It’s time to eat, drink and be cheesy at Walt Disney World. The 2023 edition of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is upon us.
The event has familiar elements this year – ranging from the perennially popular cheese soup at Canada pavilion to the Eat to the Beat concerts – plus some fresh menu items and ways to celebrate Disney100, which marks the first century of Walt Disney Co.
Here are a few things to know before you go.
Isn’t it a bit early?
Well … no and yes. Once upon a time, Food & Wine kicked off in September and slowly seeped into August starts. Then came 2020 and the pandemic, when the coronavirus forced a four-month closure of Disney World’s theme parks and upended the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival midstream.
When the parks reopened, Epcot came out with a sort of mishmash Flower-Garden-Food-Wine festival that began in July and was known as “A Taste of Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.” Since then, the start date has been solidly in the summertime. The space between the two biggest fests was three weeks and a day this year.
Food & Wine will run through Nov. 18, making the festival 115 days.
Chew on this
The official Disney World website helpfully posts the marketplace menus and points out what’s new to the fest. Some of the kiosks – Italy, for example – have all-new offerings. (We’re eyeballing the lemon ricotta cheesecake.)
A couple of marketplaces – Hawaii and The Noodle Bowl – aren’t opening until Aug. 15, so you’ll have to wait a while for your Spam sushi and Impossible pork ramen, respectively.
Four new marketplaces won’t debut until Sept. 22, when WDW really revs up its Disney100 celebration. They’re called Char & Chop, Wine & Wedge, Bubbles & Brine and Swirled Showcase.
Muppet row
Another new approach is happening at Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey, which will have a Muppet Labs takeover of sorts. Beaker and Bunsen, perhaps not our most reliable of cooks, have created a menu with “necessarily spicy” wings and – Jim Henson, help us – a pickle milkshake. Where is the Swedish Chef when Epcot needs him?
Meanwhile, there are pickle friends with dill ranch on the menu at the nearby Fry Basket. Let’s blame pickleball.
First impression: Epcot’s pickle milkshake, Muppets at Brew-Wing, more
Cheese, please
They had me a schinkennudeln. The pasta dish from Germany marketplace has cheese in it, earning it a spot on Emile’s Fromage Montage experience. There will eventually be 10 stops on the Emile hunt, and if you order five of the cheesy goodies and get the according stamps on your passport, there will be a “unique specialty item” waiting at Shimmering Sips marketplace, Disney says.
Fromage Montage locations include the Alps, Brazil, Canada, Flavors From Fire, Germany, Greece, Hawaii, India, Spain and Wine & Wedge.
Other festival scavenger hunts include Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak (find all the rats, get a surprise) and Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit, a similar activity with a “spooky” surprise that is available Sept. 29-Oct. 31.
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Sing fling
The Eat to the Beat concerts, included with park admission, have some new-to-fest acts, including Orianthi, For King + Country, Ruben Studdard with Haley Reinhart, Ayron Jones, Phillip Phillips, Bacilos, Los Amigos Invisibles and We the Kings.
But there are returning acts, including standbys such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Taylor Dayne, Boys II Men, Sugar Ray, Tiffany, Hanson and 98 Degrees.
There will be 45 acts overall, including some local performers.
Showtimes are 5:30 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. daily at the American Gardens Theatre.
Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. My Threads account is @dbevil. You can subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.
