Back from Orlando! This was our 5th visit to the Int'l Wine and Food Festival, and let me tell you it just keeps getting better. Some of these things tend to get more commercial, crowded, etc,but not here. Flew in on Fri, took Mears van to hotel (Nikki bird H Inn 49 bucks on Priceline)It was full! Lots of people fleeing coastal towns. Room clean, service good. Next day we went to our timeshare at Orange Lake. The unit reeked of smoke, and on the patio was a dirty towel and an ashtray FULL of butts. A call yielded a security man with a spray bottle, LOL. He called the office; they sent 2 more people with bottles. Finally, they moved us to a clean unit. The service here was terrible, even though we are owners.I left a bathing suit in bathroom and couldn't get anyone to check on it. I'm still waiting. EPCOT was hot and humid, but the first day we went to each country and did lots of food sampling and wine sipping. Not many outstanding ones. The wines on sale inside the pavilions were better. Aussie walkabout was good- 8 bucks for 5 tastings and lots of info from the people pouring..The Australian shrimp on the barbie was great as was the beef.The grilled shrimp from FL also great. It started raining at 530, so we skipped concert and headed toward the "Party for the Senses". On hand were chefs from across America and many good wines. Not a lot of winery owners/winemakers this year, mostly poured by distributors.many wines sold in the 40-60 dollar/bottle range. Some of the food was truly outstanding; my favorite was from the 4 Seasons in New York- a small crabmeat flan that melted in your mouth. The chef told me they brought their select crab with them; you could tell. Sorry to see foie gras served by one restaurant- this should not be offered at any event given the cruel method in which it is produced. Entertainment was by performers in Cirque de Soleil. Interesting and enjoyable- not too loud or distracting. The following day, we did "Soarin" which I again loved.We then spent the warm windy day mostly enjoying free wine seminars which now are held inside a large pavilion near "The Land". No more standing outdoors in line, and no more line cutting. Theses are well organized, and were very informative and quite good. We've been to many. At 7 we heard a short concert by Jefferson Starships sans Grace Slick, but singer Marty proved his voice could cover her parts! Very good.The skies opened up around 8 as Wilma approached and we made a dash home, soaked! The next day, Disney closed the parks.Though winds were gusty and rain continuous, we had a nice flight out at 1:45. Any questions about the evnt, I'll be happy to answer. BTW, The Party for the Senses is 95 dollars/person and worth it.

My DH had program, here's rest of report. Chef Mark Salter- Inn at Perry Cabin, MD..sea scallops over spiced PORK confit? Who mixes pork and seafood"? I eat fish twice a week, no other meat.Here's favs: Ray's Boat House from Seattle did a great Alaskan Prawn w/ olive oil and lemon. Concourse Steakhouse at Disney's Contemporary Resort had a sumptious sea bass w/ lobster fricasee and spinach crisp..yum! Seastar from Seattle had a yummy Sesame/peppercorn ahi tuna. The Venetian in Las Vegas delighted us with Seared Scallpos and dragon fruit coulis. Shrimp with apple-jicana slaw was delicious- thanks to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Chef Alain Roby, executive pastry chef from the Hyatt concocted a splendid fresh berry dessert and humored me in a bit of French "conversation". Thewre were also excellent cheese selections available.
Excellent Pinot Noir...a 1994! from Kalin Cellers at about 60 a bottle.Dense. Champagne Pommery from France was a nice alternative to the highbrow Dom-types but far nicer than the 20 dollar US brands. Since I don't do poultry, pork, beef, etc I can't review those who served it. However, delightful bananas Foster by Montage , Laguna Beach. Wild Sweets Flights were beautiful (Vancouver)Thierry delourneaux from Ritz carlton stunned us with his chocolate surprise. truly.Oh, yes. The offender was chef Keith Schockling with Wolfgang Puck cafe in Orlando who served foie gras. For those who are uninformed, just Google "foie gras". here's a start: http://www.goveg.com/feat/foie/

Thanks for the report, esp. the restaurant reviews

You are welcome- just wanted to add though I'm an "Aquitarian" ...fish only, no other meat, there were almost no dishes for vegans at the dinner. A few at the festival and in Epcot. Sorry,understand your pain!

Thanks so much for the report, I have a few questions. My guess is the food & wine festival comes with the Epcot ticket, but any actual food or wine you taste, you have to pay for. Is this correct? What do the prices look like (I know you mentioned Aussie flight 5 wines for $8, do you have other examples?)? My husband has never been to Epcot so I thought this would be a great time to take him, but if all the samples are expensive, I'd rather not because we'll either be annoyed at the prices or we'll break down and spend more than we should. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Birder, there are specialties from each country sold in small booths in front of those areas. They run around 1.50 each. Most are pretty generous! The wine samplings are rather small. Inside the wine pavilion is a regular sampling area where small glasses of various wines are sold.You can buy bottles in the stores and have them sent to the gate for pickup when you leave. There are tastings in Spain and Australia where you pay one fee and try several wines. They aren't the pricey ones, though. On specific days, several other events are held. You must buy tickets in advance. These include the Party for the Senses, Vertical Tastings, Food and Wine Pairings and several others. Check EPCOT online for times and info. The wine seminars where you get to sample and learn and the cooking demos are all free. On Sunday, they weren't at capacity. On Saturday, you had to get in line about a half hour early. If you can go during the week, it would be to your advantage. The concerts are also free. Even if you pay 95 dollars for the Senses Party, you must pay for admission to EPCOT, but not all the dinners are set up that way.

Thank you so much, that's extremely helpful! We can go on a weekend, so that's what we'll probably do!