10 Tips for Epcot's Food & Wine Festival

Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival is one of the longer lasting festivals making it easy to attend. In 2019 it was almost three months long. After a modified/hybrid Flower & Garden/Food & Wine Festival in 2020, they went big in 2021 with it lasting for FIVE months. My first year going to this festival was in 2009 and I loved it immediately. Epcot is my favorite park and always has the best food so what’s not to love about more food and beverage options to try? Well…over the past few years, I’ve decided - there are some things not to love. Now, don’t get me wrong, I always enjoy attending this festival but the others can be better mainly because they have better weather and less crowds. And Food & Wine doesn’t have some of the extra visual additions to the park like the others have. Festival of the Holidays has all the amazing Christmas decorations, Festival of the Arts has the beautiful Disney artwork and Flower & Garden has the colorful topiaries. However, I suppose there isn’t room for anything like that when there are 3-4 times the number of food/drink booths at Food & Wine compared to the other festivals. F&W also has the hottest weather (especially with it starting in July in 2021) and the largest crowds. Most of the booths also repeat year after year so I’ve gotten to just trying the new ones these days. In 2021 I participated in Emile’s Fromage Montage for a bit of a different experience. It forced me to try stuff I wouldn’t normally have! Regardless, it is still a fun Disney experience and if you’re into food and wine (or any type of alcohol!) then it’s a must-do at Disney. Here are my 10 tips to make the most out of your visit!

While I suggest going in late October or November because of better weather potential (but know it it has been 85 degrees the first weekend in November on more than one occasion) you can also time your visit based off the holiday seasons. Going in September and October means fall decorations will be up and hopefully a version of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party will be going on. Waiting until the end of the festival in November means most of the Christmas decorations will be up and some form of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party will be happening. I say ‘version’ and ‘form of’ because #2020 happened and they changed up how the events were in 2021. And, of course, gone in 2020 but (fingers crossed) back for 2021 is the RunDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend. Usually around the first weekend of November makes it an ideal RunDisney event to do to combine with a festival. Some years, depending on when dates and parties fall, you can participate in the race weekend, attend the last Halloween party and the first Christmas party. 💸💸

Tip #1

Go on a weekday. Even a Friday. One year I was there on a Saturday and some food booth lines were 20 minutes long. A week later I went on a Friday and we walked right up to every booth. If you can go Monday through Thursday it’s even more amazing. Less people just makes for an infinitely better experience. Regardless of day of the week gone, get there when World Showcase opens at 11am. The last time I went was on a Saturday, arrived right at opening and started in the back. Crowds were low in those countries for a few hours!

Tip #2:

Do NOT try and do the festival in one day. Two days at minimum are needed but three is even better. The length of time the festival goes on allows you plenty of time to come back for more than one trip - if that works for your budget! No matter how many times you plan to go, you can get an idea of how many food booths there are by visiting AllEars.net before your trip. Once the festival has started, they post the menus from all the food booths. They also help you budget as they’ll give price points for each item. Use this information to plan and prioritize your stops. You can see how many you want to go to and divide them up over the days you are there. Once you’re at the park you can pick up a Festival book OR just use your My Disney Experience app to see the list of options. If you have any food allergies Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW will have helpful information concerning every festival.

The Festival Passport lets you plan your day as well as keep track of what food and drinks you have tried.

Tip #3:

Pace yourself! There are over 30 booths so it’s easy to get overwhelmed and just want to try everything. But getting too full (or drunk) too quickly is a surefire way to not make the most of the festival. There are typically two ‘entrée’ type dishes and one desert at each booth. So, if everyone wants to try the roasted lamb chop AND the spicy shrimp at the Australia booth, don’t everyone get one. Split them! We’ll usually split one dish between 2-4 people. Everyone gets a couple bites so you can try the food. Which is the point of the festival, at least when it comes to the food. This way once you’re at the next booth and see something you just have to have, you’ll be ready for it. Tip #2 really helps out here as you won’t feel obligated to stop at every booth - or even every other booth. You can mostly do this with the drinks too. Don’t poo-poo the small size because like the food, it will allow you to try more! The beers and frozen drinks are smaller than normal but can easily be split. The wine...depends on how generous the person pouring is. This year we got half a glass full in Australia but in Italy, the cup was practically overflowing. Yay Italy 😂 In 2021 they had updated the signs to separate out alcoholic beverages. Making it easier for everyone to look for exactly what they need.

Food and drink options at one of the festival booths

Tip #4:

Skip the restaurants in World Showcase. They are there year round and aren’t going anywhere. If you eat a whole meal at one of them, you definitely won’t have room to try food at any of the booths. This doesn’t just go for food - this applies to the drinks too. If you go into the Germany pavilion and get a beer, it will be 12-16 ounces of beer. This will take you a while to finish and even when you do, you’ll have less room in your stomach. Definitely don’t get a full size frozen drink. While the frozen limoncellos in Italy are tasty, you’ll feel so full after you won’t want anything else.

Tip #5:

Have patience. Especially if you are there on a weekend. Lines will be long. It will likely be hot. It will definitely be crowded. More often than not the crowds will contain very large and very drunk groups attempting to ‘drink around the world.’ I’m all for drinking around the world but not during the Food & Wine Festival. It also may be hard to find an empty table to enjoy your food at despite the fact that Disney adds in additional tables. So, make friends and share a table or use the ‘traditional’ festival trash cans tables like we often do.

Utilizing the Food & Wine Festival ‘tables’

Tip #6:

Be adventurous. The small sizes of food and drink allows you to try things without going all in on a full meal. Intrigued by the Escargots in France? Or the Frothy Ramen in Japan? Try them! If you don’t like them chances are high someone else in your party will. If not, throw it away and you’re only out a few bucks. Same goes for the drinks - split a beer, wine or cider flight with your crew so you can try some new things!

Frothy Ramen in Japan - which was actually really good

Tip #7:

Take AC breaks. Go inside the World Showcase pavilions, ride the rides (World Showcase rides are pretty tame and are fine right after eating and drinking), watch the movies or browse the shops. Some years they’ll even have a booth inside a building - typically repurposing something not be used due to renovations or changes. Which means they’ve been changing from year to year. They’ve used a building near the current Guardians of the Galaxy Ride construction, one in between Canada in the UK, the building adjacent to the Baby Care Center near Mexico and, in 2021, the area where the Canada movie is usually shown. These spots give you a chance to continue to try food and drinks but in the air conditioning and a place to sit down.

Tip #8:

Drink water. It sounds simple but easy to forget. Especially when Disney charges so much for water. This is even doubly important since the festival started in July in 2021. I saw two people needed help from overheating in one weekend. Disney does allow you to bring water bottles in to the park so do it. When it’s empty, just fill it up at the water fountains so you aren’t spending money each time you need water. No water bottle? No problem, as you can also get free cups of ice water at counter service spots - and you don’t even have to buy anything else.

Tip #9:

Eat a proper breakfast. While I said skip the restaurants be sure to eat a decent breakfast before you start drinking. Don’t skip it just because you’re going to be consuming a lot of calories later. Eat at your resort, the counter service in the France pavilion (it opens earlier than the rest of World Showcase) or even the McDonald’s on Disney property near the All Stars Resorts. Doesn’t matter where, just do it.

Tip #10:

Check out all the other festival happenings, don’t just eat and drink! There will be specific festival booths with specific merchandise to browse and, typically you can sign up for things like Cheese Seminars, Culinary Demonstrations and Food & Beverage Pairings. While a lot of those cost extra, the Eat to the Beat Concert series does not. The concerts are held multiple times a night and the headliner changes every few days. While Epcot always has some sort of performance going on in America Pavilion, this is the time of year when the biggest names will play. 2019 saw Boyz II Men, Kenny G, Hanson and Tiffany.