Party For The Senses 11/5/11- From Behind The Scenes!

: Party For The Senses!

The Party For The Senses is a hard ticket event that happens every Saturday night during Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. Chefs from across the world come to participate as well as many of Disney’s talented Chefs. It is an event that guests look forward to all year, as well as the Disney Cast. The planning for these events is extreme and detailed, starting before the final event of the year is even finished.

: I was lucky to get my press pass for the event! .

The prep of each chefs dish starts a few days prior to the event, we started cooking the Wild Boar in plenty of time to get it tender enough.

Seth and Melanie are doing a bit of prep for the event.

The Wild Boar is slowly cooking, soaking up a ton of flavor!

: Here is Dave cooking the tortillas before we leave our kitchen

Over 1000 guests are expected each Saturday so planning is key in delivering a great dish!

: We travel in Reefer Trucks to our events.

Trucks are in and out of the backdock area all afternoon, unloading trams, hotboxes and coolers filled with the chef’s mise en place.

Chef Joe directs the team in setup to create a good flow of cooking and building plates.

: The back hall of the World Showcase Pavillion was peaceful before the hustle and bustle started!

I look forward to going to The Party For The Senses each year, it’s always fun to see old friends and meet new people! Not to mention to see and taste what other Chefs are doing!

The Catering Kitchen was full of energy!

: Chef Orlando was able to take a moment to say hello to his old friend! 🙂

Some of the guests are lucky enough to be welcomed into the Wine View Lounge. For a little extra money, these guests are brought into the event earlier and have a lovely lounge to enjoy. Every week the Chefs of Park Events Operations come up with a new, trendy dishes to offer these guests.

The WIne View Lounge offers guests an early entrance, extra seating, a few extra surprises from the Chefs!

An intimate WIne View Lounge table in the midst of a premier event! Wow!

WIne View Lounge guests enjoy mouth watering cheese offerings.

Chef Dale prepares for the Wine View Lounge guests.

: In the Wine View Lounge the buffets float!

Before the event starts each week the Chef de Cuisine of Park Event Operations and Executive Chef of Epcot welcome all the chefs and their teams, and recognize the Events Team that spent all year planning. Each Chef then introduces themselves and briefly describes their dish of the night.

Chef Leonard, the Chef De Cuisine of Park Event Operations welcomes the chefs and their teams and goes over the flow of the evening.

Chef Celina Tio describes her dish and passes the microphone off to Chef Ken Vedrinski.

: Here is a group shot of all the guest chefs- that is a TON of talent!

Chefs bring a demo plate to the center stage so everyone can see what will be served before the event starts. The dishes had a huge range and offered so many choices.

Chef Noah French of the Sandy Lane Hotel was back this year with a Molecular Gastronomy inspired dish!

: Chef Ken Vedrinski of Trattoria Lucca in Charleston, SC brought his renown talent to the Party For The Senses! Charleston Chefs are World Class!

The event would start soon and it was time for all the Chefs to organize their teams so we would be ready for the crowd of 12oo.

Chef Damon coordinates with all the guest chefs each week and ensures his team is ready to help create an amazing night for all!

Chef Jim of the Magic Kingdom instructs his team before service starts.

: Chef Celina Tio guides her team before the guests arrival.

There are a ton of Winery’s and Vendors at the event, for every dish there is different beverage pairing. The drinks were flowing for sure! 🙂

Star Tree Winery would be a popular table amongst the guests!

Sam Adams offered their Boston Lager, Octoberfest and Latitude 48 IPA.

Not a bottle would go "unpopped"! Cheers!

The Party For The Senses made Green efforts this year, giving guests the options to rinse and reuse their wine glasses!

The moments before an event start can be the most satifying for a chef, all the work is done and the chefs take a breath and wait to delight guests with their insprired dishes!

The Chefs of the Contemporary Bakery created a breath taking chocolate sculpture to display!

This chocolate flower is AMAZING!

Chef Ben of the Contemporary was going to be a popular table!

Before the Party For The Senses guests arrive, all is set and ready!

Chef Joe's Wild Boar Carnita with a Watermelon Radish and Pepperdew Slaw and Tequila Foam

George and Pete of Park Event Operations were nice enough to taste test!

We waited all night for this gentlemen to come to our table so we could get a good look at his hat- Fabulous!

As every year we had a great time at The Party For The Senses and had so many delicious dishes by talented chefs across the world!

Party For The Senses is an event looked forward to all year. Each year world class wineries, and vendors are there offering a range of wonderful wines and beers. The Chefs bring their most creative and seasonal dishes and ensure that even the fussiest diner has something to remember! If ever a chance to attend the Party For The Senses Event, I highly recommend it!

4 thoughts on “Party For The Senses 11/5/11- From Behind The Scenes!”

Wesley mohler says:

November 12, 2011 at 6:09 pm

Looks simply smashing my dear!

Snippets of Thyme says:

November 13, 2011 at 5:44 pm

What a fantastic event! I’ve never seen such behind the scenes photos of something like this. It looks like so much fun…

Faith says:

November 13, 2011 at 9:06 pm

What a great post! I’m a real Disney lover at heart…everything they do is magic so this was a very fun and interesting glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes!

Katie says:

November 16, 2011 at 3:43 pm

I love Food & Wine fest. What a great recap. I’ve never been to the Party For The Senses. Hopefully one of these years I’ll get to go! 🙂