DDP and Food and Wine Festival- conflict of interest? HELP!

[Goldilocks07]

I am debating on the DDP, this will be the FIRST time taking advantage of this offer. My question is, is if we are on the plan, is it a waste if we will be at Epcot one of the days during the Food and Wine Festival? I mean, I can't see needing a quick-service meal if we are stuffing our faces all day on the small-plates during the festival.

Also: Are the food tastings available all day? What time does the serving of the festival foods start? (I know you have to pay per plate)

This will be our first experience at the F&WF, which is why I'm asking this question.

THANK YOU for helping my dining reservation sanity! (My family, for the record, thinks I'm NUTS with the amount of time I spend on ADR's!!....)

 

[Mr. Pig]

It is true that if you are sampling at F&W you may not want another CS meal. You could always save it and double up on another day or do a breakfast.

The one nice thing about DDP and F&W is that the snack credits can be used for food at the booths. Of course you can't get any wine but almost all food samples could be purchased with a snack credit. Some of them are a real value, much more than a "regular" snack. I can't say whether it will be the same this year but no reason to think not.

Food tasting is available from when WS opens at 11:00 until near closing.

Be on the lookout on the boards and someone will post the menus from the various booths as time gets closer.

 

[StitchFan73]

You won't have any room for a sit down meal of any kind once you make your way through the F&W lol! We learned that quick-so we don't make ADRs the days we plan to attend F&W.

The booths which are only located in World Showcase (not in Future World) open with World Showcase-11am if I am thinking straight tonight lol.

If you vacation allows it I would suggest planning 2 days for the F&W because you cannot eat it all in one day Also if possible-avoid the weekends. It gets crowded and a lot of local drinking show up to DRINK not as much EAT their way through Can get a bit rowdy if you have kids with you. If not-no worries.

As for the extra meals in your plan-depending on which plan you have you could plan a nice 2 credit meal at one of the awesome restaurants in the resorts like Citricos or Jiko. If it's the Quick service-maybe a picnic one day in AK or you will just have some extra credits for other days. But do try to save your snack credits for F&W-it makes more sense to pay for a soda or ice cream ($2.50) and use your credit on a Pot stickers in China or a Chocolate cake with Baileys ganache in England

Hope this helps Have fun-it's a great time to visit!

 

[Forever Fairy]

I am debating on the DDP, this will be the FIRST time taking advantage of this offer. My question is, is if we are on the plan, is it a waste if we will be at Epcot one of the days during the Food and Wine Festival? I mean, I can't see needing a quick-service meal if we are stuffing our faces all day on the small-plates during the festival.

DH and I did our first F&W fest 2-years ago and have our trip planned for Oct this year. To be honest, we didn't need a big sit down meal during the event. When we were there, we would each get a tasting and share. If we got really hungry, we'd supplement with counter service.

If you get there when the booths open at 11AM, or during the day on weekedays, the lines are really small and you can usually find a table or place to eat. We are really looking forward to this years event.

 

[sleepydog25]

I'll take the counterpoint--I enjoy TS meals even when visiting during the F&W Festival. I'm not one to eat much during the day normally, and even though the temps in Oct don't generally tend to reach summertime highs, it's still usually quite warm, meaning that I prefer not to fill up on the food booths. So, I choose 2-4 booths I want to visit over the course of the day and then use my snack credits from the DxDP to pay for the food (drinks are extra). Come nightfall, I'm ready to sit down to a nice meal in comfort, and usually I eat a little later in the evening to allow my appetite to catch up with me.

 

[Goldilocks07]

Wow, thank you all for the help and pointers!!!

I did not know that you could use snack credits towards F&W Festival. That was REALLY great information!

We do have a dinner reservation at Tutto that night, later at 8:30pm. We figured we'd hit the parks early and cut out by 3ish, rest at the hotel and go back to dinner. Unfortunately, the way our schedule works out, we can only go the FIRST DAY of the F&W Festival, Friday October 1st- eeeeek!
So like another poster stated, we are going to avoid the huge happy-hour crowds and taste on the earlier side.

I guess all I need to do now is the math- my biggest issue is that my DH likes to eat at signature restaurants, he really really likes a great dining environment. Ex: we LOVE O'hana but were disappointed in Kona, not because of the food, but because the restaurant itself was kindof depressing and airport-like. Although that was a bad example, bc O'hana is not a signature restaurant. oops. haha. But it IS impossible to get a resi there!

So now that I have all of your help, I will go through the menus and try and figure out if the DDP is worth it to us- I think it will be. EXCITED!!! THANK YOU!!!

 

[beroh2253]

Last year and will do the same this year, we went and used many CS for breakfast, visited Polys Captn Cooks several times for tonga Toast and several time to POR for made to order omlets, this freed up our snack credits for lunches at the booths and then dinner with the TS. This year we may to the QSDP so CS for beakfast, then we would get 2 snack credits eash for the food and wine fest then CS for dinner, we may go for 1 or 2 TS OOP we can't miss our Le Cellier or opening day at San Angle.

 

[Jetta8300]

We are in the same boat! But we are going to use the counter service that day for breakfast. Then we are going to use the TS credit another night so we can do a signature restaurant (Jiko)!!!

It my opinion, it kind of works out perfectly, because I wanted to do a signature restaurant!

 

[Goldilocks07]

Yes, we are doing the same thing: using 2 TS for Jiko the first night at AKL.

THURSDAY: 2 Quick-Service credits the day of the Mickey's Halloween Party.

FRIDAY: Then the day of the Food & Wine festival, using 1 TS for a lunch/breakfast, then Tutto Italia (1 TS) for a late dinner - this will leave me with 4 snack credits to use on the tasting plates during the festival.

SATURDAY: Quick service for lunch and Wispering Canyon (1 TS) for dinner.

SUNDAY: HOME

I am assuming I can use ALL FOUR snack credits during the festival?