Review: Epcot vs. SeaWorld food and drink festivals

The presentation should be important if you are going to host a food festival and if you can’t hit that, you are not doing your guests any favors.

EPCOT 

There was a dramatic drop-off in the presentation this year and it was clear from the start that the standards that drove previous F&W festivals were not that important this year. I can only guess as to why. In year’s past, the kiosks that you would get your food at were often manned by people from those countries and it seemed to drive a bit of national pride.

This year, there are not many international cast-members that are working these kiosks and instead, many of the cooks behind the counter are cast members from other parts of the park. This seems to have had a small impact on the presentation of the food.

In the above image, taken just inside the Port of Entry at the citrus kiosk, the presentation was better than anything else I saw in the park. In China, a lump of been was tossed on top of a bun that left a lot to be desired. This was common in most areas around Epcot.

SeaWorld

The presentation at Seaworld wasn’t very good either and nothing truly stood out as something worth wasting film on. The bratwurst literally was a sausage on a small hot dog bun with a couple of onions. The onion rings were a pile of onion rings and it was clear that SeaWorld wasn’t all that concerned about making their food look appealing. I mean, can you try and dress up a foot-long corn dog? A little bit?

After both parks, it was clear that while Epcot’s typical standards were thrown out the window, they still paid a little more attention to the details in their dishes. A few sprigs of baby greens or a couple of drops of sauce at least gave it a look like they were trying.

Advantage: Epcot