The 12th annual Epcot International Food and Wine Festival begins on September 28th and promises to be another great event at the Walt Disney World Resort. For those of you that have never been to the festival, Epcot turns its focus to food and wine from around the world and offers guests a sampling of the cuisines from various cultures (for a nominal fee). This year, more than 25 countries/regions will be represented, including France, Italy, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey, Poland and Oklahoma (celebrating the state’s 100th anniversary this year). Another great aspect of the Food and Wine festival are the free daily wine seminars and discussions on food topics. For complete information, check out the festival’s website.

When to go to the Food and Wine Festival?

I reccommend heading out to the festival on the day it begins. Pick up the festival guide when you enter the park and walk around for a while to see how everything is set up. If any of the day’s seminars sound interesting, head over to its location and ask a Cast Member how early you need to be in line and how many seats are available. Some lines start more than an hour before the event and are at full capacity in no time. While in line, check out the schedule for the upcoming days/weeks and plan on when you want to come back. If there aren’t any seminars that picque your interest, you can come back anytime to sample the offerings around the World Showcase.

What to do at the Food and Wine Festival?

As mentioned above, the first step is to get a festival guide when you enter the park and check the day’s schedule of events. If any of the events sound interesting, plan to spend 45 minutes to an hour before each event in order to get in line, check in, or get a ticket. It’s definitely a time-consuming process to attend these seminars, but it’s not much different than standing in line for 70 minutes to ride Soarin’. If you’re not going to attend any of the seminars, your pace around the park can be as relaxed as you want. Sometimes the lines at each of the festival booths look quite long, but they generally move pretty fast as there are only a few options for people to choose from.

As far as where to go for the best food and wine, that’s up to you. All I can say is that Italy, France, Australia, Morocco, New Zealand and South Africa have never let me down. With that said, the offerings change a little bit every year, so it’s worth trying something from every country if you’ve got the time and money to do so.

Are the seminars really worth waiting an hour in line?

Absolutely. Unlike a 4-minute ride with an hour line, these FREE seminars last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. They are hosted by industry experts and are an excellent way to learn about the subject matter. They are mostly indoor, too, which means air-conditioning and a chance to relax with a few tasting-sized pours of wine or a bite to eat. For my money, these seminars are what make the Food and Wine Festival worth going to every year.

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