ORLANDO, Fla. — Now that every marketplace is open at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, we can once again find the answer to the edible question: What if I wanted to eat one of everything? What would that cost me?
Chew on that for a moment.
The final additions to the festival debuted Aug. 15 and will continue with the event, which this year stretches through Nov. 19. Visitors can now check off menu items at the (spam alert) Hawaii marketplace and Noodle Exchange plus next-door neighbors Coastal Eats and Mac & Eats.
This year’s biggest ticket item as far as solids, sweet or savory go, is the mini piña colada funnel cake sold outside American Adventure. For $9.50, you get piña colada ice cream, whipped cream, toasted coconut drizzled with coconut-rum sauce and, yes, a cherry on top. It’s actually tied with the braised beef poutine at Refreshment Port for the top spot.
Nice kick in the new Impossible meatball with herbed polenta, rustic "puttanesca" (plant based = no anchovies) and basil pesto. ($5.75) Really nice bite! (Amy Drew Thompson / Orlando Sentinel)
Those are both festival offerings at standing Epcot locations, so for fest purists, the highest-end choice at a marketplace is wild mushroom beef filet mignon with truffle-butter sauce, sold at Canada for $9.25.
The least-expensive food items on the fest menu are the rocky road chocolate cake (from the Flavors of Fire marketplace) and the apple strudel in Germany. Both are priced at $4.25. Apple fans, take note, there’s also an apple crumble tart (for $4.75) and a frozen apple pie drink ($4.50) at the Appleseed Orchard inside the Canada pavilion.
The lowball drink of the fest is a strawberry freeze — it’s nonalcoholic, as you might guess — at Earth Eats for $4.
In contrast, the priciest festival potables are the Aulani Sunrise (vodka, pineapple juice, grenadine) from Hawaii and a beverage at China pavilion simply labeled Fireworks, which is tequila, vodka, orange and mango. They are both $14. (Sunrise was last year’s most expensive mixed drink at the same price.)
The festival drinks at the park’s four Joffrey’s Coffee stands, if you opt for the “spirited versions,” are listed as $13.99 but that’s without tax, so out of pocket, those cost more. We can throw back an Arctic Sunrise and a Mocha Madness and hash this out if you want.
But it’s almost grand total time. First, some methodology. For this exercise, I calculated one serving of everything, food and beverage. I did not include flights of beverages or the Corksicle vessels. When there are two sizes, usually in beer, I chose the smaller one for calculations. And for the Joffrey’s items, I split the difference with two nonalcoholic versions and two with, well, punch.
I threw in one bottled water because hydration is important.
Basically, if it appears in festival passport, it’s in the calculation once.
So, were I a billionaire, I’d only spend $550.45 to eat one of everything at the 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. With one of every beverage, that’s $861.91 more for a total of $1,412.36.
I’d better pace myself.
Here’s a mild math surprise: Last year’s food-only total was less: $568.75. But the grand total with beverages was $1,344.42.
The average food item price is $6.25, a step up from $5.74 in 2021.
Griddled cheese from the Greece marketplace is an economic option during the 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
One should only stare at numbers for so long, but there are several under-five-bucks items, including but not limited to lamington (it’s a cake from Australia), spicy girtheri (Refreshment Outpost) and pao de queijo (Brazil). Greece offers two below-fives: Spanakopita and griddled cheese.
And last year, there was a handful of double-digit foods, including New England lobster tail ($15) and three pricey options at Italy, including $13 ravioli. You don’t see any of those at the 2022 event. This year, nothing hits the $10 mark unless it’s liquid.
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