18. Epcot Food & Wine Festival Extra AF

Food and Wine is Epcot's longest running festival, and this is the first of multiple episodes covering this year's offerings. I'm joined by fellow travel advisor, Erin Faith, who sweltered through opening weekend to report on all of the new dishes & drinks. Tune in to hear what you should add to your must-try list!

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This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Michele:

Hello, my friends, and welcome to yet another episode of Let Me Adjust My Ears. And true to form, being an AF extra AF podcast as you are, and as I am really, let's be honest, I have with me my very dear friend and a fellow travel advisor, Erin Faith, Her travel agency is Erin Faith Travel. And Erin, I don't think she would be upset for me to refer to her as the nerd of Disney and Universal, to be honest, she, like, she is the one I go to when I have questions that I just can't get that metal with. And so she has already been to the, I think she went opening weekend. of this year's epcot Food and wine festival. She's nodding yes. So, yes, it was opening weekend, and she is here to give us the 411 and me because I won't be there till October of all the things that we have to eat, maybe the things we should skip, and she did a spreadsheet of the prices. So her description was she went a little crackers. I would say she nerded out a little bit, and she made a spreadsheet because spreadsheets are her favorite thing. And I know I'm blabbing on and on about her and not giving her a chance to talk. So I'm gonna shut up now, and I am just gonna turn it over to Erin and say, my first question, of course, was, how was it?

Erin:

Hey, Michele. You never blab on. You're fine. Your blabs are worthy blads. So thank you so much for having me, and I'm Erin with Erin Fleet Travel. And, how was Food Lion Festival? Hot. First, it was hot. That's the first thing I need everyone to know, like, manage your expectations.

Michele:

That’s why I'm going in October.

Erin:

Because you love yourself. That's why you're going in October because you have self care.

Michele:

I'm the Bougie traveler.

Erin:

Exactly. I had just come off of another trip, and it didn't make sense to go back twice in the same month. So I was like, okay. We've done an Orlando in August. We can do this fight face. Let's go. And I was not prepared. In fact, Orlando was not prepared because there was, like, unprecedented heat advisories. Of course, the whole 3 days that I was there. So, the whole time I was feeling like such a wind that was like, man, I'm a professional. I should be able to get through this. And then I came home to all the heat advisors. So I was like, oh, I was supposed to stay inside.

Michele:

So another travel advisor that I am friends with, Krystal, if you listen to this, shout out to Krystal told me that the game changer is the around-the-neck fan, the one that you don't have to carry and blow water and definitely not the one that Disney sells in the parks. But so I have that on my Amazon storefront. So if anybody wants to when I'm talking about you can go there. We will link to that in the show notes.

Erin:

Absolutely. Get one of those. And, you know, I felt so unprepared because I have one. It's beautiful, and it's in box right there over to my right. It was not with me. And so the entire time, I was like, I need my neck band. I cannot believe I didn't travel without it. Rookie must staying. I know. I I was so upset with myself. But, anyways, first, it was hot. It was very hot, but that aside, if you, went in the mornings, you managed your air conditioning breaks, and you got passed through all the wet electric blanket that Orlando in August is, it was great because there were so many new, food items pretty similar food booths, but there's new food items. So that was fun. I tried to maximize my time, my eating time, and my tummy space and just focus on the new items, but I could not get a few favorite things while I was there.

Michele:

I'm gonna guess that had to do with Morocco.

Erin:

Oh, yeah. You know Morocco has my heart. I love Morocco, but also they don't have their falafel pizza year round. So whenever The food and wine festival brings out that, you know, with the Tahini sauce. I have to get that falafel pizza. It's delightful. I can talk about that item first if you wanna know. It's not dense, you know, how falafel sometimes can just be like a big golf ball of yamminess, but dense. This one wasn't dense. It was light and fluffy. It was almost as light as the hush puppy. I don't know how he did it. So it doesn't hit your stomach like a falafel brick. it's delightful. It was so good. And I always have to try the almond pistachio cake there, because this year, they added extra cinnamon in their cinnamon cream on top of the cake and then the rudimentary, white chocolate disk with a stamp on it. The stamp's pretty, but Disney, like, has a thing. They have to make everything out of white chocolate decorative. if they ever switch to fondant, then my husband would lose his mind because that boy will eat just fondant raw fondant for fun. Yeah. But white chocolate. He'll also eat the white chocolate for me.

Michele:

I'm a white chocolate girl for sure.

Erin:

I'm not. I need dark, like, 80% dark chocolate. It's okay. But, yeah, other than the hotness, it was, Really fun. It was great to be there. I went there August 4th. So, yeah, I think that was opening weekend because it opened the 27th So maybe it was the second.

Michele:

And it runs forever. So if you're listing this and you're like, why are we talking about this is because it goes through, like, Sunday in November. So there's plenty of time. It is not too late to plan your trip. to my favorite of the Upcut Festivals. That's just my partiality is food and 1. Okay. I digress go ahead, Erin. You were gonna tell us about the new items that you fell in love with.

Erin:

We can talk about the new items. Okay. Well, it's incredibly basic, but they have Fried pickle Spears, and it's at the fry basket, which is over in, I still call it future world. We all still call it future world, Yeah. If you look at EPCOT, it's a figure 8 when you're looking right down at it, and it's the top of the figure 8. It's all the future world, but now it's world discovery, world nature, whatever. It's the feature world. but it's, right in that little feature world hub, it's kind of close to test track. -- but the fry basket. And last year was their 1st year, I think, being a booth, and people were like, oh, French fries. How novel? but then everyone was surprised by how tasty they were.

Michele:

Didn't we split those when we went together?

Erin:

We did. Yeah.

Michele:

Yes. They were the bomb.

Erin:

Remember they had a flight?

Michele:

Oh my god. Yes. It did. --

Erin:

the individual fries last time. People were like, wait a minute. So it's a fry flight. That's great. But, like, what if I don't like the farmer or what if I don't like salt and vinegar? I'm stuck with all 3 of the fries. And Michele and I are over here, like, when is too many fries? The problem. Like,

Michele:

yeah, I made a -- -- friends. Yeah. Absolutely. I'm pretty sure I have pictures. If I do, I will post them on my Instagram. The day this drops.

Erin:

I think the last time we had those french fries was actually whenever we were showing you the Escuesdays, the street corn at the up pavilion, not even connected to a festival, not even for a food and wine festival chat, but it's year round delicious street corn. It's wonderful. And the guacamole, you like the guacamole too.

Michele:

Well, I always knew I liked the guacamole there. I just had never gotten the corn because I'm always full. Like, all I need is the guacamole, but, yes, it was. Mhmm. It was a thing.

Erin:

But, yeah, so this year, they have, you're able to purchase fries individually now. Some of them are a la carte fries, so you're not just stuck with the fry flight and the yolk of fries. Yuka, Yuka, point me to a person who can say that correctly. And those are great, but they're definitely the density of plantain chips kind of like in there like a denser a denser boy and, like, I love them. They're great, but they do kind of hit heavy when it's a feels like a 105 degrees. So I went for the new item, which was they call them pickle fries, but it's pickle spears. It's fried pickle spears with the, like, a dill ranch sauce. Listeners, you can't tell that I'm making some odd gesticulation. I don't know why, but That's my description of dill Ranch. They were delicious being from Nashville, which I am. There are, I mean, fried pickles every which way. Pickle chipped, pickle spears, you know, pickle and crinkle cut. Nashville has a thing for fried pickles. We don't know why, but we are okay with it. so I've had quite a many pickle spears, and these were delicious. They didn't do that thing where you take a bite and the pickle leaves all of its breading, and then your -- stuck with a breading shell, and that's very upsetting. upsetting breading. Hashtag upsetting breading, Michele.

Michele:

That's totally gonna be a thing now. We're gonna make it a thing.

Erin:

It works for so many things that just pickled beers. but I'm spending way too much time talking about pickle spirits appointments. They're very good. I think they were $4.75. I'll check my price list and give you an update on that. But I thought that you've got a lot of pickle spears for your value. It's a great new item to try, especially if you're just not in a potato-y mood, but it is a lot to eat just for one person.

Michele:

Who would not be in the potato-y mood? Like, I want to know that person. Please DM me, @michelevisitsmickey because I need to meet you.

Erin:

Yeah. We just wanna learn about you from an anthropological perspective. It's a non potatable people. but the new items. So we talked about the pickle spheres. Those are very yummy. I highly recommend, I didn't try the pickle milk shake. Everybody in the world has tried the new people milkshake, but I don't do a lot of dairy and I was already saving some dairy grease points for another item that day. And I'm just I didn't really feel like drinking a dill pickle mix shake.

Michele:

I don't even think it looks good in the pictures.

Erin:

It's been described as not quite worth the hug and not as pickly as it's made out to be. I am bringing my sister-in-law to Disney in October, and she does love pickles. She'll drink dill pickle juice if you let her. So I'm gonna let her try that milkshake for me. Exactly. Yep.

Michele:

Okay. Also, you can DM me if you have tried the pickle shake, and you can give me a review. Or you can post that in your Apple or Spotify review of this podcast. Those are always, always appreciated.

Erin:

Tell her all about it. We wanna now But where you can buy the dill pickle milkshake is where I went to try the brand new impossible wings at brewing. So they've got it all set up, like, Beaker's lab, first of all, so it's a lot of fun just to kind of, like, whether you're an adult or a child, just to hang out. The muppet. Oh my god.

Michele:

I forgot the muppets are at the Upcot Food And One Festival.

Erin:

It is very cute. They've got all of these overlays on the walls, and they see television screens that, like, every now and then show, you know, bigger, getting scientific. That's one of the, places that I try to unmute to me things. but not new to the festival. I think it's a two year old item, but the, peanut butter and jelly wings. And I thought to myself, Ew, but also I'd like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So let's try this anyway. it was delicious, but my oh my wasn't messy. Like, I needed so many wipes and trips to the bathroom just to wash my hands. so if you're someone who doesn't love the meth of wings that you like wings, like just go in prepared, it's a messy wing. But my husband, he tried the impossible, buffalo wings, and those were very good, actually. Impossible meat has just gotten better and better. It used to taste very obviously impossible, and it's just gotten much better. So those were good. They weren't too spicy. We know Disney always airs a little bit light on the spice scale, but they were still very good. So definitely also a great place to grab some AC because, again, it was so hot. and you don't need a table.

Michele:

So is that in, like, the pavilion between, like, by the Joffrey's cart?

Erin:

So there's a Joffrey's cart. a lot of people know it is the Pavilion that all those little walk bridges are connected to. So it's where the wonder of EPCOT Show used to be inside. You'd sit inside, and you'd walk you know, the history of that car.

Michele:

I wanna call it the connections, but I know it's not -- Yeah.

Erin:

The connections cafe is by the big, space of birth, the mothership. No. I wanna see is it the Odyssey building? Is that it? Maybe, again, we're old school f coders, and we just all call it future world.

Michele:

The I thought the Odyssey was on the opposite side by Mexico, but it's the big pavilion where they host like, these shows now.

Erin:

Yeah. But it's where brewing is. It's, I think it is the Odyssey one now that I think of it because you can get there most easily through the bridge that is just how side of a cop. It's also close to where some of the restrooms are that people really like because there's just less people that way. Also one of my favorite secret fireworks spots whenever they have epcot's forever instead of harmonious, which is only it was only viewable through certain spots in the park but harmonious, or sorry, I've caught forever, is so damn huge. You can be anywhere in the park and see that bad boy in the sky. So I like to watch it from the bridge.

Michele:

Get me on the Epcot forever, harmonious, like, not Illumination soapbox. That is for another podcast.

Erin:

Yeah. It's fine. It's totally fine. I do miss some of the harmonious, but we'll skip back to that. But we needed the AC. I wanted to try the new to me rings, Destiny to try the impossible wings. Those were delightful. let's see. Moving on, we did try some of the we tried everything new at Japan, actually. And Japan's entire menu is pretty much new. They have a new suit roll, the taiko sushi roll, which is like a spicy tuna roll, and Disney didn't hold back. It's a good amount of spice. It's not wasabi spice. Some people are incredibly put off by wasabi It's not that, but it's just kind of like a spicy Sriracha mixed in with the, with the tuna. that was good, but the pieces are big honking pieces. So if you're someone who likes your sushi delicately cut, prepare thyself, they're big pieces. And then there is also a beef Wagyu Dom bowl, which was very, very good, really good comes on a little bit of white rice, a really good value for what you're paying. We didn't quite make it to China this time. We're gonna come back in October mid October as well. China is oddly situated whenever you're doing the food and winefest because whether you're a resort guest and you're going through, you know, the international gateway or you're going through the front, you have to make a determined decision to go to China because shifts all the way. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a hike all the way over there. people don't believe me when I say epcot is a 20,000 step park. And I'm like, no. No. It's a 20,000 step park. Like, it'll sneak up on you too. You'll just think, oh, I'm just gonna pop in. I'm just gonna go through here. Even resort guests when you have kind of, like, the Disney Resort International Gateway, arrogance. I'll just pop in there, but, no, no, sneaks up on you. So prepare your feet. Prepare your psyche because it's a lot of steps in a park.

Michele:

Yeah. And if you don't have that and you're actually in the Epcot parking lot, then, like, prepare thyself for a long walk from your parking spot to the gate because there is no parking shuttle there.

Erin:

Yeah. They have no happy tram there.

Michele:

No.

Erin:

I almost don't mind whenever they put us over in the auxiliary lot. That's to the it's over by Guardians of the galaxy because honestly, there's a nice little shaded tree kind of white and you've been sneaking through there. It's where the lift drop offs and stuff are so you can just, like, grab some shade there. But that does bring me to my point that is not food related at all, but I don't think I would survived the only 3 days I was there without my sun umbrella. Just any umbrella doesn't have to be a sun umbrella specifically, but it's just become more and more Okay. To pop an umbrella open to protect yourself from the sun.

Michele:

You can buy those at China, by the way.

Erin:

You can. Yeah. It's a soon here.

Michele:

If you get all the way over to China, you can buy your cell phone umbrella.

Erin:

Yeah. Yeah. If you make it all the way to China, which is almost worth it, honestly, for the delightful pot stickers, but I think they're gonna be the same ones as last year. Now I haven't eaten them, so I cannot fully confirmed, but last year's pot stickers were so yummy. And that was the main reason why I wanted to go there, but we had to move it down on the list because I had last year wasn't a new item, but there were a lot of new items.

Michele:

So two questions.

Erin:

Yes, ma'am.

Michele:

Okay. Any adult beverages that you tried that you found yummy, especially the new items? Because We're all gonna wanna try the new items that you're like, you know, I tried it for you.

Erin:

Yes. Yes. I have one.

Michele:

Or, don't waste your taste buds on that.

Erin:

Both of them are at the same booth, actually, so we can be efficient here. the Belgium booth, which is, just outside of France, which always makes me chuckle because geographically Belgium is also just outside of France. I thought that was cute of them. but it's between France and Morocco in Eprut, world showcase. And Belgium, you would think is where the Belgian fries are, but no, no, those are the fried basket. I was thinking that. I always want them to have Fritz For those of you that don't know, Belgium is very known for their French fries, and they call them Fritz.

Michele:

They invented French fries.

Erin:

They have these checks all along

Michele:

the road. -- want to claim it. I know. But it's truly the it's truly the best. Yeah.

Erin:

Yeah. And they call them frit stands where you can get more than just fries fried, but they serve them to you in a little paper cone with a pink tiny fork. and a Baskin Robbins menu of condiments.

Michele:

We're talking about in Belgium, not at Epcot.

Erin:

Actual Belgium. Yeah. Okay. So back in Epcot. The Belgian Pavilion in the Epcot world showcase is where you can find a beer flight of all new beers if you're a beer person. They're very good. There's an IPA, there's an ale, and then there was a red fruit wine deer that was my favorite. That one was very fruity. It was light. It hit perfect on a very hot day. I'm not a happy person, so the IPA wasn't my thing, but the red fruit wine beer was excellent.

Michele:

They have that during flower and garden at Germany, and I have never been a beer drinker. And I liked it a lot.

Erin:

Yeah. because Germany is known for this. I think it's called Linde Beard. Again, it's a fruit wine beer. You can actually buy this in stores. not in Disney World. But, yeah, so Belgium's beer flight was $10, and they fill it all the way to the So, like, whenever you're ordering, always keep in mind, like, if you have to hold a beer flight, just like either have a have a tray or just like have a plan, to get to your table because they really fill it up to the top. I've noticed that with their beers. and then we also tried the new braids beef, which is basically a fancy pot roast. It was delicious, and it was over gouda mashed potatoes. And I know when it feels like a 105 degrees, why would you do that to yourself but it was so good. And we found shade. We found shade in Morocco and ate it there. So it it would have been worse than the sun. The thing that you can skip Is the Belgian Waffle?

Michele:

No. No. No. Disney does waffles. I mean, that is their thing.

Erin:

They do indeed. They do indeed. And it was fine. It's really pretty. Like, the the one with the chocolate ganache, is the one that we tried I think we tried the fruit combo 1 last year, with whipped cream and fruit, and that one's also very good. But if you're going and expecting a Belgian Waffle, or even a liege waffle, it's not like that. Like, they don't have the sugar pearls. It's not super authentic. So maybe we're Belgian waffle snobs just because we've had them. And it was fine. But the Ganash could have been more talk with y.

Michele:

We do not do fine at the Epcot food and wine. There is too much stuff to do that is better than fine.

Erin:

Yeah. So that's it's fine. You can have a better dessert. The better dessert actually is one of the new items and it shocked me, like, to my core. So it's this new, barbecue glitz dessert, and that sounds so wrong. So it's in the flavors from Fire Kitchen, in the America Pavilion where they, have a lot of, like, Tex Mex stuff on that menu as

Michele:

well. Joy to the world.

Erin:

Yeah. There's a chimichurri, not too spicy chimichurri steak. taco situation that's very, very good, but the, dessert. Okay. So it looks like, a chocolate brownie with glaze, and then there's sort of like peanut brittle looking thing next to it. That is a barbecue baked potato chip brittle. So you've got sweet and salty, and then the top of it has these combos of barbecue chip, which again, stay with me here. And then the crust, is this slightly spiced, just a little bit spiced, almost like a graham cracker crust, but it's the moon's so much a thing. You have to like chocolate you like to have kind of a dark chocolate or semi sweet dark chocolate palette, but you'd think, oh my gosh, that's gonna be too sweet or barbecue and chocolate. That's just so wrong. Why would you do that to yourself? It was amazing, and I wish we ordered 3. Like, it was it was so good.

Michele:

and mind you, they only had 2 people. So when she's saying they wish they ordered 3, that's, like, saying a lot.

Erin:

We ordered 1. I wish that we have had one of the And then an extra one to, like, just keep eating, but it was delicious, and it was all at the same booth. Yeah. It was absolutely amazing. I can't. I can't.

Michele:

So was that your favorite?

Erin:

I think that was surprisingly, that was my favorite. And I do have a picture of it to send to you if you wanna see it.

Michele:

Yeah. We will definitely make sure that we post that. And we will definitely link to Erin's Instagram, and she has I followed the whole time she was there on her Instagram. So we will link to that in the show notes as well.

Erin:

It was called the Spice chocolate tart. I got it now. Yeah. Spice chocolate tart.

Michele:

Thanks, Erin. And are you gonna tell us how much it was? Are you gonna Give us that info too.

Erin:

I can give you that info right now.

Michele:

I told you she had a spreadsheet.

Erin:

The Spice chocolate tart is $4.75. It has that barbecue potato chip crust with salted whisky caramel and smoked sea salt. That's what really drew it all together. because the caramel, had this nice dark flavor, and I never had been someone who was like, I want a chocolate covered potato chip. Give me that. but it was it was delicious, and it's great for chocolate lovers, and it's also great. If you just want something a little different than your standard Disney cupcake, which, while pretty, It's just cupcake. This is a chocolate tart. It's beautiful. I don't know if kids would like this definitely an adult thing. Unless your kid, this has a you know, adventurous palette.

Michele:

Wait. Wait a minute. perhaps you're not acquainted with the name of my podcast. and the e explicit on there. we don't we don't talk about the pint-size entourage, especially at Epcot Foof and Wine festival. It would not be fun with a stroller and tow. Like, no.

Erin:

It's really hard for me to do any sort planning when kids are involved for food and wine because they're just it's a playground for adults. It's candy lean for adults.

Michele:

It's -- Yeah. --

Erin:

so good. It's amazing.

Michele:

It's also I mean, obviously, if you wait until after August and maybe even some of September 2, but it is a fabulous place to enjoy a bachelorette or bachelor party during the food and wine festival. And on Etsy, you can buy basically like a bingo card. where you can check check each country off that you've tasted in adult beverage or something. And you can wear that with pride. I have also seen extravagant, like, t shirts, for the party goers. But, yeah, it's a thing. Etsy has a whole little food and wine department in it.

Erin:

They do. Yeah. It's and it's very easy to like, you need to set yourself timer or something because it's easy to go down a black hole of Etsy. Same thing with Pinterest, honestly. and before you know it, you've woken up in your closet and, like, everything is sort of organized and you're sort of like, depressed about it not being organized. It's an odd thing. But I see I think it's better.

Michele:

At the spring festival at Flower And Garden Lake we all know the frozen Raspberry lemonade, whatever it is that I actually was like, I would rather have a dole whip. Yeah. The violet lemonade.

Erin:

Violet lemonade. Very pretty.

Michele:

Yeah. Very pretty. Very do it for the gram, but I would rather have a dole whip --

Erin:

Mhmm.

Michele:

-- with rum. PS. the dole whip with rum. Is there anything this year that you think is gonna basically be, like, Other than the pickle milkshake, that's gonna be the thing that we should all go and get.

Erin:

the thing that you should all go and get I mean, unfortunately, the pickle milkshake has been the thing that everyone's talking about. let's see. I have a note rate here actually because I'm, of course, a big old nerd as Michele mentioned. So I have it right here. I don't know. They're bringing some favorites back. They've got a lot of 3 daughters brewery, but as far as fancy, fun, drinks, I didn't see anything yet that really allowed me. Although, okay, this is not an alcoholic drink, but it still wowed me, and it was a festival specific drink. at Jofferies, and you're gonna be shocked because Michele has heard me go on and on. Like, I'm sorry. I will not die on that Jofferies Hill. It's not my I don't love it. It's not tasty, but annual pass holders get a nice 30% discount there. So every now and then I suck it up and get my caffeine there. Joffreys is doing a food and wine festival, you know, select beverage at different locations and an epcot you can get this, so it's black tea with an Amoretto flavoring. You can get it alcoholic if you want. but it was amazing. It was like a nutty, iced black tea. And I I kept drinking it and thinking, why do I like this? Why is this so good? It was very good. It was a refreshing ice black tea, so extra caffeine, more than green tea, or, you know, the herbal ones. but just with a little extra nuttiness in the Amoretto.

Michele:

That sounds good. I would try that.

Erin:

It was amazing. I can also give you the name of that in the show notes as well. I would

Michele:

definitely try that. one of the drinks that I always look forward to is in Canada, and it's a variation, like, of the popcorn shake that they have at Flower And Garden? Did they have anything that I'm can look forward to?

Erin:

So they've got their 7 yarn. They've got their, collective arts brewing logger, but I didn't see any sort of, you know, maple popcorn old fashioned or kettaporn shake or anything like that. They've got the cheddar bacon soup as always and the filling in on.

Michele:

That's good.

Erin:

Yeah. Yeah. LeCellier that you don't have to spend 6 plus dollars for. Yeah. I will say that this year, the, Canadian filet has a better mushroom ratio last year. I don't know why, but there was just there was a pile a pile of mushrooms. next to this much smaller piece of filet mignon. So I think they figured out the ratio.

Michele:

I told you she would get more meta than me. Like, I love her.

Erin:

So -- We're zooming out now.

Michele:

Any final up caught food and wine 2023 tips other than don't go when it's super hot or plan your day, get an umbrella by the fan, that all that advice. Any last tips?

Erin:

So I think you can go during the kind of year, but you just have to bring up a hand, like Michele said, manage your expectations, and you need to find all the spots a long world showcase and in future world, honestly, that you can catch some shade. And also, if you're doing food and wine festival, you may not have to do genie plus and, you know, spend extra that day.

Michele:

That's good advice.

Erin:

Like, if you're doing multiple days, at the food festival or if you have a park hopper, like Michele and I always do, then just unless you really wanna ride rides, Someone's in your party and and wants to ride that ride. Like, honestly, the only ride that you really need to ride this car is the galaxy.

Michele:

which is a non genie plus anyway. It's a lightning lane or virtual queue. Yeah.

Erin:

Yeah. Yeah. so So it's a way to save money, honestly, because Juni pluses are during the week, we were there. It was 20 to $22 per person. I've got costs a little bit less, like, 18 to 20. It's scalable. It varies on the time of year. So put that money towards your, you know, you're froze and you're, you know, the duck bow in China that I can't wait to get.

Michele:

That is such good advice. along those lines, I agree Guardians is a phenomenal ride. would you amend doing it before you partake of a pot food and wine, did you experience any negative consequences from doing it after you might have indulged?

Erin:

So I did not write guardian this time, but I have been every other time I've gone to epcot and I have imbibed, I have eaten before doing Guardian's And then I've also taken people with me who had had alcohol before or people who'd eaten before. I will say if you are prone to the woozies, just at all at all. Maybe don't drink before you do guardians because if you're already spinning, it's going to make you a further spin. just a little bit. For me and Michele and I have this in common, I have a touch of vertigo, just a touch. And it's not great whenever it sets off. So I always like to focus on the physical, the practical effects in that ride, not too much on this screens because while you're moving and you're looking at the screen at the same time, that's where a lot of that motion sickness triggers for me. For some people, it just triggered by the motion itself. But for me, it's looking at screens and moving at the same time. So I just glance at the screens, but I mostly focus on the chat. or the big giant planet that you, you fly by at one point. And as long as my eyes can always connect to something real, I haven't gotten the disease Once, once I found that trick.

Michele:

So I actually wear my motion sickness patch when I ride it, the same thing I wear on my cruises. but I will say that I once in fact, it was Farm And Garden when I had the one beer in Germany, which again, I'm a very lightweight to begin with because I rarely drink, and I definitely have never drank, never drank beer. So this was such an anomaly. but our virtual queue was, like, at 6. So we had already done our loop of World Showcase, and I Definitely would not write it after going around, food and beverage. Like, it was I made it, but I definitely I was, like, done after that. I was, like, no more. And I drink a full bottle of water afterwards. So

Erin:

Absolutely. If you've had alcohol or also not just alcohol, but if you've been in the sun a lot because the sun

Michele:

-- Yes.

Erin:

can make you act drunk if you're tired and there's been sun on you and you're already feeling a little, like just Be prepared and don't sit in the front and don't sit in the back. Just find a nice spot in the middle. Find a practical effect to look at. and you will be fine. But if you're already feeling a little ill, then guardians is not going to help you, per se. So that's definitely my advice. Maybe don't drink before you you write it, but, having something in your stomach just a little is fine.

Michele:

I would say maybe just go ahead and bite and do the individual lightning lane, do it first thing in the morning, and then track right by the fry baskets. Exactly. And then and then hit future world and know that you've already done the one ride that you absolutely should do if it's your only day at epcot during the state of the wine festival, that is how I would do it.

Erin:

My other guardian trick is that if you are riding in at the end of the night, per se, and there's lots of people or it's really sunny and you just wanna escape the heat a little bit. As soon as you've left your guardian's ride and you're there and the big beautiful guardian's spaceship is out in front of you, go to the right and cut through connections cafe because you can either go all the way around the wall and follow the signs and say exit here, exit here. No. No. Cut through connections cafe. and get some AC.

Michele:

There is always seating for sure. And there's bathrooms right there too, so restrooms. I'm sorry.

Erin:

and you just keep, yeah, restrooms and you just keep following that wall and then keep going until you see the Starbucks side of Connection Pepe and then the door is there. will pop you out right to the front and there's spaceship earth and there's the exit and there's the 10 mile walk to your car. Yeah. It just saves you a little time.

Michele:

So, Erin, I just wanna thank you so much for your meta Epcot food and wine. Of course, I will do an episode again after I have been with all of my tips and tricks. And as you know, as I said, it goes on forever. So I promise even if you're like, when am I gonna have this information be useful, it will be useful. Of course. And we're fun to listen to anyway because we dab. So, anyway, again, I'm wrapping up. I have to remember. I've stay on task. Erin, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Send me everything that we talked about that we should link it to in the show notes. and see you real soon.