Disney Tip Tuesday: Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival is in full swing. If you are planning to make it out this year, take a look at my tips and tricks to make the most of the festival.

Go on a weekday

Food and Wine tends to fill up with locals more so than other Disney World event, which means evenings and weekends are the busiest times. Aside from being busy, weekends also tend to have a party atmosphere (it is all about food and WINE after all). Tuesdays and Wednesdays are typically the least crowded park days in general, and the same goes for the festival.

Go Early in the Day

For similar reasons as above, the least crowded times will be right when the World Showcase opens at 11:00 a.m. Arriving early does two things: 1) It ensures you will be able to pack more snack kiosks into your day and 2) It helps you avoid the heat of the day and peak wait times.

Buy a Food and Wine Gift Card

This is my favorite little hack. All Food and Wine kiosks are essentially walk-up carts or windows, meaning there is no real table or counter for you to place a wallet or anything else you may be carrying. It can get tricky trying to juggle two or three plates and a drink, and somehow find an extra hand to pull out your wallet and pay for your next snack.

While all the vendors take cash and credit, they also accept Disney Parks gift cards. If you purchase a gift card, it works the same as cash, and all Food and Wine gift cards come with a snazzy little wrist band. Just have the cast member swipe the card while it’s still attached to your wrist and you won’t have to surrender your precious food-holding hand space.

If you don’t use up the entire amount of money on the gift card at Food and Wine, the card will still work at every other food or merchandise location in the resort.

Scout the Menus Before You Go

To avoid the dreaded “Where do I go now?” syndrome, read up on all the kiosk menus before you even hit the park. I like to break the menus down into three groups: Must-Haves, Want to Try, and Can Live Without. This strategy will help you better maneuver around the snack carts and you won’t have a fear of missing out on anything since you’ll already know what’s offered. This also helps you avoid getting too full (yes, it happens) on the first few kiosks, then running out of steam before you’re halfway around the World Showcase. Check out the full menus with prices here.

Eat to the Beat

Every year, Disney has a pretty solid line-up of musical acts for the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. There is a show every night and it’s free with admission to the park. It’s a fun little bonus to the festival and can make a great ending to food-filled day! See the full concert series line-up here.

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