Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival – the many reasons why you don’t want to miss it!

Experience a Safe Foodie Paradise during Virginia’s Largest Spring Food & Wine Festival at Busch Gardens Williamsburg Starting April 2, 2021!

This popular food festival returns to take guests on an unforgettable culinary adventure with over 100 international flavors at this can’t miss limited capacity event.

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 from $3 – $7.  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.

This spring, NEW flavors are in bloom at Busch Gardens with the return of the park’s fan-favorite Food & Wine Festival starting Friday, April 2! With enhanced health and safety measures, including limited capacity, reservations, increased cleaning and sanitation, temperature checks, and face covering requirements, guests are invited to take their taste buds on a one-of-a-kind adventure through 11 internationally inspired food and beverage kiosks as they sample tasty
treats, including NEW unique dishes and specialty beverages.

Here is how the Food & Wine Festival works; 11 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. Keep an eye out for live chef demonstrations located throughout the park. 

This year’s menu features more than 25 festival favorites and fresh twists on classic cuisines from around the world that pair perfectly with more than 75 wines, brews, and cocktails. And, for the first time in over a year, more than 100 acres of the park is open for guests to explore all 10 European villages and experience some of their favorite
coasters, rides, and live entertainment!

Try food and beverage items not normally served at the Williamsburg theme park! This festival will take guests on a savory, sweet and scrumptious culinary trip through Virginia; Mexico; Hawaii; Brazil; Jamaica; South Korea; Italy and the Mediterranean. To complement the dishes, 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.

Enjoy the Best of the Food & Wine Festival with a Sampler

The best way for guests to savor and save on their favorite dishes and drinks at this year’s Food & Wine Festival is with a sampler card. Guests can purchase 10 or 15 item samplers to use at each food and beverage kiosk to explore dishes and drink offerings with ease starting at just $49 for a 10-item sampler. Visit buschgardens.com/williamsburg/events/food-and-wine-festival/ to view the full festival menu.

Best Way to Play
For only $98.99, guests can buy a Busch Gardens Fun Card, a get Water Country USA for
FREE – this offer ends March 21.

Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival single-day event admission starts at only $39.99. For the best admission option, guests can lock in an entire year of fun with a new 2021 Membership for as low as $11.25 per month with no down payment.

Members receive 12 months of unlimited visitation and amazing park benefits and rewards such as FREE parking, up to 50 percent discount on in-park merchandise, up to 20 percent discount on dining, FREE guest tickets, and so much more. Admission to the Food & Wine Festival is included for active Members, Annual Pass and Fun Card
holders. Visit www.buschgardens.com/williamsburg/tickets/reservations/ for a complete list of rides, attractions, event activities, and to make reservations.

Safety

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is committed to the health and safety of our guests, employees, and the animals in our care. The park has worked diligently with state and local health officials, outside consultants and attraction industry leaders to enhance our already strict health, safety and cleanliness standards. These protocols and guidelines will be modified based on evolving industry standards and methodologies, public health, and governmental directives, and advancing scientific knowledge on the transmissibility of COVID-19. For detailed information about the measures that guests can expect when visiting the park, including key operational changes, visit Buschgardens.com/williamsburg/park-info/park-safety/.

Guests can receive the latest information on hours of operation for Busch Gardens
Williamsburg by visiting, BuschGardensWilliamsburg.com or Facebook.com/BuschGardensVA

Visit Busch Gardens Website for more info.

Plant-based options (vegan friendly) are available in Japan and Garden Glass

Enjoy authentic tastes from around the world including 6 new kiosks: Garden to Glass, Herbal Infusion, Jamaica, Mexico, Philippines, and Sangria Garden.  Here is a short run down including our favorite samples, for the full menu go here

Wine tastings the park has five wine-tasting experiences and everyone receives a complimentary souvenir glass (France, New France, Ireland, Italy, and Germany). One tasting is $14.99 or (3) for $29.99.

French Wine Tasting – located at La Belle Maison

German Wine Tasting – located at German Gifts

Italian Wine Tasting – located at Bella Casa

Scotch Tasting

Scotch Tasting located at Tweedside gifts, includes three 2 oz pours and a commemorative glass..

Talisker Storm
Highland Park 12YR
The Macallan 12YR

Tequila Tasting

Located in Oktoberfest village, you can sample the following:

Don Julio Blanco
Herradura Reposado
Patron Extra Anejo

And for those who want to “add a little extra ambiance to their tasty adventure” check out a Wine on the Rhine river cruise where you will swing to live music while you enjoy fruit, cheese and a chocolate truffle with a glass of wine.  Wine on the Rhine is for the whole family and is throughout the day, Date Night on the Rhine is a river cruise for guests 21 and older.

New – SANGRIA GARDEN

Because it is too difficult to choose just one…with the sangria flight, you’ll get to try the traditional red, citrus moscato, strawberry rose, and frozen sangrias…YES PLEASE!

Admission to the festival is included with park admission, and individual tastings range in price from $3 – $8. 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 & Wine Festival Food & 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 $49. (this is enough food for 2 people).

The Food & Wine Festival Deluxe Food Sampler –  try 15 Food & Wine Festival entrées or dessert items 

Now here are a few insider tips

The following information is from 2019 – we will update info and pricing when it becomes available!
If you like wine, and who doesn’t?  They have tastings at 5 different locations.  Each tasting runs $14.99 or you can buy Wine Tasting Trio for $29.99 which is like getting three wine tastings for the price of 2.  However if you are not planning on three tastings in one night – just do one and then your wine glass that they give you will allow you to get your next wine tasting for $9.99.  So why do the trio at all?  Well, if you are planning on doing the Ice Wine tasting you will get you that tasting at no extra fee but there is an upcharge with the wine glass.  Ice wines start at $90+ a bottle so this tasting is more costly for the park.

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! (See picture below)

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

Visit Busch Gardens Website for more info.

Cheers to another great Wine and Food Festival!

WilliamsburgFamilies.com is a blogger for Busch Gardens.  Affiliate links are included in this post.