On my latest Walt Disney World trip I was lucky enough to be at Epcot the opening day of the 2012 Food and Wine Festival!  The park was hot,  the park was crowded, it was so rainy and I was full, ha! Talk about a combination. Let me give you a tip right off the bat – if you plan on enjoying the Food and Wine Festival to the absolute fullest don’t gorge yourself at Le Cellier for lunch ahead of time… just. don’t. do. it. But I did manage to stop at several booths and try a little bit of this and that.

You can pay for the items at the Food and Wine Festival Booths a few different ways.  Cash or Credit is always accepted, Disney gift card or you may use Snack Credits from your Disney Dining Plan.  Here is a general rule of thumb, if a snack is over $3.50 go ahead and use your Disney Dining Plan snack credit.  That is a good value because snacks are generally anywhere from $4 something on down.  If it is under the $3.50 mark pay with cash/credit/gift card, don’t waste a snack credit on that.  Here is something cool, normally snack credits are $4ish and under but during the Food and Wine Fest you can really maximize your credit by purchasing a $7.50 lobster roll!  That is without a doubt the best value you can get with your snack credit on property! Pretty cool, right!

There are almost 30 booths at this years Food and Wine Festival that offer tappas sized portions for your trying pleasure. By clicking on each country below you can see each countries selections. This years booths are:

Best Drink in the Park has got to be the Eiffel Sour Cosmo Slush located in France.  This drink costs $9.75 but it is worth it! If you plan on having a drink at the festival this is it! And if you are not a big drinker at home you may want to share this one… ooohhhwwie it can get ya!

Schinken Nudel (pasta with ham and cheese) is what I sampled from the Germany booth.  Schinken Nudel costs $3.25 at the festival and I think the portion is big enough to share with someone if you want to sample a little taste! It is very good! It’s pretty basic and ham and cheese casserole but my family comes from Germany so I was very excited to try it! I loved it!

Up next we sampled the Perfect Maine Lobster Roll from from Hops & Barley!  This tiny little tease of a taste costs $7.50 and you will want to be getting your own folks! This thing is delish! By far the best food item we sampled all day! This is something you will want to use a Disney Dining Plan Snack Credit on with the cost of the sampling being so high! This is bang for your buck when we are talking snack credits! Don’t miss out on this yummy treat! ( We paired the lobster roll with the Red Stag Lemonade from Fife and Drum not too far from the Hops & Barley booth.  It was a perfect combo, unfortunately no picture of the fruity drink .)

Now in all fairness of a review I am going to share with you something I did not like. The Cheese Fondue from the Cheese booth was something I was so looking forward too. Cheese is my all time favorite food and I had decided before we left I was going to sample the fondue, not only for myself but I knew it would be something my 5 year old would love.  I was really really wrong.  The cheese menu board did not describe what type of cheese fondue this was going to be.  I guess because I am so American and all I figured it was going to be an ooey gooey cheddary cheese melt. I ripped apart my crusted bread and soaked up a huge dipping of the cheese and shoved it in my mouth, only to be terrible surprised.  The cheese fondue is very strong and pungent. I like strong cheeses but for some reason it just wasn’t want I was expecting. I am pretty sure it is a Swiss blend or something. Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know in case you think this will be great for your kids.  You may want to think twice.

For some sweet treats I headed over to Belgium and tried the Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and whipped cream.  It is a $3.00 treat that is very tasty!  The waffle was nice a soft and the berry compote had just enough tartness to it! I enjoyed it and it is a very pretty dish. We also grabbed some Belgian Chocolates while we were at the booth and they were divine! The chocolates came in a pack of 2 and I have to say my 5 year old girl ate both packs I had grabbed.  I did manage to get a taste and it was so so good. Rich and smooth and creamy – just what you would expect from a Belgian Chocolate.