Touring the "World" at Epcot's 2018 Food & Wine Festival

Sarah McClure2.16.19When visiting Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival, held during the fall months, there are a couple of important things to consider.1) Come hungry.2) Come with a padded budget.3) Come with a friend and share.The Food and Wine Festival is not a separate ticketed event, however, the food and drinks are purchased a la carte.You will want to start your journey by picking up a Food and Wine Festival Passport book. This will have all of the drink and dining options available throughout the park, as well as stickers to place in your passport once you dine at each location. The passport books are located throughout the park.My friend and I began our tour of the “World” at the Festival Center. This is the large golden dome located next to Mission: SPACE in Future World East. Here is where you can find The Chocolate Experience, shops, Craft Drafts, Wine Shop, demonstrations, seminars and more. We toured the entire building; however, our main goal was to visit the Shimmering Sips Mimosa Bar! The rich, chocolate croissant paired nicely with a Tropical Mimosa with sparkling wine, pomegranate, orange and grapefruit juices. This was the perfect start to our morning.In addition to the 11 country pavilions in World Showcase, Epcot hosts several other booths from countries like Greece, Thailand, Belgium and more. There are also a few more unique food booths to explore like Flavors from Fire, Coastal Eats and Active Eats.Our next stop was Hawaii! Here we chose the Sparkling Pineapple Wine and a Kalua Pork Slider that was full of flavor and topped with an amazing pineapple chutney. One of the best parts of the Food and Wine Festival is the opportunity to enjoy your dishes at stand-up bar tables with gorgeous views of the Lagoon.The Refreshment Port offered three types of poutine and Dole Whips… with rum! We ordered the Traditional Poutine and to this day, I can still imagine the smell of this fabulous array of French fries, cheese curds and beef gravy. I highly recommend trying poutine! The Dole Whip was served with coconut rum and was delectable, as always!The Canada pavilion was next, where we ordered both available dishes. The cheddar and bacon soup were served with a pretzel roll. Though I enjoyed the soup, it was a hot Florida day and it did not blend with the environment. The Le Cellier filet mignon, however, was absolutely wonderful. It was cooked to perfection and was slathered in mushrooms and a rich, truffle sauce.There are so many amazing delicacies to try, but with a limited monetary budget and only so much room in our bellies, we now had to start being selective with our choices! We chose to skip the United Kingdom and head to France, as my friend had her sights on the Escargot Croissant with a garlic and parsley filling. I have tried escargot before and found it was something I did not love and did not hate, so I decided to give this creation a try. The croissant was light and flaky, the garlic and parsley filling were nice, without being too overpowering and I felt like the escargot was fine. Personally, not my favorite, but my friend loved it.By this time in the day, we were ready for a sweet treat and something cold, so we also ordered the crème brulee with raspberry jam and an orange slush with Grand Marnier, Rum and Grey Goose from France. As expected, these did not disappoint! The sugar topping on the crème brulee was perfectly browned, the crème was light and the jam offered a flawless combination of sweet and tart. The Orange Slush was just as wonderful and we were able to watch Serveur Amusant (<-- click for the full show) perform while we enjoyed our drink.The Hops and Barley Market in the American Adventure pavilion was our next stop. I had heard so much about the New England Lobster Roll, that I had to try it, despite my full belly! This was amazing! I loved the fresh, shredded lobster meat and the mayonnaise topping. This was served on a grilled, white bread roll. I would highly suggest making this choice on your visit to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.Just beyond the Germany pavilion was a booth called Brewer’s Collection that offered a few German beers in small 6-ounce cups. My choice was the Schofferhofer Hefeweizen Pomegranate Beer. This could be trouble because it was so light, smooth and fruity! Very delicious!By this time in the day, we had consumed many fabulous drinks and dishes from all around the world. It was time to use our FastPasses and experience great attractions like Test Track, Mission: SPACE (orange, of course!) and Soarin’ Around the World.If you would like more information on Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, or even a complimentary vacation quote, please email sarahmc@wishesfamilytravel.com.