More food (and Figment) on the table at Epcot’s latest fest
Sure, we laugh about the length of festivals at Epcot, where it seems one barely ends before the other starts. They feature food, wine, flowers, gardens, arts and holidays, repeat, repeat, repeat.
But we’re in a funky phase now due to the coronavirus pandemic and the related two-month shutdown of Walt Disney World. When Epcot reopened July 15, it came with a hybrid festival that blended the theme park’s abbreviated flower and garden festival with a dollop of its food and wine festival and plopped it right in the middle of summer.
And if that weren’t unconventional enough, the new Taste of Epcot International Food & Wine Festival comes without an expiration date. Disney hasn’t said when it will end.
We recently chatted up Kevin Downing, Epcot festival chef, about how the event is going and what else could happen on the food front. After that, there are notes about the fest, including a look at fresh merchandise. (Two words: Figment leggings.)
What’s hot
The menu for Taste was developed to include favorites from Flower & Garden with “heavy hitters” from previous Food & Wine fests, Downing said.
“We really wanted to bring back those items that guests have enjoyed over the years,” he said. “It gives them that sense of normalcy when they walk into the park, so that they can see that Epcot and the festival are back, and it is very similar to what I’ve experienced in years past.”
The weather is also a planning factor, he said, although the festival started in August anyway, and September rarely features heat relief in Central Florida.
“We try to make sure we have a good balance between heavy and some lighter options that guests can enjoy so that not everything is heavy on these really hot days,” Downing said.
That’s where World Showplace — and its airconditioned glory — comes in. There are four kiosks set up in the building that’s situated between the Canada and United Kingdom pavilions. Among the choices are variations of macaroni and cheese and large cake pops.
“You get a good variety of the festival in that one location,” Downing said. “It is definitely the busiest marketplace.”
The cake pops are chocolate on a stick, sprinkled with candy or candy-bar bits and dipped in liquid nitrogen.
“It still kind of smokes a little bit when you walk away with it, and it’s superrefreshing in the middle of the summer,” Downing said. They have been big sellers, he said, and photogenic.
When Taste debuted in July, there were empty kiosks sprinkled around the park. A couple have been filled since then with food from the Alps and Spain. There could be more, Downing said.
“The hope is that we will be able to activate them in the future,” he said. “We have some items already planned for those ready to go.”
One possibility is a Caribbean kiosk, he said.
“We’ll have the empanadas and the jerk chicken … so there’s a few options out there that, when the time’s right, will be kind of a nice little surprise for the guests when they walk into the park,” Downing said.
Now, about that mysterious end date. Food & Wine went into November in pre-pandemic times.
“Right now, it’s very open-ended. So there’s plenty of time to come down and enjoy it,” Downing said.
The Figment file
New merchandise tied to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival started rolling out Sept. 1. Visitors can look at the goods from multiple collections just inside World Showplace (some items will also be in Mouse Gear in the Future World half of the park).
Lost in the 2020 fray has been that it’s the fest’s 25th anniversary.
“You’re going to see most of the merchandise has a nod to year 25 somewhere on it. Sometimes it’s on the bottom or the back of our products,” said Will Dasso, guest-experience manager.
You’re probably also going to see Figment, the imagination dragon/mascot of Epcot. The colors of the rainbow pop up on Figment’s merch, including those leggings, a plate and a long-sleeve T-shirt. The pullover has an all-over print with Figment’s face
and Spaceship Earth on the back, Dasso said.
Figment also figures into a measuring cup set and a trivet. Meanwhile, we also can see Chef Minnie and her “queen of cuisine” nickname in a mug.
“Our cheese board — again, the popular bamboo wood, which is sustainable and environmentally friendly — has made a return, and the insulated stainless steel wineglass is sure to be a hit, too, to keep your white wine a little more chilled,” Dasso said.
Among the annualpassholder exclusives are a bamboo appetizer plate (like you see carried around at a festival), glasses emblazoned with four chefs (Mickey, Minnie, Figment, Remy), a Remy long-sleeve festival T-shirt and a chip
and-dip tray that gets punny with “Olive to Cook” written on it.
Listen up
While inside World Showplace, you may hear Carol Stein at the piano, cranking out Disney tunes from a socially distanced stage. I bet she’ll be smiling anyway. You may know her from her gig at Epcot’s Rose & Crown pub or from back in the day at Downtown Disney’s Comedy Warehouse.
Another nontraditional musical staging is happening at America Gardens Theater, which is now home to Mariachi Cobre (usually stationed at the Mexico pavilion) and the Jammitors, who wander through Future World. These performances are in
lieu of the Eat to the Beat concert series.
It’s a fresh angle, physically, in this spot, but their styles translate well in the new setting. Seating is clearly marked to assure proper spacing. The groups perform several times daily.
Orange Bird army
There were still Flower & Garden Festival items to be had in the park, some of them discounted. There are a couple of Orange Bird locations, where the character appears on shirts and hats, as a large mug and as a backpack.
“Orange Bird has really come into his own in the last couple of years and become a guest favorite character,” said Chelsea Florig, project manager. “Being able to have that
hybrid festival where we still highlight things from Flower & Garden, we still had a lot of that merchandise.”
That includes the Orange Bird sipper cup sold (with beverage) at the festival’s Citrus Blossom Marketplace. No sign yet of the Orange Bird passholder magnets that were due to be distributed in the second half of Flower & Garden.
Your way around Epcot
If you’ve not been to Epcot in a while, here are some notes about getting around.
Trams are not running from the parking lot.
The center of Future World is still torn up for construction. To get to World Showcase, you must take one of two relatively roundabout ways. You must choose between the Living Seas side (toward the right as you enter) or the side with construction for the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind attraction and other projects as well as the temporary Mouse Gear location.
■ The monorail isn’t running to (or looping around) Epcot.
■ Disney Skyliner is running. It’s accessed via the International Gateway and connects to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and select resort hotels. (No parkhopping is allowed at this time and day-specific park reservations are required.)
All of this could change in the next breath. Ah, 2020.
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