First Look! 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival Merchandise

We gave you a sneak peek of some of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival Merchandise here, but, as usual, there are a few more pieces added in once you arrive at the Festival Shop in the World Showcase!

As always, read all about the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, see booth menus and photos, and more, on our Epcot Food and Wine Festival pages!

Food & Wine Festival Coffee Mugs

The Food and Wine Festival Cookbook is extremely popular every year, and they only sell it for a limited time! Check out the UPC code below and order one! To order, call 407-363-6200 or email [email protected] to place an order.

2011 Food & Wine Festival Cookbook

Price and Code for Cookbook

And are we surprised to see [Read more…]

5 Things I’m Looking Forward To at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival

By AJ 9 Comments

Welcome to the opening day of the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival!

If you’ve been following along, you know that we already have World Showcase booth menus and prices (and tons of brand new food photos!), special event information, low-cost event information, details about visiting chefs, Eat to the Beat concert specs, breaking news, and more, here on our 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Overview Page!

I’m excited to continue to bring you coverage of the Festival; but today, I wanted to give you a little peek at what I’m looking forward to over the next 45 days…

New Food! New Drinks!

While Disney often brings back old favorites to the Food & Wine Festival, they also like to surprise us with new indulgences! A few of our favorite new food items at the Festival this year include:

Rib-eye Tacos ($5.50 at the Mexico Booth)

Rib Eye Tacos in Mexico

Linguica Sausage with Onions, Peppers, and [Read more…]

Sanaa’s “Dine with an Animal Specialist” Lunch Now Available Two Days Per Week

By Kim LaPaglia 2 Comments

Learn About:Sanaa

Animal Kingdom Lodge
Disney World Restaurants

Thanks again to Vallen Tucker at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge concierge office for providing us with more exciting news about the Dine with an Animal Specialist experience and the Jiko Wine Tasting experience.

We have some great news to share about two brand new experiences at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Dine With An Animal Specialist Adds Extra Availability

The Dine with an Animal Specialist program has been so successful that it will now be offered twice per week!

During the “untamed” lunch at Sanaa, your family will be immersed in African culture while posing questions to an animal expert regarding the animals on the beautiful savanna. Take a look at the delicious menu here.

Parts of the First Course Offerings

This dining experience has been in such high demand that it will be continued as an official offering that can be booked on Saturdays at Noon or Wednesdays at 11:30 am.

Cost
$49 adults
$29 children
Payment required in full at time of booking.

Reservations
The Saturday program begins October 1st and can be reserved now. Call 407-WDW-DINE (939-3463) to reserve!

Jiko Wine Tasting Now Available Through 407-WDW-DINE

In addition, the Wine Tastings at Jiko can now be reserved via Disney Dining. Read a guest review of a wine tasting here. [Read more…]

Review: New and Old Beaches and Cream Desserts

By AJ 19 Comments

Learn About:Beaches and Cream

Disney World Restaurants

Beaches and Cream is a hidden gem at Disney’s Beach Club resort. With it’s 1950’s ambiance and comfortable diner atmosphere, dining here is a lot like coming home for some guests!

We rarely make a trip to Disney World without going to Beaches and Cream. Even though the food is pretty basic, it’s the most wonderful kind of basic I know!

I stopped into Beaches and Cream on a whim with friends last week and was delighted to see a couple of brand new desserts on the menu: the chocolate cake, and the apple and craisin pie. We had to try them…and order a couple of old favorites, too!

Apple and Craisin Pie

I love apples. I love pie. And I love Craisins. So this order just made sense!

The pie comes cold, which I was surprised at, and there’s no ice cream accompaniment, so if you’re a pie-and-ice-cream kind of person, be sure to order a scoop on the side.

Apple and Craisin Pie

The filling was very gooey, which made me think it was [Read more…]

Disney Launches Food & Wine Festival App

By Kim LaPaglia 7 Comments

Bring your smartphones to the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival! There’s a new Food and Wine App! Just scan the QR code (looks like Spaceship Earth!) found on any of the booth menus at the festival.

2011 Caribbean Menu -- see the QR Code at the upper right

This app will give menus and prices for each booth, the videos we highlighted here, and recipes. Find out what events are being offered and if the event that interests you is still available or sold out. Look for concert schedules, food locations, and social media sharing tools.

QR code for Food and Wine App

Of course, we just have to mention that the Disney Food Blog is STILL your resource for World Showcase booth food photos — these are not yet available on the Disney app as far as we can tell! 😉 We’ve updated our individual booth pages with this year’s menu photos and pricing, too!

We’ll see you at the Festival!

Dining in Disneyland: Pumpkin Treats Crawl

By Heather 15 Comments

Dining in Disneyland columnist Heather Sievers has a new crawl for those of you headed to Disneyland soon — all about the pumpkin!!

Not THAT Kind of Pumpkin...

Before I even start, I must apologize for the quality of these photos. I was having a very bad camera day; both my camera battery AND my spare were dead (oops) so I ended up using my phone to take photos. I knew I would not have another chance to work on this “Pumpkin Treats Crawl” before Halloween gets into full swing and I wanted to be sure you could hit the park for all of the pumpkin-y goodness!

Halloween time at Disneyland is most definitely my favorite time of the year. I love the spooky-but-sweet decor that seems to appear overnight. The Haunted Mansion’s transformation into Jack Skellington’s ominous world is always exciting, and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy adds its resident monster, Bob, to the ride as an added bonus. My absolute most favorite thing though? Pumpkin flavored treats.

Familiar Pumpkin Faces Line Disneyland's Main Gate

I’ve always been a pumpkin lover, and if there is something “pumpkin flavored” on any type of menu, I’m always game to give it a whirl. Every year at Disneyland I try and eat my way through their holiday specialties. This year, I’ve decided to compile them and create a “Pumpkin Treats Crawl” for you. Why should I be having all the fun, right?

Pumpkin Crawl Stop #1: Jamba Juice in Downtown Disney

Our crawl is going to start in Downtown Disney at Jamba Juice. This is actually one of my most favorite stops along our little trip. It gets you right in the mood for pumpkin yumminess.

Jamba Juice in Downtown Disney

Here, you’re going to pick up a Pumpkin Smash Smoothie. Consider this a “warm up” for the next leg of the trip, which takes place on Main Street USA. The Pumpkin Smash is [Read more…]

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Photo Tour

By AJ 9 Comments

During a short (and sweaty) walk about the “circle” today, I snapped some shots of the new Epcot Food and Wine Festival signs and booths that are starting to appear in World Showcase!

International Gateway Signage

Here are a few of the new booths this year: Hawaii, Caribbean, Portugal, and Craft Beers!

Hawaii Booth

Craft Beers Booth

Caribbean Booth

Portugal Booth

The booths this year have a “scan” function on the menu for your smartphone. As far as I can tell, it just uploads the menu to your smartphone. Will have to try it this [Read more…]

Review: Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater’s New Menu

By AJ 42 Comments

Learn About:Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant

Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney World Restaurants

At the end of Commissary Lane, nestled in an unassuming soundstage-like building, is one of the most unique restaurants at Walt Disney World — Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.

This restaurant will get you out of the hot Florida sunshine (or downpours if you’re here this week!), take you back in time, and provide a restful setting. Stepping inside, 1950s cars and kitsch will invite you to dine in an Imagineered drive-in at night time.

After being seated in your convertible car, the welcoming car hop will take your order while you watch classic clips from silly 1950’s horror flicks, cartoons, and news reels. Check out the snack bar commercials beckoning you to visit long-ago concessions stands for a truly vintage experience!

After glimpsing the new menu that was just unveiled last week (which features a burger + hot dog in one), we had to change up our trip reservations to stop by this restaurant in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Wouldn’t you?

Atmosphere

After checking in with your reservation, you’ll start to get the idea of what this place is about. 1950’s movie references are all around you — even tucked into the nooks and crannies of the soundstage set around you!

Movie Posters in Entrance Area

B-Movie Props

After a (usually long, in my experience) wait, you’ll be taken “down the highway” into the main dining area and your table.

When you first walk into this incredible room, you’ll be bowled over. At least I always am! I just want to stare for a while at the realistic looking Drive-In theater environment…the sparkly shining convertible cars, the picnic tables in the back, the stars twinkling in the night sky… [Read more…]

Tips from the Mini-Guide: World Showcase Booth Crawls

By Kim LaPaglia 2 Comments

Because we want you to know everything you need to know about this year’s Food and Wine Festival, we’ve created the DFB Mini-Guide to the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival e-Book, a new guide that covers the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival from…well…soup to nuts!

Included in the book are critical tools like the Daily Schedule of Events covering every single day of the 45-day festival, customized Food & Wine Festival Touring Strategies for your family, and a full list of World Showcase food booths and menus — along with photos of many of the food items you can purchase there!

World Showcase Booth Crawls

There’s much, much more included, and one of our favorite parts of the e-Book are our World Showcase Booth Crawls that we’ve invented!

Our booth crawls are the perfect enhancement to your itinerary. Choose between the Beer, Seafood, Continent, Classics, and Dessert Crawl. Or combine them for additional tasty touring!

In the Continent Crawl, you’ll sample a dish from each continent represented at the festival. Stops include Australia, Brazil, Caribbean Islands, China, Morocco, and France. It’s a culinary adventure!

More to Love

In addition to the Crawls, you’ll have over 125 pages of organized information to customize your Festival day.

The DFB Mini-Guide to the 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival includes even more bonus items including indexes of all the events, menu items, booths, chefs and more!

But don’t take our word for it! See an Orlando Sentinel review of the DFB Mini-Guide to the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival e-Book here!

Purchase your DFB Mini-Guide to the 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival e-Book here! Use code “CHEF” for your $2 discount!

What crawl will you follow? Let us know in the comments!

Snack Series: Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel Review and Some Pretzel Updates

By AJ 24 Comments

Well, it was a pretzel kind of day on Friday in the Magic Kingdom and Epcot!

I sampled the famed Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel — now found at Fife and Drum — for the very first time, found out some details about the Sweet Cream Cheese pretzel in the Magic Kingdom, and learned more about the new (to WDW) Mickey-shaped pretzels!

Fife and Drum

Epcot’s Fife and Drum Offers Jalapeno Cheese, and Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzels

That’s right! We though they could only be found in one place in the parks (Animal Kingdom for the Jalapeno pretzel; Magic Kingdom for the Sweet Cream Cheese pretzel), but they can both be found in Epcot these days!

Epcot’s Fife and Drum, right outside of the American Adventure building, is the unassuming home for these very popular and sought after snacks! This spot is next to the near the Liberty Inn, so find a seat at the [Read more…]

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First Look! 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival Merchandise