2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Photos from Cast Preview Night

2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Photos and Info

The 2014 Epcot Food & Wine Festival is now officially open to guests! Last night we had the opportunity to attend the Cast Member preview. The preview was basically a soft opening, so all the booths were open and serving their delectable food and beverage offerings.

We arrived around 6 pm, and it was quite crowded! The preview was scheduled to end at 8 pm, so we decided to make a lap around World Showcase to check out all the marketplaces and peer at the foods and drinks thats strangers were enjoying before making any selections of our own.

Here’s a look at what we saw:  <drool>

This preliminary lap seemed like a great plan at first. We had gotten almost all the way around World Showcase without any rain even though it was getting dark and there was lightning in the distance, but then something awful happened. They started CLOSING DOWN all the booths! Lightning was within 5 miles, so safety protocols kicked in and the festival was effectively closed – JUST when we were about ready to eat “dinner.”

Can you imagine walking about the Food & Wine Festival for an hour watching everyone enjoy incredible looking tastes and drinks and then having it ripped out from under you? It was awful! I know. First World Problems. For real.

We didn’t give up. We hoped the storm would pass and they would reopen the kiosks. To pass the time, we took a detour up to the new Craft Beer Marketplace (now hosted in the Odyssey Center) and chatted with some friends we ran into there. Neither of us drinks beer, so the choices here were of little interest to us, but we did think it was cool that you get a free snack mix with any beer. It’s described as a sweet and savory blend of nuts, fruits and crackers. 

There’s plenty of room here to cool off and relax with your beer too.

Side note about beers: Apparently the beer flight portion sizes are smaller this year. I believe them to be 4 oz pours. Also, individual beers at the marketplaces are 6 oz pours. I believe a larger size option was available in previous years, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Someone who actually consumes beer will have to fill me in.

By the time we went back out to World Showcase, they had started reopening marketplaces. YES! With only about 20 minutes before closing time, we grabbed an old favorite and three new items to try.

First, let’s talk about the old favorite: Grilled beef skewer with chimichurri sauce and boniato purée. This is a gluten free item from the Patagonia Marketplace. We had beef with chimichurri at our Disney Wedding happy hour, so we always like to see this dish. As usually, the meat was tender and juicy and the sauce was flavorful. If you aren’t familiar with chimichurri, it’s finely-chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano, and white wine vinegar.The boniato puree is basically like mashed potatoes. They were a little buttery (perhaps oily from the chimichurri), pureed nicely and tasted good to us, especially since we were starved!

Next, we went to the Farm Fresh Marketplace and ordered three items.

1. Nueske’s Pepper Bacon Hash with Sweet Corn, Potatoes, Hollandaise and Pickled Jalapeños
2. Florida Orange Groves Key Lime Wine
3. Griddled “Yard Bird” with braised greens and house-made habanero sauce

It doesn’t look like much, but the hash had really interesting flavor combinations between the sweet corn, spicy jalapenos, creamy sauce and flavorful bacon. It actually went great with the wine, too. I am not a big fan of lime, so I didn’t really like the lime wine on it’s own, but when paired with the hash, the flavors of both items seemed be much more delicious! I would get those two items together again. Andy, on the other hand, was not a big fan of the hash. I will say that it was extraordinarily greasy because of the bacon grease, so that’s probably what turned him off. I could deal with it since it was a small portion, but I couldn’t see eating a whole plate of this. The tasting size portion was perfect. The enhancing effect of the wine and hash together was an unexpected treat! By the way, both of these dishes were also made with gluten free ingredients.

The “Yard Bird” (chicken thigh) was also a tasty surprise. I didn’t read the description and missed the part about the habanero sauce, so the kick caught me off guard, but I loved it! The chicken is cooked pressed on the griddle, so the surface has a nice crunchy texture, while the rest remains really juicy. The greens and the sauce went together beautifully with the chicken. We both enjoy all the components (chicken, braised greens, and spicy sauces), so this one was a winner for us.

With that, it was 8 pm and the preview was over. The marketplaces were closed, so we walked over to the Festival Center just to make sure it wasn’t open. We have a couple culinary demonstrations booked and will definitely be back to visit the Festival Center for merchandise, the free seminars, the Ghiradelli chocolate display and more!

Perhaps it was the excitement of the preview or the fact that it was 8 pm and we were really hungry by the time we ate, but we were pretty happy with the foods we saw, tasted and smelled during this visit. We’re both looking forward to coming back for more! Thankfully, we have 53 more days to experience the 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival!

Note: Thanks to DisneyFoodBlog.com for noting all the pricing and dining plan eligible items. DisneyFoodBlog.com’s 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival online guide was used a reference.