The Alps Booth Menu & Review: EPCOT Food & Wine Festival

The Alps is a booth near China in World Showcase during 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.

Let’s start with a brief synopsis of what’s happening at this year’s EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. This year’s culinary event started much earlier than normal and will run significantly longer than usual (129 days!) for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of this food booth info post for the Alps.

The Alps is another booth that’s technically not a single country. Much like “the Riviera” is a nebulous term that allows flexibility as it encompasses multiple countries, the Alps here could describe cuisine from France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, or perhaps even the great nation of Arendelle. We’d probably never know for sure–except DisneyWorld.com described this as “the delicious tastes of Swiss-inspired dishes!” Mystery solved.

When the Alps booth was initially announced, I was pretty excited. There are some interesting things that could be done with Swiss cuisine, and the Alps has the potential to be a fun, inventive, and crowd-pleasing booth all at once.

However, like in the real Switzerland, cuisine at the Alps Global Marketplace feels like it never lives up to its full potential, with a menu that sounds more interesting than it is in actuality. (Hey, at least these dishes are downright cheap by Swiss standards!)

Here’s the food menu at the Alps Global Marketplace:

  • Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with alpine ham, baby potatoes, cornichons, and baguette (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
  • Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with baby potatoes, cornichons, and baguette (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
  • Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Riesling-poached pears, red wine-braised figs, candied pecans, honey, and cranberry toast (New) (Emile’s Fromage Montage)

In terms of alcoholic drinks, here’s what’s served at the Alps Food & Wine Festival Global Marketplace:

  • Wicked Weed Brewing Uncle Rick’s Pilsner (New)
  • Huber Vision Grüner Veltliner
  • Cave De La Côte Rosé Gamay
  • René Favre Dôle
  • Frozen Rosé
  • Wine Flight

Now our photos and reviews of each item from the Alps Global Marketplace at the EPCOT International 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!)

Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Baby Potatoes, Cornichons and Baguette – There are some dishes at the various festivals that deserve points for edutainment or culture value, in addition to their culinary quality. This is one such dish. There are two versions of it–one with ham and another without. They’re otherwise identical.

The Alps Cast Members are shaving this cheese by hand and using a raclette machine to warm the cheese wheel and plate the cheese in full view of guests. It’s really cool to watch, and this aspect of the dish is what makes it interesting and authentic.

The fun of the presentation and preparation is superior to the taste, which arguably is true of a lot of dishes like this from the actual Alps (so there’s that element of authenticity, too!). The cheese itself is good, as are the baby potatoes–they’re what ultimately make the dish. The baguette could be higher quality can mostly mask that. All things considered, this is a worthwhile “filler” dish, and one we tepidly recommend.

Blueberry and Almond Frangipane Tart with Cream & Almonds – The Alps’ standout item, the blueberries here are abundant and punctuate the art, with the Cream provided a rich and decadent topping.

This is an absolute must-order; one of our sleeper picks for desserts at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. It may not look it in the photo above, but this is an incredibly high quality dish with a range of flavors and textures. It’s well worth the price.

Overall, the Alps Global Marketplace at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival didn’t quite live up to our expectations, but it’s not a total disappointment, either. These are dishes that are good in theory, and it’s fun to watch the preparation, but they could executed with a bit more ambition. The Blueberry and Almond Frangipane Tart with Cream & Almonds is the unequivocal highlight, and alone makes us glad that the Alps booth returned–even if a tad late. With all of that said, we’re hoping the Alps has a more robust menu in 2023. This booth has a lot of potential, and hopefully nails the execution next year!

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 Alps Global Marketplace at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival? Have you tried any of the food items at this booth? Any thoughts on these items? Portion-size or quality-wise, did you have better or worse luck than us with what you ordered? 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!

4 Responses to “The Alps Booth Menu & Review: EPCOT Food & Wine Festival”
  1. Melody September 9, 2019
  2. judy morgan September 8, 2019
  3. Lorraine September 8, 2019
  4. Heather M September 8, 2019

Leave a Reply to Heather M Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *