October 9, 2009: Wine and Dine for '09

[Werner Weiss]

Welcome to the 14th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival (September 25 - November 8, 2009).

Link to Wine and Dine for '09

Please discuss it here.

[danyoung]

I'm confused. It seems as if the only thing you didn't like was the meal at Jiko. Everything else you seemed moderately pleased, yet the title of the piece is F&WF Disappoints.

FWIW, I spent a 3 1/2 day weekend at the F&W this year, and had a terrific time!

[Werner Weiss]

Originally Posted by danyoung

I'm confused. It seems as if the only thing you didn't like was the meal at Jiko. Everything else you seemed moderately pleased, yet the title of the piece is F&WF Disappoints.

My title for my article at Yesterland.com is "Wine and Dine for '09."

The banner at MiceAge is "Maybe Next Year... Epcot's 2009 Food & Wine Fest disappoints."

The link at Disney Report is "A MEH FOOD & WINE FEST."

I don't write the headlines for MiceAge or Disney Report.

Overall, I'm enjoying the Food & Wine Festival. Most of the culinary demos have been great. We have a few more events coming up; I expect them to be better than the one at Jiko.

[danyoung]

Understood. After all, it's not like Al to make something into more of a negative than it really is!

I don't go to any of the events - I just take advantage of the booths around the World Showcase. And I thought they were every bit as good as last year's, with one exception. When I went to the America booth to purchase a lobster roll, I saw that they didn't have any wine there. No problem, I thought - I'll just get some at the next booth (going clockwise around the lagoon). But I was shocked to find that there was NO WINE at all until you hit France! There was beer, there was saki in Japan, but no wine. How did they let such a large swath of turf go without wine? Very bad planning, and something they really need to fix. I really enjoy munching and drinking my way around the world, and this was a pretty big section to NOT be drinking in!

[mickhyperion]

Nice article Werner. Sounds like a mostly enjoyable food and wine festival.

Congrats to "The Editor" for another successful negative twist and jab at WDW. You need therapy.

[yoyoflamingo]

Thanks for the article! We went last year with the MCers, and are looking forward to attending again in the future, especially now with DVC.

[tloolgb]

Two observations:
Having finally gotten a chance to walk around, it really feels empty without those extra areas (Oklahoma/Louisiana/Spain/Australia Walkabout). Such little things, but they do seem to make a difference between the festival seeming exciting, and it seeming a bit quick/cheap.

While the menus seem almost unchanged from last year (little changes here and there) I think I still miss the 4+ options at each cart from 2007.

But what I don't like is the new weekly festival guides. I miss the big thick full festival guide. In my visit today I couldn't get an answer on the times of the Sam Adams tastings...and the festival guide doesn't even list them either. I like being able to plan ahead future visits, not have a guide that ends today.

Question: When did they change the Sam Adam's cart from offering 3 size choices to just two? I thought I remembered the 3 sizes still last year. I don't know why it hurt them to offer small sample sizes...makes me more likely to try more.