EPCOT Food And Wine Festival

Each booth has a large menu

This festival has been a staple at EPCOT for decades. Over the years it has grown and it continues to change with each year. However, it still remains to be one of the most popular attractions at EPCOT. This festival had been on my must try list for years. When I was in high school I wanted to try all the different foods from around the world. I loved dining at the permanent counties at the World Showcase and wanted to try things that I would not otherwise get to try. Somewhere in my mid 20's I started to enjoy wine and I really wanted to be able to pair wine and food. 

This festival is popular for a reason. The food is fantastic. Simply put, there aren't that many that aren't good. Sure there are some options that give you more bang for your buck and some that are just leaps and bounds above the rest. The amount of variety in foods and drinks is just mind blowing. 

All this is made of chocolate

In order to prevent yourself from going broke or getting too overwhelmed at the festival I strongly recommend setting a budget and planning ahead of your trip. This will allow you to make the most of your time while you are there and help you to try as many things as you want. If you were to just show up and walk around the various booths to try to figure out what you want you would very likely be full, tipsy, and broke after just a few and you very well may miss out on something amazing. 

I'll speak more about how I recommend planning and budgeting for the festival in another post. I could honestly fill a book with planning and budgeting. If I were to include it all in one post you would never get through it. 

The festival has changed a lot over the years. It is the reason some people choose to vacation at Disney in the fall. There is a spring time version at California Adventure, but it never seems to have the buzz that EPCOT does. A lot of the locals will spend a few hours at the parks during the less busy weekdays and enjoy the various offerings of food and drinks. I'm actually kind of jealous because that sounds like a much better way to get to sample all that the festival has to offer. 

The food and wine passport is a must have. 

Before COVID changed everything the festival offered the food and beverages at the various booths, but there was also so much more. There were culinary demonstrations, concerts, and classes where you could learn anything from different cooking techniques to food and wine pairings. They have had some concerts still during COVID, but the classes have disappeared and the demonstrations are limited. Hopefully, they will bring back more attractions once things start to return to normal. 

In 2021 the festival had been greatly extended, running from September through November. This was honestly a good thing since the vast majority of EPCOT was under construction so there really wasn't a whole lot to do. Though, it did make the World Showcase area much more crowded, which made finding a place to enjoy your food and beverages harder. I'm sure once more things start to open back up at the park the crowds at food and wine will lessen again. 

EPCOT decorates the entire park for the festival

There is so much to experience at this festival that there is bound to be something for everyone. Disney has even made  great effort to ensure that those with special dietary restrictions can enjoy themselves too. Which I think is amazing. The most recent trip we saw a booth that was dedicated to vegetarians and vegans. There are even notes on the menus about which items are available gluten free. 

Overall, I love the food and wine festival. I've been twice and am currently planning my third trip. I've learned a lot from the first trip when I was so overwhelmed by all the options. I feel that there isn't much else more relaxing that enjoying fine dining and drinks with good company on a nice day at EPCOT. Honestly, even in the rain we've had a good time.  

Planning In Action

I am so lucky my parents bring me with them when they go on vacation.

For those of you that have been bitten by the Disney bug you will know how strong the urge to plan a Disney trip is. I know that I am already thinking about my next trip before I even get home from my current trip.

That being said that last pilgrimage I made the the Orlando parks was absolutely amazing. My boyfriend join my family and me on vacation. The poor thing didn't know what to expect having only gone once before when he was much younger. I savored every minute of it. The phenomenal food. The awe-inspiring night shows. The magic of the parks. All of it. I just love it. It truly feels like home.

For the last few years, ever since college, I have truly cherished these vacations. And I always feel so sad when I leave. I have even cried during Wishes on occasion. Why? Because, each time I go I feel that it will be my last time. At least for a long time.

You see, I have been living on my own for several years now. While I am finally doing well enough that I can get by with one job, I still mainly live paycheck to paycheck. (Thanks student loans....) If I had to pay for myself to go I could not afford to go to Disney. But, I could be much worse off. This is know.

We have already started saving for Food and Wine!

I have been unbelievably lucky in that my parents have been taking me with them whenever they plan a trip to Disney even though I am grown and live on my own. Sometimes, I can only go for part of the trip and other times I can get off work at all. But, the fact that they still invite me, and pay for nearly the entire trip, is amazing. I know that I am incredibly lucky and I hope that one day I will be able to return the favor and bring them with us when my boyfriend and I have our own family.

I can feel my Disney bug coming back to life with each passing day. My parents are planning a trip in October and my boyfriend and I have been invited. The Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT has long been on my list. Even before I started drinking alcohol! I have always loved trying new foods and experiencing the different cultures of the world. Now that I enjoy a glass of wine I am beyond excited to finally be able to go. Not only that, but we are going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. For those of you that don't know it is the only time adults are allowed to wear costumes at the parks. My boyfriend and I have a lot of planning to do!

I know taking a picture with this guy is high on my list.

Not only are my parents going to be with us, but much of my extended family will be as well. I have not seen many of my cousins for years. And sadly, I have only met one of their six children. Life just hasn't allowed me to make the long, expensive, trip to visit my extended family. I can't wait to see my family at one of the most magical places on Earth. It should be exciting since they will be meeting my boyfriend of two years for the first time. What fun!

We don't know where exactly we will be staying, just that it will be on property. We don't know exactly where we will make dining reservations. And I have no idea which attractions we will get fastpasses for. Though, I can assume that some of the major attractions will be high on the list. I'm not sure I can imagine a trip without Big Thunder Mountain, Test Track, Toy Story Mainia, Star Tours, or the Safari ride at Animal Kingdom. Not to mention Illuminations at EPCOT.

I do know that I will be seeing the new Pandora area at Animal Kingdom. I do know that I will spend an afternoon sampling food and beverages from around the world, after I ride the renovated Soarin' of course. I know that I will see the new night show at Animal Kingdom. And I know that I will be seeing the new fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom since Wishes will be retired before our trip. Aside from that the rest of the trip will be relaxing and fun. This time I would like to try for as few pre-planned events as possible. Since the parks, except EPCOT, should be less crowded I am looking forward to a slow paced Disney trip. I want to be able to do the things I want to do when I want to do them.

I look forward to more pictures like this one. 

There is so much to be excited for! My boyfriend and I flew down the last time and met up with my family. This time we will drive down and make a road trip of it and will meet up with them the day they get there. My boyfriend and I want to savor as much of this trip as possible. Like I've said before, I feel that each trip will be my last and I think this may be my last trip until my boyfriend and I go back with our own family many years from now.

I plan on highlighting the planning process and showcasing new things as they open. I am so excited to have something to get me through the difficult days at work. (As we all know, even if you love your job like I do there are some days that are just plain hard.) After all, I work to support my Disney addiction.

Fettuccine Alfredo: A Taste of Disney

It has been too long since I had a touch of Disney magic at home. Its not been four months since I came home from my last trip and, right now, there is no future trip in the works. I am not going to lie: I'm starting to feel the pains of withdraw.

My boyfriend and I are trying to get better at planning out our meals for the week before we go grocery shopping. We are trying to get better about eating healthy and not wasting food. Both of which are going to help us out a lot. After a much too short visit home I got a new cookbook. My mom had gotten me one of the Disney cookbooks that is missing from my collection.


The start of the Italian herb bread, if only you could smell how amazing it was. Which of course was just as amazing as the chicken sautéing in olive oil.


On the long drive home I was able to look through it and do the meal planning for the next week. Nearly every recipe in the book sounded amazing and brought back memories of fantastic family vacations. It was decided. I needed to make one in the next week.

Well, being short handed at the vet hospital and still trying to balance a part time job finding the time to make anything extravagant would be difficult. Then I found it. Fettuccine Alfredo from L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante at the Italy pavilion at EPCOT.

It looked simple enough. But, yet it sounded perfect. After all, who doesn't love pasta.

To be completely honest I was a little concerned with how it would turn out since it only called for noodles, butter, and parmesan cheese. I had always thought there would be cream, most likely heavy cream, in the alfredo sauce. But, it is a Disney recipe that made it into a cookbook comprised of the most requested recipes from the Disney parks. It must be good.

The only changes that I decided to make were to add chicken and mushrooms. I also made Italian herb bread in my bread maker. I even got a bottle of wine. Yes. This was going to be an amazing dinner. I had been looking forward to making this meal for days.

I was dead tired when I got home from work. I had a 14 hour day at the vet hospital. I had been on my feet for nearly 12 hours. I wanted nothing more than to pass out in bed. But, I had dinner to put on the table. It didn't take me too long to pull myself together and get to work in the kitchen. You see, my boyfriend plays video games to unwind after work. I prefer to find peace in the kitchen.

I pealed and minced fresh garlic for the chicken and mushrooms. I got the salted water boiling. I was able to orchestrate the entire process with perfect timing. The smell was heavenly. I had made the bread the day before and set out the two sticks of butter earlier in the day so they could soften. Once the pasta was done and drained I plopped in the softest butter I have ever worked with. I'll let you in on a secret. I didn't measure the cheese. I grated the parmesan cheese directly over the pot with the noodles and butter. Well, my boyfriend grated the cheese while I tired the noodles. Once I was satisfied with the consistency I portioned out the noodles and topped them with the chicken and mushrooms.  Armed with our forks, wine, and herb bread we were ready to attack our meal.

I must say. It turned out fantastic. I even got away with enough leftovers for both of us to have lunch the next day, which is amazing. The same wasn't as saucy as I had thought it would be, but it was very tasty. It was way better than what I would have found at any American-Italian chain restaurant that's for sure.

It was a great ending to a long day. It brought just enough Disney magic back into our lives for the night. It was just what we needed. I feel that we are back on the right track. If you would like to try your hand that this amazingly simple dish you can find the recipe in Cooking With Mickey Vol 2 on page 103. Trust me, you will be glad you did.


Have a magical day!

Beer Cheese Soup

If you have read my previous post about the lovely food at Le Cellier then you will already know that I was really looking forward to trying the beer cheese soup for myself. After all, I have heard from nearly everyone that has tried it about how amazing it is. But, it was simply not meant to be. I could even pretend to justify ordering any more food even if I wanted to. (And let me tell you the poutine was well worth it.)

I had wanted to pick up a Disney cookbook while on my spring 2016 trip. It was our last day and I had only seen one cookbook. In previous years there were two volumes. Well, I figured that it was the only one I was going to find so I might as well buy it. While on the plane home I decided to look through the pages. And, I bet you will never guess what I sound right in the middle. Beer cheese soup. It was a sign.

The day after we got back from Walt Disney World my boyfriend and I went to a friend's wedding. The next day we spent driving around the entire seven cities area looking at rental properties we had seen online. As the day went on we were getting more and more depressed. The homes were in bad parts of town, or nothing like what they had seemed like on-line. We needed a little Disney magic to brighten the day.

So, being the lovely girlfriend that I am, I went to the store and bought everything that we would need to make beer cheese soup. I will admit, I did pause a little when I saw how much I was spending on cheese, but it was oh-so worth it. I will say this: get the good cheese. Your soup will thank you. Trust me. And you won't believe how much cheese is in this soup.

I was a little daunted by the recipe itself. Soups had always intimidated me for some reason. But, I had my boyfriend helping me so I was able to organize the chaos in my kitchen a little better. I had him prep the bacon (the smaller the pieces the better) and grate all the cheese. And that alone was well worth having help. I prepped the veggies and got the soup started. It was at this point, lets just call it the point of no return shall we, that I realized that I had forgotten a major part of the meal. I had planed on serving the soup with fresh bread. I had forgotten to get some going in the bread machine and I hadn't picked any up at the store. I didn't have time to make any and I had started on the soup and I didn't have the time to run back to the store. So, my boyfriend, being the sweet amazing guy that he is, went to the store for me. He did even better than I thought he would do. He returned with bread bowls from Panera. That's right. He took dinner up a notch.

With you soup nearly done, and smelling fabulous, he returned with bread bowls in hand. Adding the beer completed the soup. We ladled the the soup in the the bowls. Took a picture for Instagram, of course. And used the tops of the bowls to taste the first delicious bite of the cheese concoction. It was everything that I wanted it to be. It was savory. It was cheesy. It was warm. We proceed to fill up on beer, cheese, and bread. It really did make the bad day that much better.

I know that I had needed that dinner. Having spend many family vacations at Disney I would say that it is safe to say that I have the 'bug'. I was already sad and feeling the withdrawal when the arrived at the airport to go home. This dinner was not just good. It felt like we had a little bit of the parks at home with us. It was at that moment that I decided that I would try to make every recipe in the book and try to collect the books missing from my small collection.

I hope to have many more stories to share. Because, everyone knows that the Disney parks have some of the best food in the world and they put the best of the best in their cookbooks. It is something that makes me happy and helps to get me though my daily life away from the magic that is Walt Disney World.

 Have a magical day!

Le Cellier

I ate at Le Cellier for the first time when I was much younger. Young enough to each off the kids menu and be a somewhat picky eater. Young enough that I know I did not appreciate it. So, when I got a little older and I heard people talking about how Le Cellier was one of the best places to eat at the Walt Disney World Resort I was a little skeptical. After all, my memories were of a dark room with fancy food. And as a young child that didn't put this place very high on my favorites list.

In May of 2016 my parents took my boyfriend and I to Walt Disney World. It was amazing! The spring before my parents had taken their first Disney trip without any kids. They enjoyed a meal together at Le Cellier and said it was one of the highlights of the entire trip. So, naturally, when they said they had made reservations for the five of us to dine there on our trip I was excited. I don't often eat steak as it is a little on the pricey side so I was very much looking forward to enjoying a steak. Especially from one of the beast steakhouses on Disney property.


The dinning room was just like I remembered. It was dark, but not because they didn't have any lights. The theme is that you are in a cellar, of course there won't be any windows or bright light. The decor was beautiful, and really welcoming.

Our server was fantastic. He shared stories of his world travels, how he came to work at EPCOT, and his plans for when his work visa expired. He explained the menu in a way that was easy to understand. He was able to make recommendations based on what he felt we would enjoy.

My parents had tried the poutine. Now, I had never heard of it before and there really wasn't much of a description on the menu. My parents were raving and our waiter explained that it is a dish that is popular in Canada and is essentially fancy cheese fries, sometimes served with gravy. I love cheese fries. They are my guilty pleasure. My kryptonite if you will. So, of course, they had to twist my arm to try them. (insert sarcasm here please)


We got two deferent kinds since our waiter recommended we get two for a group our size. Just before he brought out the poutine he brought us bread that represented the different regions of Canada and butter that had maple sugar on it. You heard me right. The breads were fantastic and all of us were able to sample them.  My boyfriend was so excited by the red wine reduction sauce that he asked for the recipe. We had gotten the signature and the bacon-cheddar. I really enjoyed both of them. But it was the signature poutine with that red wine reduction sauce that won the table over.

We were slightly full by the time our entires arrived. But, when I cut into my steak I was instantly hungry again. 4 out of our 5 steaks were cooked to absolute perfection, just how we wanted. Sadly, my little brother had to send back his steak. Twice. The manager himself brought it out for the third attempt and made sure that it was cooked how he wanted. It happened. I was a little glad it took so long for him to get his dinner, it gave me more time to digest before dessert. There. I said it. I am a horrible sister. I know.



My steak was so tender I didn't need my knife to cut it. There was so much flavor. And the steak itself was a very decent size. The mushroom risotto that it was plated on was amazing as well. I ate all of it. Not even ashamed to admit it. Three of us had gotten the filet mignon and the other two got the rib eye. We all enjoyed that meal. I think we all agreed that it was one of the best meals we have ever had at Disney.

Dessert was great. For the most part we each got something different. My boyfriend was a little disappointed with his, but I think it was just one of those things were the dessert at fancy restaurants isn't exactly what you are expecting it to me. I think he was expecting the strawberry basil float to be a little sweeter. It was good, but not my thing. The maple creme brûlée was fantastic. It had a lot of flavor and was just sweet enough to be dessert. But, it did get stuck in my teeth.

Overall, my one regret is that we didn't get the sampler of ice wine. My boyfriend and I enjoy sampling different wines and beers and we wanted to try as many as we could on the trip. But, it was a little expensive for us and we opted that we would be better off drinking the iced tea with dinner. After all, it was a very hot day out and we most likely were already dehydrated enough without adding alcohol into the mix. But, if I could do it over again I would spend the money to try the ice wine.



I highly recommend giving Le Cellier a try. I loved it. I know that I will be going back again.

Have a magical day!

The EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

Each spring EPCOT goes through a magical transformation. The entire park comes alive with flowers, butterflies, and life-size topiaries of iconic Disney and Pixar Characters. There are gardens for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. There are dozens of pop-up stands where park guests can purchase products to take home to tend their own gardens or even grow their own Mickey topiaries.

Just about everywhere you can imagine they have added brightly colored flowers. This year they had an exhibit that paid tribute to prehistoric plants. There were even little dinosaur figures in with the plants. The biologist in me was very excited over the fact that they had a bit of mass and it was producing spores. You can tell that all of the plants are very well cared for.

There are talks from experts in gardening and designing back yard spaces. Nearly all of the pop up stands and the existing snack stands have special snacks and drinks for this event. They even have dole whip! (Which previously could only be found at the Magic Kingdom or Polynesian Resort.) A lot of the drinks featured on special were alcoholic, with non-alcoholic versions available as well. Most of them are fruity and perfect for a temporary escape from the heat of the day. 

A lot of the character topiaries are placed in their native lands. In England you could even see Peter Pan on the roof of one of the castles. Though, I will admit that every time I walked by the 'tea garden'  I laughed a little. 

There are spice gardens, vegetable gardens, and even a giant enclosure with countless butterflies. overall the entire event is simply amazing. If you can spare a day to just walk around the park and enjoy all of the festivities you won't regret it. But, trying to see all of the exhibits and ride the rides, and see the attractions might be a little too much for one day and could easily cause the little ones to get burnt out by the end of the day.

If you are lucky enough to visit the parks during the extra magical time take a little extra time to enjoy it. They have some of the same characters each year, but a lot of the topiaries change each year, so it will be different the next time you go. How cool is that?

Have a magical day!