Are the parks really that busy during Epcot Food & Wine??

[pkwoo84]

I just realized that the week we were thinking about booking for is at the start of the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Does it really make things busy around the parks? We could bump our trip to the week before, we are just trying to book during free dining and I figured the closer it got to Oct the less hot it would be. How is the Sept weather? We went in May last year and it wasn't too terribly hot.

 

[imLissy]

We went the first week in October last year.

I didn't think it would be as crowded as it was, but it still wasn't bad. The longest we waited for anything was about an hour and a half for Toy Story Mania, but that was because the ride broke down for a little while. We fastpassed everything else. We were able to do everything we wanted to, and then had a couple days left over We didn't have any ADRs and had some trouble making reservations a couple of the days, we ended up eating at the Swan/Dolphin which have fabulous food anyway, but I hear it's like that all the time now. My dad's funny. We met up one morning and he says, "I tried making reservations for that steak place in Canada you said was good, but they were all booked up for the rest of the week ... and the next few months."

It was definitely less crowded then when we've gone spring break and February break when I was in school, but more crowded than in January or November.

The weather, well, it rained every day we were there, but it only bothered us for about two hours one day. It was a little too hot for me, but I really hate being hot. I much prefer the January weather.

 

[chicagoshannon]

We havent' gone since 2004, but when we went it wasn't bad at all. The only place it was really busy was waiting in lines in the World Showcase for food. The actual parks weren't bad. We were there last week of October.

 

[rebstone]

Having been to the F&W festival the past couple of years in a row (early to mid-October), I have found the following routine to be optimum for taking on the festival.

If you want to spend time around Future World, get there at opening and ride all the rides you want to. World Showcase (with the food booths) doesn't "open" until 11:00, a couple hours after Future World opens. (Assuming park time remain the same.) The lines were never long in Future World for the first couple of hours the park is open. Then if you start your eating around the World around 11:00 or so, the lines are very manageable. The lines seemed to get longer later in the day.

This trip for me is usually 3 days (plus 2 travel days). The first day I'll eat through the first half of the festival. The second day I'll hang out at the resort, DisneyQuest, etc. And the 3rd day I'll eat through the second half of the festival.

Another tip...definitely share tastings; that way you get to try many more dishes. You get full faster than you'd expect.

I will be going back again for the F&W festival this year (probably late Oct) and will be using the strategies described above.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

We enjoy October and found it only to be very busy during the evening or on weekends at the F&W festival itself. It was very busy at Epcot WS. After we gave up trying to get any food or wine due to the long lines, it was nearly impossible to enjoy the rest of WS as you had to avoid the crowds that filled all of the sidewalks around WS. We ended up going to another park which was very enjoyable. I wonder if there are a lot of locals who go to the F&W festival. The only other busy time in October was MK the afternoon and night of the Spectromagic parade.

We found the weather to be very good in October (second week). It never rained, there was rarely a cloud in the sky and the temps were mid 70's/low 80's. The year before some friends went in October and said it was very hot (90's and humid). It's just too difficult to predict the weather anywhere.

 

[trekker93]

We were there last year and found that the crowds were not that bad at Epcot. We enjoyed it! But we didn't have any young children to deal with either but for 2 adults, ut was great. We tried alot of different foods and wines that we would never had done otherwise!

 

[DWFan4Life]

Some of my friends did a trip last year for F&W festival, they said that crowd is manageable, so nothing to worry about it. Just enjoy and have fun.

Have a nice and safe trip coming.