Dining Around Disney: Food & Wine Festival 2012

Note: Debbie, along with Kelly, Shannan, Adrienne, and Melissa Sue, will be meeting up with me for the opening weekend of this year’s Food and Wine Festival. We’re all very excited to have the chance to share this great event with each other this year…and we’ll be sharing with all of you as well! Be sure to follow along with us on our Facebook page from September 28 to October 2, and we promise to provide lots of updates! ~ Nancy 🙂

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This year, for the first time in 4 years, I will be back in my happy place – the 17th Annual Food & Wine Festival! I have been lucky enough to visit Walt Disney World during the October months ten-plus times over the course of its existence.

The last time I took my husband it was his first time being able to graze around World Showcase and enjoy all the fine foods and wine. Of course, our planning consisted of trying to convince him he would find a lot to eat. All his protest went out the window when he visited his first booth and saw not only the multiple foods available, but also the different types of wine pared with each sample. He was also new to wine tasting so this was a huge step for him.

I planned for us to share each sample, so he would not only get to sample more, but it really saves on money and also your stomach. It is much easier to eat half a sample and have more variety then it was to eat everything on your plate and not be able to enjoy a little something from each country. For the most part this plan worked – UNTIL he discovered a few favorites, then it was each for their own.

When I found out I would be joined this year with my 22 year old son, I was equally as happy. This will be his first trip as an adult. He has always had a more mature palette, but after I gave him the list of foods available this year I was informed there wasn’t anything he wasn’t willing to try. The plan will still be to share again this year.

For those who have not enjoyed the Food and Wine Festival, I highly recommend it. Even the pickiest eater will find something to their liking. I looked over the 2008 menu offering to give you an idea of some items offered (And yes, I keep all my menus).

• Chilaquiles (baked tortillas with chicken and cheese)
• Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (This seems to be a staple here and I think is available in Le Cellier)
• Spaetzle (dumplings with mushroom sauce)
• Melomakarona (honey spiced cookie with walnuts)
• Baked Ziti
• Sausage Pizza

Well, you get the idea. Even if the name is a little funny, each kiosk offers a description of what you are ordering. My husband ordered a Pierogi and asked them to leave the sour cream off, which they happily obliged.

To make life even easier, a gift card is available at the Festival Welcome center, so you won’t have to worry about carrying cash around.

I am really looking forward to this trip and enjoying some new taste with my son – Hope to see you there!

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Debbie and her husband live in Collegedale, TN where her youngest son is going to college. She is a huge Disney fan who dreams of someday retiring and working as a tour guide at Walt Disney World. She has enjoyed many trips to WDW with children, grandchildren and sometimes adults only. It is her ultimate goal to make sure everyone who visits WDW has the same magical time that she enjoys every time she visits.