Disney's Food and Wine Festival 2016
Today literally marks the last day of this year's Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. Unlike previous years, I didn't get to cover as much ground because of the unusual level of heat.
Florida is ALWAYS hot in September, October, and November. But 100 degrees at high noon without even a sliver of a breeze? Good god, it was brutal.
So I did what anyone would do. I refused to overeat in the hot weather, so I only stopped at one or two booths during each visit to the festival. I drank a lot (water, soda, tea), but the hydration didn't help. Only ice cream and frozen drinks did the job. I also sought out air conditioning wherever possible and got used to peeling myself off of chairs when it finally time to get moving again.
New Stuff
The biggest change this year is the transition from collecting stamps at every festival booth to... not. Instead, every passport contains the sticker versions of the stamps that you can place yourself on each booth that you visited.
I'm going to miss the stamps (each one felt like a little victory), I get why they've been phased out. The lines for the booths are usually long, but it was worse when I'd found out the five people in front of me in line were only looking to fill their passports with another stamp.
So now that sort of thing won't happen anymore.
The Festival Center was decked out with chocolate sculptures, as usual. Though this year, it was awesome to see Star Wars join the chocolate ranks. As well as the adorable chocolate pandas I posed with.
And I took a few other photos while wandering around the parks - the lovely rows of passports with the menus/stickers inside, the seafood fisherman's pies cooling at the Ireland booth, my friend Jen and I kicking butt at the festival, and my first Snorlax caught over by The Living Seas!
Besides the hot weather, there was extra incentive for annual passholders to return multiple times - three times, specifically. After your third visit (while supplies last), you could collect your free glass tumbler. It's beautiful. I love it more than last year's wine glass (probably because I don't really drink wine, haha).
THE EATS:
As you can see, I didn't get to try as much as I usually did. And my favorites were anything frozen - the liquid nitro truffle I raved about last year (pictured here twice) and the frozen pumpkin chai tea drink. They saved my life AND were incredibility delicious!
Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel (Chocolate Studio)
Twinnings Pumpkin Chai Tea and Caramel Shake (Ireland Booth)
Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream (Belgium Booth)
Schinkennudeln: Pasta Gratin with Ham and Cheese (Germany Booth)
Seafood Fisherman's Pie (Ireland Booth)
Traditional Scottish Lamb Stew with Neeps and Tatties (Scotland Booth)
Fresh Potato Pancake with Scottish Smoked Salmon and Herbed Sour Cream (Scotland Booth)
Korean-style BBQ Beef with Steamed Rice and Cucumber Kimchi (South Korea Booth)
Red Wine Chocolate Truffle (Chocolate Studio)
Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel (Chocolate Studio)
Loaded Mac 'n' Cheese with Nueske's Pepper Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Peppers and Green Onions (Farm Fresh Booth)
Two Henrys Elderberry Hard Cider (Farm Fresh Booth)
