This year’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival will run from September 19 – November 10, 2014! This 53-day festival will give fans a fun culinary experience.
So far we’ve gotten the chance to check out the Eat to the Beat Concerts and a few Special Events. We’ve even heard the news that a new Patagonia Booth will be debuting at the 2014 Festival and we’ve got details on the 2014 Wine and Dine Half Marathon!
Let’s look at a few more details we’ve just discovered!
Returning Festival Fun
Stroll around World Showcase sampling food and beverages from over 25 international marketplaces. Don’t forget to have your complimentary festival passport stamped at each booth!
There’s lots to choose from — with more than 270 chefs and culinary experts involved in the Festival menus. Everyone loves the Cranberry Bog brought to the festival by Ocean Spray! If you’re still noshing at night, choose from three Eat to the Beat concerts.
Looking for something extra-special? Look for a special event! Make reservations for Party for the Senses or a signature dinner on select festival evenings. Also, Parisian breakfasts return on Saturday mornings. See our 2013 review here!
Cheese Display at 2013 Parisian Breakfast
New Festival Fun
What’s new? “Back to Basics” will be offered as a new Festival Center series. (We’re guessing this will be a LOT like the Authentic Taste Seminars from previous years.) And on Friday mornings, “Food for Thought” will be a new cookbook event by celebrity chefs.
“Sunday Mornings With …” is a new plated brunch. This will be similar to Sweet Sundays from past festivals, but the plated brunch means no more buffet! Three desserts will be created by an expert pastry chef or baker.
Cooking with Carla at Sweet Sundays
The new Patagonia Marketplace merges Argentina and Chile flavors offering menu items like sustainable roasted Verlasso salmon with quinoa salad drizzled with a kicky arugula chimichurri. Pair your dish with a great Chilean wine: Cono Sur Bicicleta Viognier or Cono Sur Bicicleta Pinot Noir Rosé.
Farm Fresh Market replaces the Florida Local Marketplace with a breakfast for dinner dish or “brinner”: Bacon and Eggs (applewood-smoked, pepper-coated bacon, sweet corn, potatoes, Hollandaise, and pickled jalapeños). Or dig into the griddled “yard bird” (chicken) with braised greens. Quench your thirst with Orlando Brewing Company’s I-4IPA or a trendy Ba Ba Black Lager from Salt Lake City’s Uinta Brewing Company.
The returning Brazil Marketplace will once again offer crispy pork belly with black beans, onions, avocado and cilantro. New items will include: moqueca de pescado (tilapia with coconut lime sauce and steamed rice), pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), and cocadas (Brazilian coconut candy).
Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans, Onions, Avocado and Cilantro
The Poland Marketplace has a new version of the popular pierogi dish that’s been around forever — sauerkraut pierogi and pork goulash.
What’s Free?
With your Epcot admission, the following Festival goodies are free: Back to Basics series, special book signings, Eat to the Beat concerts, cultural adventures, Marketplace Discovery Passport, and all attractions and park entertainment. Plus, Festival hours extend to 10PM each weekend.
Chef Cat Cora Book Signing at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival
Reservations and Fees
You’ll need reservations and/or an additional fee for: Party for the Senses grand tasting events, signature dinners, and other special wine and culinary programs. When a reservation booking date is announced this summer, guests can call 407-WDW-FEST (939-3378).
Follow our extensive Epcot Food and Wine coverage here!
Want to Start Your Planning NOW?
Be sure to check out our best-selling DFB Guide to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival e-Book!
The 2014 Edition is available for pre-order TODAY, and you’ll immediately receive the 2013 Edition — with tons of applicable expert advice and little-known tips — for free! Use code PREFOODWINE to get $3 off the guide! (The 2014 Guide will be released in late July or early August and will be immediately sent to your inbox.)
This book includes plenty of insider tips and details we’ve discovered through years of attending the Food and Wine Festival! From special events to culinary demonstrations, mixology seminars to World Showcase booth grazing, if it’s at the Festival, we’ve done it. And we can’t wait to share our hard-earned tips and tricks in this 200 page e-Book so that you can avoid any Food and Wine Festival pitfalls. Get the biggest bang for your buck!
With our full 30-day money-back guarantee, you have nothing to lose!
What are you looking forward to tasting and/or attending at this year’s Festival?
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MOQUECA. Mocequa doesn’t exist.
Lucy — Do we have it right, now? Disney keeps publishing the incorrect word, I guess! Apologies!
Yep, now it’s correct! I know it’s quite hard to pronounce for non-Portuguese speakers! I just wish they had used the Portuguese version of the name, moqueca de peixe and not moqueca de pescado, which is the Spanish name of the dish. Anyway, I can’t wait to try the Disney version of the dish!
Hi there, we have attended food and wine for the past 4+ yrs with friends, and have a wonderful time. Last year we found out there is a plate that can be purchased that holds
a wine glass and your small plate of food. We missed out on getting those, will they be available at the 2014 food/wine festival this year. If so, can they be purchased ahead of time.
Thank you
Anything vegan on the menu…..anywhere?
Hi Kellie- I purchased the little tray that holds the dish and the glass. I think it is quite neat. i bought it at one of the gift shops, it was more like a kiosk than an actual store. Have not seen them for purchase in advance though.
Why yes, I would love a 2014 F&WF Guide. [click]
John — Absolutely. The menus have not been released in full yet, but Disney always includes several vegan items. In fact, for the past two years, they’ve had one marketplace where all the items on the menu are vegan.
Kellie — Most likely they will be available! You’ll be able to purchase them at the Festival Center and at the festival souvenir kiosks throughout Epcot’s World Showcase.
We did the Tequila Tasting Lunch last year, and it was AMAZING! Definitely hoping to see that on the schedule again this year!!
What is the date we can make a reservation for Party for the Senses? Though I’ve attended the F&WF for many years, this will be the first time I do the Party and I want to make certain I make that reservation before I reserve the resort. I have a date in mind so hopefully I’ll be early enough to lock both reservations in.
Melanie — Booking normally opens for these events in August, but Disney has not announced the exact date yet. Keep checking back with us. We’ll announce the date as soon as we have it. Good luck! Party for the Senses is awesome!
This may be a silly question, but I have never done the F&W festival before – do you need to pay for all the food you sample? And if so, how much should one expect to spend in a day?
Kaitlyn — Not silly at all! You will pay for the food at the Marketplace Booths, which you’ll find around World Showcase during the Food and Wine Festival. Special Events, like Party for the Senses or Tasting Dinners, are also extra. There are some Free Events, but they rarely include tasting.
How much you spend depends on whether you decide to sample and snack, or make your trip Around the World a meal. Dishes are served in appetizer portions, and range in price from around $2-6. (Some drinks, beer, and beer flights will cost more.) For more information, check out our full list of menus from last year. That will give you a good starting point for planning, and we’ll have menus and prices for 2014 as soon as possible! 🙂
We’re currently planning to go the last two days of the festival… can’t really change up our schedule at this point! Any idea if the last days can be crazy crowded??