Five Rules for Food & Wine

The International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot is a lot of fun, but not something that should be jumped into without first doing some planning in advance. Here are some ways to help maximize your time, money, and enjoyment of all the festival has to offer:

1. Avoid the Weekends:
Saturdays and Sundays are the busiest days of the week at the Food and Wine Festival because this is when all the locals come to partake in the event. This results in greater crowds and congestion along the World Showcase promenade, much longer lines at the food stands, and also a higher number of guests who have had a little too much to drink (if you go on a weekend you will notice many groups sporting “drinking around the world” t-shirts). The best days of the week to attend the festival are Monday thru Thursday.

2. Start Early in the Day:
World Showcase opens at eleven o’clock and this is definitely the best time to head over to sample the various festival marketplaces. Most guests tend to spend the morning in Futureworld and then make their way to the back of the park in the afternoon. As a result, there are fairly short lines at all of the various food stands around World Showcase even as late as one o’clock. The later in the day it gets, however, the more crowded it becomes along the promenade.

3. Pace Yourself:
Although the portion sizes of the food you receive at the various international marketplaces may seem small, they can be filling. After having just three or four different dishes you can easily find yourself starting to get full. Do not rush and get a lot of food from the first few stands you go to because you will not have any more room to try anything else as you make your way around World Showcase. I like to try one dish, walk around for a little bit and digest, and then try something else from another stand. If traveling with someone else also consider splitting the food, which allows you to sample a greater variety of dishes.

4. Plan Ahead:
If you just walk up to every booth and order what sounds good you will end up spending way too much money. Almost every dish offered at the Food and Wine Festival sounds, smells, and looks really good, but there will be some dishes that stand out more than others. Just like everything else at Disney World, it pays to do research. I find it best to see what every stand has to offer and then decide on the dishes you want to try most. This will really help you to budget your money.

5. Take Your Time:
You could spend an entire day enjoying everything involved with the Food and Wine Festival. If you can, rather than trying to cram all of the festival into one day, take a few days to enjoy all the events, demonstrations, and various foods and beverages the festival has to offer. Attending the festival on multiple days lets you to sample an even greater variety of foods and allows you to really take your time and enjoy all of the festivities.