Since Disney World closed in mid-March, we had wondered how different the parks and experiences would be upon reopening. One of those experiences we had a ton of questions about was the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival
Based on our trip today to Disney Springs, we have gained some insight on how the festival may be a bit different this fall!
We stopped by the Daily Poutine (because we obviously needed cheese and gravy after all these months inside!), and as we went to grab our fork to dig into our delicious boat of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds, we noticed something a bit different about the utensil dispenser!
Daily Poutine at Disney Springs
The utensil dispensers are set up now so you do not have to come in contact with any surface that another person may have touched. Before, the utensil dispensers commonly had a lever on the side that everyone needed to push to receive a new utensil. Here’s the old style:
Old Style Fork Dispenser
And the NEW:
New sanitary utensil dispenser at Daily Poutine
Now, you just pull out your individual utensil and off you go! The ONLY thing you will be touching is the handle of the utensil that YOU will use! After you pull out your fork, another handle pops out!
New sanitary utensil dispenser at Daily Poutine
The utensils themselves look a little different too and are designed in a way to fit in these new dispensers.
Fork from the new utensil dispensers
Looking ahead to the Food and Wine Festival, we wouldn’t be surprised if these new dispensers were placed at each one of the outdoor food booths! We can probably expect to see these at counter service locations when the parks reopen, too.
Check out some of the other health and safety procedures we’ve witnessed at Disney Springs here!
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What other health and safety procedures to you expect to see at this year’s Food and Wine Festival? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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Have they actually stated when the Food and Wine festival will be??
Leighann, Disney has not yet released Food and Wine Festival dates for 2020 yet..
Oh my imagine all this plastic in the ocean…
The news yesterday mentioned no events that being crowds, like parades and fireworks, but I wonder what that will mean for the festivals. What do you think? Fingers crossed.
These were at the California Adventure F&W Fest! Honestly pretty cool, and as cheesy as it sounds, it totally felt like I was drawing a sword from a stone. Hope Dixie makes (and Disney adopts) a compostable version.
Jan, still waiting on Festival info from Disney!
If the machine ejects the next utensil handle would that not expose it to touching without removal? Not sure how this machine is any better.
Glenn, guests won’t have to touch a lever to access a utensil; in theory, everyone would just pull the handle of the utensil they need and never need to touch anything else.
Have they given any information on reopening the water parks?
Kingston, the only information we have is that Disney said they aren’t opening in the first phase of Parks reopening.
Sorry, non-relevant comment, but Kingston G holy cow we have the same name, I’m a Kingston H
that’s all, have a good day
Kingston party!
I bought a wooden set of utensils at Food & Wine last year. They come in a carrying case that you can hook to a belt or bag for easy access, I am thinking those may come up in the merch again this year if the festival moves forward. No chance of contact with other people (cause you know small children will have their hands all over the handles on those new dispensers), and less plastic waste. I used them for Festival of the Arts this year, too.
Interesting machines… pretty sure the way they are loaded almost requires the cutlery to be contaminated before a guest/customer is even involved… The packs are unsealed refill packs that are not only exposed to the open environment but more importantly the way the employees load the machine means that (forgive the pun) the meat and potato side is held just to unwrap the cutlery… if only there was a machine with sealed refills.
CG, I was able to see one being reloaded in Downtown Disney and one be reloaded for California Adventure’s F&W Festival; they’re not much different from how the old “slot machine” cutlery dispensers were loaded, with a whole clip of cutlery being put in the box. The employees had gloves on, but I agree with your overall sentiment that regardless, there’s no sealed, 100% sanitary way to reload the machines. Just wanted to say that the method of reloading is not much more different/unsanitary than it was before.
Max Stax actually has a more hygenic way to load the cutlery. The cutlery is bagged and untouched while loading it. This is much more sanitary than the use of gloves, plus this keeps everything more hygienic when the cutlery is in storage.
I stand corrected, thanks Tony!