Boozy Theme Parks Travel: Eating and Drinking at Epcot

August 25, 2008 at 10:45 AM | 4 Comments

When it comes to special events at Walt Disney World, the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is the one to attend. Celebrating its 13th anniversary, the festival runs September 26-November 9, and it's the perfect opportunity to take in the Disney version of world culture while drinking!

You're probably already familiar with the venue, the World Showcase at Epcot. For the fest, each "country" will offer a tapas-sized sampler of a regional specialty along with a local wine or other adult beverage. India, Greece, Spain, Australia, Poland and many more will all set up shop to fill you in on their culinary traditions.

While you're chowing down, the Eat to the Beat series offers free concerts from greats (and not-so-greats) such as Sister Hazel, Boyz II Men, En Vogue and David Cassidy. And starting this morning, tickets to some special festival events like cooking presentations, tasting seminars and "conversations" with celebrity chefs such as Ming Tsai and Todd English go on sale.

Basic admission to the fest, though, is included with your daily ticket to Epcot, which did recently go up a little in price. You'll also want to scrape together some spending money, as the tasting portions usually run between $2 and $5.

Related Stories:
· Epcot International Food & Wine Festival [Official Site]
· Theme Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of the 2007 festival: joeshlabotnik]

Where: Orlando, FL, United States

Tags: Disney World / Disney / Theme Parks / Fall Festivals / Wine Festivals

by kjb

Bonus Tip for the Frugal Alcoholic

In "France" you can buy wine by the bottle, the cheapest starts under $10. The catch is, they don't sell bottle openers. Once you leave the store, keep the bottle in the bag, but open it and discreetly use it to refill your wine glass from one of the booths. Much cheaper than dropping three to five bucks for drinks at every booth.

4 Comments

Return to » Boozy Theme Parks Travel: Eating and Drinking at Epcot

Smail

Jaunted Member
August 25, 2008 at 12:03 PM

Bonus Tip for the Frugal Alcoholic
Bring a bottle opener.
In "France" you can buy wine by the bottle, the cheapest starts under $10. The catch is, they don't sell bottle openers. Once you leave the store, keep the bottle in the bag, but open it and discreetly use it to refill your wine glass from one of the booths. Much cheaper than dropping three to five bucks for drinks at every booth.

pbb

Jaunted Editor
August 25, 2008 at 12:05 PM

Nice.
This is an awesome tip.

kjb

Jaunted Contributing Editor
August 25, 2008 at 1:22 PM

Bottle Openers For Sale
I'll be set up outside the main gates with my bottle opener stand this year--thanks for the business opportunity!

Smail

Jaunted Member
August 25, 2008 at 3:06 PM

Learned the hard way
A buddy and I did the "Tour of World Beers" a few years back. We decided to do one drink at each stand, skipping stuff that was easily available at home (ie. Skip Canada (Molson), England (Bass), etc). We did beer the first lap, and then wine the second. By the time we got to France on the wine lap, we realized the cost saving potential of buying bottles. We hoofed it over half the world showcase looking for a place that sold bottle openers, but eventually lucked out and found a nice cast member who agreed to open our bottles for us.
Another tip: The free program guide lists all the food, beer and wine options and the locations of every stand. Use it to keep track of exactly what and how much you had to drink. That way, when nobody believes that you had 26 drinks at Epcot, you can show them exactly how you did it!

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