John Lasseter at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival (UPDATE)

I love going to Disney World! We try going almost once a year, but being in Minnesota that can be difficult (what we often do is buy annual passes and go twice within a 12 month period, then skip a year and do the same routine again). Probably my most favorite event at Disney World is Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival. It's held every fall and combines 2 things I love - food and Epcot!

© Lasseter Family Winery

If you are going to the Food and Wine Festival this year, then you have an opportunity to meet John Lasseter! John and his wife Nancy will be hosts for one of the Winery Series events held at the Flying Fish Café, where they will highlight wines from the Lasseter Vineyards in Sonoma, California. The Flying Fish Café is an excellent restaurant located on Disney's Boardwalk, just a few minutes walk from Epcot's International Gateway entrance. This will be an intimate meal with the Lasseters on Thursday, October 17. The reception begins at 6pm with dinner starting at 6:15pm. Seating is limited to only 32, so if you are interested, I recommend calling Disney ASAP at (407) 939-5102 as last year's event sold out. I don't have pricing for this event, but last year's event cost $130/person. I will update this post once I get official pricing.

© Disney

Last year, the Lasseters hosted a similar event at Citricos at the Grand Floridian Resort. In addition, John and Nancy hosted a Beverage Seminar inside the Food and Wine Festival Welcome Center (the old Wonders of Life Pavilion). The Beverage Seminars are much less expensive (usually $16/person or less), last 45-60 minutes and include tasting of the beverages being shown. Disney hasn't released the official Beverage Seminar schedule yet, but as soon as they do (and if the Lasseters are hosting one) I will update this post with the news! Last year's event also sold out, so again, you should make your reservations as soon as possible. Disney will start accepting reservations on August 13 at 7am Eastern, but if you are an annual passholder, Disney Vacation Club member, Tables in Wonderland member or Golden Oak resident, you can make your reservations starting August 9. To make reservations, call (800) WDW-FEST (939-3378).

I will be at the Food and Wine Festival this year, but sadly not on the 17th. I'm hoping the Lasseters host a Beverage Seminar while I'm at the festival. I was a bit upset last year, as I was at the festival on the same days that John was there. Unfortunately I didn't know about the events until afterwards! So much for all my planning efforts!

Check back here over the next few days for any updates. If you're looking for more information on the Food and Wine Festival, I strongly suggest checking out the Disney Food Blog, which does a great job covering the festival, with pictures and menus of all the booths plus details on the special events and activities occurring during the festival. And check out my post from last year's festival, which includes pictures of all the different food we tried!

UPDATE:
The details for the Beverage Seminars have been released, and the Lasseter Family Winery will be hosting a wine seminar on Thursday, October 17 at 2pm. The cost is $14 per person (annual passholders, Disney Vacation Club members, Tables in Wonderland members or Golden Oak residents receive a $2 per person discount). The Beverage Seminars are held in the Festival Welcome Center (the old Wonders of Life Pavilion). If you are an annual passholder, Disney Vacation Club member, Tables in Wonderland member or Golden Oak resident you can begin making your reservations now, otherwise you'll have to wait until August 13 at 7am Eastern. Call (407) WDW-FEST to make your reservations. Full details on the Beverage Seminars and all the low-cost seminars and demonstrations can be found on the Disney Food Blog! You can also check out my trip report from last year's Food & Wine Festival.