Food and wine festival too festive!

[mdadinnj1]

In 2009, my family visited WDW. We went during the Food and wine fest in Epcot. While it was very interestig to see and sample food and drink from the world over, it appeared that as day became night, more than a handful of guests obviously overindulged! This was especially obvious at the Rose and Crown pub. We came for dinner and were shocked by the rowdyness and the colorful language my early teen children got a healthy dose of! We are not prudes by any means, but this festival really took away from the "family" atmosphere of WDW. We vowed never to return during this festival again! Have you ever experienced this? If so, your opinion and comments please.

 

[Hoodie]

Personally, I love F&W. I love the different booths and food options (allergic to wine so that aspect is missed on me).

That said, the last time we were there we were talking to a lovely family from the UK while we were waiting for the bus. When we said we were off to Epcot for the day, the kids started telling us all about the park but finished with "the bus ride on the way back was REALLY loud. All the grown-ups were talking loud and laughing a lot."

Their parents were mortified but we found it pretty funny. It definitely adds a different aspect to it. We'd rather deal with F&W than the brazillian tour groups.

 

[lillygator]

interesting first post on the DIS.
but the Food and Wine fest is awesome...can't wait!

 

[crisi]

Yes, we've noticed.

And there isn't anything you can do about it. Choose a different time for your trip, or get out of World Showcase by about three.

Choosing a different time is no guarentee - Drinking Around the World is a popular activity year round. And the Rose and Crown can get pretty rowdy year round - guys show up early in the afternoon and hang in the pub while their wives and kids do the World Showcase.

Disney does not guarentee a "family friendly" atmosphere at all times. Chances are there will be someone, somewhere at WDW doing something you'd rather they didn't. Smoking (even in designated smoking spots). Swearing. Wearing a t-shirt with something 'colorful' on it. Public displays of affection. Same sex PDA. Teenage girls in too little clothing for decency. Families fighting. Kids climbing on and hanging on guide rails while their parents are oblivious.

You have to have a live and let live attitude - and try and avoid the behavior you don't agree with through common sense. Does something called Food and Wine mean that there are likely to be more drunks in the parks? - well, duh. And if you don't approve, well, next time think it through.

 

[scrapquitler]

In 2009, my family visited WDW. We went during the Food and wine fest in Epcot. While it was very interestig to see and sample food and drink from the world over, it appeared that as day became night, more than a handful of guests obviously overindulged! This was especially obvious at the Rose and Crown pub. We came for dinner and were shocked by the rowdyness and the colorful language my early teen children got a healthy dose of! We are not prudes by any means, but this festival really took away from the "family" atmosphere of WDW. We vowed never to return during this festival again! Have you ever experienced this? If so, your opinion and comments please.

Yeah, you'd never expect to see people indulging in a few adult beverages at a pub!

I was there once during the food and wine festival, and I never noticed any rowdy behavior or 'colorful' language. And I can't imagine that even if I did, that it would have registered on my early teens radar as shocking.

 

[Tink2Day]

We were there last year on a Friday night. We arrived in the afternoon, stayed until closing and didn't notice anything even resembling drunken behavior. My first time there, I'm older and don't drink so I guarantee I'd have noticed it.
Downtown Disney seemed rowdier afterwards but that was young kids who were running around being loud (I mean YOUNG kids)

 

[Nayan]

I love F&W! Weekends tend to bring out the locals so its much more crowded then during the week but I can say in all the years we've gone we've never seen what's been reported on the boards. Not that it doesn't happen, but with the thousands that attend every year if it really was such a problem I would think Disney would either shut it down or really limit it.

 

[LilyWDW]

We were there last year on a Friday night. We arrived in the afternoon, stayed until closing and didn't notice anything even resembling drunken behavior. My first time there, I'm older and don't drink so I guarantee I'd have noticed it.
Downtown Disney seemed rowdier afterwards but that was young kids who were running around being loud (I mean YOUNG kids)

Every time this sort of thing pops up, you get one or two people who say it was horrible and there were a bunch of drunks. You then get many more then that saying they didn't see anything like that and they were there at the same time. So, you have to take reviews and reports with a grain of salt because a lot of it is perception.

Also, I would say about 95% of the negative reports are from Friday and Saturday nights.

 

[VAN]

I love the F&W festival ... lots of locals decend upon the World Showcase to make it a rocking party. Don't take this the wrong way, but it is a nice change from the usual crowd you find at the MK.

I'm from a big family and have children; however, I'll be honest that the F&W crowd is quite refreshing after battling it out with the stroller and obnoxious parent crowd you sometimes find at the MK. Don't flame, but at WDW you can find something for everyone ... WDW has done a great job in keeping people coming back and that keeps the revenue flowing so they continue to operate without raising ticket prices to the moon.

Agree with others that it is important to plan your trips and/or days to avoid the World Showcase on the afternoons if the festivities of the F&W is too much.

Again, its nice that WDW offers something for everyone.

 

[TravelMama]

Yep, DH and I noticed it big time last year on the 2nd Saturday of the F&W festival. And you know what we thought....we wished we had a sitter that night so we could of joined in on the fun and drinks!

 

[crisi]

Every time this sort of thing pops up, you get one or two people who say it was horrible and there were a bunch of drunks. You then get many more then that saying they didn't see anything like that and they were there at the same time. So, you have to take reviews and reports with a grain of salt because a lot of it is perception.

Also, I would say about 95% of the negative reports are from Friday and Saturday nights.

Part of it is how perceptive you are - i.e. do you notice that the reason people were loud on the bus was because they were drunk - do you even notice that people were loud on the bus?

Some of it is tolerance. In PDA, I find hand holding to be sweet - and walking around with your hand tucked into someone else's back pocket inappropriate at WDW (I think its tacky about 99.9% of the time). Someone else may not have a problem with that, but find passionate kissing to be over the edge (but pecks just fine).

And some of it is what you have the bad (or good) fortune to run into. I think I may have witnessed the conception of a child years ago during the cheerleading competition week in the back row of the Tiki Birds. Now, other DISers were there during the same time and while there were plenty of boyfriends hands in the back pockets of girls, I seem to be the only one who actually went into NC-17 territory. You can have two people at F&W the same weekend, and one will end up seated next to a table of rowdy drunks, then find themselves seated in Maelstrom with another set of rowdy drunks - and think the whole Festival is a drunken rout - and someone else whose exposure involves a few people who MIGHT be a little tipsy, and a loud conversation on the bus that MIGHT be because the participants were foxed who thinks the whole thing isn't bad.

 

[mdsoccermom]

I'm fairly certain your teens have heard colorful language before, so I wouldn't sweat it.

As far as the alcohol goes, I personally have never noticed anything unusual duriing F&W. And keep in mind that Epcot serves alcohol at all times, so even if you don't go during F&W, you always run the risk of seeing people who have indulged a bit too much. I mean, a pub usually is a place where people are a bit rowdier than normal. I suggest finding someplace else for dinner in the future.

 

[VAN]

To be honest, I always marvel at those who can get drunk at WDW ... the prices of the drinks are enough to limit my intake!!!! LOL!

 

[crisi]

To be honest, I always marvel at those who can get drunk at WDW ... the prices of the drinks are enough to limit my intake!!!! LOL!

Over F&W the wine isn't bad. And on vacation money and booze both flow a lot more free for a lot of people.

I also know a lot of Disney regulars BYOB - not into the parks of course - but spend your early afternoon by the pool with some Jack and Coke and get a head start on stumbling through Epcot for F&W.

 

[mdadinnj1]

 

[mdadinnj1]

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[northeast_minnie]

it is quite a few years since we have visited when F&W in on but on several occassions we have had great days there - and have never noticed anyone drunk or loud or anything like that.

We are planning on taking our 6 year old son in October and hope we don;t see any of the drunkiness or behaviour we have seen posted on here

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

To be honest, I always marvel at those who can get drunk at WDW ... the prices of the drinks are enough to limit my intake!!!! LOL!

EXACTLY!