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

[PatriciaH]

Our CM was unfamiliar with events as well. Luckily, I knew to tell her that she needed to look under the venue name for the exact time of the event to find it for booking. For TSI, your CM would have had to look under Bistro de Paris for the date and time to find it. It's sad that Disney doesn't educate all of their CMs about how this works, and does not give them a printed schedule of F&W events for easy reference for booking. Heaven help the newbie guests who want to book that are unfortunate enough to also get a newbie CM. I'm sorry you were given such obviously incorrect info regarding a call-back time!

Oh I did tell her the exact time and the restaurant! She said I know I have it right here in my print out. It is not in the system yet!

 

[redzinner]

I did get my one event booked after 30 min wait. PFTS w/WVL for Oct. 28th. Waiting to see what the individual daily seminars are and will book couple of those. I had great CM that knew what she was doing.

Um, there is no PFTS w/WVL for Oct 28th ... there is one on Oct 30th. Maybe you should check the event you booked or hopefully you just typed in the wrong date here.

 

[Dancind]

I always thought the F&W pairings were a good value at $35. Even $45 was okay. Not so sure now.

That's where we are. We were planning on the Tokyo Dining tasting because we really enjoyed it a couple of years ago. But since we are not really that fond of sake, we decided that $130 could buy a lot of sushi....somewhere else.

 

[ElizabethB]

Yes, $130 would buy a gorgeous platter of sushi at CG or elsewhere. Besides, a friend who is a real sushi lover was less than impressed with Tokyo Dining's sushi, but loves the sushi at CG.

Ultimately,for us, it came down to this: the money could better be spent elsewhere with respect to a lot of the events. We can go to a favorite restaurant and pay for a dinner and an extraordinary bottle of wine from the reserve list and still pay less than many of the events cost these days.

So, if raising the prices was intended to reduce demand, it worked. At least for us!

And, sorry for those who ended up with newbie CMs. It is always a crapshoot whether one gets an old pro or a newbie. We were lucky and got someone who knew exactly what she was doing. Same for our friends. I guess Disney thinks the 7 a.m. scramble is the fairest way to do this. Unfortunately, we, as guests, can do everything right and still not get what we wanted because Disney doesn't make the effort to ensure the telephone CMs know what is going on this morning and how to book things.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Meet Up Thread!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2513394

 

[cdtommie]

Yes, $130 would buy a gorgeous platter of sushi at CG or elsewhere. Besides, a friend who is a real sushi lover was less than impressed with Tokyo Dining's sushi, but loves the sushi at CG.

Ultimately,for us, it came down to this: the money could better be spent elsewhere with respect to a lot of the events. We can go to a favorite restaurant and pay for a dinner and an extraordinary bottle of wine from the reserve list and still pay less than many of the events cost these days.

So, if raising the prices was intended to reduce demand, it worked. At least for us!

We share this philosophy - did the PFTS with WV twice last year and really enjoyed it but at $225 PP plus tax it doesn't really rank high value wise for us. So our "big event" this year is a French regional lunch based on reviews we've seen here. We'll just do CG and FF ie. get some suishi and a cheese plate and use TIW...and sign up for a bunch of seminars.

We did the Tokyo pairings three years in a row but dropped them a few years ago since the price has really escalated.

 

[bnormant]

We had totally forgot this morning about the booking. Wasn't able to call until about 10am. Missed out on our first two choices for Signature Dinners, but was able to get our third choice and everything else we wanted after that.

10/23 - Under the Tuscan Sun wine school
11/07 - Rhone French Regional Lunch
11/11 - Fulton's Signature Dinner
11/13 - PFTS

Can't wait!

 

[Wigit12]

We've had the priority seating for Illuminations before, ...... We were seated on those concrete steps on the lake almost immediately across from the gates to enter the Party for the Senses. There's an area that is frequently used for rehearsal dinners there as well, which is what I originally thought would be the venue for the 3D party, but then I saw it was indoors instead. I guess they didn't want to lose the outdoor venue for private parties, but I think it would have been a beautiful setting for the dessert party.

That where I assumed we'd be but when someone said it was in the pavilion I wasn't sure where everyone would fit for priority viewing. We'll have to wait until someone reports from the first event. The area by the docks is a lot larger.

 

[ElizabethB]

cdtommie -- Have to agree with you. We picked a couple of events to be our big things. Beyond that, we'll just go ourselves and with friends to our favorite restaurants, and then order exactly what we want as to food and wine, using TiW. Ultimately, we went with a couple of signature dinners, but were very tempted to try a French regional lunch, too, based on the great reviews here! Hope you enjoy it. We liked the fact that there was full disclosure about the wineries and vintners for the lunches, which was something that was not provided regarding the dinners this year (for the first time in our memory). Oh well. We shall see.

 

[ghidorah97]

Sounds like almost everyone got exactly what they wanted. Congrats to all. I certainly hope that each event is enjoyed!

I, too, remember the days when the F&W Pairings were only $45. That was a definite value. In fact, back then every event was a value IMO. Makes me wish that I had attended even more than I did!

My one goal on this trip -- get my ultra-picky 5-y.o. DD to try one new food each day. Wish me luck!!!

 

[oybolshoi]

This is why we decided against the Tokyo Dining event as well. We knew for that kind of cash we could get amazing sushi at Kimonos or CG .. or both!

Beerman Tommy ... it looks like we will miss you this year; bummer.

Yes, $130 would buy a gorgeous platter of sushi at CG or elsewhere. Besides, a friend who is a real sushi lover was less than impressed with Tokyo Dining's sushi, but loves the sushi at CG.

Ultimately,for us, it came down to this: the money could better be spent elsewhere with respect to a lot of the events. We can go to a favorite restaurant and pay for a dinner and an extraordinary bottle of wine from the reserve list and still pay less than many of the events cost these days.

So, if raising the prices was intended to reduce demand, it worked. At least for us!

And, sorry for those who ended up with newbie CMs. It is always a crapshoot whether one gets an old pro or a newbie. We were lucky and got someone who knew exactly what she was doing. Same for our friends. I guess Disney thinks the 7 a.m. scramble is the fairest way to do this. Unfortunately, we, as guests, can do everything right and still not get what we wanted because Disney doesn't make the effort to ensure the telephone CMs know what is going on this morning and how to book things.

 

[cdtommie]

This is why we decided against the Tokyo Dining event as well. We knew for that kind of cash we could get amazing sushi at Kimonos or CG .. or both!

Beerman Tommy ... it looks like we will miss you this year; bummer.

Hi Brenda! I disappeared from the boards for about nine months but have returned (I think it was Disney burnout).

I'm always tied up the first ten days of every month due to my wild accounting lifestyle...will definitely miss you and Jay but will check the boards to read about your F&W adventures!

 

[redzinner]

Grape Getaway ... came just now via TiW email... for those who were wondering.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Just got my email from TiW for the Grape Getaway. Perfect timing after we just spent thousands of dollars THIS MORNING on the non-refundable event tickets. Anybody else as aggravated about this as I am???

 

[oybolshoi]

Hi Brenda! I disappeared from the boards for about nine months but have returned (I think it was Disney burnout).

I'm always tied up the first ten days of every month due to my wild accounting lifestyle...will definitely miss you and Jay but will check the boards to read about your F&W adventures!

I can't complain about our early dates since we weren't supposed to go. Don't look for anything here ... no longer posting those things on the DIS. Tell the wife we said hello and we will be thinking fondly of you both when we're there!

 

[oybolshoi]

Grape Getaway ... came just now via TiW email... for those who were wondering.

brilliant.

 

[redzinner]

Would love to know their thought process behind this (Grape Getaway) package. For those that don't want to be bothered using the phone at 7 am, for those out of the country, for those with oodles of money, for those that don't like plebian crowds, for those that want to be pampered, for those that want prestige, for all of those????? What about those that just wanted to try it but were uncertain because they didn't have any of the details prior to this mornings rush?

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

brilliant.

Yep, and with a price tag of $1900 per person without lodging or $2203 with lodging (double occupancy), this is not something we would decide on in the blink of an eye.

 

[cdtommie]

I can't complain about our early dates since we weren't supposed to go. Don't look for anything here ... no longer posting those things on the DIS. Tell the wife we said hello and we will be thinking fondly of you both when we're there!

Sorry to hear that, I think I am pretty down level...we will have relatives in tow in October with three kids five and under but these are drinkin' relatives (ie. the finest kind) so it will be a fun trip!

 

[oybolshoi]

Amen sistah! Had we already been booked for these dates we might have been tempted but not without knowing what the details were. And if people booked stuff today ... why would they turn around and spend more unless they have time and money to burn?

I wonder why they waited and what they were thinking.

Would love to know their thought process behind this (Grape Getaway) package. For those that don't want to be bothered using the phone at 7 am, for those out of the country, for those with oodles of money, for those that don't like plebian crowds, for those that want to be pampered, for those that want prestige, for all of those????? What about those that just wanted to try it but were uncertain because they didn't have any of the details prior to this mornings rush?