Every fall from mid-September to early November Epcot host their International food and wine festival. There are over 30 booths featuring food and drinks from all over the world placed throughout the world showcase. They also have special tasting events, cooking demonstrations and celebrity chefs-all of which will cost you on top of your park admission.

The best thing about the food and wine event is the chance to try food from all different countries and cultures. First thing you will want to do is grab a festival passport. Inside it list all the booths and what each has to offer. In the past there was a place where each booth would stamp when you purchase food or drinks. The 2016 book had stickers to place on each page instead. My kids loved getting to try the foods but just as exciting was checking off the boxes and stickering each booth we visited.

My girls have tried an assortment of different foods from Belgian waffles to filet mignon to escargot. This is about the only time my kids will try something new without a fight and its fun to try all the different foods with them. Each item runs between $3 to $7 each and some can be purchased with a snack credit if you have the dining plan. They are not huge portions but enough for us to each try a bite, which is fine because you want to have room for trying multiple booths.

A great part of the festival is the Eat to the beat concert series. Throughout the festival every few days a different band plays over in the American pavilion. These concerts are included in the price of your admission. We have seen Boys to men, Survivor, Living color and Hanson. Also located in the American pavilion just across from where the concert stage is there is a private lounge (free) just for Chase visa cardholders. It’s located upstairs and there is usually someone sitting outside the door, just flash your card and you will be good to go. It’s a nice air conditioned space with comfy seating, phone charging stations and a TV playing classic Disney movies. There are also 2 freestyle Coke machines where you can help yourself to a complementary drink. They also have limited amounts of bracelets to get early seating to the concert for that day (these are first come first serve). My girls love going up here and if you have any Chase card including the Disney rewards visa you need to take advantage of it.

You can check out our 2016 festival review here.

One thing I will say is our family has learned to avoid Epcot on the weekends during the food and wine festival. The locals all tend to come out and even though each booth has a limit of 2 alcohol beverages with 20 something booths all serving some kind of liquor there are always drunk people. On one of our trips we saw people stumbling, falling down, even getting into fights. I know Disney does their best to control this but just be aware it does happen.