Originally Posted By SafariRob I'm going to WDW next week. My trip just happens to land during EPCOT's Food & Wine Festival. I'm indifferent to it, but that's because I've never experienced it. Can anyone tell me more about it? Should I be excited?
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I enjoy F&W a lot. Very nice event, but can get a bit pricey. If I could give you one tip, I'd give WS a once over and look at all the booths before buying anything. This will let you see what you really want before spending any money.
Originally Posted By disney pete we where there last year,the food was way too small for the price and the was lots of loud drunken groups marauding around world showcase,maybe im getting an old fuddy duddy but i was a little unimpressed.
Originally Posted By MPierce ^^^Not that I've ever heard of. disney pete has a point about the amout of food you get for the price. I think the novelty is in so many choices. It really gets crowded there on the week-ends also.
Originally Posted By magic0214 If you want some suggestions... Seared Scallop in New Zealand is great Canada is an overall good booth And my 2010 favorite is the Steamed Mussels (Might have spelled that wrong) in a Garlic cream sauce is great! Comes with a nice piece of garlic bread as well
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Best advice: set a spending limit (like say $50) for nibbling and stick to it. Sadly, it won't last long (see Kevin Yee's column this week on Miceage). But for eating my favorite item/best value was the corn and cheese empanada at the Argentina booth (at $2.75, only about 50 cents too high and two of them equals a light meal and a very tasty and quality one) ... but do NOT buy the beef skewers they tout there ... at $4.75 you get a tiny portion.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 I love the F&WF, I tend to mostly look and not eat or drink as much. Keep a buget and stick to it. Like Spirit sugested having $50 as your buget. I've also know people to eat,drink all day. they do that unstead of haveing a meal at a restuarant. I can't remember if the mussels are from Canada, but you should try the chaddar soup from Canada. It's very good. If you want to be adventrous try the escargo (spelled wrong) from France. They put them in little bread bowls(bite size) and the are sauated in butter and galic. yumm.
Originally Posted By hopemax DH and I just finished our 3rd day at F&W. With buying our house, and buying everything that you need for a house, we racked up quite the number of Disney Dream Dollars. We had decided that whatever we earned, we would blow at F&W with absolutely no guilt. Over the 3 days, we spent $200, and very little of that was drink/alcohol. Here is what we had: Desserts & Champagne: Dessert Trio The Strawbery Angel Verrine was my favorite of the 3. I think they were pretty good, but it was the last stop of the day so we were full, and a bit tired of it all. Brazil: Grilled Pork Skewer and Shrimp Stew. I was not a fan of the stew, but my DH liked the skewer. I preferred one of the other skewers. This was my least favorite booth that we tried. Argentina: Beef Skewer, Corn & Cheese Empanada. The Empanada was my favorite thing the 1st day, and one of my top 3 overall. Beef Skewer was very good too. But I rate all meat to a piece of Beef Tenderloin from Australia I had in 2005. They don't have that selection anymore, too bad. Mexico: Taco de Chilorio This one has a bit of a kick, depending on whether you like spicier food. Spicy foody's would say not enough spice, but if you like a little spice, it was tasty. DH had the Conga Fruit Punch and really liked it on a hot day. And we had a very fresh churro. Not the hard ones they used to serve at the Cantina. China - Pot Stickers, Chicken Stick. This was DH's least favorite. He didn't even finish the chicken stick. There was a lot of meat, but it had no flavor. The pot stickers were nothing special. South Korea - Short Rib, Lettuce Wraps One of the top 3 booths. The 2nd day, the Short ribs were sold out when we walked by. Lettuce wraps have a bit of spice, but not too much. But the short ribs were fabulous. South Africa - Flavors of Africa, Beef Tenderloin. Because we took the boat across the lagoon, this was the first booth we tried. It was decidedly "average" The Beef was good, but the sweet potato was boring. Germany - Apfel Studel, Sausage in a Pretzel Roll. Germany did not quite break into the top 5, but close. I am not a big sausage fan, but the pretzel roll was yummy. Italy - Ravioli, Polpettini Toscane. The second one is meatballs. This was tasty, but only just above average. The ravioli was very cheesy, so I got tired of the taste after awhile. Morocco - Kefta Pocket, Falafel Pita Pocket. Another middling booth. We've had better, but it was still good. Belgium - Mussels, Waffles, Godiva Chocolate Iced Coffee Another top 3 booth, maybe even the best. I thought the garlic cream with the mussels was fabulous. I wasn't sure I wanted a whole berry waffle, but DH wasn't going to share his, so I had to get my own. It was so light, it just melted in your mouth. If the line wasn't so long, maybe we would have gone back for more. And how can you ever go wrong with chocolate iced coffee? France - Chocolate Creme Brulee, Parmentier de Boeuf Braise, Parisian Cosmo Slush. This was DH's 3rd favorite, fighting for 3rd for me. But the Empanada beat it out. The 2nd food item is a short ribs in a mashed potato shell. Wonderful. My favorite meat entree. I love Creme Brulee and chocolate makes it better. But the winner was the Cosmo Slush. It has the Grey Goose Vodka, Grand Marnier and Cranberry Juice. I don't normally like alcohol that I can taste (which makes Vodka drinks ok, but not much else) but I could have had about 3 more. I do eat escargo, but I didn't get this one. A family had them and didn't say anything about them, but were raving about the short ribs and the Cosmo, so I don't think they were anything special. Ireland - Lobster Scallop Fisherman's Pie, Chocolate Lava Cake. This was the longest line, they had problems with the Lava Cake. They were very gooey, even the part that was supposed to be more cake. I was a little disappointed with the Fisherman's pie, I think because of the potatoe top. The stewish park had a good flavor. New Zealand - Sea Scallop, Lamb Slider. Crap...I already filled the top 3, but I had forgotten about this! The scallop was one of the best tasting I have had. It can be hard to get a scallop to hold the flavor. Slider was tasty too. Okay, so that's it! New Zealand, France, Belgium, New Zealand and the Empanadas from Argentina. Those are my recommendations. Skip Brazil, China and South Africa. A few non-F&W items. Mango Smoothies from China. Smoothie is a misnomer, they are mango slushies. The new caramel shop in Germany. Very good caramel corn. We have an apple to try too.
Originally Posted By danyoung As others have said, the F&W is much more about the experience than the value. Each booth will have 2 or 3 interesting food items and 2 or 3 drinking options. It's easy to find something you like, and you might find excellent tidbits that you'd never experienced before. Canada offered something called icewine which I had to try. Tiny little glass, but really incredible sweet wine! I do this about every other year, and plan on at least 2 full meals at the festival. Yes, it's expensive. But it's a totally unique way of dining, both for the food and drink and for the atmosphere of the World Showcase. I love it!
Originally Posted By SafariRob I'm hungry. I am going to check out the tacos for sure. Two days to go!!!
