An Epcot Food and Wine Festival Question

[crostorfer]

We will be staying at the Beach Club at a time that the Food and Wine is taking place at Epcot. My question is this, for anyone that has been there and has some experience, do you think it would be allright to not make ADR's at table service places and just eat your way around the world on the cheaper samples? My family is incredibly picky, (by that I mean my daughter is a straight chicken nuggets girl), and since we are in such close proximity to Epcot, I figure we would be dining there nightly anyway. Are the sample sizes large enough that you could have a full belly after visiting a few stands? I thought maybe we would get by cheaper if I could just get my kiddo some less expensive counter service and have my husband and I snack around the world.

 

[Art 1]

I don't think that plan would be a good idea. My wife and I burned thru $100 pretty fast this past time and were never satisfied. Portions are very small, you can wait in line a bit for each serving, not many places to sit and eat.

Food and Wine Fest is more about sampling than eating if you know what I mean.

Just my opinion.

 

[FireDancer]

Yes, you can skip the TS meal that day and snack around the world. It will be WAY more expensive so if you do, it do it for the variety and not the cost savings.

Like Art said, the samples are small and they are not cheap. Getting a meal at a few stands isn't going to happen but if you go all the way around getting samples at most stands you can eat for $75 to $100 per adult. That is what it cost me and I am not a big eater.

 

[cbg1027]

I love 'eating my way around the world' as a meal. But you will be eating very slowly as you make your way around, and there is not always somewhere to sit down with your food.
Also, as the pp's mentioned, it gets expensive. I think I spent $50, which included one alcoholic drink, over the course of several hours.
So if you can deal with a very spread out meal, it's a fun thing to do!

 

[3"Mouse"keteers]

We did this last fall! We at a big lunch at Le Cellier and then did this for dinner. We were on the dxddp so we just used our snack credits to buy the samples. I only had something from maybe 5 or 6 places, and got very full! The samples aren't huge, but if you ate a good lunch and then several samples, you should be able to make a meal of it. If you are pay out of pocket, it could rack up pretty quickly though.

 

[Hopefully]

We've done what the last poster did, but that is really not answering your question, I don't think.
Working your way around the World Showcase booths after a big Sit Down TS lunch is not the same as using the F & W booths for your main meal of the day.
You could definitely "Nosh Around The Word" and be satisfied for a meal, in my opinion,
But as the others have said, the servings are small and relatively expensive. I believe the cost to be satisfied is more than the cost of a sit down dinner.
That said, it is great fun and I say Go fo It!

 

[Forever Fairy]

Yes - you can but only if you eat a big lunch. My DH has a decent appetite and the tasting sizes are somewhat small. Add that with the wine pairing and it adds up quickly.

You could also always subsidize the tasting with a decent CS meal as well and that might also work.

 

[TDC Nala]

The "cheaper samples" cost about 3 bucks each and are usually tiny desserts.

Meat or anything like that will generally cost you $4-6 per sample (the lobster rolls were the most expensive sample at $7.25 in 2009) and they are too small to share. Two people could get a taste from one. I also doubt they will have much that will satisfy picky kids (except common, kid friendly items like the pizza in Italy, and there are not a lot of those - even then you can't do much about the kids who don't like the way the pizza looks) but you can always stop off at Liberty Inn for some chicken nuggets.

I've done this in place of a meal before but not every day. And I wouldn't do it as an attempt to save money, you won't save any money buying the samples unless you can stop after one or two of them (depending on the sample, the cost of one or two might approximate the cost of a counter service entree; around 4 would approximate the cost of a table service entree).

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

I have eaten my way around the world twice now and loved every minute of it!! I was stuffed by the end of the day...

I put about $80 on my card and tried what ever I wanted and that included alcoholic drinks like Margarita in mexico and different wines.... This was starting at 11 am and then all day long into evening and it was extra magic...So at midnight we were eating Lasagna in Italy...So that $80 lasted me way into the night.

The time I took my DD(9) and my Mom along we did not stay as long and my kid is picky eater too...So I fed her counter service and she loves the soft pretzels in the WS....

We are headed back this October and I am already putting money aside for my day at F & W....We are making no ADR's for that day....None.

So I say go and enjoy.....It is a great time too visit.

 

[smcabee]

I think it depends on how much you eat really. My DW and I typiclly book 1 or 2 TS dinners for the week and a few CS lunches during the week and the rest of the time is noshing and sloshing around the world.

 

[elgerber]

We did this more than once last year. We were stuffed everytime. The samples are not huge, but we split most everything so we could sample many different things. However, it is NOT cheaper than a TS meal. We easily spent $100 on the one day, and I have no idea how much the second day. But it is an option, and a fun tasty one at that. We love to do this.