Epcot During F&W Fest - Just eat at booths?

[Sawyer]

So we plan to spend an entire day at Epcot during Food & Wine Fest (with an afternoon break). We typically do one CS and one TS at the park.

Should we just eat lunch and dinner at the booth's? Or will that be overdoing it and therefore we should go get TS somewhere? (Alas, LC is booked.)

Was thinking it would be cool to sample alot of booths but sometimes I like to sit and unwind a bit...

Thoughts??

 

[dahirsh]

As long as no one in your party is really picky, do both meals at the booths. There will be more than enough fill you up.

 

[Aimeedyan]

If you have the budget, you can easily get enough to eat at the booths. But I'll warn you - it gets VERY expensive. At $4 for 2 bites, you are sticking out some major cash for a substantial amt of food.

We carved out 3 solid days for the Fest year before last and on the 2nd day, ended up eating lunch (aka grazing all day) and having a meal at Alfredos that night at 9pm. Sitting down after a hot day in the park was nice, being served for a change was nice, and having a meal of substance was nice. (we did share 2 entrees between the 3 of us).

From now on, we'll plan to do that. Graze for one meal, make a late reservation for a table service meal. If we end up not being hungry, it's easy to cancel. Our budget just wasn't unlimited so getting enough to eat was hard.

 

[ElizabethB]

We usually make a lunch out of the booth food. We don't try to make a dinner from it. And, I agree that it gets pricey quickly. A walk around the booths trying some food and some wine from most, but certainly not all, of the booths will run at least $60-70.

And, last year we were there the third week of October. It was so blasted hot and humid -- like August weather -- that we gave up walking around World Showcase, left Epcot and went to DTD for a quiet, air-conditioned lunch. Did that on all three days we'd planned to spend at Epcot.

We ended up eating very little at the booths and drinking almost nothing -- just not appealing when it's so hot. Other years have been much better weather-wise.

 

[LisaInNc]

I would do the booths at the F&W, it's a lot of fun to graze on all the different foods. If you want to relax a bit you should be able to graze something and then sit somewhere and snack.

 

[LisaInNc]

I would do the booths at the F&W, it's a lot of fun to graze on all the different foods. If you want to relax a bit you should be able to graze something and then sit somewhere and snack.

 

[colinsdad]

So we plan to spend an entire day at Epcot during Food & Wine Fest (with an afternoon break). We typically do one CS and one TS at the park.

Should we just eat lunch and dinner at the booth's? Or will that be overdoing it and therefore we should go get TS somewhere? (Alas, LC is booked.)

Was thinking it would be cool to sample alot of booths but sometimes I like to sit and unwind a bit...

Thoughts??

I ate and drank myself around the world last year and it was expensive. I think I dropped over $100 (includes drinking) but where else am I going to get to try these things all in one place?

I can go to Disney any other time of year and hit LC. You only get one shot at the Chilaquiles in Mexico!!

Some of my (over) indulgences:
Ireland - Guinness
Canada - Cheddar Cheese Soup
UK Beer Stand - Bass Ale (I'm detecting a trend here)
New Zealand - Lamb Slider
France - Escargot (2X) and Quiche
France - Napoleon (this is my favorite WDW dessert, and I get it at the Patisserie regardless whether the FaWF is going on).
Morocco - Zambra Sangria
Australia - Wine Sampler Tent
Australia - Lamb chop
Mexico - Chilaquiles and Quesidillas
USA - Sam Adams Beer Tasting (free beer!! )
USA - Sam Adams Festival Beer (paid for this one)
Italy - Lasagne
Argentina - Empanadas
Germany - Beck's Oktoberfest (22oz!)

This was done over about 8 hours from 4pm till closing. Note: These are taste portions so I'm not as big a pig as you're probably thinking.

As for sitting and unwinding, I thought getting a bite at each spot then watching the shows at each country was a great way to enjoy the festival without being inside in a restaurant. UK had a Scottish Rock type Band "Off Kilter", Japan had drums, and there was "Eat to the Beat" in USA (I think it was Starship that night).

Ended the night with a glass of water in my room with a Zantac

 

[ttalover]

The booths can add up quickly but it's so much fun! I think that eating at the booths leisurely throughout the day could be fine for a lunch/dinner combo.

 

[loveswdw]

Are you on the DDP? If you are, remember you can use your snack credits for F&W Fest booths. That definitely helps on the expense. Of course, last year we also ended up with 8 CS credits leftover due to we never wanted to eat meals because we'd grazed all day! Those days we didn't want a meal at all. So this year we've opted not to do DDP and just wing the food booths.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I love the variety at the booths, but it really is an expensive option sometimes. I would play it by ear- try for lunch and if there are still things you want to try, make it dinner, too. If not, you can easily get a decent cs for dinner- there are a few options with nice comfy seating areas and in Nov it probably won't be unbearably hot, so even the non-airconditioned seating will be prime spots!

After eating around the world at lunch, I'd be too full for a TS meal for dinner, wouldn't really enjoy it.

I think it all depends on appetite, habit and how much you eat/like at the booths!

You are going at my favorite time of year- enjoy it!!!!

 

[webray]

When we are playing it by ear, more often than not we end up grabbing a table service meal that evening. We always eat breakfast before we head over and the munch around all day.

You are right though, by dinner time, we are ready to sit down and relax with the food brought to us.

 

[tigger813]

We are planning on eating at the booths during our trip. We will have to get chicken nuggets frou our youngest. Oldest DD is picky but has expressed interest in trying new things since i told her she only had to try a bite. We only made 2 reservations the whole trip. SciFi at DHS and Cape May brekfast on our last day. We're skipping AK this trip and always eat at Cosmic Rays in MK. We have a 1 BR at BCV so we will also have some food in there.

It's our first F&W so it will be an experiment. If we need add'l food we can also go to CS at Mexico and UK which we usually do anyways. DD1 wants to try stuff in France. She's a huge cheese fanatic and we saw that listed. DD2 also loves cheese as long as it looks like cheese so we may be ok with her.

 

[Kay1]

We've tried to just eat from the booths for both lunch and dinner, but always end up worn out at our hotel saying," What do you want for dinner? I don't know, what do you want?"

This year we're doing lunch at the booths (except for my hard-to-fill-up teen, who will also grab a hot dog at America) then break at the hotel, then come back for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and dinner at the Rose and Crown.

I love, love, love the F & W but at some point it gets tiring and really expensive to stand in lines (sometimes long) to fork over $4 or so to get a couple of bites to eat.

Btw, do you think I can use my Disney Rewards card to pay at the booths?

 

[MickeyNicki]

DH and I do one or the other, TS for lunch or dinner and food booths for the other. The food booths can get super expensive tho

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I agree that is get pricey quickly as well, although if you have the DDP I read that the items will be available for snack credits.

 

[BriarRosie]

Btw, do you think I can use my Disney Rewards card to pay at the booths?

Yes you can.

And I will tend to do two days' worth of grazing, because I do fill up when I make my first round, knowing I'll hit some other kiosks another time.

 

[Kay1]

Yes you can.

And I will tend to do two days' worth of grazing, because I do fill up when I make my first round, knowing I'll hit some other kiosks another time.

Oh, good! I'll have a whopping $61 but that's quite a few samples. Thanks.

You know, I thought of something else after my first post that might help first-time F & Wers. If there is anyway possible, try to do the stroll on a good weather day. F & W is really tough in the rain.

 

[ntsammy5]

Also, don't forget to save room for some beer & wine - you might want to sit a little to digest and watch Eat to the Beat also. Have a great time!

 

[Tricia1972]

We did a modified version of this last year. We toured as a couple and enjoy sharing.

We stopped at the CS in Germany and got a brat with kraut to split. This was a nice filling base for us. Then we sampled the booths, but we only bought one item and split it between the two of us. We each got a taste and filled up pretty fast because we had the base of the brat.

 

[AutumnKlassic]

My aunt was telling me tonight that a few years ago when she stayed at Fort Wilderness they went to EPCOT on a cheaper after 4pm pass. Do they still do this?