Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival

[fireurgunz]

I'm going to WDW on Oct. 27 which is in the midst of the Festival. I had a few questions for locals of Orlando or anyone else who has been there during the event.
What exactly is it?
Will they be giving out free samples?
How about some tips?
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Attention travelers, please remain seated. Your vechile will be rotating backwards. -Spaceship Earth

[WDWFan]

I've been to it a few times. Not a lot of free food. there have ben some minor things. A bee exhibit where they gave a honey sample.. a peanut exhibit where they gave a sample. Other than that most of the items do require some fee.

Basically they schedule a lot of specialty dinners and a bunch wine/beer tastings. Some can be quite expensive.

The part I enjoy is that around the world showcase they will have booths set up with cuisine from various countries. Some are quite good, but there are charges. I would recommend you go to www.allearsnet.com as they have quite a write up of it that explains it quite well.

[fireurgunz]

Thanks WDWfan! I was beginning to doubt myself when I said free samples. This is Disney World we are taking about. The only thing free are the napkins, maps, hotel soap, and... that's about it.
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Attention travelers, please remain seated. Your vechile will be rotating backwards. -Spaceship Earth

[WDWFan]

Well, please check out the site I mentioned. It really can be a lot of fun, and if you are on a limited budget like I am it helps to know what is there so you can plan accordingly. Sampling at every booth quickly becomes expensive.

[Figmentathm]

Also keep in mind that Epcot will be busier during the days. There are a lot of locals, or people who live within an easy drive that visit Epcot for this festival.
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[SGT623]

I just went to Epcot today. Everything is all set up but the walls are in place to cover everything up. Looks like a party will happen this Friday

[Ellory]

fireurgunz....Since I'm doing the wine class for the jamboree, I have some material I could offer you. It pairs wines available at the F & W , with foods being offered by each country. If you PM me your email address, I'll send it to you. It might help you save some time and money, by narrowing down your searches....
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[daguru]

They have all sorts of seminar's through out the park... cooking, wine making/tasting, beer exhibits....

They also usually have two small pavilions highlighting new countries... in the past this has included Spain, Australia, and I can't remember the other one.....

Each country servers a few regional dishes, approx appetizer portions, along with alcoholic selections....

The pricing is usually between $1.25 and $5.00, depending on the dish....

mrsguru and I love this festival, this is our favorite time to go.... we usually sample a few things from each country and pile on our favorites (crab cakes in AA, chicken sa cha in China, cheddar chesse soup in Canada, etc....) and it usually costs us approx $120... This includes several glasses of wine and beer along the way also.....

Since you are going on a week day, it probably won't be that bad... The weekends are much worse, like SGT said, the local residents come out in droves....


PARTY ON DUDE!

[fireurgunz]