Showing posts with label Epcot International Festival Of The Arts. Show all posts
Why We Can't Wait For The 2018 Epcot International Festival Of The Arts
Disney World launched a new Festival at Epcot in January of 2017 that they called The International Festival of the Arts. It featured visual arts, culinary arts, and performing arts during several weekends at Epcot. Only WDWorld was proud to be present for the original Festival of the Arts and we want to share with you why we intend to be there again for the 2018 version and why you should be making plans to be there also.
2018 Epcot International Festival Of The Arts
Dates: January 12th - February 19th, 2018Location: Epcot Theme Park at The Walt Disney World Resort
Cost: FREE with regular Epcot admission!
What makes this Festival so special?
The Epcot International Festival of the Arts has some of the basic elements that make all Epcot Festivals worth visiting: great food, live entertainment, visually stunning exhibits, and interactive seminars.
The Food REALLY is a work of Art!
One of the amazing parts of the inaugural Festival was the Food Kiosks that were positioned around the World Showcase. What differentiated these kiosks from what you may have seen before is that each menu item is a culinary work of art and the Culinary Staff working there take their time to make sure that each item you receive is just as visually appealing as the taste.
The food ranged from deconstructed interpretations of favorite dishes to truly artful renditions of enticing ingredients. Some of our favorites that we tried (and are pictured here) were:
You will quickly see that it is worth the extra time to let the talented chefs prepare each individual work of art. Fortunately most if not all of the best dishes are available again this year with a few new ones added to the menus.
Broadway Disney Style Comes To Epcot
During every weekend of the Festival Disney is bringing in veteran Broadway performers from their vast stable of hit shows like: Mary Poppins, Lion King, Tarzan, Newsies, & Aladdin. The headlining performers may not all be household names, but they definitely have Broadway credentials and they can certainly sing.
Last year we saw Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland perform and they were amazing! They are making a return visit to the 2018 Festival on February 9 to 12 & February 16 to 19, 2018.
They sing a variety of songs from various Disney musicals that will certainly appeal to everyone in your group. These live performances rival those that you normally have to travel to New York City to see.
Art & Artists Can Be Found Everywhere!
Throughout Epcot, and particularly in the World Showcase area you will find an amazing array of art displays, art for sale, and artists present to sign their works and answer your questions.
You will also find intriguing "photo opportunities" where you can insert yourself into reproductions of famous masterpieces.
There is even an opportunity for you to participate in what is best called a collaborative group art project that may be the largest paint-by-numbers mural that we have ever seen.
Whether you are the casual art fan or a major Disney themed art fanatic, there is something for you. There are even daily seminars that take place to help you cultivate your inner artist.
Only WDWorld will be at the 2018 Epcot International Festival of the Arts! How about you?
Epcot International Festival Of The Arts - Review of the Food!
Disney World has a new festival to kick off 2017 with the inaugural edition of the Epcot International Festival Of The Arts. During 6 weekends from January 13 - February 20 Epcot pays homage to the Arts : Visual, Musical, and Culinary.
As a big fan of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival and the other events that have added food stations and kiosks over the past few years, we were excited that this festival was also going to add 8 different Food Studios with a variety of artistic culinary creations that have not been part of previous Epcot offerings.
During this Only WDWorld review we rate and rank 11 of the dishes that we tasted at this year's festival. This is but a sampling of the over 40 Festival Food offering and the many special drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). We will rank the ones that we tried in reverse order from #11 working our way up to #1, so read through them all or scroll to the bottom to find out which ones were our favorite. Don't worry, we've included pictures of each of them!
Disney International Festival Of The Arts Food Review
11. Deconstructed Breakfast: Twinings Spiced Apple Chai Tea Shake with Maple Syrup, a Waffle Crisp, and Candied Bacon
This dish from the E=AT^2 Food Studio had a lot of promise, but we were not impressed with the final result. The waffle crisp was actually a waffle sandwich with a layer of caramel in the middle which unfortunately becomes hard as a rock when inserted into a frozen shake and become very difficult to eat.
The ingredients sounded amazing, but the final result was underwhelming, not awful, but it ranked the lowest of all the dishes we tried.
10. Trio of Savory Croissant Doughnuts
Honestly, this dish was one that we selected before our visit as one that we MUST try. Again we were not impressed. The 3 Croissant Donuts each had a different savory filling: Whipped herb cream cheese with sea salt; Chicken mousse with fresh herbs and Everything bagel seasoning; & Spicy tuna with sriracha mayonnaise and sesame seeds.
The chicken mousse was so flavorless that we thought it was the herbed cream cheese. The other main challenge was that the Croissant donuts were incredibly difficult to bite into without squirting the filling everywhere.
Lastly, this was served at the Painter's Palette inside the Odyssey Festival Showplace. The plates were made up ahead of time and we missed out on some of the presentation process that made the other dishes so great.
9. Smoked Salmon Tartare, Caviar, Crisp Lavash, and traditional accomplishments
The smoked salmon could be found at the Masterpiece Kitchen located in the Canada Pavilion. At $12 this was one of the more expensive dishes that we sampled. Although we love sushi and salmon, this beautifully presented dish did have the flavors required to make it stand out.
It was really good, but certainly not great. It is a very impressive looking dish, but after eating it we were left hoping for more memorable flavors.
8. Roasted Pork Roulade
At the Artist's Table near the American Adventure we sampled this artistic take on comfort food with pork, carrots, potatoes topped with a red wine sauce. From this dish on up through #1 is where we really noticed the difference between the food at this festival versus the others at Epcot. There was a significant emphasis put upon creating an edible piece of art and each part of the dish was carefully and individually placed upon th plate in a specific manner to deliver the desired artistic rendering.
Although the ingredients indicate comfort food the flavors indicated that this was well beyond the typical that we were enjoying!
7. Flank Steak Guarache
Found at the El Artista Hambriento (The Hungry Artist) located in the Mexico Pavilion was this incredibly tasty piece of art. Consisting of flank steak, black beans, salsa de Chile de Arbol, Frisee lettuce, Queso Fresco, Red Cabbage, Shredded Carrots, and Chipotle mayonnaise on grilled corn dough, this dish tasted as good as it looked.
The steak was plentiful and the flavors of all of the ingredients worked well together to make a well executed dish.
6. Port-wine Poached Pear
We discovered this enticing dessert at the Cuisine Classique Food Studio in the Germany Pavilion.The port-wine poached pear was combined with vanilla panna cotta, pistachio crumbs and a pansy flower.
This dessert had it all, good looks and tantalizing flavors! Even non pear lovers will find this dessert amazing The combination of pear, panna cotta, and pistachio worked really well together.
5. Braised Beef Short Rib
Short rib may be a trendy ingredient these days, but this piece of art from the Cuisine Classique Food Studio had incredible flavors to enjoy besides the attractive presentation.
The Braised short ribs was combines with parsnip puree, broccolini, baby tomatoes, and aged balsamic. Every bite was amazing!
4. Deconstructed Purple Sweet Potato Pie
We have to admit that we were a bit leary about this one. Visually this is one intriguing dessert. The purple is supplied naturally from the use of purple sweet potatoes.
Found at the Decadent Delights Food Studio near the entrance to the World Showcase this wild looking dessert combines purple sweet potatoes, salted caramel, bourbon soaked cake, and marshmallow whipped cream.
The perfectly balanced flavors were a complete surprise. This dessert is so much more that its shocking purple color. Definitely a MUST try!
3. Wild Mushroom Risotto
Fans of Le Cellier and their famous mushroom fillet are not strangers to the incredible wild mushroom risotto that they offer. I would dare to say that this stand alone rendition offered at the Masterpiece Kitchen in the Canada Pavilion is the best ever!
The combination of wild mushroom risotto, aged parmesan, truffle shavings, ad zinfandel reduction carefully assembled one cup at a time results in true "Wow Factor!" when it comes to flavors.
Do not pass over this amazing dish, you will regret it!
2. Pan Seared Scallop
When it comes to discovering a combination of flavors that go perfectly together this dish takes the prize. The beautifully presented scallop dish at The Artist's Table in the American Pavilion almost could be topped.
The pan seared scallop is served on a bed of chorizo and roasted pepper coulis and topped with a parmesan crisp. Each one is carefully assembled by a culinary artist with exacting care.
We didn't think it could be beat until we tried the eventually #1 dish!
#1 BLT
A re-imagined interpretation of a BLT does not sound like a grand prize winning dish, but for us it was, narrowly beating out the pan seared scallop.
This BLT consists of crispy pork belly, tomato jam, and a soft poached egg expertly assembled at the E=AT^2 Food Studio. This dish quickly went from something that sounded intriguing to a dish we couldn't get enough of. The flavors complemented each other well and the appearance was a true work of art. The chefs carefully assembled each one to get the look just right and to make sure the soft poached egg was intact in its perch atop the pork belly.
