2014 Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival Review

Two weeks ago we were invited back to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for their second annual Food & Wine Festival. It really wasn't much of a decision since we enjoyed last year's so much and we were very curious to see how the new additions we'd heard about would go over for us this year as well.

This year's event runs until June 29th, Friday-Sunday, so there's still a couple of weekends left to get out there and try what they've got on the menu for this year.

Like last year, the event was packed with 14 food pavilions, 4 wine tasting pavilions, food carving demonstrations and live shows all centered around food and drink. There's so much to see and do that you should probably plan just a day to experience it all without rushing to get to rides and waiting in lines there as well.

Visit Date: 6/6/14
Day: Friday
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Overall Rating: Excellent
Food Rating: Very Good
Show Rating: Good
Sample Prices: Good
Recommendation: If you haven't gone, you need to!
Website:
Review Team: Myself, +Carrie H.C. and +Alexandra F

**Disclaimer: Despite being invited down by the park, we still bought our tickets for the event and we were not comped for any of the food. This is because we like to visit more than one day and the Fun Card option is too good to pass up!

As I said, we really enjoyed the first year of this event that took place in 2013 and we were eager to see just how they would corrupt our tastebuds this time around. Not only is the park beautiful, but the atmosphere and theme of Europe lends itself perfectly for an event of this type to take place. That said, not everything we tried went over that great with us. That's just how food is, but I'm getting a head of myself. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Busch Gardens Willamsburg- Food and Wine Festival

Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Food and Wine Festival

  We here at InSanity lurks Inside completely LOVE festivals that mix two of our favorite things, Drinking Adult-type beverages and Tasty Food! So when we heard that Busch Gardens Williamsburg was opening their very first "Food and Wine Festival" we got excited! Needless to say our excitement was doubled when Busch Gardens responded to our inquiry about reviewing this event, we packed up and high-tailed it south!


Event Dates: Friday thru Sunday May 31-June23
Dates of our Review: May 31-June-2
Event Rating: Great but prices are a bit high.


 To start we made a stop at guest services right at the beginning. Busch Gardens offers a wonderful wrist band program which you can link to your credit card. Thus allowing you to go cash free (or in my case, purse free) for your day by allowing you to charge to a general account! With this account you can either go limited (say $100) or unlimited depending on your spending ability. This is a splendid little tool for their Food and Wine Festival but is offered all year.
 However, a word of warning! I'd suggest using a credit card only for this, not your debt/bank card as it takes $50 authorizations as your original $50 runs low. This really isn't much of an issue but depending on your bank, those authorizations may hang around for a few days tying up your money. So think about that in advance!

Carrie, Shut Up and get to the FOOD AND DRINKS!

Okay, here we go!