The countdown is ON for September 14, 2016. Why? Because THAT’S the day the 2016 Epcot Food and Wine Festival begins!
But it gets even better… because this year, the Festival has been extended to run 62 days. It won’t wrap up until November 14th. That means TWO FULL MONTHS of the Food and Wine Festival! (NOTE: The festival usually begins on a Friday, so the fact that it’s starting on a Wednesday this year is…weird. Stay tuned to DFB just in case they change their tune and start it on the 16th instead!)
Food and Wine Festival Center
We can’t wait to celebrate the 21st year of the Festival, promising appearances by celebrity chefs, Culinary Demonstrations and Seminars, the return of the Eat to the Beat Concert Series, and — my personal favorite — Festival Marketplaces featuring culinary goodness from around the globe!
The Canada Booth is a Consistent Favorite at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival
Update your calendar, book your tickets, and have your Passports at the ready to be stamped…
Don’t Forget to Get Your Passport Stamped!
… your Epcot Food and Wine Festival passports, that is! We’ll see you there!
Start Your Planning NOW!
News! The DFB Guide to the 2016 Epcot Food & Wine Festival e-Book is now available for pre-order!
This 250+-page guide to the Festival offers insider tips and advice as well as all of the details you need to know to plan your best Festival visit ever.
Your purchase includes several bonus items as well — including a full daily schedule of events at the Festival and a printable World Showcase Booth Menu Checklist to carry with you as you Eat around the World!
Order your 2016 edition today and we’ll immediately send you the 2015 edition for FREE to get started on planning right away! Don’t miss a moment of the fun!
Use code Chefs at check-out for a $3 discount!
Will you be attending the 2016 Epcot Food and Wine Festival this year? Please let us know with a comment!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
I’m not sure starting FWF on a Wednesday is any weirder than starting FGF on a Wednesday, but that’s set to begin on March 2, so… All I know is I’m all in for extra Fest time! More weekends to get up there and try more deliciousness!
Good to see, but I am dying for more details on the Flower and Garden kiosk and those open in two weeks 😉 Not our fault AJ I know Disney is not sharing!
That’s a kind of early start. I was planning on a trip 9/10-18, but now I’m worried about the crowds the second half of that week.
SO EXCITED! Can’t wait for all the updates! 🙂
It’s so close, I’m surprised they haven’t released the menus to get people excited. They were really late releasing the concert line up this year as well. I’m hoping they are planning on releasing the info soon but and really happy to know if they don’t Disney Food Blog will be there with a full report!
Tricia — There will be a Tables in Wonderland preview event. We’re hoping to share details with you then, if not before. Stay tuned, and thanks so much for reading!
Here’s a tip. When they tried the early start in 2014, the first week was pretty empty. I’m guessing that is why they went back to the late September start in 2015. So if you want to try the festival without the huge crowds go at the beginning. No chance it will be crowded 9 days after Labor Day.
Oh, and bring back the French Regional Lunch with a wine rep. We’ll pay for that.
@ Mark- We were underwhelmed with the French Regional Lunch. We felt the Italian food and wine pairing at Tutto Gusto was way more cohesive and informative.
Seeing that menu pic from Farm Fresh makes me hungry for the griddled yard bard. We skipped it the first year because we didn’t want to waste money (and belly space lol) on “just chicken”. I’m sooooo glad we tried it this past year. I’ve made it a bunch of times at home and it’s just as wonderful.
Melissa, are you referring to the French Regional Lunch that ended in 2014 or the replacement French family lunch they tried in 2015. We did not bother with that last year as it did sound underwhelming. Last time we did the lunch at Tutto Gusto we felt it lacked cohesion. Just a bunch of unrelated courses. In any case, the lunches at Le Cellier are our favorite. Too bad there are so few of them.
@Mark-
2015 French Family Meal Traditions
2014 Italian Regional Food & Wine Pairing.
There was disproportionate amount of bread courses in our French lunch. So, so much bread. Lol But I believe there was some variance in the course selection depending on the chef that day.
I’d love to try one at Le Cellier. We’ve had a few dinners there, but a nice long lunch would be neat to experience once.
You can get the menu for the 2016 Flower and Garden festival right now by downloading the festival passport 🙂 on the Disney web site.
Melissa, thanks for the info. First actual feedback I’ve read on the French Family Lunch. Confirms what I thought when I read the description. Something happened in 2014 with how alcohol is handled at the Festival. Price on the French Regional went from 99 to 135. Obviously they wanted to get the price back to 99 and sounds like they did it with bread.
To anyone who comes by this. EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival is still a good event and worth going to. The extra week sounds great. But if you read it gets better every year, forget it. 2013 was the peak. Since then it has been noticeably more about making a buck.
So excited the trip we already planned overlaps with these dates!
Mark – lol. I’ve been saying the same thing since I first went in 2004. Our last Food & Wine was 2011, but since we’re not taking a family trip to WDW with our group this year, the adults are heading down for a long F&W weekend sans kids. Love it !
Tonia — Yes! It’s also available in the links we provide above. 🙂
Going to F&W Festival 2016. Never been to one before. Bucket list item now! Just pre-ordered the Guide. Thank you for the wealth of info Disney Food Blog!!
Susan — We think you’ll have a fabulous time at this exciting event, and thank you so much for your support of Disney Food Blog!! 😀
My husband and I are planning to attend F&W 2016 for the first time ever! We are more excited than our sons would be to visit Disney again (but we’re traveling along this time!!!)!
Planning to celebrate my husband’s 70th B. Nov.2nd at D.world. Especially enjoyed 2001 reserved dinner pairing the wines with the food courses at Pavillon with celebrity chefs as well as cocktail parties . Please let us know if the same will be happening this year.
Pauline — While the event has changed a lot since those early days, there are still a myriad of special events and dinners. These are usually announced during July or early August. Stay tuned to Disney Food Blog. We’ll be bringing you all of the news about events and menus as soon as we have them. 🙂
Kristin — SUPER fun!! I hope y’all have a GREAT time!