2017 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: August 31, 2017 - November 13, 2017

12 days of food & wine and the jeans I wore down still fit! It is the little victories.

Seriously though. We so enjoyed this year’s festival. Lucked out with picture perfect weather for it. Mid week crowd levels very low. Food all fresh & hot. We tried hard not to repeat any item as there was so much. We skipped a number of things but tried a lot.

I drank my weight in rose champagne thanks to the sampler!

Cheers! See you next year.
 


I am on the standby list for the 6:15 flight tomorrow. It looks like about a 50/50 chance I will get on. Fingers crossed! Mama needs some F&W time. Just in case this weekend doesn't pan out, I just booked ASMu for next Wed night and put I a leave slip for Wed and Thu. Hoping my leave gets approved and I can sneak in three more days (this Sat and next Wed/Th). I have 5 sampler tickets left and don't want to waste them.
 


So we (DW, DS) will be at WDW 10/18 during the next F&W.

Is there a logical way to plan dining/grazing the festival? Do they release menus prior to the event?
 
So we (DW, DS) will be at WDW 10/18 during the next F&W.

Is there a logical way to plan dining/grazing the festival? Do they release menus prior to the event?
Yes, the global marketplace menus are announced prior to the beginning of the festival.

This year, the menus were released on July 12.
 
I haven't read all the way through this thread...has the following been discussed? I'm looking at MDE on my iPhone, and see only one demo for tomorrow, not the two I thought I had. Was really surprised that I hadn't signed up for the Champagne demo!!! Now I've logged into MDE on my laptop, and lo and behold....I DID sign up for two demos. I'm now a bit upset that I've been relying on my mobile MDE and might've missed one or more demos earlier this week. You can't see past plans in MDE, but I shouldn't need to. How can Disney provide an app for managing reservations that isn't accurate? Is this a fluke or is it a known issue that I just missed. grrrr....and thank goodness I brought my laptop with me on the trip and happened to log in today (because my lightning cable died...a blessing in disguise????).
 
I haven't read all the way through this thread...has the following been discussed? I'm looking at MDE on my iPhone, and see only one demo for tomorrow, not the two I thought I had. Was really surprised that I hadn't signed up for the Champagne demo!!! Now I've logged into MDE on my laptop, and lo and behold....I DID sign up for two demos. I'm now a bit upset that I've been relying on my mobile MDE and might've missed one or more demos earlier this week. You can't see past plans in MDE, but I shouldn't need to. How can Disney provide an app for managing reservations that isn't accurate? Is this a fluke or is it a known issue that I just missed. grrrr....and thank goodness I brought my laptop with me on the trip and happened to log in today (because my lightning cable died...a blessing in disguise????).
I'd check your MDE on the Walt Disney World website and see if the reservation for the demo is noted there.
 
I haven't read all the way through this thread...has the following been discussed? I'm looking at MDE on my iPhone, and see only one demo for tomorrow, not the two I thought I had. Was really surprised that I hadn't signed up for the Champagne demo!!! Now I've logged into MDE on my laptop, and lo and behold....I DID sign up for two demos. I'm now a bit upset that I've been relying on my mobile MDE and might've missed one or more demos earlier this week. You can't see past plans in MDE, but I shouldn't need to. How can Disney provide an app for managing reservations that isn't accurate? Is this a fluke or is it a known issue that I just missed. grrrr....and thank goodness I brought my laptop with me on the trip and happened to log in today (because my lightning cable died...a blessing in disguise????).
Make sure you click "show all plans" or you will see just what's next
 
Yes, it's showing on the WDW website on the MDE page (on my laptop). Just not in the app (on my iPhone). The moral is, don't count on the app even if is is showing some of your ressies because it doesn't show you everything, even if all ressies were made in a single phone call. For those of us who book in July and don't carry a paper backup of what we've booked, that's important to know. Not sure yet if it's just beverage demos that aren't showing, if it's just one random reservation not showing, or what.
 
Just experienced my first Food & Wine and I can already tell I will be wanting to plan future trips to Disney around this event! We had a lot of fun!

During our seven day trip, we did one full day at Epcot, one afternoon/evening and then a few extra hours before leaving for the airport on our final day. It gave us ample opportunity to sample and also pace ourselves (we did split some things, others friends just took a taste, others we got our own). We did eat at Via Napoli on our full day, which took the place of a few samples, as well as tried a few non-F&W items in the countries (hiya Canta Loopy!). Here's my rundown!

Seared Scallops - Wine & Dine - I loved the flavor of the scallops with the celery root and Brussels sprouts! My first taste of these was my favorite thing I had eaten, the second wasn't AS good (I was more full & they skimped a bit on the greens). 9/10

Cauliflower Risotto - Almond Orchard - This is the first thing we tasted and I ended up with a HUGE hunk of chicken! Literally all of the chicken for our portion! It was tasty but compared to everything else, 5/10.

Teriyaki SPAM Hash - Hawaii - So good! I had forgotten I wanted this and then we stopped by this booth on our way out and I am so glad I had a chance to get it. 9/10

Sparkling Pineapple Wine - Hawaii - Paired with the above, simply delicious and refreshing. 9/10

Happy Peach - China - Lots of rum flavor, quite tasty. 8/10

Schinkennudeln - Germany - This was kind of fun to eat, I like the type of noodles! It wasn't anything spectacular but it was the first savory item I ate on our final pass and I was hungry, so it went down easy! A little greasy though. 7/10

Seafood Salad - Spain - I grabbed this as I booked it back to meet my friends following the final Eat to the Beat set. It was easy to eat on the go! I don't really like mussels but enjoyed their (likely subtle) flavor in this. It was a little oily and the other seafood could have been a bit more flavorful. 6/10

Hanson Brothers Beer Company Hop Jam Festive Ale - Fife and Drum - I can admit I got this because I am a Hanson fan and knew I would not like Mmmhops (not into IPAs), so was excited to see their other offering available. It was good, still more hoppy than I prefer in beers but was glad to try it. 5/10

Salmon BLT Sushi Roll - Japan - I was excited about this and it let me down. First of all, the roll was HUGE, making it hard to eat. Why was the salmon on top and not rolled in to a smaller roll? Also, sooo much lettuce. I could not finish this. 2/10

Pom Pineapple Sake - Japan - THIS, however, was delicious! It did not taste like alcohol at all, and while sweet, was not TOO sweet. 9/10

Spicy Hummus Fries - Morocco - These were tasty! You only get two or three "fries" but the overall flavor was good and the cucumber & tomato salad on top made for a nice late night snack (this was our last dish of the day while watching Illuminations). 8/10

Beer-braised Beef- Belgium - Mmm. The beer flavor was actually pretty apparent and tasty! Went well with the gouda potatoes as well. 8/10

Creme Brulee - France - One of the only desserts I tried and it was good, though nothing particularly special. 6/10

La Passion Martini Slush - France - Loved this. Sweet and refreshing and also a lot bigger than it looked! Though walking along with it in that glass was an adventure! I liked the authentic presentation but not super realistic. 8/10

Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese and Stout Dip - Ireland - This was alright but it felt more like a soup, especially since I wasn't super into the bread. 5/10

Cheddar Cheese Soup - Canada - This was really good and one of the only items all three of us got our own portion of! Very tasty and luckily, we sampled it on the cool Monday so it wasn't too hot to enjoy either. 9/10

Kahlua-tini Iced Coffee - Canada/Joffrey's - Yeah yeah, I needed a pick-me-up AND wanted a little aid toward the buzz. This was tasty and refreshing and did its job.

Yum yum, when can we go back?
 
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Can anyone confirm that you can use the tasting voulchers for the $9.50 alcoholic beverages at the Joffery’s Cart locations, or if not, if you can use your Disney visa to get the 20% off for those drinks?
 
I can’t say for sure since we never got there earlier, but the World Showcase itself opens at 11:00 so I guess it can’t open much sooner.
 

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