Since the dawn of recorded history, the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival has been the best option for redeeming Dining Plan snack credits at Walt Disney World. Well, maybe not that far back…but at least for the last 18 years, when we first started using the DDP.
So let’s travel back in time together. I’ll show you how our ancestors navigated the Walt Disney World we know today, and then it will be your turn to eat around the world of discovery.
Here in this hostile world (Orlando in late summer) is where our story begins. We are not-so-alone, struggling to survive until we learn to communicate with one another redeem snack credits on the Disney Dining Plan. Now we can hunt as a team and survive enjoy delicious dishes and maximize our value-for-money on the Disney Dining Plan together.
The wheels are falling off this Spaceship Earth parody (something that might soon be said for the ride vehicles themselves if a refurbishment doesn’t happen soon!), so let’s cut to the chase. For as long as I can remember, which is not quite since the dawn of recorded history, there has been pricey lobster at the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. These dishes were always among the best uses of Disney Dining Plan snack credits.
I remember one year when Sarah and I practically lived at the Hops & Barley booth, having a half-dozen orders of Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Lobster Roll and the Griddled Lobster Tail (along with the iconic Pumpkin Mousse–but we always paid out of pocket for that). If I recall correctly, that Lobster Roll was the first dish ever at Food & Wine to break the $10 barrier.
Then came the phased reopening and some glorious additions, such as the Lobster Landing booth a few years back. We didn’t enjoy that Lobster Tail quite as often, what with its $14 price tag and all. But the Lobster Chowder and Lobster Dip (especially the latter) were fantastic and more budget-friendly.
However, the Lobster Landing booth was one and done, and hasn’t been seen for the last two years. One theory for this is that lobster prices have skyrocketed since. If a Lobster Tail was $14 in 2021, it stands to reason that it would be nearly $20 at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival given real world and Walt Disney World inflation since.
The other is Disney’s corporate partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, which now rates American Lobster with its “Avoid” status, advising that you “take a pass on this red-rated seafood for now because it poses a high risk to the environment.” (Read about the rationale for this rating here if you so desire.)
Whatever the reason, and my guess is that it’s a bit of both, with the rating serving as a convenient excuse in the face of higher costs, the fact is that we’ve seen lobster disappear from a lot of menus around Walt Disney World in the last couple of years (RIP Lobster Thermidor Burger). This also explains why Lobster Landing vanished so quickly and other booths haven’t done lobster.
Well, it appears our long national lobster nightmare is over, as the seafood is back at the Coastal Eats booth during the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. Here’s a look at the menu:
Roasted Warm Water Lobster Tail with garlic butter
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail with cocktail sauce
Wildly Brut Cuvée
Boyd & Blair Pomegranate Codder
CORKCICLE Stemless Flute
Now for our reviews of the food items at the Coastal Eats Global Marketplace during the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival…
Roasted Warm Water Lobster Tail ($13) – No matter how many EPCOT festivals I do, the sticker shock never fully wears off. In the case of this lobster tail, it probably should. This is $1 less expensive than the last time lobster tail was served in 2021, and if the DTB Archives are any indication, this is actually a larger portion.
Of course, portion sizes at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival can be luck of the draw. While I was waiting at the window, I saw a couple lobster tails in front of mine that were smaller, so it appears that I won the “Lobster Lottery.” Generally speaking, seafood is also luck of the draw at EPCOT festivals. As you can probably imagine, ‘fast food’ seafood is a gamble–and it depends upon whether you get something freshly-prepared or one that’s been slow-cooking under a heat lamp.
My lobster tail was perfect in every conceivable way. There was a generous amount of meat, which was flavorful and tender. The butter and lemon brought out the natural flavor of the seafood even more, enhancing what was already there rather than masking subpar seafood or making rubbery meat manageable.
With that said, this is warm water lobster—thus explaining both the larger portion and lower pricing. Mainelanders, Maineganders, or the less-cool but technically-correct Mainers might scoff at anything but cold water lobster, but I have zero complaints about the flavor or quality here…and appreciate that it wasn’t $20.
This lobster tail was fantastic–one of the highlights of the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for me. It’s an absolute no-brainer use of a Disney Dining Plan snack credit. Honestly, I’m tempted to order this again even paying out of pocket, as $13 seemed perfectly fair for what I received. My only hesitation being that last part (“what I received”) as that may not be what I get next time. In that regard, it’s similar to the Filet Mignon at the Canada Global Marketplace–worth rolling the dice on the DDP, but riskier when paying out of pocket.
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail ($13) – This is new to Coastal Eats, but the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail dish has been floating around the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for a while. I’m actually kind of disappointed to see it land here, as it replaces two excellent and more inventive entrees–including the Oysters Rockefeller—that were among my favorites.
As always, the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail is a solid option. The shrimp are sizable and tasty, with the right amount of chill (meaning they’re neither still frozen in the center nor room temperature), which makes for a refreshing dish on hot days. My problem with this is that the cocktail sauce is very mild, which makes the whole thing forgettable. (After living in Indianapolis for a while, I can’t do any shrimp cocktail that isn’t in the style of St. Elmo Steakhouse.)
Again, this is an objectively fantastic use of a Disney Dining Plan snack credit. If you have extras to burn and are a fan of shrimp cocktails, by all means, go for it. This is perfectly fine–and has both a higher floor and lower ceiling than the Lobster Tail. However, we can’t actively recommend it to anyone paying out of pocket. ”Fine” isn’t good enough for something you could easily replicate at home for a lot less than $13.
Overall, Coastal Eats is a great booth at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for anyone with a surplus of Disney Dining Plan snack credits to use. You’ll get roughly double what’s otherwise considered good value-for-money out of them, which is far better than any other Global Marketplace.
With that said, our strong advice to anyone–and this includes those on the Disney Dining Plan–is sticking to the Lobster Tail. Get multiple if “necessary.” Even though it’s probably the higher risk dish, it’s also the higher reward one. The Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail is fine, but there’s nothing that actually makes it “worth” $13. By contrast, the Lobster Tail can be way better than you’d expect from a theme park food booth, while also offering strong bang-for-buck (or credit). It earns our high recommendation as a result.
Check out our EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus post if you want to see and read more about every menu this year. You’ll also want to read our full 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Guide before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival (yes, you will need a strategy), and much more!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the Coastal Eats marketplace? Have you tried the Lobster Tail or Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail? Did you have as much success with the Lobster Tail, or was your risk not met with the same reward? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
