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Experience Foodie Paradise during Virginia’s Largest Spring Food & Wine Festival at Busch Gardens Williamsburg Starting April 28, 2022!
This spring, new flavors and thrills are in bloom at Busch Gardens Williamsburg with the return of the park’s fan-favorite Food & Wine Festival. With more than 30 delicious NEW dishes to pair with cocktails, wines and craft brews, park guests can explore flavors for all tastes at 15 globally inspired food and beverage locations. Guests can create the perfect pairing by enjoying live, local entertainment and rides on their favorite thrills, including the all-new Pantheon the world’s fastest multi-launch coaster. The Food & Wine Festival runs Thursdays through Sundays from April 28 to June 12, plus Memorial Day.
This year, guests can take a trip down under at the ALL-NEW Australia Food & Wine location. Featuring decadent dishes like the Snag on the Barbie, a banger sausage with vegemite caramelized onions and Lamington Cake, a sponge cake with raspberry jam, chocolate and coconut. These dishes pair best with the Aussie Mule or Foster’s®, an Australian-made beer.
The global flavors continue with more ALL-NEW tasty bites and beverages, including items inspired by the following countries:
· New Location! Greece: Travel to the coastlines of Greece with authentic dishes like the Tirokroketes, fried cheese balls with tzatziki sauce and the Choriatiki Salata, a traditional Greek salad with feta, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes, and olives
· New items! Japan: Tastebuds are transformed with the Impossi-Bao, Impossible® meat in a steamed bun topped with Asian slaw and the Spicy Tuna Sushi Cup, sushi rice with nori flakes, tuna, & spicy mayo.
· New items! Italy: Sip on Luna Nuda and Roscato, red wines straight from the vines of Italy, while enjoying Fettuccini & Sundried Tomato Alfredo with house made pasta, spinach and kalamata olives
Enjoy brews and bites from close to home at Virginia, featuring items from across the Old Dominion. New for this year, guests can indulge in an Oyster on the Half Shell, complete with mignonette, cocktail sauce & lemon. Feeling adventurous? Add a shot of moonshine and make it an Oyster Shooter. These Virginia-inspired dishes are paired with local beer and wine, including the new Petit Manseng from the Williamsburg Winery.
A complete menu of the Food & Wine Festival dishes and drinks can be found online at Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival page.
The best way to sip and sample is with a Food & Wine Festival sampler lanyard. Guests can embark on their culinary journey and save 10 percent with a 10-sample lanyard starting at only $59.00 or extend the savings up to 20 percent with the fan-favorite 15-sampler.
In addition to the Food & Wine festivities, beer, wine and cocktail lovers can indulge year-round at two new beverage locations, BarKastle and La Belle Wine Bar. Located in France, La Belle offers deluxe wines by the glass or bottle, ranging from sparkling to sweet and everything in between. Cocktail connoisseurs can visit BarKastle in Oktoberfest and partake in cocktails on tap, including the all-new Curse of BarKastle Daiquiri, spiked lemonade and more. The new bar also features frozen cocktails and local craft brews.
Best Way to Visit and Ride – Busch Gardens Spring Sale
The best way to experience the Food & Wine Festival, the all-new Pantheon and seasonal events throughout the year is with a Busch Gardens Membership. For a limited time only, visitors can save up to 20 percent on the purchase of a Busch Gardens Membership. Members receive 12 months of visits with special benefits including, free parking, up to six free guest tickets, savings on merchandise and exclusive perks during the Food & Wine Festival. The savings continue with single and multi-day tickets, where guests can save up to 25 percent.
This popular food festival returns to take guests on an unforgettable culinary adventure with over 100 international flavors.
This is a great opportunity to sample cuisine from around the world and we do mean cuisine – this is not your ordinary amusement park fare.
Admission to the festival is included with park admission, and individual tastings range in price. If you have an Annual Membership make sure to present it when you purchase your food for a discount. You can also prepay for meal tickets – which will save you money.
Here is how the Food & Wine Festival works; 15 different kiosks are set up throughout Busch Gardens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. Each one is easily identified with the Food & Wine Festival logo and a four-sided billboard telling you about the country you are sampling from and interesting food facts. Large signs with that country’s menus are near each kiosk. Pick up a Food & Wine Festival Guide located at each participating country, these guides include a map of the park, locating each kiosk and it also includes menus for each country.
Try food and beverage items not normally served at the Williamsburg theme park!
An array of specialty beverages, such as the all-new Honeybee Hurricane, the Manta Margarita, and a variety of refreshing Sangria choices, will be available.
There are many tasty reasons to come back week after week:
⭐ ALL-NEW savory dishes like Spam Musubi with sushi rice, Chicken Bulgogi
and Chicken & Andouille Gumbo are sure to satisfy taste buds. With over 25
fresh global cuisine offerings, guests can also enjoy many returning fan
favorites like tuna poke, bacon and cheddar hushpuppies, Churrasco grilled
beef and local she-crab soup.
⭐Savory sliders, Muffaletta, and more: Try sharable dishes like Jamaican
jerk chicken sliders and Gamba fritters. Taste New Orleans flavors like
Muffaletta, or Ham and Pineapple Mac and Cheese inspired by the Hawaiian
Islands.
⭐ Sinfully sweet eats: From pineapple coconut mousse, Beignets, honey and
cinnamon Loukoumades, Horchata and more, there’s something to satisfy
any sweet tooth.
⭐ALL-NEW cocktails like the Dark & Stormy with Myers® spiced rum, Ouzo
Lemonade and Rumchata, or NEW non-alcoholic options like Chocolate or
Vanilla Banana Milk will provide plenty of options for guests to choose from.
With more than 75 refreshing cocktails, wines, beers, seltzers and non-
alcoholic specialty beverages for all tastes, it’s easy to find the perfect
beverage pairing to complement this year’s festival menu.
⭐Then, take a tasting tour of vineyards and breweries from around the
Commonwealth, country, and globe without leaving Williamsburg. Enjoy
signature brews on tap from Virginia Brewing Company, 2 Silos Brewing
Co.®, Caiseal Beer & Spirits and Kona Brewing Company®, and a variety of
hard seltzers flavors from Cutwater® spirits.
Here is a short run down including our favorite samples:
HAWAII
Located in Ireland, next to Castle O’Sullivan. Those that were a fan of Mac n’ Cheese then Hawaii is your place! The ham & pineapple cheese is going to be a hit with the kiddo’s! We loved the Tuna Poke (fantastic sushi – yes, sushi!). The iced Hibiscus Lemonade is a great non-alcoholic treat on a hot day if you have non-drinkers or kids with you.
BRAZIL
Located in New France, next to the Trapper’s Smokehouse. We’ve heard wonderful things about the Brazilian Kiosk over the years! The Churrasco is a must, this is grilled beef with a chimichurri sauce. The Linguica (Brazilian sausage) is also worth a try. Also to note if you enjoy mixed drinks this is your opportunity to try the Caipirinha, made with rum, lime juice & brown sugar!
JAPAN
Located in Italy, near The Battering Ram. GET the Mushi-Gyoza (steamed chicken dumplings)!!! I had to try the Bubble Tea, it was good, cold and sweet. I am not a huge fan of tapioca balls but lucky they tend to stay at the bottom so it wasn’t a big deal. I was super excited to try the Matcha Ice Cream!!
JAMAICA
For those with a sweet tooth you need to try the Pineapple Upside cake…yummy!!!! Sorry we ate it before we got a picture…
GREECE
I Highly recommend the Dolmades, delicious and perfect on a hot day! The Spanakopita was good (left in pic). I was not a huge fan of the Falafel (right) which is no longer available so guess I was not the only one. I really enjoyed the Iced Cafe Au Lait! It was tasty, cold and served in a nice large cup.
Plant-based options (vegan friendly) are available in Japan and Garden Glass
WINE TASTINGS
The park has 3 wine-tasting experiences and everyone receives a complimentary souvenir glass (France, Italy, and Germany).
French Wine Tasting – located at La Belle Maison
German Wine Tasting – located at German Gifts
Italian Wine Tasting – located at Bella Casa
SCOTCH TASTINGS
Scotch Tasting located at Tweedside gifts, includes three 2 oz pours and a commemorative glass..
Talisker Storm
Highland Park 12YR
The Macallan 12YR
Now here are a few insider tips:
Admission to the festival is included with park admission, and individual tastings range in price. Food portions are generous sampling size so you can visit several countries. You can save a little cash if you choose to do a Food or Wine Sampler.
The Food&WineFestivalFood & Beverage Sampler – Mix and match 10 entrées or dessert dishes, beer, wine or specialty beverages from any of the kiosks for one delicious price of $59. (this is enough food for 2 people).
The Food&WineFestival DeluxeFoodSampler– try 15 Food & Wine Festival entrées or dessert items for $79.
If you like wine, and who doesn’t? They have tastings at 3 different locations.
Wine tastings is a fun addition to the Festival. If you like the wine and want to buy a bottle – you can buy right at the tasting. They will even uncork it so you can enjoy it all around Busch Gardens with your friends. They will put it in a gift bag (if it is a red) or you can purchase a cooler bag from a gift store and fill it with ice if it is a white. We saw many folks walking around with their newly purchased bottles and sharing them with their party.
Your kids will delight at The Art of Food – where food becomes art. In 2016 in Ireland Greg Butauski and his team made a turtle from a butternut squash!
Need a ticket discount – check out our latest Busch Gardens & Water Country USA discounts post for all the coupon codes, Groupons and Special Offers we can find – HERE
Cheers to another great Food & Wine Festival!
Visit here for more Busch Gardens events and check out our Daily Calendar too!
WilliamsburgFamilies.com is a blogger for Busch Gardens. Affiliate links are included in this post.
Can you buy the sampler packages in park or only in advance?