Review: Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival Part 4

NOTE: This final part of the review was to be uploaded while I was at New York Comic Con. Unfortunately, best laid plans and such. Anyways, here it is for all of you to enjoy!

Well, here it is: the conclusion of my four part review of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which my friends and I conquered last month. In Part 1, we ventured throughout Future World and visited the Festival Center. In Part 2, we took to Showcase Plaza and met with Remy in a Photo Pass Magic Shot. In Part 3, we traveled halfway around the World Showcase before checking out the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. Now in Part 4, we will finish up World Showcase and I will give a rundown of my favorite stops at the Festival.

 

Fife & Drum Tavern/ Block & Hans

While this location, or locations, at The American Adventure had no food choices, each of these two permanent snack locales had special drink offerings for the Festival. Adam finally tracked down on one of the days that Mmmhops Pale Ale from the Hanson Bros… yep, the former child-band. Apparently their beer choices at this Festival (there were two total) were very popular and sold out often. Adam was happy he finally tracked the Mmmhops Pale Ale down, and enjoyed it.

Additionally, Kaila got a Frozen Spiked Tea that she (and apparently Remy) enjoyed at the Eat to the Beat Concert Series.

 

Hops & Barley

While Adam and Kaila focused on the drink part of this section of the Festival, I took on the food aspect and enjoyed the New England Lobster Roll and the Smoked Beef Brisket. Both were really good, but I am not sure the price point matched what I got. I would have expected a bit more with each of them. Still enjoyable, though.

 

Japan

Japan was one of those stops where the food was too good to not try them all. We loved every dish (my personal favorite was the Teriyaki Ginger Pork). Adam and Kaila also tried some sake, and got an extra one by accident. Additionally, Kaila commented to the awesome cashiers that she loved the origami decorating their registers, and one gave her an origami Mickey head. Disney Magic!

 

Morocco

Both of these savory dishes, though very tasty, were a tick too spicy for me. However, Adam enjoyed the hummus fries especially . The Mimosa Royale was also enjoyed by Adam and Kaila.

 

Belgium

While both the Beer-braised Beef dish and the Belgian Waffle were good, for some reason the waffle got soggy way too fast. It wasn’t that it was old (we saw them cook it right in front of us). My guess is the humidity, as it just finished raining for almost two hours that night.

 

Brazil

Here we tried the Crispy Pork Belly, which was really good. I was going to go back and get more, along with trying the Pao de Queijo, but the lines for this booth were really long. Oh well, maybe next time!

 

France

We ended up stopping here a few times because of the food and drink options were so good! Pretty sure I lost count of how many of the escargo croissants we ate, and I believe I still owe Kaila a La Passion Martini Slush (not pictured) because I drank just a bit too much of hers… yet another drink that would be a problem for me if I drank a lot.

 

Ireland

Because we were staying at the Beach Club Villas, the Disney Vacation Club Resort located near Epcot’s International Gateway (i.e. secondary entrance to Epcot from the Epcot Resorts and Disney’s Hollywood Studios), Ireland was actually our first stop of the Festival. After trying the delicious Roasted Irish Sausage, Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese and Stout Soup, and the Guinness Blonde American Lager… we knew we were in for a great Festival with empty wallets and full stomachs.

 

Scotland

At this location we tried the Fresh Potato Pancake and the Tipsy Laird, along with the Bellhaven Brewery Scottish Ale. I am not a fan of salmon in general, but I could eat it with the potato pancake. The dessert wasn’t so much lemon as it was raspberry. It wasn’t bad, just not what we expected off the menu. I did not try the ale, but Adam enjoyed it.

 

Canada

Our last stop for the Festival, and it is always one of the best. Why? Because you can try two of the Le Cellier Steakhouse signature dishes, the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (with their amazing pretzel bread) and the Filet Mignon. I actually got these two dishes each twice over the course of the Festival, and I cannot wait until we get to dine at Le Cellier again during our next trip this coming January.

At this location, Kaila got the Moosehead Radler to try, and it was delicious. If I drank a lot, this would surely be a downfall for me.

 

My Final Thoughts

People have been asking me a lot what my favorite stops were. Obviously, as a whole, the Festival was full of a lot of delicious food and drink choices. However, if you are either on a time or money crunch and want to experience some of the best, here are a handful of stops you should make. Note that this is simply my take on the Festival, and basically entirely on the food aspect of the Festival.

Part 1, Future World:

Flavors From Fire & Active Eats

Part 2, Showcase Plaza:

New Zealand, Hawai’i, & Refreshment Port… you can never go wrong with Dole Whip.

Part 3, World Showcase (East):

China, Germany, & Spain

Part 4, World Showcase (West):

Japan, France, Ireland & Canada

 

If you do not like spicy food, stay away from the corner in World Showcase including India, Refreshment Coolpost, and Africa. Also, I personally think you should stay away completely from the Almond Orchard. Not appetizing in the least.

Overall, while I loved the extensiveness of the Festival this year (seems like it has grown a lot since I first went in 2011), I felt that it was TOO big this year, especially if you wanted to try and hit up all of the locations. Price wise, even for a group of three of us, we spent a lot. Could we have dialed it back in some spots? Of course. However, some locations I felt we didn’t cover enough (like Mexico, Australia, and The Caribbean Islands) and we surely did not drink as much as others would have. If I was doing this on my own, it would have been impossible to hit all 39 locations, to be honest. In 2011, I ate around the Festival, and having a food item at each of the 26 food locations there was expensive, yes, but a lot more feasible. I know they added a bunch of locations because of the 35th Anniversary of Epcot. However, because the additional locations have seemed to be popular, I have a feeling the number of booths going forward will remain high.

I will say this, however: Bravo for the integration of Future World into the Festival in this extensive way. Having the Festival sprawl into part of the front half of the park doesn’t make having Festival Center in the former Wonders of Life Pavilion seem so disconnected.

 

 

This concludes Part 4 of my Food & Wine Festival review. Thank you for joining me on this trip around the Epcot International Wine & Food Festival. 39 locations, quite a bit of food and drink, and some TUMS later…. and completing the Festival was achieved. Woo hoo!

 

If you are following along with our culinary adventure through the Food & Wine Festival and have been there yourself… what do you like most out of what we have tried so far? Least? Let me know below.