EPCOT’s Meals & Wine Competition is its weakest occasion of the 12 months. We’ve been saying this for a number of years–that regardless of its recognition and standing as Walt Disney World’s flagship competition, it rests on its popularity and legacy because the oldest EPCOT occasion. There was some extent when this would possibly’ve been a scorching take or controversial opinion. Since 2020, it’s pretty plain–even when it’s a troublesome fact for longtime WDW diehards.
The explanation that the EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition is the worst occasion of the 12 months is comparatively simple. It nearly fully revolves across the International Marketplaces at this level, with just about all the pieces else having been reduce because the ‘Style of’ occasions began in 2020. To make sure, there are different enhancements, however in addition they exist at each single different EPCOT competition.
The distinction is that each one of these different EPCOT festivals additionally supply meals, however have one thing else along with that. Meals and humanities. Meals and gardens. Meals and holidays. It’s not simply the opposite stuff being icing on the proverbial cake. I’d additionally argue that the opposite festivals arguably have higher delicacies. Flower & Backyard has grow to be a powerhouse in the previous couple of years with recent and refreshing dishes. Competition of the Arts is creative and artfully introduced.
In equity, EPCOT’s “worst” competition remains to be excellent. Along with wanting to write down this put up for some time, I’ve additionally had a put up in drafts titled “EPCOT’s Festivals Are A Reduce Above.” That concept was prompted by the delicacies for Meals & Wine Festivals at Disney California Journey and even my beloved Tokyo DisneySea, whereas pale compared to the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition from a culinary perspective.
Level being, I don’t need this to be a ‘grass is at all times greener’ put up. EPCOT remains to be a culinary powerhouse, and whilst cuts have been made in the previous couple of years, it’s honest to say the final couple of years (not 2024) have seen one of the best menus ever at EPCOT’s Flower & Backyard Competition. The EPCOT Competition of the Arts likewise continues to impress, even with some cutbacks through the overhaul.
The truth is that EPCOT’s festivals have ebbs and flows. We’d yearn for the previous when trying by the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, however these occasions weren’t excellent both–and there are a number of methods issues have gotten higher over time.
The objective of this put up is to marry previous and current, with my ‘want record’ for issues I’d prefer to see return to the 2024 EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition. The occasion is moving into a brand new period with the completion of CommuniCore Corridor and the top of the EPCOT overhaul, and I’d like for that to be accompanied by a banner 12 months for the massive occasion. To that finish, right here’s what I’d prefer to see change…
Fewer Heavy Dishes – One other put up concept that has been caught in draft purgatory for some time is “Too Many Disney Choices Are Made From Consolation.” The final concept of that’s that decision-makers seemingly don’t account for the climate realities of Central Florida when planning issues from their air-conditioned workplaces and convention rooms.
The concept for that put up was born after consuming a half-dozen new dishes eventually 12 months’s Meals & Wine Competition throughout 110° (not a typo) “seems like” warmth. But it surely simply as simply might’ve been written whereas getting rained on in Toy Story Land and having nowhere indoors to go (apart from restrooms) or whereas strolling across the many new areas which have extra-hot pavement because of no shade. The culinary staff engaged on the next 12 months’s EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition menus ought to be doing so outdoors, in August and September whereas making an attempt dishes from their very own menus at random.
That might yield fewer stews, soups, meats and potatoes–and hopefully extra seafood and plant-forward (not pretend meat) dishes. There are countless potentialities for objects which can be refreshing and acceptable for Florida’s countless summers. It could be nice to see extra of these at an occasion that spans September. What I’d actually like to see is a couple of cubicles like EPCOT Farmers Feast at Flower & Backyard, which does rotating seasonal menus. It’s an ideal sales space and an excellent method!
Competition Heart – The opening of CommuniCore Corridor ought to tackle this, however I nonetheless have lingering considerations that the occasions house inside that purpose-built pavilion within the heart of World Celebration gained’t supply fairly as a lot because the Wonders of Life Competition Heart (particularly when paired with World ShowPlace and/or the Odyssey).
The Wonders pavilion was house to a wide range of sudden little surprises, comparable to DCA’s pleasant Seasons of the Vine movie, Ghirardelli’s Chocolate Expertise, Junior Chef Kitchen classes, e-book and wine bottle signings, purchasing, and a bunch of different issues I’m in all probability forgetting because it’s been so lengthy since this house was used. (I suppose there was a Disney Junior Dance Get together and stuff with the solid from “The Chew” however I’m not 100% sure.)
Once more, a number of the Meals & Wine Competition choices will presumably return and take residence inside CommuniCore Corridor. That will probably be implausible. I’m simply skeptical a few of this ‘little stuff’ will make the transfer, as Walt Disney World gained’t need to commit prime actual property to 3rd occasion sponsors or minor choices. I hope to be mistaken, and for the CommuniCore Corridor to be one of the best competition heart but!
Get together for the Senses – There have been a number of upcharge choices at previous variations of the EPCOT Worldwide Competition of the Arts, and I need to say there have been extra in 2018 (the next 12 months is when building began and issues began to get barely scaled again) than some other 12 months in EPCOT historical past. Simply an enormous record of celeb chef and different meals or tastings, a few of which have been outdoors EPCOT at Signature Eating places and elsewhere.
Whereas it’d be good to see a few of these return, a lot of them have been tremendous restricted in capability and have been one-off choices. The most important exception to that was Get together for the Senses, which was constantly some of the in style upcharge occasions going down at Walt Disney World. To my recollection, this was the most important of the upcharges on the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition, no less than as measured by dates and complete capability. Get together for the Senses additionally had an enormous fan following, and is the occasion we’re requested about greater than some other.
Throughout Get together for the Senses, a particular host leads the night’s festivities as friends eat, drink, and have fun. This normally options dozens of tasting stations and numerous dishes…and likewise a excessive price ticket, at $250+ per individual. Actually, given how steep worth will increase have been since 2019, if this does return it’ll in all probability value over $400…at which level it’s a no-go for us. We’ll keep on with the Meals & Wine Traditional at Swan & Dolphin! Nonetheless, it’d be good to see this and the opposite dear particular occasions return. If not for us, for the longtime Meals & Wine followers who love these things.
Extra Creative Menus – Look, I’m a Disney blogger. I’ve taken a solemn oath to assist french fries and mac & cheese. And even absent these commandments mandating that I like these dishes, I’m a sucker for comforting delicacies. The issue, as I see it, is that Disney has leaned approach too closely into consolation meals at these festivals. That’s not simply an EPCOT drawback–DCA has carried out the very same.
The “drawback” right here is that Disney appears to be giving friends what they need, as an alternative of dishes they by no means knew they’d take pleasure in. We’ve written scathing evaluations of the french fry sales space, rooster wings sales space, and donut sales space within the years these have been supplied. (Not a lot with the mac & cheese sales space, as these dishes have been implausible.)
We have been nearly alone in these assessments. The Fry Basket has garnered rave evaluations, and a number of pleasure amongst Walt Disney World followers. Among the longest traces on the competition are for dishes or drinks which can be colourful or stylish, having prolonged lists of elements…nearly all of that are synthetic flavors and colours.
We’re hardly meals snobs, however that is speculated to be Walt Disney World’s flagship foodie occasion…french fries shouldn’t be the massive new spotlight. (Sorry, not sorry.) There may be room for cute and/or comforting delicacies. Stuff like that’s a number of enjoyable! The SPAM Hash (RIP) on the Hawaii sales space was an ideal instance of this, the kind of dish that’s each comforting, enjoyable and distinctive.
That sort of dish ought to be the blueprint for Meals & Wine Competition, and Disney ought to supply objects which can be creative and fascinating whereas additionally being approachable and in style. Issues that shock and delight friends’ style buds, introducing them to new dishes from all over the world…not issues that might be completely at house on the youngsters menu at McDonald’s.
Bigger Menus – One simple technique to accomplish the above objective is making menus bigger. Or quite, restoring menus to what they have been just some years in the past. This has gotten particularly dangerous as of 2024, with the primary two festivals of the 12 months eliminating 1-2 dishes per menu just about throughout the board.
The one exception to this has been the cubicles by third occasion working members. That’s just about the precise reverse of what we need to see. If solely Italy can be so merciful to solely topic us to a few overpriced, microwaved dishes as an alternative of a half-dozen!
I assume this streamlining has occurred for the sake of effectivity, as traces have gotten longer as cubicles battle to maintain up with visitor demand. There are a couple of options to this, from higher staffing within the kitchens to fewer ordering stations (use the DCA system of permitting ordering from one kiosk for all of them) to introducing extra competition objects at counter service menus to unfold out demand.
Culinary Seminars & Demonstrations – Whereas the unique and dear choices like Get together for the Senses and meals with celeb cooks have cult followings, the low-cost demonstrations are extra our velocity. In reality, these seminars are (have been) our favourite facet of the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition.
At $15 to $20 every, they provide much more than the free seminars, and a number of instances the samples you obtain at these seminars are a greater worth than what you’d obtain in case you merely went round to cubicles and ordered objects. Along with the samples, you obtain primary background info and a few entertaining displays.
These seminars should not geared to the identical degree of foodie viewers because the particular occasion meals, nor are the samples of the identical caliber, however you get what you pay for. We’ve got carried out a number of of those, they usually usually supply one of the best worth on the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition. These low-cost seminars supply primer to the subject coated, plus fairly good samples.
A few of these was once free approach again within the day, however I don’t recall any of those that present meals or alcohol being free in 2018-2019. And actually, that’s tremendous by us. As Walt Disney World has grown in recognition and the native viewers elevated, the identical followers with a surplus of time clogged up these occasions by ready in line for hours for them (time and again). Offering a slight barrier to entry eradicated that, and improved issues for vacationers with restricted trip time. (I’m guessing that’s going to be an unpopular opinion, however oh properly.)
BeaverTails – This was supposed to occur final 12 months, however didn’t. In case you missed that curler coaster, try BeaverTails Are Gone Once more…Already?! My guess is that Disney’s culinary staff didn’t notice BeaverTails was a protected trademark and have been going to make a knock-off model…however nonetheless name them “Beaver Tails” (with the house).
No matter what occurred, that is the 12 months to deliver again BeaverTails. Hopefully Disney has labored out an settlement with the precise Canadian firm to deliver the delicacy again after a two-decade hiatus. However even when not, make their very own knock-off model and simply name it one thing totally different. By hook or by crook, the folks demand these pastries!
For many who are unfamiliar with them, BeaverTails has been an iconic indulgence in Canada since 1978, and at the moment mix the unique recipe with premium high quality elements. Served piping-hot, the hand-stretched whole-wheat pastries are each crispy and chewy on the similar time. BeaverTails actually are iconic in Canada, having been eaten by Matt Damon, Ron MacLean, Ed Sheeran, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and U.S. President Barack Obama. BeaverTails have been even featured in an episode of South Park.
Pumpkin Mousse – Much more than BeaverTails, this is the dish I miss most from EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition previous. The “Pumpkin Mousse with Ocean Spray Craisins and Orange Sauce” was so beloved that Disney even shared the recipe on-line for Thanksgiving 2011. That very same 12 months, we ended up having a half-dozen of those (not going from reminiscence, however my picture archive) over the course of our October journey.
Partly, that was as a result of it was scrumptious. But it surely was additionally low-cost. This dangerous boy value $1.50 the primary 12 months it was supplied. That’s not a typo. One greenback and 50 cents. I’d fortunately pay double that for it at the moment and order simply as many in 2024! Truly, I’d in all probability be paying triple that quantity given worth will increase–but it surely’d nonetheless be value it. This pumpkin mousse was superb, and that’s not simply our bias for all issues pumpkin speaking.
Oh, and whereas we’re at it, deliver again the Cranberry Lavatory. That Ocean Spray sponsorship actually was fruitful in additional methods than one!
Culinary Hall – Also referred to as the Rosewalk, that is the walkway between the Creativeness Pavilion and World Showcase. It’s simply been redone for what feels just like the third time since 2019, and has been house to meals cubicles or seating areas for earlier festivals. The Culinary Hall was house to the “Subsequent Eats” space that debuted in Future World again round 2017 with a small house dedicated to the now-defunct ABC tv sequence, The Chew.
In typical TV trend, these cubicles impressed a sequence of spinoffs, and that has led us to the 2 teams of cubicles in Future World, these with “Eats” within the title and people with “Studio” within the title. The “Eats” cubicles have been all behind the previous Innoventions West constructing. The “Studios” have been within the Culinary Hall.
The entire Subsequent Eats and Culinary Hall areas contained among the greatest cubicles on the 2019 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition–to the purpose that we beneficial beginning on this space when you’re nonetheless actually hungry and getting extra selective as you get to the weaker, much less formidable International Marketplaces in World Showcase. These cubicles have been a mix of creative, enjoyable, and scrumptious–precisely what the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition is at its greatest.
To finish this on a optimistic notice, final 12 months’s occasion form of revived the Subsequent Eats and Culinary Hall–no less than in spirit–with the debut of the Disney100 marketplaces (Char & Chop, Wine & Wedge, Bubbles & Brine, and Swirled Showcase). The primary three of these have been actually sturdy, and Walt Disney World bringing again cubicles of this model or the Culinary Hall/Subsequent Eats space can be an enormous win. Whereas we’re at it, transfer Flavors from Hearth again to its correct house over right here, and restore the expanded menu!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What would you prefer to see introduced again to the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition? Excited to lastly have a competition heart once more in CommuniCore Corridor? Suppose that’ll end in among the “extras” being restored? Any hopes for International Market cubicles or menu objects? Suppose any of the opposite demonstrations or seminars will return? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to suggestions about your experiences is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
