Epcot F&W with preschoolers?

[mdmama76]

We'll be at WDW in mid-October when F&W is going on. It's not a priority for us to hit, but we do have the time so our current thinking is to get to Epcot at rope drop, do a few things, then hit F&W when it opens (11?) for lunch. We wouldn't make a huge day of it, but probably spend a couple hours grazing and wandering midday. Kids will be 3.5 and 6. Good idea? Bad idea? Will they be bored out of their minds? Will there be drunk people puking in the bushes at noon?

Any insight would be great! Thanks much.

 

[worm761]

We'll be at WDW in mid-October when F&W is going on. It's not a priority for us to hit, but we do have the time so our current thinking is to get to Epcot at rope drop, do a few things, then hit F&W when it opens (11?) for lunch. We wouldn't make a huge day of it, but probably spend a couple hours grazing and wandering midday. Kids will be 3.5 and 6. Good idea? Bad idea? Will they be bored out of their minds? Will there be drunk people puking in the bushes at noon?

Any insight would be great! Thanks much.

No, there won't be drunk people puking in the bushes. We go for Food and Wine almost yearly and have never witnessed anything like that.

As far as your kids being bored, well that just depends. If you still do the kidcot stations, rides, and character meets probably not. But if you just plan to wander from booth to booth they will most likely be bored. We still visit the countries and do things while stopping at the booths in between.

 

[Madteaparty001]

From what I've read on other threads as long as you avoid F&W on the weekends you should be fine, there are quite a few rides and shops in Epcot that can be interesting to kids. My family is doing Spaceship Earth, Turtle Talk with Crush, Akershus breakfast, the living with the land pavilion, and wandering the shops as we sample the booths. That's plenty of kid oriented stuff right there that can easily fill most of a day. Kids especially love watching that pick a pearl show in the China shop.

 

[jacknsally19]

We were there last year with our almost 3 yr old and we just spent a bit more time in FW and a bit less time in WS. Personally, I was really excited to try the 'food' but we ended up doing QS bc of the lack of tables and it was a bit difficult for me to find anything we would both be interested in one spot. I didn't really want to go to multiple spots with my kid. I would keep expectations a bit low for the actual Food and wine stuff with a young child but the rest of WS - kidcot stations, shows, characters will be just as enjoyable as always. We will be back this year and I am kind of excited for the ratatouille hide and seek game. (Not sure exactly what it's called) but I think that will be very fun with my almost 4 yr old.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We went to F&W a few times before my DS started kindergarten and quickly learned the food booths were not going to work for us. We would stand in a line, order one or two things, try to find a place to eat them (typically couldn't find a place to sit), attempt to eat it while walking and pushing a stroller, all the while DS was bored out of his skull. Repeat at next food booth. Over the years, if we happened to be in EP during F&W, we would just go about our day as if the booths and events weren't even there and simply eat our meals at a CS or TS. My DS really enjoys EP as it is (and actually really enjoys the Flower and Garden Festival), but F&W doesn't really work for us. Maybe when he gets older it will have more appeal.

 

[MissMet]

This year they have a special F&W scavenger hunt that is Remy themed, plus the Kidcot stations, I think they'll have a fun lunchtime. A change from the go-go pace may be nice for them. The only time you could see obnoxiously drunk people is weekend evenings. Nothing over the top though as security is quick to put a kibosh on anything not family friendly.

We love F&WF. The key is to go early. You can't bother later in the day when all the crowds are there. We go for two days, Tues-Thurs is best, right at 10:45am & are able to try everything without any lines & lots of tables & benches to be had. We just go from one booth to the next until we're stuffed and the next day we do the other side. It's the highlight of our trip. A relaxed day of eating with the family. Our family loves it & we've never had the issues spoken of here doing it early on a weekday. We always go mid-October.

 

[ktlm]

My DD has absolutely loved WS in EPCOT since she was 2. She is 9 now. There are a ton of characters to meet. There is the boat ride in Mexico. There are entertainers- bands, jugglers, acrobats. There are the Agent P (Phineas and Ferb) missions that your 6 year old will probably love. There are the Kidcot stations in every country (your child can color a Duffy or Agent P and take it around to the other countries to get a country stamp and talk to someone from that country). Even without F&W WS has always been an all day (after that area opens) place for DD. When you go to F&W right when WS opens the lines for the booths are fairly short. If the kids are too bouncy to stand in line, it is very easy for one parent to take the kids to watch entertainers, or a Kidcot station, or do an Agent P mission and then switch off while the other grabs something in a F&W booth in the area and then switch places so the other parent can get something. We do that all the time. DH and I usually pick different items and booths at F & W anyway, and even if we both want to share something, he can go get it and bring it to wherever I am with DD.

As far as the drunks, it is much better earlier in the day. Later in the evening and when it gets near park close is when it can get wild. We really thought the only day it was overly wild in the evening was on Saturday. I don't think we saw anyone puking in the bushes, but we did see some idiots climb in a fountain and at least a few people who clearly appeared to have been drinking all day. It actually worked out well, because it provided a few teaching moments for DD which I'm hoping she will carry with her when she is older- she has not forgotten it and claims she fully intends not to drink enough to act like that when she is older. Other than Saturday night, the evenings were much more crowded than the early afternoon and the booth lines were longer, but we didn't see that many people too far out of hand.