite bites and drinks from the festival! Descriptions for each are in the caption below! We liked most of what we tried, but these all stood out to me! We went back for seconds on two of them. I'll let you figure out which ones!
[Top left: Hawaii—AULANI Sunrise (Vodka, DOLE® Pineapple Juice, and Grenadine); Top right: Islands of the Caribbean—Quesito (Puff Pastry with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce); Bottom left: Brazil—Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread); Bottom right—Refreshment Outpost: No Worries Panna Cotta (Raspberry, Papaya, and Mango Panna Cotta with a Cookie Crumble Base topped with a Lion King White Chocolate.)]
And that concludes my tips for this one! Have you been to the Food and Wine Festival? If so, what are your tips?
XO, Briana
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