Trip to Food and Wine + Remy's Scavenger Hunt
A few weeks ago, Cash and I made the decision to endure the scorching weather and venture to EPCOT's Food and Wine Festival to sample some of their offerings. To get ourselves excited, we watched a couple of YouTube videos, and I prepared all of our belongings the night before. When Sunday arrived, we were fully prepared.
The Morning Of Our EPCOT Day
I set my alarm for 6:55 am to secure a spot in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Virtual Queue. I refreshed the page relentlessly and managed to snag Boarding Group 59. The estimated callback time was 1:30 pm, but being familiar with the process, I knew it wasn't entirely accurate. So, I checked Thrill Data and found out that Boarding Group 59 was trending closer to 11:30 am -12 pm. Since Cash prefers to sleep in, I stayed up, sipped on my coffee, worked on some video editing, and waited till around 10:30 to wake him up. After fixing breakfast, we hit the road and arrived at EPCOT at noon.
Arriving At EPCOT
After we entered the park, we made a quick stop at the gift shop near the entrance, located directly beneath the EPCOT ball. Our yearly tradition of purchasing Remy's Ratatouille Scavenger hunt continues! This may actually change in the future, and I’ll explain why later. I found a Halloween t-shirt that captured my heart. Unfortunately, my size was not available in-store. Buying online would cost $8.95 for shipping, and I would not be able to use my annual pass holder discount. Hopefully, it will become available again soon, or I will have the chance to locate it in another park.
PASSHOLDER TIP
During my purchase of our scavenger hunt, the cashier reminded me again that they couldn't accept our physical passes as proof of being a pass holder because the year 2022 was printed on the back. I have previously been advised to go to Guest Services to obtain new passes but hadn’t found the time. I decided to make time to go today.
When I arrived at Guest Services, we were informed that getting new passes wouldn’t be helpful for our purpose of using them for discounts since they no longer print dates on the back- she said this is their way of being more environmentally friendly, so they don’t have to print a new one every year. I was disappointed by this news and am a bit frustrated by the fact that while they can produce and sell countless MagicBands, they refuse to print free cards for pass holders every year, in the name of being environmentally friendly. It seems more like an excuse to save money. The staff suggested that I use the tickets in the app instead. Later, I read in a pass holder group that in an effort to be more environmentally friendly, they will also soon stop offering bags for purchases.
So my tip is this: Be ready to pull your phone out to confirm your pass holder discount and be ready to bring your own bag for any merchandise purchases.
Riding Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Right around that time, our queue was called for Guardians! So we happily put our troubles behind us and went to ride our favorite ride at all of the Disney Parks. I love starting our park day that way. Sometimes Cash gets a little bored with Disney (I know, I know!) because he’s been going to theme parks most of his life. But I have to tell you, as soon as we’re in that final line to get on the Guardians’ ride, he gets super giddy every time. It’s such an incredible ride!
Sampling Food And Wine Festival Offerings
The Fry Basket
The next place we went was to the Fry Stand outside Test Track (which also happens to be in the same area as Guardians). Cash was dying to try the famous Yuca fries that had been getting so much attention, and I wanted to try the pickle fries. They did not disappoint. We tried both, and while the pickle fries were great, the Yuca fries won our favorite, hands down.
Remy’s Scavenger Hunt
With our bellies temporarily sated, we decided to start in Mexico. Some people are die-hards and like to start the same way every time, but we like to mix it up. Often, it’s whichever side is closest. Cash is an old pro and was able to easily find and match the Remy statues to the stickers on our map.
Japan Pavillion
As we made our way around the World Showcase, Cash was eagerly anticipating his next sampling: The Teriyaki Bun from Japan. It ended up being his favorite offering from the festival. It was very filling for the price point, the bread was super soft, and the meat inside was really well seasoned.
Greece Pavillion
As soon as he finished that, I realized the Greece pavilion offering my griddled cheese was right around the corner, so while Cash rested and watched our bags, I popped over there to grab one. We both really liked it a lot- it will probably become one of my go-to’s; Cash also decided it was good, but “weird.” It is a super interesting combo of flavors!
BREAKING FOR A QUICK DISNEY MELTDOWN
You probably think the meltdown was the kid, huh? Nope, it was me. Around this time of day, I started to get really, really hot and tired. I had been carrying our heavy backpack all day to save the burden from Cash, and it started sprinkling, so I put on my poncho to protect our bag and camera. It was miserably hot. I was sweating so much it would have been a better choice to have my clothes soaked with rain. To add to that, we couldn’t find Remy in France, so we were walking in circles. I finally said enough, and we found a place at the edge of the pavilion to sit and rest for a few. After I had a break, some water, and was able to remove the poncho, I was feeling much better.
Ireland Pavillion
When we made it to Ireland, I had to try my always-favorite: The warm chocolate pudding cake. Cash always seems to slightly have mixed feelings about this because he’s not super into rich chocolate desserts, but he also took two bites of mine and asked for more. If you like rich desserts, it’s a definite must-try, and prepare to have some stolen off your plate.
Remy Update
After we made it through a few of the countries, we began to suspect that the Remy statues were all in the same place as last year. While this was okay in some places- we didn’t remember every single spot, it really put a damper on the mood, especially for Cash. It’s fun to have a bit of a challenge, and we felt it was a little lazy to place them all in the exact same places every year. So we’ll see if we decide to continue this tradition.
However, we went ahead and finished the map and went to get it stamped and get our prize.
Just a note (which is also kind of a bummer)- you don’t actually have to complete the scavenger hunt to get your prize. When you purchase the kit originally, they ask if you want your prize now or later. I guess this is fine if you’re playing with little kids, but we like to feel that we’ve earned our prizes, so we always say no.
If you don’t want to know what the prize is, skip the next section.
SPOILER ALERT
At the World Showcase entrance, we visited the Trading Post shop and redeemed our rewards. The attendant stamped our map to acknowledge we completed the hunt and showed us 4 different lunch bag designs to choose from. These lunch boxes have a bag-style design that can be folded up. In previous years, we’ve received various prizes such as koozies, which were small but practical. I appreciate that they often have useful but cute prizes!
American Pavillion
After looking through our Food and Wine booklet, Cash decided he really wanted to try the Italian Hot Beef Sandwich from the American Pavillion (for some reason, the American Pavillion is filled with things like Italian subs and Chilaquiles this year). Because America is about halfway around the World Showcase, and we didn’t want to walk back, we decided to take the boat. It dropped us off at Morroco, and we walked from there. Cash LOVED the sub, especially the Au Jus (which I sampled- it was super flavorful).
When we were in line for the sub, we overheard a Cast Member give another guest directions to where to get a turkey leg. Cash had just been talking about how badly he wanted to try a turkey leg- he’d never had one before- so I asked him if he still had some stomach room.
Extra Stop: Fife & Drum Tavern
This stand is not a Food and Wine offering- it’s there year-round. It’s one of my favorite places to get a beer because they have cold Yuengling on tap. I decided to get Cash a turkey leg and myself a beer before we headed back. I balked a tad at the price- their jumbo turkey leg is $13- but we were splurging and being spontaneous, and I told Cash we were going for it. We also got a popcorn bucket refill so I could have a bit of a salty snack.
The turkey leg was HUGE. Cash was so excited. He ate and ate and got through maybe 1/6 of it. Lol. Since I always pack ziplock bags, it was no problem. We wrapped up the rest in our cooler bag and took it home with us.
Conclusion
All in all, it was a great day! Cash had enough new stuff to keep him interested, and he did way better in the heat and with the walking than I did this time. We genuinely liked everything we tried. Cash said his “Best of the Fest” was the Teriyaki Chicken Bun from Japan. My favorite was my old standby: The warm pudding cake from Ireland. Though we both agreed we LOVED the Yuca fries and will definitely eat those again.
We sincerely hope that they choose to mix it up better with Remy’s next time- and if it’s your first time, we still 100% recommend doing the scavenger hunt. It’s a great thing to keep you going when you’re walking through all the countries. Perhaps next time, we’ll get a different passport of some kind or a third-party scavenger hunt. Or maybe I’ll make our own!