**2011** Epcot Food & Wine Festival HAS ENDED. 2012 Festival 9/28 - 11/11

[AJW]

Also, wasn't there an early booking period last year for TIW/AP/DVC members? I don't think I've seen anything about that anywhere. The only thing I've seen is bookings start 8/16. Did I miss something or is that the day for all? TIA.

As far as we know, there will not be an earlier booking opportunity for TiW/AP/DVC this year. Seems that the perks are being drastically reduced (pricing lower only on M-Th, etc.)

 

[AJW]

We usually see people like Deb at AllEars and AJ at the Disney Food blog post a listing of the kiosk items around opening weekend. If you're going then, it wouldn't help you much.

We had the kiosk menus up on the Disney Food Blog around July 14th last year. We're hoping that the menus come out early again this year so that we can publish them with enough time for folks to do some planning.

Also, I think enough menu items will be returning from last year that we'll have a good number of kiosk food/beverage pictures available for planning early this year as well.

Fingers crossed!

 

[AJW]

I'm wondering if there are so few events the first weekend because Disney will be focusing on 40th Anniversary events. Has anyone heard anything about those?

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm wondering if there are so few events the first weekend because Disney will be focusing on 40th Anniversary events. Has anyone heard anything about those?

I'm thinking its more because of the Half Marathon event which will probably tie up a lot of people and space throughout the resort.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm wondering if there are so few events the first weekend because Disney will be focusing on 40th Anniversary events. Has anyone heard anything about those?

Absolutely nothing.

I also tend to think that they are preferring to focus on the half marathon.

 

[Krissalee]

Based on your description of yourself and what you love, I'd say go for it. A serious amateur baker would get more out of the demonstration than I did. And if you love watching Buddy on TV, this is probably your only chance to see him in person. That would make it worth the $90 to me.

I agree! I have been to a few Sweet Sundays, and I was thrilled the first year (Keeghan Gerhard)! But he was a chef I wanted to see. I loved it!

I went to 2 more sweet sundays in following years, and I didn't feel the same way. I didn't know the chef, and I really wasn't into dessert anymore (believe it or not).

I think if you love to bake and love the baker, spend the $$ if you can, and just enjoy the event. The buffet breakfast is fine, but you are really paying to see the chefs do what they do and taste at least 2 or 3 really good desserts! Like Inkmahm said, it may be your only time to see this chef in person.

 

[oybolshoi]

We only attended one Sweet Sundays (2006) and that was back in the days of free for all seating that led to our party of four and another party of five initially being told we were all going to have to sit apart from each other. Once that situation was corrected we enjoyed the event and thought it was fairly well done although the buffet was nothing to get too excited about.

We saw Warren Brown and Mary Meyer from Cake Love - they were the primary draw for me because I love to bake and I really enjoyed watching his show on Food Network (back when they actually had shows where chefs cooked stuff!). A nicer pair of people you could never hope to find - they both know their stuff and were very warm and friendly. I still have the recipes they provided at the event.

I think the current price is out of line for the event (we paid $60 per person) but if there is a chef you really want to see this is a good way to do so, especially if you like to bake.

 

[ImprovGal]

I'm thinking its more because of the Half Marathon event which will probably tie up a lot of people and space throughout the resort.

Agreed. They were really pushing the ticket sales for the afterparty at that TiW Preview Presentation.

 

[karrit2000]

This is the one I'm interested in attending as well. I love Buddy!







And then I see all these responses. So should I cross it off my list? It would be the one & only event I would do, but $90 is a lot of money for something that may or may not be subpar. I love dessert & I would consider myself a serious amateur baker. I would love to see Buddy in person & get some tips from him, but on the other hand I don't want to throw $90 away. That's a lot of tastings from the food booths! What to do?

Also, wasn't there an early booking period last year for TIW/AP/DVC members? I don't think I've seen anything about that anywhere. The only thing I've seen is bookings start 8/16. Did I miss something or is that the day for all? TIA.

If you really want to see a specific presenter it might be worth it to you. For me it's more of a been there, done that type of event now. It was a fun event but I find the current set up sub par for the price they are charging. They use the same venue as they do for the regular culinary demos and unfortunately it can get quite noisy due to people wandering through the pavillion on the other side of the potted palms. If you do decide to go make sure you get them to refill your Prosecco & Asti glasses. You sometimes have to be very forceful to get the refills. You might want to consider just attending the culinary demo he will be having. We are planning to attend one of the new Chocolate events this year and I'm expecting that it to will be held in Palmhenge but I'm willing to give it a try if we can get it despite the location. But as I said in my previous post we will be trying for some of the French & Italian events instead of Sweet Sundays.

 

[Dancind]

Now that I have digested what info we have on 2011 events I need some help please from the veterans of the Culinary Adventures in Signature Dining vets before having our first conference call with our friends

Does anyone have a review, photos or menus from last year's Portobello or Epcot Wonder's Retreat dinners? I tried searching the boards and got uber frustrated (part of it has to do with spending the whole afternoon creating color coded spreadsheets for the week we will be at the Festival!

Thanks!

We went to the Portobello dinner last year. All I can say is, it was kind of odd. Appetizers were served standing up on the front patio, in the sun, with no tables or seats about. The food was good, until dessert anyway. Wine was decent but very stingy pours and no seconds. Dessert was "beeramisu", tirumisu made with a stout beer, served with the beer it was made with. It was gross. But they then gave our table a platter of biscotti that we split up, took back to our room, and enjoyed for several days!

 

[BriarRosie]

We had the kiosk menus up on the Disney Food Blog around July 14th last year. We're hoping that the menus come out early again this year so that we can publish them with enough time for folks to do some planning.

Also, I think enough menu items will be returning from last year that we'll have a good number of kiosk food/beverage pictures available for planning early this year as well.

Fingers crossed!

Aha, I'm probably thinking of the kiosk items with prices. You're right, I've seen the items listed prior to the festival, but were prices for the items up early, too? I want to say I remember the prices being added later. At least on Deb's site.

 

[franandaj]

We went to the Portobello dinner last year. All I can say is, it was kind of odd. Appetizers were served standing up on the front patio, in the sun, with no tables or seats about. The food was good, until dessert anyway. Wine was decent but very stingy pours and no seconds. Dessert was "beeramisu", tirumisu made with a stout beer, served with the beer it was made with. It was gross. But they then gave our table a platter of biscotti that we split up, took back to our room, and enjoyed for several days!

Ewww Beeramisu, that DOES sound gross!

Stingy pours are just uncalled for. When you are shelling out that kind of money, you should be given as much as you want provided you can still walk out of the park. Besides if they are feeding you right there should be no problem walking out of the park!

 

[Chernadan]

Cannot wait for this trip! This is one of my favorite events...if only it were tomorrow

 

[GuardMusic]

In case you missed it, the food listing (no prices) for each of the 2011 booths is now posted on a DisBoards blog: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/events/index.htm#diningexperiences

 

[FigmentChick]

In case you missed it, the food listing (no prices) for each of the 2011 booths is now posted on a DisBoards blog: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/events/index.htm#diningexperiences

Thank you!!! I'm not too worried about the prices, but we like to view the menus to figure out what we want to try.

Thanks so much!!!!

 

[TDC Nala]

Unless they're not changing anything at the existing booths at all (and I am sure I have been reading that some things are going to be changed) that listing is accurate only for the new booths. All the pre-existing booths list last year's items.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Agreed. They were really pushing the ticket sales for the afterparty at that TiW Preview Presentation.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! (Yes I am shouting)

I ran the half last year. The "afterparty" was HORRID! The lines for the food booths were longer then I have EVER seen them (Longer then on a Saturday afternoon of a holiday weekend) Think from one booth to the next and beyond! I sat on the grass near Germany with some friends and we timed one of our friends in line for the beer booth. Over an hour!!!!!!

The lines for the bathrooms. Just as long. (I wouond up changing behind a tree!) Disney closed half of them for cleaning! (Really??)

That "afterparty" is suppose to be "limited" this year. Let's think about that. They have well over 10,000 runners. All of them get in. Let's say all of them have 1 family member who buys a ticket. 20,000.... and they are pushing tickets like crazy. And of course last year they did NOTHING to encourage regular guests to leave the park. So they have the normal crowd who now thinks this is like EMH (with the food booths open) and TONS more for the "party" As a matter of fact you might want to avoid Epcot that afternoon. Most "party goers" went into the park when they dropped their runners off at Epcot for the bus to the start which was around 5 to 6... (Disney had us there for several hours before the start!)

 

[TDC Nala]

I heard the marathon afterparty was a zoo, worse than a typical Saturday. People bought tickets thinking they would be able to walk right up to the kiosks and there wouldn't be anybody in the showcase. It's not the way to get short lines. I would say think about it only if you really want to schmooze with fellow runners.

 

[theycomefromallover]

Ok! Now that the menus are up, we just have to decide what food is worth trying! Is there a place we can go for this info. Are there threads where people have voted for there favorite plates and drinks?

If there are not, I was considering putting up polls for each stand on the dining board. Before I put the time and effort into this. Would anyone actually vote?

 

[PNO4TE]

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! (Yes I am shouting)

I ran the half last year. The "afterparty" was HORRID! The lines for the food booths were longer then I have EVER seen them (Longer then on a Saturday afternoon of a holiday weekend) Think from one booth to the next and beyond! I sat on the grass near Germany with some friends and we timed one of our friends in line for the beer booth. Over an hour!!!!!!

The lines for the bathrooms. Just as long. (I wouond up changing behind a tree!) Disney closed half of them for cleaning! (Really??)

That "afterparty" is suppose to be "limited" this year. Let's think about that. They have well over 10,000 runners. All of them get in. Let's say all of them have 1 family member who buys a ticket. 20,000.... and they are pushing tickets like crazy. And of course last year they did NOTHING to encourage regular guests to leave the park. So they have the normal crowd who now thinks this is like EMH (with the food booths open) and TONS more for the "party" As a matter of fact you might want to avoid Epcot that afternoon. Most "party goers" went into the park when they dropped their runners off at Epcot for the bus to the start which was around 5 to 6... (Disney had us there for several hours before the start!)

I heard the marathon afterparty was a zoo, worse than a typical Saturday. People bought tickets thinking they would be able to walk right up to the kiosks and there wouldn't be anybody in the showcase. It's not the way to get short lines. I would say think about it only if you really want to schmooze with fellow runners.

I was at the party last year, as a friend of runners. We were very upset that they had been pushing ticket purchases even up through the day of the race. When we went to the check-in over at WWOS they were encouraging people to purchase tickets. My friends, who had worked so very hard to prepare for this race, were unable to get anything to eat or drink. I am not going this year. I will support my friends up to the entrance to Epcot and then let them celebrate inside at the party. I believe it should be limited to the runners and only people they personally invite with a limit to the number of tickets sold to runners.