Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival 2017: What’s new?

Photo: Busch Gardens

The widely popular, and always delicious, Food & Wine Festival is returning to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for its fifth season. The event takes place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from May 26 through July 2, 2017.

In addition to global food and beverage options (available at 15 creatively themed kiosks located around the park), park guests can enjoy live music, wine and scotch tastings, colorful decorations and cooking demonstrations. Previous events have hosted talented sculptors and artisans carving all kinds of creations out of ice, fruit and vegetables.

There is no extra charge to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival, but menu items are in addition to park admission. Food & Wine menu items are sample-sized and range in price from $4 to $10.

Hawaii kiosk

Last year, Busch Gardens added Virginia and Hawaii to the lineup, both to great reviews. Those two regions return along with many other favorites and a couple of new tastes.

What’s new at Busch Gardens Food and Wine Festival 2017

The Mediterranean region replaces Greece. It’s located in Italy next to Escape from Pompeii. The menu includes:

Halloumi – Griddled Greek cheese with clover honey and crushed pistachios
Lamb Burger Slider – Seasoned ground lamb on pita bread with feta cheese spread, cucumber, tomato and olive
Falafel (vegan-friendly) – Chickpea fritter with sesame dipping sauce
Baklava – Sweet pastry with nuts and honey between thin crispy filo pastry layers
Wine – Elios Mediterranean Red, Elios Mediterranean White
Cocktails – Ouzo
Specialty drink (non-alcoholic) – Iced Café Au Lait

India is located in Germany near DarKastle. It offers a variety of savory Indian dishes, frozen cocktails and vegan-friendly options. Menu items include:

Tandoori Chicken – spiced yogurt marinated chicken with cardamom ginger rice and cucumber raita
Samosas (vegan-friendly) – Indian savory pastry filled with curried potatoes and peas with mango chutney
Spicy Potato Curry (vegan-friendly) – Garbanzo beans, sweet peas and potatoes stewed in coconut milk with curry spice
Mango Burfi – Mango and coconut snowballs
Mango Mint Smoothie – Spiked mango mint smoothie with yogurt and Indian spices
Masala Chai Iced Tea (non-alcoholic)

Located in Oktoberfest, next to Mach Tower, Island Freeze is a delicious destination for the over 21 crowd. It features a menu of tropical-inspired drinks, including rum runners, mojitos, sangria, ballinis, daiquiris and pina coladas.

Learn more and take a peek at the rest of the 2017 Food and Wine menus right here. You can even check out some of the recipes to create these tasty dishes at home.

Hawaii kiosk – Haupia tart

Busch Gardens Food & Beverage Regions for 2017

American Southwest
Asia
Canada
Caribbean
Crepes & Coffee kiosk
French Quarter
Germany
Hawaii
India (NEW)
Ireland
Island Freeze Frozen Beverages (NEW)
Italy
Mediterranean (NEW)
Spain
Virginia

Tips to enjoy Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival 2017

Purchase pre-loaded wristbands, located at several locations around the park. This allows “hands-free” purchasing power as it eliminates all of that digging through bags for wallets, cash or credit cards. Of course, cash and credit cards are accepted.

2016 Food & Wine Festival booklet

Grab a Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival booklet, which can be found at most kiosks. This handy dandy little book lists all of the food and beverage items. You can decide ahead of time where to go and what to eat as well as check off what you’ve tried. Kind of like a foodie passport, of sorts.

Virginia kiosk – Smithfield ham sampler

Food and Wine Festival menu items are sample-sized. Have fun and share a few different items to get a taste of everything.

Spain kiosk

Food & Wine Festival packages

Enjoy Busch Gardens’ 2017 Food & Wine Festival with package deals.

The Food Sampler Package is $45 and allows you to mix and match 10 entrées, dessert dishes, 12 oz. beer, 4 oz. wine or 12 oz. specialty beverage from any of the kiosks. Shots, frozen beverages and cocktails are excluded from this deal. This is the perfect choice for one person, or even two people, to share.
The Deluxe Food Sampler Package is $60 and allows you to try 15 options listed above. Both the Deluxe and the regular food sampler packages may be used on multiple trips (i.e. you don’t have to use up all $60 or $45 on one trip). They do have to be used by July 2, and they’re only good at Food & Wine kiosks. They can’t be used at the regular park food stands.
The Wine Tasting package is $15.95. You’ll learn about and taste four different wines from the region of your choosing – La Belle in New France, German Gifts in Germany or Bella Casa in Italy. You’ll receive a free souvenir wine glass.
The Wine Tasting Trio allows you to taste four different wines (about 1 oz. each) from all three of the wine tasting experiences for $31.95. You’ll also receive a free souvenir glass.