There are some things even Disney can’t control. As we walk from our favourite Epcot ride – Soarin’ – to the World Showplace building, one of those sudden Florida thunderstorms whips through the park, and we’re completely drenched by the time we are ushered through the entrance to the “Party for the Senses.” Walt Disney World employees (they call themselves “cast members”) hand out large napkins so we can attempt to dry ourselves a little, but as the doors open and we glimpse the elegant setting inside, we forget about our damp clothes. It’s time for the Party!
The Party for the Senses ($135US per person) is just one of the special dining events that adds unique flavour to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. Chef Christine Weismann, who oversees the entire festival, says she begins in March to plan the events, which run for six weeks each fall beginning at the end of September.
“We start by evaluating what things have been successful from previous years and then begin planning for this year,” she explains. “We want to offer guests innovative foods and experiences, and the chance to try foods prepared by outstanding chefs from around the world.”
Here’s how the Party works: inside the large building are groupings of small tables for the guests, surrounded by booths where top Disney chefs offer appetizer-sized portions of food and servers fill your glass with wine selected to blend well with the food. We shared our table with an Ohio couple who told us they’d been coming to this event every year for the past five years. They planned their strategy as carefully as many tourists plan their route around the Magic Kingdom, making sure they got a taste of every item before the end of the night. We took a more random approach, wandering from booth to booth, but we found plenty to satisfy our palates. Our favourites: Three Beans Two Ways with Cilantro-Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette and Whole-Wheat Lavosh Crisp, and Spicy Ostrich Bobotie.
This is the Party for the Senses – note the plural – so while our tastebuds were being stimulated we also enjoyed live music and stunning performances by Cirque du Soleil cast members on a stage in the centre of the room.
While this particular event was pure hedonism, others during the festival have an educational side to them – intended, I suspect, to make you feel a little less guilty about enjoying so much good food and wine. For example, there are the Sweet Sunday brunches ($65US per person), held every Sunday. They begin with a fairly standard brunch buffet.
After we’d eaten, guest pastry chef Will Goldfarb of Room 4 Dessert in New York took the stage for part two. He joked with his assistants, made fun of the sponsor, teased the announcer and generally entertained us all while teaching us to prepare three quite different desserts. After the cooking demo, more eating. Servers presented us with full-sized portions of each dessert, beautifully plated just as Goldfarb had shown us on stage. All three were delicious, and definitely enhanced by the Asti Spumante that was served with them. Thankfully, we were not told the number of calories we had just consumed.
Other events that combine good food and wine with some cooking instruction include Kitchen Conversations, featuring as-seen-on-TV chefs such as Cat Cora, and The Cook, The Book and The Bottle, where guests leave with autographed cookbooks and bottles of wine as well as a little more knowledge about cooking techniques.
The Food and Wine Festival has spilled over into Walt Disney World’s other restaurants, too, and the Signature Dinners ($155US per person at all the signature restaurants except Victoria and Albert’s where the cost is $350 per person) offer more top-notch dining during this event. At the Seas Salon of Nemo and Friends ride, for example, the five-course Blue Montage meal includes a first course of Grilled Maine Lobster Tail, Corn Cake and Roast Root Vegetables with Lobster Bisque Sauce, a fourth course offering a Progression of ‘Blue’ Cheeses with Seasonal Accompaniments, and a dessert of Chocolate Grand Marnier Souffle with Wine Sabayon.
At the Exquisite Evenings Dinners ($210 US per person) you feel a little bit like an Iron Chef judge, as the chefs present each element of the five-course meal to you and the other guests. No secret ingredient, though. Each dinner has a different theme; this year, the Vineyard Collage dinner offered, as a first course, Panko-crusted Asparagus and Baby Arugula wrapped with a Pine Nut Crepe and Fresh Mozzarella on Heirloom Tomatoes with a Citrus Chardonnay Vinaigrette, served with Silver Chardonnay to drink. The entrée: Centre-cut Lamb Shank on Wild Mushroom and Balsamic-roasted Cipollini Onion Risotto, with a Cabernet-Thyme Reduction Sauce and Lemon-Parsely-Chervil Gremolata, with Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. The meal finished with a dessert featuring California strawberries prepared four different ways, then guests were escorted to a private VIP location to watch the night end with Illuminations, the dazzling fireworks and laser light show over Epcot’s lagoon.
Several wine-tasting events and seminars are offered each year, but new in 2007 was a Tea-Tasting seminar hosted by Stephen Twining. Naturally, this was held in the UK pavilion.
And I haven’t even mentioned the booths around the World Showcase, which are what the average guest sees as the Food and Wine Festival. Some two dozen booths, representing countries around the world (and a few non-countries that get their own booth anyway – like 2007’s Oklahoma section, celebrating the state’s 100th anniversary) are set up around the pathway, and visitors can buy small, sampler-size portions of foods and glasses of wine to enjoy as they wander around the park. This presents a few challenges, says Weismann. “Not only are we looking for foods that will be representative of the country, they have to be easy for guests to carry around with them and eat out of their hands.” She’s also looking for the right variety: “We want a balance of chicken, beef, pork and vegetarian foods so it’s well-rounded. I think of it as being educational too, because many of the booths have little cooking demos or have some unusual foods – like the plantains served at the Dominican Republic booth. I was very impressed with their items.“
We were impressed, too, not just with that plantain dish but with the scope of the Festival. The mix of very casual eating opportunities – like the delicious Cheddar Cheese Soup, served with a plastic spoon in a paper cup, that we picked up at the Canada booth and the formal, five-course meals we also enjoyed – celebrates food and wine at all levels. As we strolled back to our hotel, hoping it wouldn’t rain on us again, we were already making plans to return next fall – wearing pants with elastic waistbands.
Wined & Dined at Walt Disney
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