Our Florida trip had a few objectives. First was going to see a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, letting Irena nerd out as a muggle at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but all of these took a backburner to our main goal for this trip which was to eat around the world at Disney’s Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Saying that, we did also want to eat at several Disney Springs locations, you can find our write up about those adventures here.
We are not Disney experts and do not pretend to be, but we will put some other information about navigating around Epcot, wait times, etc. before we talk about all the eating we did. Of note, we did get a lot of inspiration from Disney Food Blog on YouTube at the behest of a Disney fanatic I know. To be fair, it did give us some good ideas about what we wanted to do and what we wanted to skip.
With the first part of our trip in the books and a few nights of eating at Disney Springs under our ever-expanding belts, we set out on Wednesday to start our tour around the world. Our hotel was not far from Epcot, so we left about an hour before the park opened, which was at 9 am. By 8:30, we were in the parking lot making our way to the front gate and through security and in the park just a minute or two after opening. Since the food booths did not open until 11 am, we decided to make a loop around the World Showcase to get a glimpse of our options and to hit up some of the rides before lines got too long.
Once arriving at the “Port of Entry”, we took a left and began making our way clockwise around the lagoon coming to Mexico first, but not before picking up a paper map and our festival passports. Before talking about all the food options, let’s take care of some housekeeping items first.
The Details
Daily hours for Epcot during our visit were 9-9 on both days, but park hours for all parks can be found at Disney’s website here. Our Epcot days yielded us our largest step counts, of a trip that averaged 19,661 steps per day. Wednesday my step count was 23,297 and Friday it was 27,275, after a half day at Magic Kingdom. Irena’s totals were significantly more since she is shorter. The World Showcase lagoon loop is approximately 1.2 miles so if you make a few loops visiting the attractions, shops, and eating, plan on a lot of walking, but I think that goes without saying at the Disney parks. Saying that, we probably did more walking than most because we would eat a few things and then take a loop or half loop to let our food have a chance to settle in between our sampling and mini meals.
On Wednesday, we had a full day at Epcot, Thursday we went to Hollywood Studios, and Friday we went to Magic Kingdom until about 2 pm and then park hopped back over to Epcot to finish our world tour. As I mentioned earlier, Wednesday we parked at Epcot. Friday, we parked at the Disney Transportation & Ticketing Center which we found to be convenient for getting to both parks via the monorail. Information about the monorail schedules can be found here and you can see some of our own transit times in the chart below.
On our park hopping day, the monorail was very easy to use and our trip from Magic Kingdom to Epcot, including waiting in line at Magic Kingdom and transfer times at the Transportation & Ticketing Center, was approximately 28 minutes mid-afternoon in late October.
In our experience, Wednesday was a nice day to go to Epcot. The park was not very busy, and we were able to hit all of the rides and a vast majority of the food booths during park hours. As mentioned earlier, we did come back to eat some on Friday, not necessarily because we ran out of time, but mostly because we ran out of room in our bellies.
As for attractions, we found our wait times to be rather minimal, see the below chart for wait times we experienced. The one exception to this was the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which can only be accessed by a virtual queue from the My Disney Experience App at 7 am on the morning of your visit. Make sure to set an alarm to remind you, because the queue fills up very quickly. I was able to get in the queue at exactly 7 am and our ride time ended up being about 4 pm. On Thursday, I could not get a spot at 7:13 and on Friday I could not get a spot at 7:28. You can also get in the second virtual queue opening at 1 pm each day; however, you must be geolocated in Epcot to be able to sign up. I tried on Friday at exactly 1 pm and was unable to get in line. Saying that, we also did not pay extra for the Genie or Genie+ pass for any of the days of our Disney stay, not sure if that made a difference.
Virtual Queue as seen through My Disney Experience App
Friday night was very busy for both ride wait times and for eating. The later it got the busier it got. The amount of money Disney was making on margaritas in Mexico would probably boggle the mind.
Now let's get to the real reason we are here…the food.
Emile’s Fromage Montage
So, I lied a little, before we get into the food, we need to talk about the festival passport because it is an integral part of the eating experience. Passports are available at most shops, the guest information booths, and at most of the restaurants. They are free, so pick one up before you get going. The passports are a neat little guidebook, the size of an actual passport, with menus and short explanations of the food and beverages available at each food booth. Also included are pictures of many of the dishes, where to find each stand, and other information denoting vegetarian options and if the dish is part of “Emile’s Fromage Montage”.
Emile’s Fromage Montage, is a grouping of ten menu items, listed on the last page of the passport. Spread at locations throughout the festival, these items can be purchased, and the diner is awarded with a stamp on the back cover of their passport. After eating five of the ten menu items and receiving the respective stamps in your passport, the passport holder gets a special menu item treat from the Port of Entry food booth. After completing the challenge, our special treat was a blueberry & vanilla ice cream with a piece of cheesecake in a Food and Wine Festival commemorative cup. We have to say it was pretty tasty and earned a spot on our “eat this” list below.
Eat to the Beat
One more thing and I promise, I’ll get to the food. As mentioned earlier, it was a lot busier on Friday night. Earlier in the day on Friday, we saw a bunch of middle-aged women wearing Hanson shirts, like Hanson the alternative band from the late 90’s. We kind of thought that was weird and wondered why so many people decided to show their enthusiasm for a random 90s band on today of all days, and especially at Epcot where most people and families sported their Disney attire or matching family t-shirts. The day went on and we did not think much more about it until we circled by the American Gardens Theater. We had just sat down to enjoy our Chicago-style dog from the American booth when the sounds of music reached our eardrums. I looked up thinking, “that sounds like Hanson”. We finished our food and made our way over to the theater and sure enough, Hanson was there rocking out. It immediately dawned on us that they were there as part of the “Eat to the Beat” concert series which takes place each weekend throughout the Food and Wine Festival. I know you are thinking, “I wonder if they sang MMMBop?” They may have but we did not hear it, but it’s stuck in my head and probably yours so enjoy.
The time to get down to business has arrived. The thing we most wanted to do on this trip was sample food from around the World Showcase. With 34 food booths, serving up over 225 dishes and beverages, plus a number of restaurants located around Epcot, you have no excuse to go hungry here. At between $5 and $10 a plate, the festival is an excellent way to try different food without having to visit a multitude of restaurants. Below is a list of all the food we tried, broken down by what we thought of them and if we would recommend getting them. Some of our favorite food and some we thought you should avoid are singled out below along with detailed descriptions and pictures.
Main Dishes
Our Favorites
This is a tough call, as a lot of these menu items were delicious, but we will try to narrow down a few that we recommend anyone that is visiting give a try.
My personal favorite the Brazilian Feijoada - “Black beans and Pork Belly, Brazil Nut Pesto, and Long Grain White Rice”
Second Favorite was a close call between India’s Potato and Pea Samosa or the Moroccan - “Fried Falafel Pita with Tomato-Cucumber Relish and Tahini Sauce.”
Irena’s Favorite - India’s “Potato and Pea Samosa with Coriander-Lime Cream.
Irena’s second favorite dish - Africa’s “Curried Chicken and South African Boerewors Sausage Stew with Chickpeas and Potatoes served in a Bread Bowl”.
Honorable mention goes to Japan for their “Wagyu Temaki Sushi, a hand held sushi with sweet and savory American Wagyu beef, topped with Takana Japanese Pickles and Spicy Mayo sauce which collectively we thought was delicious.
Desserts
Irena and I do not differ on ranking the Food and Wine Festival’s desserts. All of the desserts were phenomenal, and we enjoyed each one we tried; however, two stood out above the others.
Swirled Showcase’s “Liquid Nitrogen Frozen Sweet Potato Mousse with Candied Pecans and Maple Caramel Sauce” takes the cake for best dessert at the festival and our number one favorite overall dish.
Sorry, it was dark. This picture does not do it justice.
A delicious, but clearly second place dessert also goes to Swirled Showcase for their “Salted Caramel Ice Cream. This frosty treat was perfect for cooling us down mid-afternoon.
Honorable mention goes to France’s Crème Brûlée mangue et passion à la Confiture. For those unable to speak Francais, it was an incredible Mango Crème Brûlée and our final dish needed to complete our tour.
Biggest Disappointments
Besides not having enough room to get a second Sweet Potato Mousse, here are our biggest disappointments. First, China’s “Crispy Duck Bao Bun with Hoisin Sauce”. It hurts us to say this as we both love duck, but the duck was very dry and the bao bun was stale tasting, plus it had a pickle which we thought was out of place. At one of the most expensive price points for the festival, this dish was a severe disappointment. It has the potential to be good but fell short. We recommend sticking to the delicious Peking Duck from Morimoto Asia at Disney Springs.
Next on our list of dishes to avoid is Greece’s “Griddled Cheese with Pistachios and Honey”. Now, you may be a fan of goat cheese, but after helping raise the baaaa-ing creatures, I am not a big fan of their cheese as I think it tastes like they smell. We wished we would have gone with the “Lamb Gyro with shaved lettuce, tomato-cucumber relish, and Tzatziki sauce on warm flatbread.”
Finally, Italy and Spain were both very mediocre and were two of our least favorite dishes of the festival. They were not as bad as the Griddled Cheese, but we felt they could have done better. For Spain, better charcuterie boards are available in your local grocery store’s cheese section and with Italy being so well known for food, we thought they would have had a better option than greasy sauced meat on a poor excuse for a chip.
The menu at the Food and Wine Festival changes from year to year, but if it were the same on our next visit, here are a few dishes that we missed out on because we ran out of time and stomach capacity. R.I.P to the Moroccan Fried Hummus which we had five or six years ago on our last trip to Epcot, but it continues to live on rent free in our heads.
Festival Favorites at CommuniCore Hall - “Frozen S’mores: chocolate milk shake with marshmallow syrup topped with mini marshmallows and a graham cracker”.
The Fry Basket - “Fry Flight: Truffle Parmesan Fries, BBQ Bacon Fries with Smoked Aioli, and Sweet Potato Casserole Fries with Candied Pecans, Toasted Marshmallow Cream, and Bourbon Maple Syrup”. We were really disappointed with this one. We saw them on Wednesday, and they looked good, but we lost track of this one on Friday because it is tucked away on a back path between the Coca-Cola and Mission: Space area.
Australia - “Roasted lamb chop with mint pesto and salt and vinegar potato chips”. We both thought this sounded kind of weird, but we overheard several people say that it was really good. It was further confirmed by one of Irena’s co-workers, who was also there at the festival and now we feel like we missed out.
Canada - “Filet Mignon with mushrooms, Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Mashed Potatoes, and Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Butter” also confirmed to be good by Irena’s co-worker.
In summary, we would love to come here again to do this. We honestly had so much fun. To us, the other parks, minus Disney Springs, were just ok, but getting to sample food from all over was right up our alley. The drive for us was not too far, and on the way home we even contemplated making the festival a yearly trek for us on a long weekend. Epcot’s 2024 Food and Wine Festival completely met and exceeded our expectations, and we’d love to do it again.
