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

[dgbg100106]

She's talking to the reservationist, got the first one. The amount of disclaimers, they have to read! Sheesh, no wonder everyone is having to wait so long!

We got all four of our choices!

Alison, that is great news! So happy for you, you have only been planning this for a year!

 

[YodasMom]

That Jiko dinner sounds wonderful, can't wait for the review and pictures...

For the signature dinner on Oct 27, it was so hard to choose this time with 3 great choices (CA Grill and Brown Derby, too, on the same night). Would have loved to have done any of the 3.

 

[dgbg100106]

I got the "office is not open" message 3 times before I got in. Was on hold for less than two minutes. CM was knowledgeable and efficient but she said the system was much slower than normal. No surprise there.

FYI -- Culinary Demos are listed by time not person. So make sure you have the correct one.

I got everything I wanted for Oct 22-23:
Taste Shake and Indulge
PFTS
Culinary Demo - Gale Gand
Culinary Demo - Elizabeth Falkner

Now if only I had a room.

I called right at 7 and had a 7 minute wait time. I got everything I wanted:

Signature Dinner at Wolfgang Puck's 10/12
French Regional Lunch 10/9
Japan Food and Wine Pairing 10/10
Party for the Senses 10/8

Now, to pay the credit card bill

I dialed in at 7am and got an agent right away -- no waiting!
Not only did I get an agent, but I got an extremely good agent. She knew exactly what she was doing, read all the necessary policies, and was extremely efficient.

I got everything I was looking for:

9/30 Kitchen Memories
10/28 French Regional Lunch
10/28 Kouzzina Signature Dinner
10/29 Magic of Healthy Living Dinner (aka An Evening of Detox)
11/3 Flying Fish Signature Dinner
11/4 Kitchen Memories
11/6 French Regional Lunch
11/11 Kitchen Memories

I've still got the 11/5 and 11/12 PFTS and then some deminars left to book, but I'm going to take a chance and hold off for a bit to wait for my next billing cycle.

Oh, and when asked what I was celebrating at Walt Disney World, I responded "Gluttony".

Yeah..... I will live through all of y'all's reviews and pictures!

 

[ImprovGal]

If you're just looking to book a Party For the Senses without the Wine View Lounge add-on or a 3D Dessert Discovery without the Sweet Seats add-on, those events can be booked online. There is now a "Make A Reservation" link next to the event listings on the website.

I can forsee some confusion, however, since the reservation engine button has you "search for a table" instead of searching for ticket availability. Oops.

 

[mama03]

Nov. 2 Fulton's crab house signature dinner
Nov. 3 Flying Fish signature dinner

Bummed did not get citrico's but 2 out of 3 not bad.

 

[sasmmb]

woo hoo! Just booked the special events! Did some (3D Dessert and 1 culinary) online, some via phone (15 minute wait calling right at 7 AM). CM had a hard time finding the Taste, Shake, and Indulge Grand Marnier thing as well as the Italy Dessert and Wine pairing. In fact for the last one, she booked it just fine, then when reviewing at the end she realized the system had given her something completely different and had to do an end around to get the event. So be careful on that one!

 

[dgbg100106]

For the signature dinner on Oct 27, it was so hard to choose this time with 3 great choices (CA Grill and Brown Derby, too, on the same night). Would have loved to have done any of the 3.

Jiko is my favorite of the three. I think it will be amazing.... I am officially jealous..

 

[nordkin]

I was able to book Party for the Senses for October 8 on line at the link in the first post of this thread.

 

[franandaj]

OK, 42 min & 9 sec later, we got everything we wanted.

Oct. 28 - Regional French Lunch
Oct. 28 - 3D Desserts (Sweet Seats)
Oct. 29 - Taste, Shake and Indulge like the French
Oct. 29 - Cat Cora Signature Dinner

Now I'm going back to bed!

 

[figment82]

I got in for the Cat Cora Signature Dinner on October 25th...we've been doing food and wine fest for years but never any of the "expensive" stuff - the tequila tasting was as pricey as we got! But I love Kouzzina and I love Cat Cora and it's our anniversary so we're splurging.
Called at 7, got in with 30 minute wait time, and that was about when the agent picked up!

 

[Empress Room]

Called right at 7:00 and only a two minute wait! Got everything we wanted; however, reservationist could not find Sweet Sundays for October 16 on the system and told me to call back later. Has anyone booked this or had the same trouble I did?

 

[lats118]

OK, called at 7, got in 30 minutes later. Took 15 minutes but reserved...

Italy Food and Wine Pairing 10/5
Taste, Shake, Indulge 10/8
Italy Food and Beer Pairing 10/11
Italy Dessert and Wine Pairing 10/13

CM had some problems finding the Food and Beer, and Grand Marnier events, but eventually got them. I'm happy!

 

[franandaj]

Alison, that is great news! So happy for you, you have only been planning this for a year!

Thanks! I really need this F&W trip since we don't have a festival in CA anymore! I'm in serious withdrawl!

For the signature dinner on Oct 27, it was so hard to choose this time with 3 great choices (CA Grill and Brown Derby, too, on the same night). Would have loved to have done any of the 3.

I had a hard time with those three, but in the end I decided that I needed additional time to fit in all the kiosks. I can only eat so much at a time!

 

[Inkmahm]

The 45 minute wait time estimate was just about right on for me. Got through and booked everything we wanted!

Oct 21- Robert Irvine Kitchen Memories
Oct 22- Taste, Shake and Indulge like the French (DH only)
Oct 22- PFTS with Wine view option

The CM knew what she was doing, it just took about 10 minutes to book the 3 events. Unfortunately, I was on the phone almost an hour with my cell using roaming from Canada. I can't imagine what the phone call will cost...


It's only 5 am here- back to bed for me!

 

[YodasMom]

Called right at 7:00 and only a two minute wait! Got everything we wanted; however, reservationist could not find Sweet Sundays for October 16 on the system and told me to call back later. Has anyone booked this or had the same trouble I did?

My agent had trouble and was going to book it for 2 PM on the 30th. I told her the event is from 10 to noon and she finally found it. She was a little unsure of herself so I kept giving her instructions. She was asking all kinds of things like what I was celebrating, etc, and I told her that didn't apply!

 

[dgbg100106]

The 45 minute wait time estimate was just about right on for me. Got through and booked everything we wanted!

Oct 21- Robert Irvine Kitchen Memories
Oct 22- Taste, Shake and Indulge like the French (DH only)
Oct 22- PFTS with Wine view option

The CM knew what she was doing, it just took about 10 minutes to book the 3 events. Unfortunately, I was on the phone almost an hour with my cell using roaming from Canada. I can't imagine what the phone call will cost...


It's only 5 am here- back to bed for me!

one of these days, I will meet Robert Irvine....

 

[dgaston]

Got my French Regional Lunch Nov 6 -- roughly 45 minutes on hold, and the the CM's phone kept cutting in and out, but she didn't lose the call, Thank the Lord!

I may relent and buy PFTS later on when I have more funds; we've been on the fence about this, but have read the later ones don't sell out.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I can't believe this...I just got disconnected again! That is 1 hour of long distance cost and NOTHING to show for it. Argh! I've sent the IPO an email and I'll try calling at 9 when the office opens. Perhaps they can have better luck than me!

Congrats to everyone who is getting through. Cross your fingers that I'll eventually get the one event I want lol.

 

[msaseifert]

So I called at 7:08....listened to music for about 40 minutes, got my events booked in about 10 minutes....

We are set for
Oct 8 - PFTS w/WVL
Oct 8 - Cheese Seminar
Oct 9 - French Regional Lunch (we did this last year and LOVED it!)

Now I gotta pay the credit card...ugh

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Got through right at 7am EST and was told wait time of 25 minutes. This was the longest wait time I've ever had when calling right as the phone lines opened. EXACTLY at 25 minutes in, an agent answered.

I think our agent was new, as she was rather slow and very picky about "following procedures". I made the mistake of answering "yes" when she asked if we would be staying on property... and then had to attempt to wait patiently as she looked for our reservation. Finally, after another 8 minutes ticked off the clock while she bumbled through trying to find the reservation, I asked that she just look for our events first because I was afraid something might sell out. She seemed confused as to why I was concerned about that!!!

Fortunately, all of our events were available. I was surprised that they charge each event in a separate transaction rather than processing it all at one time. I can't remember if this is how they've done it in previous years. I'm sure that the multiple transaction time is delaying agents quite a bit. Perhaps Disney doesn't want us all to suffer sticker shock by hearing the actual total we are spending as one big number!

We've been to the festival many times and certainly have our favorite events, but many of those are not being offered during our travel dates this year. We booked our DVC reservations hoping that Disney would do something special for the 40th anniversary of the opening of Magic Kingdom (first weekend in October), but so far I haven't seen any anniversary events announced. (Anybody have feedback on this?) We also wanted to experience the opening weekend of F&W for the first time. In the past, our best values have been the lunches, so we booked three of those for our long weekend trip. We've previously experienced lots of wonderful Signature dinners (all-time favorite was Living Seas dinner several years back) and many PFTS events (we really enjoy Wine View Lounge experience!), but none of these were offered for our travel dates. So, here's what we have booked:

Thursday, Sept 29 - First Bites from 6:30-9pm

Friday, Sept 30 - French Regional Lunch (Bordeaux) from 12-3:30pm, Wagner Family of Wines Seminar at 4pm, and Xante Mixology Seminar at 6pm

Saturday, Oct 1 - Italian Food & Wine Pairing at Tutto Italia from 2-4pm

Sunday, Oct 2 - Mexico Tequila Lunch at La Hacienda de San Angel from 1-2:30pm and Red Newt Cellars Seminar at 4pm

And that's it... for this year!

Total call time, from dialing to completion, was 45 minutes.