Tizzel's Food and Wine Festival

If you've been following our blog for a while you know that one of Dave's favorite events is Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival. The World Showcase turns into one big party with great food and beverages.   This year Holly had a race (The Tower of Terror 10 Miler) scheduled at Disney during the festival's opening weekend. Dave unfortunately had to stay home due to work obligations. So he wouldn't feel left out Tizzel (with some help from Holly) put together Tizzel's Food and Wine Festival.

Dave arrived home on Thursday night to find an invitation to the festival and a food listing. This was going to be exciting! Along with all the food, a seminar on soufflés by one of Tizzel's friends, Beepie the bunny, was on the schedule. She's an alleged world famous pastry chef.

Everything was scheduled to take place on Saturday.











Dave's Report

Upon arrival I was greeted by some cute bears in food-related costumes. They were sent by one of the sponsors; Boyds Bears by Enesco. Their job was to entertain the attendees and hand out coupons for their online store. This was a cute addition to the festival and I hope they return if there's another one.

Since it was almost noon I headed to Beepie's souffle seminar which was held indoors at the Festival Test Kitchen. What a waste of time! I paid the discounted price of $8 for this seminar and didn't even get any food. This "pastry chef" didn't do a live demo or anything. She just stood there an lectured to us about not letting our souffles fall. No kidding! She also had this strange accent that made her hard to understand. Almost like she hummed everything.


Finally time for a food booth. There were three, plus the nighttime dessert offering in the Festival Test Kitchen. Two of them we're in my backyard thankfully. The other one was by the lake so I had to arrange transportation to it. Geez!

I started at the International Wine and Cheese Booth. I could buy a malbec, a cheese and cracker platter, or combine both for a special price. I was actually surprised that I had to pay anything since I am sure Tizzel conned Holly into some money at the Jewel's. I went for it and paid $9.75 for the combo plate. I got a 2oz wine (in a real glass), a flat bread with three ok size pieces of Black Diamond cheddar, a couple blackberries, and a few squares of chocolate - all served on a real plate with a plastic fork. Go figure..... The cheese was nice - more mild than anticipated. The wine was very good too. I could have used some more but it was $5 for a refill. Too much for my blood.

I could tell by the food listing that the festival was set up to serve appetizers at one booth, main course at another, and then dessert at the final booth. 

Armed with that knowledge I headed to the Japan booth. Food here must be good since there was a line. The menu listed assorted sushi and sake. Fancy! While on line I talked to a cast member and they told me the mouse working the booth was originally at the international booth. That didn't work out so well so they moved him to work the Japanese booth.

Finally my turn. I order a California Roll plate and sake with the souvenir glass. Pretty good for the $11 price tag.

This was a very popular booth, thus making the area crowded.  Since all the deck chairs were taken and I had to enjoy my nice meal on a trash can.

Well that was fun. I broke out the Purell and headed down to the "Made in the USA" booth on the waterfront. I arranged a ride down to the lake via golf cart. It was a nice day so I didn't mind too much. Not many boats out at this time so this was a nice and quiet setting. I ordered the beer - a Califonia Steam Beer made in Chicago. The bunny working the booth said I could have it in a collector's cup for an extra $3. Since the beer set me back $6 I figured why not...... You be the judge:

Come on guys...... The logo is crooked and I can see the tape. I bet this is less dishwasher safe than a Disney pint glass.

I ordered the ice cream which was a decent sample at $1. Ben and Jerry's Americone Dream is one of my favorites. Nice vanilla ice cream, gooey caramel, and crunchy/melty chocolate waffle come pieces.

The final stop of the evening was to go back to the Festival Test Kitchen for a cupcake. Beepie claimed to make this herself, and charged me $5. I found a Sweet Discoveries box in the trash so I knew better.  Even with that knowledge I picked the Chocolate Delight. Very good - even though I paid Beepie double what it costs at the actual store she got it from.

I sampled everything. All offerings were very good, even though a bit pricey. Later in the evening Tizzel came up to me as I went to the office to write this review. He said he was donating all the proceeds to our breast cancer charities since it was so close to October, breast cancer awareness month.

He asked me how he could donate to Avon Breast Cancer Charities through Team Allears and I gave him this button link to our donation form  and reminded him to put "Team Tizzel" in the comments.



On a serious note: Holly did something special for me to feel like I was part of the fun in WDW this weekend and I appreciate it so much. She's down at Disney with some special people that are taking the fight against cancer seriously and personally. Our friends at Team AllEars are doing an incredible job raising money, promoting awareness, and supporting folks with cancer. If this post put a smile on your face, please consider making a small donation to our cause. I lost my mom to breast cancer and watched two friends fight the disease this year. Your donation will make a difference. Thank you.