EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival - Orlando / Florida Guide
Florida Guide > Dining
EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival
The EPCOT food and wine festival is held every year at EPCOT and takes place all around the World show case lagoon. While the exact dates change slightly each year it normally includes all of October; for 2012 the dates will be September 28 - November 11, 2012.
There is no special admission charge on top of your normal entry into EPCOT, however there are some special events that are charged for separately. The Party for the Senses grand tasting event and special wine and culinary programs are this type of event. Last year you did not get automatically get a seat for these events and all the front section of rows where already reserved for the priority guests who had paid even more. Overall if this is your first time at this type of event I would say steer clear events, even the free ones, as you will be at the back unless you want to arrive at least an hour before the presentation starts.
The festival showcase tastes from countries all around the world. There are normally about 20 international marketplaces spread around the showcase. They all serve small sized portions of regional specialties most of which cost about $5 each. They also have recommended wines and beers pairings at each stand that you can purchase.
There is also a daily complimentary wine and beer tasting. This serves sips of various drinks from around the world. Culinary demonstrations feature taste treats with a series of programs by a group of well known winemakers, chefs and speakers. Last year it included Jeff Henderson, Cat Cora, Alan Wong, Gale Gand, Suvir Saran, Jamie Deen, Rock Harper and Celina Tio, not coming form the U. S. I had only heard of one of these and that was because they have a restaurant on the Boardwalk.
If your trip extends into the evening then you can also attend one of the free nightly concerts that are called Eat to the Beat! . The Eat to the Beat! Concert Series for 2012 will feature seven new musical acts so even if you have been before this part will be new.
There are children’s activities to keep younger members of your party happy and they seem to put on extra street performers from acrobats to musicians that provide a pleasant diversion while you queue for your food or enjoy eating it.
Despite some of the negatives that I have mentioned above if your planning on going to EPCOT when this event is on then I think you will enjoy it. The next two parts of this article will now review the many stands and the food around the world show case.
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