You guys officially scared me away from a F&W Sat

[THEJOEL]

This is so weird. I was at EPCOT on Saturday the 10th and did F&W from 11-1230 and Sunday from 11-1230 and 6-close.
I had ZERO issues in those time frames. The only booth I waited more than 5 minutes was Japan because they only had 1 person working the register. I even walked up to the biergarten in Germany Sunday twice with zero wait(Get the flight OMG!). I hit the Chew Lab, Farm Fresh, Canada, Hawaii, Germany, Italy, Brazil, France, Belgium and New Zealand. I even did my wine walk Sunday evening with zero wait at the wine bars in France, Italy and Germany.
The only line I saw that I felt was ridiculous was the line for the free port wine glass when we went for our Chase Visa M&G.
Either I got extremely lucky or I just planned it right.
Also my favorite items were the pork belly in Brazil, the filet in Canada and the Shöfferhofer Zitrone Weizen-Mix in Germany.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Sat at F&W is crazy busy, but we found every night at F&W to be crowded. If you hit WS at 11:00, then you will have little to no wait at the Kiosks. The later the day the more the crowds.

Fully agree! We go every year and avoid the weekends and nights.

 

[Disneylover99]

We went to F&W on a Saturday once. Long lines formed very quickly at the kiosks beginning at 11am. WS in general never felt too crowded though.

 

[PSUGuy]

We popped in at 11 am one Sat a few years back just to check out the crowds and have a Fisherman's Pie and Guinness in the R&C patio. Crowds were already crazy by the time we sat down to eat and it was obvious that many young folks has arrived 'Pre-Lubricated', not a bad idea given the price of drinks there but it was amusing.

Bill From PA

 

[btk2333]

We went to F&W on a Saturday & left before 1pm. It was horrible. The Saturday we went was really hot, it was opening weekend, there was a huge drinking around the world meet-up & the F&W Half Marathon. Not worth it at all. We were out of the park by 1:30pm. The lines were outrageous.

We went in knowing it would be super busy, but that was just insane.

When was this? The food and wine half marathon has been on the last weekend of food and wine for quite a while now

I just caution people to know what they're getting in for. We have been on weekends during the half marathon several times (and will be running again this year) I have no qualms bringing my 1.5 year olds to food and wine and Saturday and Sunday of race weekend

 

[phyllis1966]

F&WF on weekend nights is pretty bad, but we have a strategy that others have also mentioned, that works well now that we've started doing annual F&WF long weekends: stay at YC or BC, walk to International Gateway at 11, eat around the world until 1 pm when it starts to get crowded, then head over to FW for our FP's. We did that Saturday and Sunday last October and it worked spectacularly. We plan on doing it again this year.

Have a great trip, BrianL!

 

[epcotty]

I delayed a trip w/ relatives recently that would've been to Epcot on a F&W Saturday to a later Saturday after reading stuff on here. I don't think I've gone during F&W before so don't know personally. They haven't been in a long time so I appreciate knowing

 

[nfggirl5454]

I've been to F&W on Saturdays the past four years. Yes, it gets busy, but it's doable. We always start at 11-ish and haven't waited in excessively long lines. Sampled everything we wanted to and I didn't think the booths started getting to be too crowded until around 6 or 7, and we're usually full by then.

 

[jlwhitney]

How bad are Sunday's? LIke from 11-1pm?

 

[Disneylover99]

How bad are Sunday's? LIke from 11-1pm?

Much better than a Saturday. Some lines, but not too long.

 

[DOOM1001]

When was this? The food and wine half marathon has been on the last weekend of food and wine for quite a while now

I just caution people to know what they're getting in for. We have been on weekends during the half marathon several times (and will be running again this year) I have no qualms bringing my 1.5 year olds to food and wine and Saturday and Sunday of race weekend

I think the first 2 years of the race,2010 and 2011 it was held the first weekend of the festival in early October,now the festival also starts like 2 weeks earlier.I think last year it was held the last weekend of the festival,that must have been out of control crowded with the amount of runners coming in combined with people trying to be there the final days of the festival,they wised up this year and moved it up a week.

 

[loves to dive]

I was there Friday,Oct 2. It started getting crowded around 6 but the lines were still manageable. I left around 7:30 because I had been there all day and was staying at YC so it was just easier. It was wall to wall people but I didn't notice the lines all that bad. I was there Sat. Oct 3 from about noon to 1:30 and it wasn't bad at all, I didn't have to stand in line longer than 2 or 3 minutes. I left for home then so can't say how it was Saturday night. Other nights though during the week it really wasn't bad, I didn't see any horrible drunk people and never had to stand in any very long lines, except to get the free AP port glass.

 

[Dominion]

How hard is it going to be to walk to an ADR in EPCOT (Via Napoli) on a Thursday evening? We'll be coming from the Int'l gateway and normally I wouldn't worry about it, but I have my 5 and 7 year olds with me!

 

[ktlm]

How bad are Sunday's? LIke from 11-1pm?

We were there last Sunday during that time period and it was absolutely fine. The kiosk lines weren't bad at all. It was totally different than that same time period when we were there the Saturday the week before when the lines were already getting long.

 

[loves to dive]

How hard is it going to be to walk to an ADR in EPCOT (Via Napoli) on a Thursday evening? We'll be coming from the Int'l gateway and normally I wouldn't worry about it, but I have my 5 and 7 year olds with me!

You shouldn't have any problems. The Thursday I was there was just like any other night in Epcot with maybe a tad more people. I think a lot of fuss is made about the drunk people but seriously, I've been to F&W two years and have never seen any one out of hand.

 

[ktlm]

How hard is it going to be to walk to an ADR in EPCOT (Via Napoli) on a Thursday evening? We'll be coming from the Int'l gateway and normally I wouldn't worry about it, but I have my 5 and 7 year olds with me!

You should be fine on a Thursday night. It will be a little more congested than when F&W is not happening, but it is nothing like a Saturday F&W night.

 

[kalz0ne]

We wont be arriving until the 14th... Should Sunday Morning (15th) and Monday night (16th, last day) be enough to really enjoy the festival? Are the last days generally very busy?

 

[HadesTX]

When was this? The food and wine half marathon has been on the last weekend of food and wine for quite a while now

I just caution people to know what they're getting in for. We have been on weekends during the half marathon several times (and will be running again this year) I have no qualms bringing my 1.5 year olds to food and wine and Saturday and Sunday of race weekend

2010... hope my memory isn't that bad. I remember seeing something about a marathon while we were there.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Just food for thought. I noticed you said you were skipping soarin but it is going down for refurbishment at the start of the year. It will be completely different after that. Just wanted to let you know. I would be bummed if I didn't get to ride soarin the way it is one last time.

 

[btk2333]

2010... hope my memory isn't that bad. I remember seeing something about a marathon while we were there.

Gotcha that was a long time ago- the first year of the race too. It really is a great race for anyone considering running