2017 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: August 31, 2017 - November 13, 2017

[JerseyJanice]

IDK if this will help, but cotton candy is made from sugar, food coloring and flavoring. It would be unlikely to have anything with gluten.

Boba pearls are made from yogurt.

 

[AllThingsMickey4]

We are about one month away from our first F&W trip!! We arrive on a Saturday and we are forgoing our tradition of Epcot on our arrival day because all the reviews I've read say to avoid F&W on weekends.

This means our first visit to F&W will be on a Monday night.. hopefully this will be a better experience than a Saturday night

I also get a little nervous reading everyone's detailed plans for attacking the food booths. I intended on making a "must try" list, but looking at all of the booth menus overwhelmed me and I have so much going on between planning our Disney wedding and (hopefully) buying our first house. So right now my only plan is to walk around WS and try what interests me. Hopefully that's good enough

Still super excited about F&W in general.. especially when looking at everyone's food pictures

 

[gottalovepluto]

We are about one month away from our first F&W trip!! We arrive on a Saturday and we are forgoing our tradition of Epcot on our arrival day because all the reviews I've read say to avoid F&W on weekends.

This means our first visit to F&W will be on a Monday night.. hopefully this will be a better experience than a Saturday night

I also get a little nervous reading everyone's detailed plans for attacking the food booths. I intended on making a "must try" list, but looking at all of the booth menus overwhelmed me and I have so much going on between planning our Disney wedding and (hopefully) buying our first house. So right now my only plan is to walk around WS and try what interests me. Hopefully that's good enough

Still super excited about F&W in general.. especially when looking at everyone's food pictures

Definitely carve out time for your must try list. I print out the menu from DFB and mark musts. 30 mins and it will be well worth it, otherwise you'll find yourself 5 booths into WS kicking yourself for not doing a list because you'll be too full for what you really want to try. WDW F&W is too much of a time and money commitment to have regrets once you get there The must-try list is very important!

 

[TeresaWen]

Don't know about this year, but we went about 2-3 years ago. Not a fun experience.

Waaaaay too crowded. Zero room between tables. Food was OK (same pastries they sell in the quick stop bakery next door, food service coffee). When I complained to the manager and asked him to observe how his employees were unable to get to/from tables (forget guest comfort they clearly didn't care about that - how are your employees able to serve efficiently and turn over tables as quickly as possible?) his response was that WDW corporate demanded that they fit X number of tables in the restaurant. Normally it wasn't an issue for that many tables but a significant chunk of seating space needed to be converted to buffet space so the same number of guest tables had to get squeezed together.

He apologized in a sorry-not-sorry way and then I asked him if this was supposed to be a real Parisian experience. He got quiet and admitted it was not.

I too did not enjoy this. Went last year Everything, offered was huge and pure carbohydrate. Kind of ruined my day I was so stuffed. When breakfast is over nothing else around is opened. Very crowded and hard to get refills. Our server told us nothing so I was not aware of he various coffee drinks available. hot chocolate was meh.

 

[Disney & ME]

I was at the PFTS last Saturday night and I expect to be at all of the upcoming parties as well.

I will be at the PFTS on 10/7 and so excited since it is my first one. Looking forward to meeting you and thanking you for all the Pandora and SW info. It really helped with my planning.

 

[sherlockmiles]

I also get a little nervous reading everyone's detailed plans for attacking the food booths. I intended on making a "must try" list,

We were overwhelmed too

I ended up making a spreadsheet of everything we wanted to try - 4 columns: Country, Food, Dessert, Drink, 1 row per country/booth. We also decided to not second guess our list once we arrived - we only had 2 half days and didn't want to waste too much time. Highlighted our MUST HAVEs.

Once entered everything, we found that there were 6 booths we could bypass totally.
We also found there were 8 booths that only had dessert or drinks we wanted, so we sorted the list into 2 parts - booths that had real food we wanted to try (if we wanted desserts or drinks there they were also listed in the same row) and booth that only had desserts or drinks we wanted to try. SO I had 1 piece of paper that had the "food" list on one side and the dessert/drink list on the other. This helped a lot! We focused on real food until we were full....then switched over to desserts. We only did 8 drinks (sampler) and tried them when the fancy struck us.

LOL - since we also did Remy's Hide and Squeak, we ended up at all of the booths anyway at some point....took pictures of all of the Remy's and had a lot of fun. It was always a race to see which of us would spot him first!

 

[FastPasser.]

And no everyone was not happy at PFTS last Saturday.

I'm disappointed to read that things didn't go as they should have for you, but it wasn't for the lack of trying. I can assure you that every CM working the event strive to make the event live up to the expectation. Unfortunately, with such a large and complex event, some things will inevitably fall through the cracks. Being just a low level front line grunt worker having no say in the planning, I do apologize.

Where do you wait once you are checked in?

For the reserved and guaranteed seating categories there is no waiting once you check in. After checking in and getting your wrist band, it's party time.

I will be at the PFTS on 10/7 and so excited since it is my first one.

I'm excited for you, see you there. With some of the Chefs from the Disney parks, WDW resorts and elsewhere, it should make for some amazing eating. Have a great time.

 

[aviva5675]

We were there yesterday. Had written a list of items we wanted to try, and their booth names. Sorted the booths into the 3 basic areas- the countries, near Future World West and the area between FW and the countries. The vast majority of what we wanted were at the closest two areas= by the time we finished there we were too stuffed to do any countries. And my husband can really throw down. We ended up on a shady bench right in front of the Canada booth. I really wanted to do the filet but was just too stuffed. And we were literally in front of it. Tried: smoked corned beef and piggy wings/at Fire. The quinoa salad and salmon/Active Eats, Tbone lamb/Australia, Liquid Nitro chocolate and the torte/Chocolate booth,Baked Shrimp scampi dip/Coastal Eats, Roasted beet salad/Farm fresh, Tuna tataki/Hawaii, Lamb meatball and the venison loin/New Zealand. The venison was overcooked and inedible. The tbone lamb was fatty and unpleasant. Major highlights: the liquid nitro chocolate and the lamb meatball. The quinoa salad with salmon, tho the chimichurri was too spicy for me. Husband said the liquid nitro was best dessert he ever ate- especially right when you get it and its still very cold. The rest were enjoyable.

Like I said- when we finished these we were stuffed and never made it into the lands. Imperative to plan ahead. I had another maybe 10 things on the list we either skipped or never got to. Be flexible. It did get pretty hot after awhile. We were there at the booths before 11. Never waited at any line for food. Try to send someone to find any shade to eat in while others get the food. Save your silverware because why waste all that plastic getting new at every booth?

 

[Gryhndmom]

10 days until F&W!!last year DH and I bought the "coupons/tabs" and found that what we wanted to drink and eat didn't justify the cost as we figured out each item had to be around $8 to break even. After reading all the posts from those who have been, it seems that this is still the case (given what is excluded) . Anybody have a different thought on doing the tabs this year?

 

[JerseyJanice]

@aviva5675 I know what you mean about getting stuffed before you can get to everything you intended to try. I found too, that when I was in the mood for certain things like dessert, for example, I was nowhere near where I wanted to get it (Mexican cajeta mousse).

That salmon and chimichurri sauce dish at Active Eats was my favorite thing last year. This year, I thought they used hot peppers in the quinoa salad and that's why it was so spicy. It wasn't as hot last year, that I know for sure.

I found the corned beef dish at Flavors from Fire ridiculously salty. The piggy wings did not look the same as last year's. They were smaller and the sauce had a lighter color. I skipped them this year.

 

[JerseyJanice]

@Gryhndmom There is no food item that costs less than a tab, but there are a number of drink choices where you'd come out ahead. It's worth getting if you want to drink those.

I used mine on Monet & Chandon Imperial Rose, caipirinha, frozen mojito, Ritzy Lychee, Joffrey's coffee drink with vodka & Bailey's, spicy apple margarita, and a couple LePassion martini's. I enjoyed them all except for the too sweet margarita.

I should mention that I was in the park almost every day or night of a 9 night trip. I may have run into some problems if I had all 8 drinks in one visit. LOL!

 

[Mika02]

10 days until F&W!!last year DH and I bought the "coupons/tabs" and found that what we wanted to drink and eat didn't justify the cost as we figured out each item had to be around $8 to break even. After reading all the posts from those who have been, it seems that this is still the case (given what is excluded) . Anybody have a different thought on doing the tabs this year?

@Gryhndmom There is no food item that costs less than a tab, but there are a number of drink choices where you'd come out ahead. It's worth getting if you want to drink those.

I used mine on Monet & Chandon Imperial Rose, caipirinha, frozen mojito, Ritzy Lychee, Joffrey's coffee drink with vodka &
Bailey's, spicy apple margarita, and a couple LePassion martini's. I enjoyed them all except for the too sweet margarita.

I should mention that I was in the park almost every day or night of a 9 night trip. I may have run into some problems if I had all 8 drinks in one visit. LOL!

I also only used mine on Drinks: Monet & Chandon Imperial Rose, Mexican Mule (Amazing), Frozen Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila, Bleu Spectrum, La Passion Martini Slush, Ritzy Lychee, Citrus Thistle (My favorite drink) and a frozen Treat which was amazing Pineapple DOLE Whip Soft-Serve Ice Cream with Bacardi Coconut Rum (Amazing). I liked all the drinks alot with the Rose (the best deal) being my least favorite alone but tasted great in combo with the Trio of Cheese from The Cheese studio.

 

[DVC4US]

We were there yesterday. Had written a list of items we wanted to try, and their booth names. Sorted the booths into the 3 basic areas- the countries, near Future World West and the area between FW and the countries. The vast majority of what we wanted were at the closest two areas= by the time we finished there we were too stuffed to do any countries. And my husband can really throw down. We ended up on a shady bench right in front of the Canada booth. I really wanted to do the filet but was just too stuffed. And we were literally in front of it. Tried: smoked corned beef and piggy wings/at Fire. The quinoa salad and salmon/Active Eats, Tbone lamb/Australia, Liquid Nitro chocolate and the torte/Chocolate booth,Baked Shrimp scampi dip/Coastal Eats, Roasted beet salad/Farm fresh, Tuna tataki/Hawaii, Lamb meatball and the venison loin/New Zealand. The venison was overcooked and inedible. The tbone lamb was fatty and unpleasant. Major highlights: the liquid nitro chocolate and the lamb meatball. The quinoa salad with salmon, tho the chimichurri was too spicy for me. Husband said the liquid nitro was best dessert he ever ate- especially right when you get it and its still very cold. The rest were enjoyable.

Like I said- when we finished these we were stuffed and never made it into the lands. Imperative to plan ahead. I had another maybe 10 things on the list we either skipped or never got to. Be flexible. It did get pretty hot after awhile. We were there at the booths before 11. Never waited at any line for food. Try to send someone to find any shade to eat in while others get the food. Save your silverware because why waste all that plastic getting new at every booth?

This is what we do - of course we are a large group of about 9 people so sometimes it is hard to find a place for us but there is no use for us all to be in line. We always wipe off our silverware and save it for the next place - I agree, why waste the plastic.

 

[DVC4US]

10 days until F&W!!last year DH and I bought the "coupons/tabs" and found that what we wanted to drink and eat didn't justify the cost as we figured out each item had to be around $8 to break even. After reading all the posts from those who have been, it seems that this is still the case (given what is excluded) . Anybody have a different thought on doing the tabs this year?

@Gryhndmom There is no food item that costs less than a tab, but there are a number of drink choices where you'd come out ahead. It's worth getting if you want to drink those.

I used mine on Monet & Chandon Imperial Rose, caipirinha, frozen mojito, Ritzy Lychee, Joffrey's coffee drink with vodka & Bailey's, spicy apple margarita, and a couple LePassion martini's. I enjoyed them all except for the too sweet margarita.

I should mention that I was in the park almost every day or night of a 9 night trip. I may have run into some problems if I had all 8 drinks in one visit. LOL!

I also only used mine on Drinks: Monet & Chandon Imperial Rose, Mexican Mule (Amazing), Frozen Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila, Bleu Spectrum, La Passion Martini Slush, Ritzy Lychee, Citrus Thistle (My favorite drink) and a frozen Treat which was amazing Pineapple DOLE Whip Soft-Serve Ice Cream with Bacardi Coconut Rum (Amazing). I liked all the drinks alot with the Rose (the best deal) being my least favorite alone but tasted great in combo with the Trio of Cheese from The Cheese studio.

I only used mine on drinks too - I actually set a threshold of $10 so I get the most bang for my buck. I will be doing this again when we go in a couple of weeks. Of course those are the kind of drinks we like so it works for us. I posted earlier that I used 5 tabs - 1 Kurt Russell Pinot Noir, 3 Moet & Chandon Rose, & 1 Le Passion from France - for these 5 drinks, I saved about $30. That's a pretty good deal in my book.

 

[sherlockmiles]

We always wipe off our silverware and save it for the next place - I agree, why waste the plastic.

You know - if they did a utensil set (fork, spoon, butter knife - even just fork & spoon - nothing we actually required knife cutting - the fork worked quite well) in a pouch or something with the festival logo on the handles - I would totally buy 2.

 

[leholcomb]

"Save your silverware because why waste all that plastic getting new at every booth?

My family always looks at me like I'm crazy carrying my fork in my pocket. lol

 

[DVC4US]

You know - if they did a utensil set (fork, spoon, butter knife - even just fork & spoon - nothing we actually required knife cutting - the fork worked quite well) in a pouch or something with the festival logo on the handles - I would totally buy 2.

I totally agree!!

 

[randumb0]

Any idea how the margaritas compare in size to margaritas from La Cava?

 

[summerlvr]

You know - if they did a utensil set (fork, spoon, butter knife - even just fork & spoon - nothing we actually required knife cutting - the fork worked quite well) in a pouch or something with the festival logo on the handles - I would totally buy 2.

They did have reusable utensil set last year that came in a small plastic carrying case, but apparently it didn't sell well, so they did not offer it again this year.

 

[crazy4wdw]

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