2017 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: August 31, 2017 - November 13, 2017

[loves to dive]

I am certainly envious of your efforts! I've been eating the last two weeks like I was already at the festival - not good at all.

I've been drinking more wine to get ready.

 

[DVC4US]

I've been drinking more wine to get ready.

Haha!!! I about spit my wine all over my laptop when I saw this!! Sounds like me! I'm going down next weekend for a quick teaser before the big family trip in Oct! Counting down the days!

 

[DVC4US]

The festival starts one week from today!

YAY!!!!

I will be down there next week for a quick trip by myself so if anyone is looking to meet up for a drink or something let me know.

 

[lovingeire]

I've been drinking more wine to get ready.

Sounds like my kind of training!

 

[wdw4rfam]

You're doing it wrong. You're supposed to increase all of those thing to increase your resistance to them.

I was thinking the same. You can't cut them out then eat them in abundance or you will feel sick the entire time. Carb up now.

 

[Auntie_Maim]

That's why I don't like those "cut X out of your diet completely" strategies (unless of course you have a condition like celiac). I'm prepping for F&W by eating my usual diet but less of it, and I've been getting up early so I can work out before I have to take DS to school and get to work. It's going quite well so far except for being ready to eat my own arm by 11 a.m.

 

[apdebord]

I was thinking the same. You can't cut them out then eat them in abundance or you will feel sick the entire time. Carb up now.

Luckily going at the end of the festival so I have 2 months to gradually add things back in

 

[crazy4wdw]

Epcot Legacy Showplace Coming to the Odyssey Pavilion

The 21st annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival begins Thursday, August 31. This year's event will celebrate Epcot's 35th anniversary by featuring 35 unique Marketplaces, bringing back some heritage foods, and more! One of the new offerings will be found in the Odyssey pavilion, which will become the Epcot Legacy Showplace. Featuring displays of Epcot's rich history and a selection of throwback treats, the Legacy Showplace will be open until the end of the festival.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2017/08/new-epcot-legacy-showplace-coming-soon.html

 

[JerseyJanice]

The craft beer experience was in the Odyssey last year. Wonder if the Legacy offering (which sounds great IMO) is in the same space or if they opened up more space in the building.

That's a nice air-conditioned space. We got out of the sun and enjoyed beer flights and piggy wings. Even the restrooms were nice.

The Legacy display sounds nostalgic, and I think worth checking out by itself.

 

[Neverbeast]

Our schedule changed and I get an unexpected second day at F&W with just my husband! Now I'm even more excited!

 

[AdamsMum]

Just wondering, I don't have time to go through all 114 pages. How long are the Culinary Demonstrations and Beverage Seminars? Have a Culinary Dem on Sunday 29th Oct and planning fast passes for AK after that. What time should I start with my fast passes?

 

[loves to dive]

Just wondering, I don't have time to go through all 114 pages. How long are the Culinary Demonstrations and Beverage Seminars? Have a Culinary Dem on Sunday 29th Oct and planning fast passes for AK after that. What time should I start with my fast passes?

They last anywhere from 30 to 45 min. You need to allow time to get from Epcot to AK, if you are taking the bus you need to allow time to walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, ride the bus to AK and walk into the park. At least a hour after the seminar ends, but I'd probably do 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

 

[Cynister]

Has the map been released yet?

 

[Sona99]

This is our first F&W so I don't know anything.

I've been going over the menus and making selections to try and plan our route. If we are having both "lunch" and "dinner" via sampling, how many dishes would a person expect to eat?

I realize this is difficult to really figure out - everyone can eat different amounts of food and the portion sizes are not the same - but I want to hear what *you* can average! This will help me prioritize our sampling.


Thanks!

 

[loves to dive]

This is our first F&W so I don't know anything.

I've been going over the menus and making selections to try and plan our route. If we are having both "lunch" and "dinner" via sampling, how many dishes would a person expect to eat?

I realize this is difficult to really figure out - everyone can eat different amounts of food and the portion sizes are not the same - but I want to hear what *you* can average! This will help me prioritize our sampling.

It really depends on your appetites and the size of the dishes, they aren't all the same. If I'm solo, it normally takes about 3 for me to be full but I have a small appetite and don't always eat all of the sample. If I'm with my son, who can have a pretty big appetite, we will get two dishes from each booth and it's still about 3 and we are done.


Thanks!

 

[brnrss34]

I'm not seeing it anywhere,so will the special $200 giftcard with lanyard be back this year?

 

[Susie*Q]

This is our first F&W so I don't know anything.

I've been going over the menus and making selections to try and plan our route. If we are having both "lunch" and "dinner" via sampling, how many dishes would a person expect to eat?

I realize this is difficult to really figure out - everyone can eat different amounts of food and the portion sizes are not the same - but I want to hear what *you* can average! This will help me prioritize our sampling.


Thanks!

It is difficult to figure out. The only way I can answer that would be that my husband and I went in 2015 for 8 days. We are going again with my adult stepdaughter and her roommate this year for another 8 days. We were/will be on vacation so our only limitation was/will be our time and nothing else.

in 2015 Hubby and I visited Epcot F&W 6 times that week usually arriving there around 4-5PM and staying there till closing. We averaged between $120-180 a "F&W day" for food and drinks at Epcot for the two of us. We had an early light breakfast (protein bar or toast and coffee), sometimes had an early 11am-ish lunch (pork shanks) or Universal's 3 broomsticks/Leaky Cauldron or we made a light meal of snacks earlier in the day, but that cost was separate from the spending at F&W. We wanted to arrive hungry at F&W and pace ourselves there so we could nosh the entire time.

We ate at about 90% of the food booths, some like Canada (filet, yum!) and Scotland (haggis, who knew?) were repeats for us (two at a time &/or returned on another day), others we avoided all together because the food offerings were not new for us. For example, the offerings at Mexico, China and Italy were and still are this year "eat that already at restaurants or already make at home." This year from looking at the offerings, we will probably also avoid Thailand as my sister in law is from Thailand and we eat that all the time. Living in So. Cal has it's advantages, exposure to lots of different cultures is but a car ride away.

Sometimes we shared items, sometimes it was one bite each (yuck!) and into the trash it went, sometimes like Canada's filet we each had our own and then stood in line and got a second. Sometimes we got one item at a booth other times we got one of everything. So it's difficult to say how many little trays of food we each ate and how much we munched at the permanent food places like the caramel house, the French bakery, or a bratwurst at the German place . We didn't eat at any of the Epcot restaurants but we may this year.

I will say with all the noshing, and imbibing, and ALL DAY WALKING we didn't gain an ounce.

Edited to add this: One thing you might do is first figure out how much time you plan on spending at F&W, will it be time for lunch and dinner or just one meal? Then thinking of your favorite meal, something you can eat a lot of, take those one or two meals and your favorite snack and portion them into 1/3-1/2 cup portions and count those.

 

[Sona99]

So, I've finished my overall selections. I have 18 food items, 3 dessert items, and 4 different drinks (alcoholic). That actually sounds manageable.

I was surprised at how many things I decided not to try. Mind you, I don't do spicy at all so I knew a few places would be totally off the list. I don't like beer at all and I can't drink white wine so 4 drinks was a reasonable conclusion.

Now to await DH's selections and create a plan of attack!

 

[crazy4wdw]

I'm not seeing it anywhere,so will the special $200 giftcard with lanyard be back this year?

I haven't read yet if it will be returning. We should know soon, the festival starts in 3 days.


EDIT: It is returning! The gift card & lanyard are listed on the WDW website:

Festival Gift Card
This limited-release Disney Gift Card truly celebrates the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. With a $200 activation, you’ll receive a specially theme lanyard and carrying sleeve. Then, with this Disney Gift Card, you can swipe or scan to purchase culinary delights all throughout the event! The Festival Gift Card is available for purchase at select merchandise locations at Epcot—including the Festival Center.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...d-wine-festival/#/drawer=drawerDisneyGiftCard

 

[mdsd8700]

Has the map been released yet?

Yes, I Googled it mid last week and found it. Don't recall where but I downloaded it to my computer.