For those of you who know me – and that would mainly be my Lines chat friends – you know I am an unadulterated Food & Wine Festival junkie. I can’t get enough of it. Well, the 17th installment of Epcot’s Fall culinary event came quietly to a close last Monday, causing me to pause for a moment of silence. I could only console myself with the thought that, assuming the 18th annual festival starts on the last Friday in September ’13 (September 27th, to be exact), the countdown to next year’s love affair with food is just over 300 days away. My wife and I can’t wait!
In order to understand the glee that washes over us when we think about the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, you have to understand a small bit of our family’s history.
Up until a corporate relocation to Georgia in the middle of 2010, we were amongst that class of WDW families who needed wings to reach Florida. As a result, we only got to travel “home” once per year. For us, that usually was at Thanksgiving or Christmas. The Food & Wine Festival just wasn’t an option. Now that we can drive to The World, though, the story is different. Hence, in 2011, I begged. Food & Wine. I had to have Food & Wine. But, my lovely wife wasn’t too sure. Finally, after a lot of pleading, and in a gush of support, she relented and agreed to spend one day – just one – on my foolish quest for food. Well, I could make this a longer story, but I’ll just cut to the chase and say, she LOVED it! Of course, so did I, but the important thing is that “just one” day became the entire short two-day trip, and two Food & Wine junkies were born.
Where we approached the 2011 trip as two clueless foodie neophytes that more or less threw together a quickly-planned, last-minute weekend jaunt, we were much better prepared for our 2012 crusade into International feasting. This included a third planned day of dining as well as a well-thought-out Pre-Festival Top 25 List. Below, I present that list. And, in the coming days, I’ll follow up with the results of our culinary charge through World Showcase.
