I have beef with the Germany booth at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. There, I said it.

You’ve probably perused the menu and thought, “How could anyone hate this? This sounds incredible!“ I was in full agreement with you until I was there on opening day with a tray full of food and drinks and realized what was sitting in front of me.

The EPCOT Food & Wine Festival runs till November 22nd and is where EPCOT completely transforms into a food wonderland. There are food booths on every corner and literally a passport book listing all the different foods you’ll want to try (and there will be a lot!). It’s a fan-favorite festival known for bringing crowds.

Most pavilions feature a special festival booth, along with other booths scattered throughout the pavilions and in front of the park. In the Germany Pavilion, there’s a Germany booth as well as The Alps right next to it.

On the menu, you’ll see three different food options with a ton of beer:

• Schinkennudeln: Pasta gratin with ham, onions, and cheese
• Roast Bratwurst in a pretzel roll
• Apple Strudel with vanilla sauce
• Weihenstephaner Festbier, Freising
• Schöfferhofer Berry-Lime Hefeweizen, Mainz
• von Trapp Brweing Oktoberfest Marzan-style Lager, Stowe, VT
• Beer Flight
• Selbach-Oster Riesling QbA, Mosel

Sounds great, right? Well, it might not be your favorite after all. I had all three food items plus the beer flight.

To start, I had the Schinkennudeln. Don’t be afraid of the huge name. It’s a pretty good pasta casserole featuring diced ham and an abundance of cheese. It has so much cheese that it’s part of the Emile’s Fromage, a cheese crawl where, if you try five different cheese-themed dishes that are part of the list, you get an additional sixth treat for free. When you order, don’t forget to grab a stamp in your passport.

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As mentioned earlier, the Alps booth is right next to Germany, which also offers a dish for Emile’s Fromage Montage — Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese. This is Swiss cheese melted from a wheel in front of you and drizzled over potatoes, accompanied by a side of bread. Between this and pasta casarouel, which one are you picking? Come on, you’re picking the fondue!

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The Schinkennudeln have a crispy top and are totally, totally cheesy, but you have to remember that it is the start of the August festival in Orlando, Florida. It’s HOT. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to be eating huge amounts of pasta covered in cheese or fondue in the summer.

What about the Roast Bratwurst? Honestly, it was pretty awesome! The sausage had a great snap and wasn’t too spicy or strong. Even the mustard that came with it wasn’t super spicy. I was really looking forward to the pretzel roll because of the pretzel, but it was not the soft and buttery roll I was expecting. If you’ve had the big pretzel in the Germany Pavilion and thought it was super dry (well, they did just add a new cheese for it, so you might be loving it right now), the pretzel is similar to the bun.

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Maybe I just prefer an Auntie Ann’s pretzel that is buttery and soft on the inside, with just a hint of bite on top, but this is not what I found in the Roast Bratwurst.

The Apple Strudel was my favorite from the booth. The vanilla cream reminded me of melted ice cream, and the cooked apples had a great cinnamon flavor, perfectly cooked. It’s a great choice, and while all three of the food items are good, they’re really not anything to write home about. These are certainly not bad options, and you are unlikely to be disappointed. I promise there are better booths out there.

Let’s not forget about the beer! Now, even as someone new to drinking beer, I enjoyed all three beers on the flight. My only problem was that they were filled to the brim. Normally, this might not be a problem if you’re only getting beer from here, but if you’re needing to carry food and a drink, be careful! I personally spilled all three of my beers right into all three of my food dishes. The crazy part was, I didn’t really mind the taste! The pretzel roll was a little softer, and the only problem was that I had less beer to drink!

I appreciate them giving me my money’s worth of beer, but maybe consider bringing a friend along if you’d like to grab food and drinks. EPCOT food booths don’t offer food trays, and everything comes in small cups and multiple plates, making it difficult to grab it all, especially if you need to walk a little to find a table.

My final note on the Germany booth is the very strong smell coming from its neighbor, the Alps. Since the Swiss cheese is constantly being melted, it will smell like Swiss cheese. The type of Swiss they use is a very strong cheese, even when eating, and you’ll probably get a whiff of it when you walk by.

All in all, I’m not saying completely skip the Germany booth, but maybe grab one item before heading to a more unique booth where it’s going to be a powerhouse of flavors. If you’re a pickier eater, this might provide you with familiar tastes, and it might be a great stop for kids, too, but if you’re looking for the full Food & Wine experience, continue to head down the World Showcase for some more.

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In the meantime, make sure you keep following Disney Food Blog for more, and happy eating.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO EAT AND DRINK AT THE 2025 EPCOT FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL