**2010** Epcot Food & Wine Festival ENDED 11/14. 2011 FESTIVAL 9/30-11/13

[AladdinsPrincess]

Has anyone done a Wine School with Andrea Robinson before? A few years ago she did one of the free tasting seminars and it was the BEST one we ever attended. She was so knowledgeable and I think she brought like 8 wines - superb wines too - for a free tasting! That is making me think the $125/person will be worth it for this seminar. Still, that's a lot of money for just a "lunch reception" - any thoughts?

Oh - and we live in FL and received our TiW F&W fest guide in the mail yesterday. Nothing in it about the Grape Getaway.

Thanks!

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Hi! I'm a firstie!

Can someone tell me what time the booths close on a night that Epcot has EMH? Do they close at official park opening, or do they stay open during EMH?

TIA!!

 

[woolfcross]

Um...sorry to be so ignorant, but what IS Grape Getaway? And for that matter, what is TiW? Has anyone done Grape Getaway in previous years, or is this a first-time thing?

I agree that it's ridiculous for Disney to be releasing info so late. They did this the last time we were able to attend the F&W Festival in 2007. At that time, I wrote to the organizer of the event to protest/point out how inefficiently the sign-up procedure was being run (if you check my previous posts on this board, you can probably find that letter, for I included it in a post). Perhaps we should all do that now as well? A few letters can go a long way in this kind of situation!

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

HeatherBelle64 - I have been to EMH at Epcot during F&W several times and each time it's been different. The first time, they kept the food booths open the whole evening, the next time they closed them all promptly at 9 pm, and the last time about half of them stayed open for an extra hour (I'm guessing till they ran out of food). Unless something's changed this year, I wouldn't count on them staying open. Like everything F&W, there's little, sporadic info about this type of thing...

 

[lovemickeyshouse]

How can anyone afford 200 bucks per person for the opening party? Don't you agree thats way too much money to ask

 

[Meteora]

Hi everyone! I've sent my dad to the website to peruse and see if there's anything he'd like me to book. Our main goal is just to sample food from the booths, and we figure that will take most of our energy, since right now we're only doing one day.

We have a (regular) reservation for the Cali Grill the night of the signature dinner. It'll be our first time there--I finally convinced my parents to try it. Is there any reason the signature dinner would interfere with our non-signature dinner the same night? Should I try to rebook for a different night? Thanks!

 

[Bunnylee]

Has anyone done a Wine School with Andrea Robinson before? A few years ago she did one of the free tasting seminars and it was the BEST one we ever attended. ....!

Aside from the name, your post could have been about Karen MacNeil who did a free tasting at Disney a few years ago and brought 8 wines despite Disney telling her not too (atleast according to her). That is probably one of the top 2 tastings I ever did at Disney and I did go to her wine school the next year and it was just as good. That alone gives me hope for the Andrea Robinson wine school.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Disney may be shooting itself in the foot by not releasing Grape Getaway before Tuesday... I would guess that if you are really interested in going, don't sign up for any other special events on the dates they released for the Getaway, as those events are not refundable.

See, that's just it. We were going to change our travel dates to go for Grape Getaway... but if I can't get info prior to purchasing tickets for all of the other events, then I'll be buying those and passing up the Grape Getaway this year. It would be wonderful if we could always take off weeks and weeks of time for fun, but it just doesn't work that way... and if I've already spent thousands of $ on tickets for one time period, I'm not going to just throw those away to book Grape Getaway. HUGE disappointment here!

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Just ran out to the mailbox to check. Nothing.

NOthing here either. And we are in Florida??????

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

Bunnylee - you are correct!! It was Karen McNeil. Thanks for catching that. Although now I really don't know what to do about booking!

K

 

[TDC Nala]

How can anyone afford 200 bucks per person for the opening party? Don't you agree thats way too much money to ask

There are plenty of people who can afford it, and some will buy tickets. Whether it will sell out or not, no way to know, as they've never done it before.

 

[TDC Nala]

Hi everyone! I've sent my dad to the website to peruse and see if there's anything he'd like me to book. Our main goal is just to sample food from the booths, and we figure that will take most of our energy, since right now we're only doing one day.

We have a (regular) reservation for the Cali Grill the night of the signature dinner. It'll be our first time there--I finally convinced my parents to try it. Is there any reason the signature dinner would interfere with our non-signature dinner the same night? Should I try to rebook for a different night? Thanks!

No reason. They have the event in a private room. It will not affect the main restaurant.

 

[danissmart]

This is my first F&W. Going the first weekend of November. I never realized it was such a cloak and dagger operation. I am struggling to find any bit of decent information about different events. It is nearly impossible to find details.

One thing that I really am struggling to find out details for is the 3D party. What kind of desserts are they talking about? Where is it held? Where is the Illuminations viewing area?

If anyone has mentioned to locate any details on this I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

 

[Bunnylee]

Has anyone heard rumors of which wineries are a possibility for this year. Last year there seemed to me a decline in quality of wines at the seminars and at the PFTS that I went to. Also there seemed to be many previous wineries absent and I wasn't sure if this was changes in the festival itself or just the general economy.

 

[TDC Nala]

Has anyone heard rumors of which wineries are a possibility for this year. Last year there seemed to me a decline in quality of wines at the seminars and at the PFTS that I went to. Also there seemed to be many previous wineries absent and I wasn't sure if this was changes in the festival itself or just the general economy.

From what was going around, in recent years Disney started charging wineries a great deal of money to participate, so some dropped out. You see a lot of mega-wineries participating.

One thing that I really am struggling to find out details for is the 3D party. What kind of desserts are they talking about? Where is it held? Where is the Illuminations viewing area?

They'll have to mention where it's held or no one will be able to find it (my guess is it will be held in the World Showplace) but the rest of it won't be known until people attend the first one and report back.

 

[bethanye]

Exactl my feelings on the Grape Escape. What a shame.

 

[TDC Nala]

Not sure how many spaces are available for the Grape Getaway if they do it (I like Grape Escape better actually) but maybe Disney feels they will fill it up even if they offer it late, a lot of guests aren't like us and get up at 7 to book things the first day they're available. If they do fill it up they won't care who they fill it up with, just so long as it's filled.

 

[susan514]

Not sure how many spaces are available for the Grape Getaway if they do it (I like Grape Escape better actually) but maybe Disney feels they will fill it up even if they offer it late, a lot of guests aren't like us and get up at 7 to book things the first day they're available. If they do fill it up they won't care who they fill it up with, just so long as it's filled.

A thought, maybe this is being done on purpose. Afterall, most of the expensive sig dinners fill up within hours, if not minutes, after they are released. There are many people who don't plan months ahead for heir trip. This may be a way to have some special events opened for the VIP type guests, who are last minute planners, who will pay whatever Disney is charging.

We may even see a package for this event, but as it gets closer to the event, they may open up individual events for sale, again for latecomers.

This is all just conjecture and I hope that it even makes sense

 

[redzinner]

One thing that I really am struggling to find out details for is the 3D party. What kind of desserts are they talking about? Where is it held? Where is the Illuminations viewing area?

If anyone has mentioned to locate any details on this I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

3D (Disney's Dessert Discovery)
World Showcase Pavilion in Epcot, Illuminations will probably be on the terrace between England and France (bridge terrace)
No idea about desserts being served! Heck you NEVER know what is being served at any special event until you get there ... at least that's been our experience for every exquisite evening, signature dinner, kitchen conversation ... whatever in the past 8 years we've been attending events ... Disney just doesn't pre-publish because it can change at the last minute.

 

[DisneyJen]

Just wondering if the FW experts and veterans would mind giving a little direction to a newbie ...

There are two events we want to book tomorrow morning ...

Food and Wine Pairing at Tutto and the 3D Dessert Party. Which should I try to book first? Any tips on the most efficient way to secure both?

I think I will program the festival number into my speed dial this afternoon