For years people would ask my husband and I why we vacation
at Disney without children; especially when we became members of Disney’s
Vacation Club. We would begin to what D World an offer the adult guest:
impeccable service, great food and beverage, and top notch accommodations and
entertainment. One of our favorite examples has been the Epcot Food and Wine
Festival. When other business brought us to Orlando in the fall, we could not
help but visit the event as well.
Although we had booked some smaller events like mixology
classes and a lunch; we were unable to find in premium dining events available
during the dates we were in town. Totally by accident, I find a blog posting
about just added events that listed the “Ultimate Day at Epcot Food and Wine”
and it just happen to be available on a day we planned on making our last round
of the festival. I realize that the $395 price tag is steep for most Disney visitors,
however when you do the math we more than got our money worth.
We began the day at the Festival center were we participated
in “Sunday Mornings With”. Normally the VIP tour starts around 10:30 but we had
a small group of six so we were able to attend this special breakfast with
celebrity pastry chef Gale Gand of Spritzburger and Tru in Chicago. This two
hour brunch included a main menu of a fruit parfait, roasted red pepper strata,
breakfast potatoes, asparagus, leeks with bacon and assorted breakfast breads.
We were greeted with a glass of Martini Proseco and then got to watch chef Gand
prepare a trio of desserts: blueberry scones, lemon curd with strawberries, and
chocolate salted caramel bread pudding with orange Bourbon sauce. We finished
off the event with a glass of Martini Asti and were sent one with the three
dessert recipes.
Next we went over to the Vineyard stage of a wine tasting on
the “Wines of Burgandy France” presented by the B&B French Wine Club. First
we learned a little bit about the left and right banks of Burgandy and about
what makes a good wine. I learned that while Americans classify wine by the
type of grape, the French classify wine by the region it comes from. Then,
before we tasted the three offerings we were instructed on how to properly
taste a wine by swirling the glass, smelling it, observing the color and
clarity, and aerating the wine in our mouth. We then sampled three red wines:
In between meals we made a quick ride stop at Spaceship
Earth. One of the great things about this tour is you get to go in backstage
areas and the guides have plenty of Epcot trivia. We learned that the other
half of Epcot has two distinct areas. The side with Spaceship Earth is more
futuristic with sharper architectural lines and more striking music. The other
side with the Land and Living Seas with Nemo and Friends is more organic. It has
softer music and more flowing designs.
Then it was off to lunch at Morocco’s Spice Table
restaurant. Morocco’s newest restaurant offers a full bar, adjacent market
store and a great view of the lagoon in the center of World Showcase. Our
guides replaced the normal wine tasting with a beer sampling in our honor. We
started with three beers: La Estrella lager from Spain, Casa beer from Morocco
and a dark beer from Turkey, Efes. While I normally prefer dark beers our group
as a whole picked the Casa as our favorite. The food began with a cold mezza
sampler of vegetarian grape leaves, regular and sundried tomato hummus,
assorted olives, spiced pita and shrimp in a citrus. Next came the Calamari
with two dipping sauces. Finally when were just about full we were also served
a beef and a spicy chicken kebab with a parsley and citrus dipping sauce.
Next we walked off lunch at the Land. We were greeted by
another guide took us on the “Behind the Seeds” tour of the Land’s greenhouses.
This was the part most of us thought would be a little boring but we were
wrong. Our guide Jacob, a college intern, was very knowledge bout botany and
biology. He taught us about hydroponics, explained some of the interesting
techniques used at the Land and gave us a smell test of different spices grown
there. Next we all got a chance to bypass the two hour line and ride the always
popular Soaring. Most of us were like little children when we got to board the
top row of the ride. We looked for each scent and hidden Mickey.
Then it was back to our van to drive through the backstage
area to World showcase for more food and drink. We had a private dining area
next to the Puerto Rico pavilion. Besides
giving festival goers some of the best food and drink of the event, the Puerto
Rico kiosk educated visitors about the Island. Here we were greeted by Chef Mike
Epcot’s head chef and one of those responsible for the Epcot Food and Wine
Festival. He started of his sampling of
some festival favorites with the conch salad cone and Medalla light beer from
Puerto Rico. Chef Mike explained the salad is typical of beach food on the
island. The saltiness of the conch meat with citrus and jalapeño paired well
with the light, crisp beer. The next round
was the ever popular Canada booth. We tasted Le Cellier’s fillet mignon with
wild mushrooms and truffled butter and a Moosehead lager. Then dessert from where
else but the champagne and dessert kiosk. We were treated with a glass of and
the dessert trio which featured a blueberry lime cream cheese roll, a passion
fruit coconut creamsicle parfait and a chocolate espresso opera cake.
Our final stop was the patio area in Italy. Our guides
presented us with one last glass of bubbly to toast our adventures for the day.
We took a group photo and were presented with our gift bags. After discussing
our highlights we said good bye to Debbie and Ashton and headed to our VIP
seats for the Eat to the Beat Concert. That night’s show was Hanson, not our
first choice but also not the worst of the bill’s line up. They kept their fans
going and were enjoyable. One of our group members, Danielle, was a huge Hanson
fan so I enjoyed watching her take advantage of the prime view. While wehad the
option of staying for Illuminations and seeing from a special viewing area we declined.
Both my husband and myself had seen the show several times and it had been a
long day.
There could not have been a better way to end our Disney
adventure. The day was an ultimate foodie experience. VIP tours tried to cater
the experience tour group as much as possible. I know this would be harder to
do with more than 6 people. Our guides could not have been nicer or more accommodating.
Momma Debbie always had water and even a band aid when needed. Ashton always
had an interesting fact or piece of trivia. The experience was well worth every
dollar. We calculated that we ate and drank at least as much as we paid for the
tour; not hard to do with festival prices. More importantly we made lasting
memories. I loved spending the day with my new little family of
culinary adventurers and this was a day at Disney that will not be forgotten.
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