Shimmering Sips Booth Review & Menu: EPCOT Food & Wine Festival

Shimmering Sips is our next stop at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival at Walt Disney World. In this Global Marketplace review, we’ll look at the menu prices, share food photos, and offer thoughts on what is–and is not–worth your money–or not.

You might recognize this Global Marketplace in a couple of different ways. Physically, this structure was previously the Almond Orchard Hosted By Almond Breeze. Name-wise, Shimmering Sips was previously in the Wonders of Life Festival Center, which is now being converted to the Play Pavilion.

Up until last year, the end result was a booth that has a bunch of almond-centric items plus mimosas and a ton of sparkling wine. The idea was that you’ll get loaded on booze so that the almond-based ice creams don’t taste so awful. However, then it lost the Almond Breeze sponsorship, so (thankfully) those items disappeared.

Now, Shimmering Sips is sponsored by Corkcicle. Contrary to what some may believe, this is not a company that makes cork flavored popsicles. I guess they actually make insulated drinkware for keeping beverages hot or cold, as the case may be. That’s probably a more viable business model than popsicles that taste like tree bark. But I digress.

Here’s the menu for Shimmering Sips:

  • Guava Cake with Whipped Cream and Coconut (plant-based item)
  • Prize: Strawberry Cheesecake Soft Serve topped with a Mini Cheesecake and Graham Cracker Crumbs in a Specialty Vessel
Shimmering Sips Beverages:
  • Berry Mimosa with Berry Fizz Sparkling Wine and White Cranberry Juice (NEW)
  • Tropical Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Minute Maid® Passion Fruit, Orange and Guava Juices
  • Blood Orange Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Blood Orange Juice
  • Beer Mimosa: Boulevard Brewing Co. Berry Noir Sour Ale and Sparkling Wine
  • Mimosa Flight
  • CORKCICLE Stemless Flute

Now our photos and reviews of each item from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. (Note: these have not yet been updated with fresh reviews of the new items at the 2023 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Stay tuned for that!)

Banana Bread with Mixed Berry Compote ($4.50) – In the history of Disney Tourist Blog, we’ve never reviewed an item from Shimmering Sips or Almond Orchard positively. Never.

That all changes with this banana bread. The “bread” is fairly dense but not overly dry–it’s almost like a fruity coffee cake. The mixed berry compote doesn’t taste overly artificial, and works perfectly with the cake base. Then there’s the whipped cream, which is delicious and pushes it over the top. One of the best desserts at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. No joke!!!

Shimmering Strawberry Soft-serve in a Waffle Cone ($5.25) – This is ordinary soft serve ice cream. You’ve probably had this countless times. It’s tasty, refreshing, safe, and predictable.

It’s also not something that belongs at a foodie event. We can’t recommend this.

For years, Shimmering Sips has been the worst booth at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival in terms of cuisine/desserts. That’s not true anymore thanks to the Banana Bread, and the removal of a couple other dubious menu items (the soft serve is still highly questionable, but we’ll give it a pass). Plus, Shimmering Sips has the mimosas and champagne to redeem it.

Check out our Global Marketplace Booth Menus & Photos for the 2023 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 2023 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 Shimmering Sips booth? Have you tried any of the food items at this booth? Think I’m too hard on the ice cream and desserts here? Any thoughts on these items? 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!

3 Responses to “Shimmering Sips Booth Review & Menu: EPCOT Food & Wine Festival”
  1. Denisse Soler November 7, 2021
  2. Melissa C August 11, 2021
  3. treegirl July 22, 2020

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