No Signs of Recession at The EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
Monday, October 27th, 2008
We started another year as Disney Annual Passholders this past weekend with our benchmark event, The Food & Wine Festival. With all the news about gas tanks and the economy tanking I was wondering if it would impact attendance. It appears that Disney World is, in fact, the “Happiest Place on Earth” because the crowds seemed oblivious to any money problems and were larger than ever.
The food selection was good, though not much exotic fare. That would probably not be economically wise. Being able to graze a variety like this is an attraction though. Ordering was efficient and it was prepared well, served without much waiting. Line lengths varied and changed frequently.
Two things I’d like to see return are: a sample display so you didn’t have to try and catch a glimpse of what people carried away and a menu board above the kiosks so you didn’t have to wait for the area around the ground display to clear. Both of those were common in the early festivals.
Sure you don’t go for the bargains, it’s the experience of tastes, locales and people. But keeping the economy in mind here are some personal observations with taste and cost in mind.
Best values: The cheese plate from Ireland. Three large slabs of wonderful aged cheese, brown bread with Irish butter and a great spiced chutney to dip the cheese in. Durban spiced chicken with coconut milk infused root vegetables from South Africa. A nice skewer of tender moist chicken and a heap of tasty starches with a sweet/spicy kick. The lamb chop at Australia. A big (for lamb) tender chop and sweet jam that was like a meat lollipop worth the $5.
Worst value: Though it sounded great… the Praline (properly pronounced PRAW lean) bread pudding at the Louisiana exhibit. $2.75 for a scoop the size of a sample handed out at the grocery.
We enjoyed much more and I’ll have more to report when we return for seconds.
