- Recently, Disney debuted a special cheese crawl inspired by “Ratatouille” as part of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which runs from the end of August to the end of November.
- For the crawl, you get a special fromage passport and if you stamp all five sections by purchasing the cheesy foods listed you score a complimentary cheesecake.
- Overall, the cheese crawl was fun and it helped me try delicious foods and find new favorites.
- It cost me about $25 overall for the passport dishes, which isn’t too bad for the amount of food I received. Of course, this price doesn’t include the entry fee for Epcot.
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Recently, Disney debuted an epic cheese crawl as part of its annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which runs from the end of August to the end of November.
Inspired by the animated rat-chef flick “Ratatouille” and officially called Emile’s Fromage Montage, this crawl features five cheesy dishes and a free dessert.
And as a massive fan of Disney parks and cheese, I knew I had to try it.
Here’s what the cheese crawl is really like.
The crawl is part of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which runs for a few months each year.
Fortunately, entrance into the festival comes with the price of Epcot admission.
So, on August 30, the second day of the Food & Wine festival, my husband, friends, and I braved the rain and crowds in Epcot.
For a Friday, it wasn't too packed, and there was always a table available to chow down (and stage my Instagram photos, of course).
The rain did throw a wrench into the process, but it was nothing that a couple of ponchos couldn't handle.
Those who visit can earn cheese stamps on a special "passport."
Basically, interested parkgoers can grab a Food & Wine guide and try five different cheese dishes at the booths around the World Showcase, collecting stamps as they go.
In the end, a completed passport can be turned in for a free piece of cheesecake - win/win, right?
First up was the Impossible Cottage Pie at Earth Eats for $5.
The first stop was the Earth Eats booth so I could pick up an order of the Impossible Cottage Pie.
According to the Food & Wine guide, this dish is made with "Impossible Ground Meat with carrots, mushrooms, and peas topped with mashed cauliflower, white beans, and mozzarella."
It's vegetarian-friendly and some have suggested it's also vegan-friendly, although I wasn't able to verify during my visit.
The dish was heavy but tasty.
Being that I'm a meat-eater, this was the first time I'd ever tried Impossible meat, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference between this and the real deal.
The cauliflower and cheese flavors took center stage here, and I almost felt like I was eating super cheesy (and fancy) mashed potatoes.
It was a heavy dish, making it hard to eat in the Florida heat, but it was still pretty yummy - and the perfect comfort food.
Next up? The $5 Black Pepper Boursin Soufflé with Fig Marmalade at The Cheese Studio.
Next, I went to The Cheese Studio to try the soufflé, which was actually more like a cheesy muffin.
The dish was pretty small - I was done in two bites - so if you're hungry, it might not be the best use of your $5, in my opinion.
The soufflé was tasty, but not my favorite.
The fig marmalade added a layer of sweetness that worked really well with the cheese, but overall the dish felt kind of boring so I'm not sure if I'd order it again.
That said, if this soufflé showed up in a bread basket at a restaurant, I'd be all over it.
After that, I picked up the Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese at The Alps for $5.
My next stop was the booth for The Alps to get some raclette.
Raclette is a cheese wheel that's heated and then scraped directly on top of food - in this case, a some baguette, potatoes, and cornichon pickles.
This might have been my favorite dish on the crawl, and fans of melted cheese will probably love this, too.
I loved it, but I would've preferred a larger serving size.
You can't really go wrong with melted cheese - this dish was so yummy and satisfying.
My one complaint about this is that the serving size wasn't big enough, but I may be a bit biased because I could eat this melted cheese all day.
I will definitely be grabbing this again during my next Food & Wine adventure.
Read More: 10 of the best cheeses for snacking and cooking, according to chefs and cheesemongers
Then, it was time for one of my favorites, Brazil's Pão de Queijo for $4.50.
Pão de Queijo is essentially Brazilian cheese bread, and anyone who's been to a Brazilian steakhouse may have tried it before.
But whether you've eaten this dish or not, I think all parkgoers should totally spend the $4.50 to get this from the Brazil booth.
The bread is filled with melty, gooey, cheesy goodness.
The inside of the bread is full of melty, cheesy goodness, and it's easy to eat and walk with, which can't be said for a lot of the other items on the crawl.
In the interest of full disclosure, this has always been one of my favorite snacks at the festival - every time I walk by the booth, I get another order of cheese bread. It's that good.
Plus, it's also always served hot, which is the best way to eat it.
For my last stamp, I picked up the Schinkennudeln at Germany for $4.25.
For my final stamp, I headed to the Germany booth.
Described as "pasta gratin with ham, onions, and cheese," the Schinkennudeln was another one of my favorites on the crawl.
You definitely had to sit down to eat this one.
It's hard to deny how delicious cheesy pasta is, and this one definitely holds up … even if I had no idea how to pronounce it when I headed over to the booth to place my order.
The cheesiness is what really stands out about this dish, and the diced ham is the perfect addition.
Finally, I flashed my stamped passport to get the "Ratatouille" cheesecake.
After completing the crawl, I showed my stamped passport at the Shimmering-Sips booth to get my complimentary cheesecake.
The dessert was pretty small and can be eaten in just a few bites, but at that point, I was so full of cheese that this was the perfect serving size.
The cheesecake is pineapple- and coconut-flavored, and the filling tasted a lot like the park's famous Dole Whip, which definitely wasn't a bad thing. It's also topped with a piece of white chocolate that's printed with "Ratatouille" star Remy himself.
In my opinion, this sweet treat was the perfect way to end the crawl.
This experience was an awesome way to try new dishes that I may not have grabbed myself ... and the free dessert at the end definitely didn't hurt.
As someone who visits Food & Wine several times each year, it was also something brand new to me that I got to try, and that part of it was so much fun.
Like anything else at Disney, this'll cost you - but the snacks are definitely shareable and affordable, especially if you want to split the food and the cost with a friend.
Sharing the dishes also comes with the added perk of having extra room in your stomach to try even more foods at the Epcot festival instead of just filling up on cheese.
Overall, this was a fun way to find new favorite dishes, and I look forward to seeing which themed food crawl Disney rolls out next.
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