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The Epcot Food & Wine Festival is just around the corner, so that means it’s time to look at what events are on the schedule this year. The festival runs from September 30 to November 13, and you can bet that those weeks are the ones I most wish to visit Orlando.
Some of the F&W special parties require ticketing in advance. For a list of the most exclusive for which, if you’re interested, you ought to book now, check out my previous article here. Other events, while they do require that ahead-of-time admission, happen often enough or are large enough that it’s easy to get the tickets while the festival is going on.
The Party of the Senses features sumptuous food amidst an exclusive concert and performance by Cirque de Soleil. The 3D Dessert Experience caters desserts and cordials to its guests while they view a private showing of IllumiNations. These two are some of the fancier events, with tickets around $60/person.
Some of the more affordable, and frankly more interesting events to me, follow. Learn how to craft delicious delights in special demonstrations by food and beverage professionals at the Culinary Demonstrations, get tips on cocktail making at the Mixology Seminars, or taste wines or other, not-all-alcoholic, drinks at the Beverage Seminars. Each of these events prices more around $14.99/ticket.
The Food and Wine Festival is pricey because it requires admission to Epcot just to get in, tickets paid for any food or beverage sampling, and additional fees for some of its events. There are a few events, however, that one can enjoy with just the initial admission.
The first is the concert series, which runs three times a night every night of the festival, with different artists each playing a few days at a time. Some of the bands/singers playing the festival include Air Supply, Taylor Dayne, Billy Ocean, Gin Blossoms, The Pointer Sisters, Hanson, Boyz II Men, Howard Jones, and more.
Other foodie events that come with the admission include a series of seminars hosted by various HG-TV personalities on how to create the perfect entertainment room. Ocean Spray is hosting both a cranberry bog display and Authors without Borders sessions, where as-yet-unannounced authors from the food/beverage industry discuss their books and their craft.
Of course, the best thing about the Food and Wine Festival is tasting of dozens of foods from around the world. New stations at this year’s International Marketplace include Caribbean, Portugal, Hawaii, and Craft Beers. Other stations include the predictable Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and more, but are also joined by more unique favorites such as South Korea, South Africa, Scandinavia, Singapore, and New Zealand. I think I could happily spend my whole time at the Food & Wine Festival just wandering the International Marketplace, with perhaps a stop to the cranberry bog exhibition because I love cranberries.
More expensive options include the sweet events, which are nearly sold out so book now if you want to attend. Unfortunately, the best sounding one, The Discovery of Chocolate session with a professional chocolatier, is already sold out. But tickets are still going for Sweet Sundays, special brunches with a breakfast buffet and gourmet desserts.
To learn more, book reservations, or see details of panels like The Magic of Healthy Living Dinner, Kitchen Memories, and Cheese Seminars, visit the official Epcot International Food & Wine Festival website.
Related Articles:
Alternatives to Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival
Fun for Grown-Ups at Disney: Epcot
Character Dining at Disneyland
Mini Mickey: The Ultimate Disney World Travel Guide
*(This image by hyku is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
