1st Trip Report Epcot F&W Festival

[cyb]

Just back from a very short trip to the F&W, we checked in early 11:00 at the Beach Club Villas our room was ready! We were upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite (booked a studio) it was a ground floor room maybe 20 steps from the pool, very nice! I was thrilled. I'm pretty lucky with the upgrades we've been upgraded twice at the Poly to CL from GV and also once at the Yacht Club from standard view to CL! After settling in to our room we headed to Epcot, we got there and ordered Fish & Chips it was very good, then we attempted to sample foods from the diiferent booths but the lines were way too long for the tiny amounts of food samples, I only tried one, the seared tenderloin with mango barbeque sauce and sweet potatoes in South Africa, I didn't like it, way to spicy! It was not a good day crowds were unreal, people puking and passing out in Mexico after too many tequila shots, guys peeing in the bushes in Mexico as well. I enjoyed my Mango green tea slush in China, the Joy of Tea is my favorite spot in Epcot, the peach oolong tea is very good too. We ate dinner at Sunshine seasons in the land (had the ruebin and potato salad) I didn't make any dining reservations because I thought we would eat at the different food booths but with the crowds it wasn't possible. We rode 2 rides Living with the Land and the Gran Fiesta Tour, the waits for Soarin and Test Track were over an hour all day. I may not go back to the F&W it was too much of a hassle. The best time we had was looking at some of the quiet places in Epcot the Zen Garden in Japan with the small museum. I have crowd pictures I will upload later if anyone is interested in seeing the madness. lol. We watched Illuminations and headed back to the BCV. I did a little shopping at the Marketplace and found out something that really bothered me. The resorts are no longer going to carry resort specific items such as t-shirts and other items they are going to only sell general Disney items so one gift shop at the resorts is going to be a carbon copy of another! So disapointed in the change of there resort items, I guess thats why they changed the refillable mug to all look the same. One of the cashiers told me to make a complaint about the change at the gift shops and maybe they will go back to the way things were. I always looked forward to buying a t-shirt from that resort before I left for home now its not an option, big mistake Disney!

[Teri1]

You sure can tell that the F&W festival is very popular now. I miss the way it was when we first went over eight years ago. I am also very sad to hear that the resort gift shops are going to carry the same items. I always enjoyed going to the different resorts to see what they had to offer. I think this is a mistake.