As residents of the Orlando metropolitan area, many of us are not at all strangers to the parks of Walt Disney World. The massive entertainment compound was originally conceived as a place where children and adults could both have fun, making it a stark contrast from the existing kid-based fun parks of the time. I remember as a child that I loved The Magic Kingdom and MGM Studios (Now Hollywood Studios), but I found Epcot to be rather dull. Now that I am more or less an adult, I still love Hollywood Studios, but the tables have turned with regards to The Magic Kingdom and Epcot. This is, I believe, because Epcot was designed to appeal to the adult portion of Disney’s customers. And the Food and Wine festival is a very good example of a part of Epcot specifically intended for adult enjoyment.
I attended the Food and Wine festival the weekend before last with my girlfriend and her parents, and the experience was markedly similar to Epcot under normal circumstances. While walking around a small, man-made lake, we went through the regions of the park representing different countries. However, there were booths serving sample-sized food items from each country and alcoholic beverages to match. The food was delicious by normal standards (absolutely amazing by theme park standards), and the beer I tried in the Norway section was quite tasty as well. The festival is well-intentioned, encouraging people to step outside their comfort zones and try food and drink from sections of the world that they would not usually sample, like Scotland and Norway, but I don’t believe I have ever seen quite so many drunk people at Disney world.