Epcot Food & Wine Festival Reviews

[disnut8]

Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't it be simpler to use your key to the world card so you don't have too many cards on you?

It's not ignorance, it's a matter of what people prefer. There are a LOT of people who don't want to open their wallets or bags or whatever and pull out a card.

Personally, I use regular Visa or Mastercard gift cards at all the booths. I could get a wrist thingy but I already have the cards so why bother? And yes, gift cards of any kind are accepted at the booths.

I dunno, seems to take the same amount of time at the registers so it's preferences rather than speed.

 

[V2000]

Crowd wise I think Saturday and Sunday afternoons are the worst. We tried once to hit a few booths at 11am when the world showcase opened, starting in the back entrance, and we watched the mob come over the hill Also standing in a 30 minute line in the hot sun for an expensive bite of food is not something I will do. We have repeatedly gone back on weekend evenings and find people tend to have already been eating and drinking or are in restaurants and lines are shorter. Plus no hot sun. We discovered this the first year when we popped into Epcot for an ADR. Had to walk part of the world showcase to leave and there were so many booths with little or no lines. Now we go every evening no matter the day.

Thank you so much for your suggestions! Going through the back entrance is a great idea!

 

[GrumpyCAdad]

I went in 2011. I really had a great time. It was crowded, but not too crowded, and the food and drink was outstanding. There was no way I was eating dinner at a sit down restaurant that night, as I tried several different items as I walked around.

 

[Bothepro24]

I have gone several times during the beginning of Nov, both during the week and weekend. Weekdays are great, really relaxing and you can do and see everything, but, that weekend you also get the opening of the Osborne Festival of Lights at Hollywood Studios, but still a great week to go!

 

[ericarachel]

Pro: I loved almost everything I ate and drank at F&W

Con: I am going back to F&W and may not fit into my wedding dress afterwards

 

[M&C]

It's not ignorance, it's a matter of what people prefer. There are a LOT of people who don't want to open their wallets or bags or whatever and pull out a card.

Personally, I use regular Visa or Mastercard gift cards at all the booths. I could get a wrist thingy but I already have the cards so why bother? And yes, gift cards of any kind are accepted at the booths.

I dunno, seems to take the same amount of time at the registers so it's preferences rather than speed.

 

[ppony]

We just did it for the first time last fall. We avoided EPCOT on the weekends and though it did get mobbed at night, it was still delicious! We would have loved it more if not for the heat. None of us handle heat well and my autsitic son had never experienced heat like that before that he had to deal with with no shade on his stroller. He won't tolerate it, nor a hat. So it was a miserable time for us. We had to do some of it at night, which as I said, got really busy! We WISH it was offered when it was cooler becuase we thought it was a FUN way to try all sorts of foods in bite size portions. We'd like to do it again, when we don't have to go w/ the kids. IF that is ever possible.

HAVE FUN and eat a Mongolian Beef on a steamed bun right outside of China's gates for me!


OMG! That was KILLER and I'm completely NOT adventurous and don't drink. So despite our personal experiences, I think it's AWESOME, and wish at least the food booths were permanent.

 

[Hopefully]

Thanks that sounds like a good plan.

I think I'll do MK on Friday, Rest at the hotel and Downtown Disney on Sat, Hollywood Studios on Sunday, and Epcot on Veteran's Monday!

Hopefully because people don't usually have Tuesday off they won't want to choose that day to stay late at the park. Or maybe they'll already be hung over! LOL

I would go to the F & W Festival more than one day.
We go for a week and spend at least 2 days/evenings in Epcot, plus 5 our of 7 total evenings there.
In one day you will just get a taste of the highlights
Have Fun

 

[Legendteri]

I would go to the F & W Festival more than one day.
We go for a week and spend at least 2 days/evenings in Epcot, plus 5 our of 7 total evenings there.
In one day you will just get a taste of the highlights
Have Fun

We went last year and loved it. I don't know if I would want to go to DW at any other time.

Like others, I went on Disneyfoodblog and got an idea of what kind of food is served, what I would probably enjoy and how much it would cost. I was also open to other items if the mood struck me as well.

The portions are small but that is probably because they want you to have a small bite of the items and not fill you up. This way you can try others foods at the festival.

The prices ranged from $3 - $8. The most expensive being filet mignon and lobster rolls.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

There is a lot to offer at F & W in addition to the food booths in the World Showcase.

I love visiting the Festival Center and signing up for the food demonstrations and wine tastings - for about $10 - no more than $15 you can see a chef prepare a dish in front of you and taste it with a nice wine. There are many other activities such as full dinners - some more pricey than the others and at various locations through out the parks/resorts but I definitely think I may try some more of these this year. The prime event is called Festival of the Senses.

See the entire Food and Wine Festival Events calendar for more information.

Last year - some of my favorites -

crab cakes demonstration by the chef from Fulton's
pot stickers by the chef from the Yacht Club
scallops prepared by a Belgian chef who is the head chef at a winery in Chile -

the list goes on and on -

So I would definitely check out the Festival Center - it is located in the Future World section of Epcot near Ellen's Energy Adventure.

 

[Nakkira]

I plan to go on a Wed/Thurs.

I like the wrist band idea as a means of Controlling what I spend.
I will put what I can afford on it and enjoy until it runs out.
I am afraid that if I tried using my Visa I would overspend much too quickly.

 

[MackenzieFL]

We are going for the 1st time to the F&WF.

My young budding chef son is particularly excited, he takes high school culinary lessons & wants to go to culinary school when he graduates. He is excited to try the different things.

Due to scheduling of our trip we will be going to Epcot the day it opens... a Friday, which I'm wondering if it will be worse crowds or what. Either way, we're patient and it's cool... we'll just trad off waiting on lines for food while others go off to a ride/attraction.

We will also be on the FD plan for our trip so we are going to save most of our snack credits for the F&WF- great deal.

 

[Sam's_Mom]

We went last year and we bothered by loud, drunk groups that gathered in many locations. I don't want to worry about explaining this kind of behavior to my child at Disney. He was ran over by a person on his way to be sick in the bushes and beer was splashed all over myself and my child along with other "stuff".

I enjoy the food part but some adults need to show common sense.

 

[ppony]

The tip I got from DISers here before our first visit to the Food & WIne last year was this: check out the list of what will be offered at each country BEFORE you visit and make a list of what you want try. I organized my list as "must try" and then " want to try" and "maybe". That helped me IMMENSELY when we looked at countries and decided if we wanted to wait in long lines or not. It also kept spending down and kept us from getting full too fast.

 

[ChasRN]

We went last year during October. On one weekday, we went and it was very laid back, and relaxing, but kind of hot. All the stands had very small lines to no lines at all. We also went on a Saturday night, and it was crowded but doable. We had fun that night, too. Very different energy to the place. The lines were longish, but went fast. And the weather in the evening was cooler. So, I guess it just depends on what kind of experience you are looking for. I like the idea of going two different days to get the different kinds of experiences. And know beforehand, what stands you want to hit.

 

[bek]

I wasn't all that impressed with the World Showcase kiosks. But the deminars in the Festival Center were great! I didn't stalk the phone when the reservations for the deminars opened. I ended up getting my tickets at the Festival Center on the day of the Deminar. So the Deminars I attended were not any of the well known people but I still thought they were excellent.

 

[MackenzieFL]

The tip I got from DISers here before our first visit to the Food & WIne last year was this: check out the list of what will be offered at each country BEFORE you visit and make a list of what you want try. I organized my list as "must try" and then " want to try" and "maybe". That helped me IMMENSELY when we looked at countries and decided if we wanted to wait in long lines or not. It also kept spending down and kept us from getting full too fast.

That's a great tip. We are trying to figure out our approach like that.

We figure there are 5 of us. My one little guy can stay with me, but I figure we can cover a lot of ground between me & my hubby, 23 yr old daughter, and 15 yr old son (who knows the parks inside-out because he has practically grown up here, especially when we've had annual passes and went once or twice a week, so he's fine running off on his own and finding his way back to us).

One can look for a seat, and 3 people can be off on separate lines, then we can all meet back in the middle somewhere to sample the fare.

Then we can go on some rides and kick back a couple of hours and do it again.

We're just waiting for the menus/lists to come out so we can start planning our attack.

 

[Satchmo128]

We will be there for their final weekend of F&WF (arrive 11/5 and head home 11/14). We went during the same time in 2011. Honestly, DH doesn't drink and I'm not big on CRAZY crowds, so we avoided Epcot until after F&WF was over. I know many people on the DisBoards love it, though, so don't take my word for whether or not you should attend

 

[DisGirl819]

F&W festival is always a YES in my book. I don't care how crowded it is, it is worth it. The food, every ten feet, the food. OMG I am so excited to be going again this year. Just avoid the weekends at Epcot if you can and enjoy the food

 

[mariapicardikenyon]

F&W festival is always a YES in my book. I don't care how crowded it is, it is worth it. The food, every ten feet, the food. OMG I am so excited to be going again this year. Just avoid the weekends at Epcot if you can and enjoy the food

I so agree! We've made it a yearly thing. Love everything about it!