Special Events Food and Wine

[larsonb74]

Does any ever think they will bring back any of the special events, dining events to Food and Wine? Enjoyed many of these pre 2020. Mexican Tequila Lunch, Italian Reginal Food and Wine Pairing Luncheon, Moroccan Food and Wine Pairing, French Family Meal Traditions and so many more. Really miss these.

Special events at the 20xx Epcot Food and Wine Festival require a significant extra cost and advance tickets.

 

[Crescent_Lake]

Does any ever think they will bring back any of the special events, dining events to Food and Wine? Enjoyed many of these pre 2020. Mexican Tequila Lunch, Italian Reginal Food and Wine Pairing Luncheon, Moroccan Food and Wine Pairing, French Family Meal Traditions and so many more. Really miss these.

Special events at the 20xx Epcot Food and Wine Festival require a significant extra cost and advance tickets.

I wish they would, but I don't think they will unfortunately.

 

[Marthasor]

The special events were wonderful and such a great addition to the festival. I was just at F&G at EP and lamenting the loss of the lectures and special events/activities they used to have at that festival as well.

 

[jillt2ph]

Does any ever think they will bring back any of the special events, dining events to Food and Wine? Enjoyed many of these pre 2020. Mexican Tequila Lunch, Italian Reginal Food and Wine Pairing Luncheon, Moroccan Food and Wine Pairing, French Family Meal Traditions and so many more. Really miss these.

Special events at the 20xx Epcot Food and Wine Festival require a significant extra cost and advance tickets.

I always wanted to do the Parisian breakfast

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Does any ever think they will bring back any of the special events, dining events to Food and Wine? Enjoyed many of these pre 2020. Mexican Tequila Lunch, Italian Reginal Food and Wine Pairing Luncheon, Moroccan Food and Wine Pairing, French Family Meal Traditions and so many more. Really miss these.

Special events at the 20xx Epcot Food and Wine Festival require a significant extra cost and advance tickets.

From your lips to Disney ears. I so wish they would bring back some of these events. Start small and add something more each year. Maybe start with the classes and then add meals. There really isn't a whole lot of difference between F & W and a lot of the other festivals besides a few more booths. Come on Disney make it special again. Honestly, with the current schedule if I did miss it I really wouldn't care because I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything I can't get any other time of year.

 

[CarolynFH]

I wonder whether the opening of the new building will give them locations for those presentations. May have outgrown Wonders of Life pavilion.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I wonder whether the opening of the new building will give them locations for those presentations. May have outgrown Wonders of Life pavilion.

That's the thing that gives me a shred of hope that they might return. Remember the 45 minute Demos they used to have? Remember when they were free? Then they were $5, then 6, 9, etc. And remember when the cost (even back when they were free) included wine? I even remember seeing some chefs I recognized from "Chopped" and other cooking shows on TV. I don't expect the demos to return to that level but I'd love to see them back to some extent.

 

[larsonb74]

Planning Oct trip & hoping for shred of Disney past. Has there been any of the old signature meals made a come back?

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Planning Oct trip & hoping for shred of Disney past. Has there been any of the old signature meals made a come back?

Sadly, the only thing to come out recently are the food booth menus. I highly doubt we will see any of the wonderful events/dinners/seminars from the past. F & W is a shell of it's former life. It's now just a food booth festival like all the other festivals, except those have story tellers, art and garden sculptures. So Food & Wine has gone from first to worst for many festival followers.

 

[larsonb74]

Food & Wine '25
Just secured @ 7MON date BCV reservation.
Now, has anyone heard anything about any news of events/dinners/seminars from the past? I'm always hopeful that things will return back to pre-covid times.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Food & Wine '25
Just secured @ 7MON date BCV reservation.
Now, has anyone heard anything about any news of events/dinners/seminars from the past? I'm always hopeful that things will return back to pre-covid times.

There have been no rumors or indications any of it is returning.

Swolphin offers some seminars during their F&W event so might be something look at if you’ll be there during that time.

 

[Pens Fan]

I had hopes that when they reopened CommuniCore Hall they would bring some of the seminars back. Sadly that didn't happen during last year's F & W. I guess there is still hope for this fall, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[larsonb74]

It has been a disappointment on how so many fun, great experiences that Disney had offered pre-covid seem to be gone forever. Tours, dining experiences, shows, desert parties, fireworks, etc.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I have been hoping for their return each year and was even more hopeful when they stressed that the kitchen in Communicore Hall had been outfitted with cameras as a demo kitchen. But they haven't done anything and I'm pretty pessimistic at this point.

The one area I do have some hope is that La Cava might bring the tequila lunch back. They're still doing the tasting and overall seem to do special events more often.

It's worthwhile to follow various Disney Springs restaurants who occasionally do special events. Last year Wine Bar George had a few special dinners, Maria & Enzo's did a wine vs. beer event (reminiscent of the one in the Italy pavilion), think Jaleo had some dinners, Chef Maneet does dinners at Eeet, I think Chef Art did something at Homecomin. The Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic is November 14-15 this year and I've found that "scratches the itch" of special events if your trip happens to overlap.

 

[crazy4wdw]

Does any ever think they will bring back any of the special events, dining events to Food and Wine? Enjoyed many of these pre 2020. Mexican Tequila Lunch, Italian Reginal Food and Wine Pairing Luncheon, Moroccan Food and Wine Pairing, French Family Meal Traditions and so many more. Really miss these.

Special events at the 20xx Epcot Food and Wine Festival require a significant extra cost and advance tickets.

Personally, I do not think that the special events will return to the F&W festival. First of all, Communicore Hall was completed in time for last year's festival and this facility was supposed to include at show kitchen which would be used for the culinary demonstrations. As we know now, a show kitchen was not included. Also, there is an issue of staffing. I would imagine that it would take a fair number of cast members to plan for this event, 4 to 6 culinary demonstrations and beverage seminars per day and the wine and food pairings in the World Showcase restaurants. The staff who were planning the special events have long departed their roles at the festival.

Unfortunately, Disney can no longer use the Wonders of Life Pavillion. The building was gutted in preparation for a new pavilion themed to play and recreation that was scheduled to be completed in time for the 50th anniversary. After the closure of WDW due to COVID-19, Disney decided not to pursue the development of the new pavilion.

Just in case anyone is interested, tickets for the 2025 Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic are already on sale (November 15 & 16): https://swandolphinfoodandwineclassic.com/

Also, the menus for the 2024 festival were not released until August 13th last year.

 

[gottalovepluto]

It kills me that Disneyland got all their events back for CA Adventure's F&W- and more! A quick glance shows they even had a chocolate and wine pairing event run by Ethel M last weekend.

 

[japanese maple]

We saw Communicore Hall in person for the Festival of the Holidays and it was not great. I wonder how they will set up it this time. From seeing on youtube, festival of Arts looked awesome and I think Flower/Garden looks good too! I like the displays along the walls, teaching you about the topiaries.

I'm thinking of what kind of displays they will come up with for Food/Wine! I hope they don't go back to boring because we are finally coming back to Food/Wine!

 

[bigblock396]

I wish they would announce the dates for the 2025 Food and Wine event. I need to firm up my hotel reservations, currently holding extra reservations at the Yacht Club due to not knowing the dates. I heard rumors that it will be starting later this year, possibly not until September 12.

 

[crazy4wdw]

I wish they would announce the dates for the 2025 Food and Wine event.

The dates were released on April 23rd last year.

 

[crazy4wdw]

Beer vs. Wine event coming to Maria & Enzos on April 26th:
https://mickeyblog.com/2025/04/06/maria-enzos-wine-vs-beer-lunch-event-is-coming-soon/

Reminds me of some of the special events at the Food & Wine Festival.