EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, Sept. 25 - Nov 16 2015

[mara512]

Mine looks like this.

Tuesday
October 27

Epcot®

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
1:20 PM

Epcot Food & Wine Festival Premium Package
8:30 PM



Thursday
October 29


Epcot®

Coral Reef Restaurant
2:40 PM

Epcot Food & Wine Premium Package Seminar
5:00 PM

 

[Tozzie]

I have a question for anyone that can help. I have the PP reserved for monday OCT.19 and that is our day for the dessert party and thats what it said on MDE till today. Today I called today to reserve our seminar for OCT.21 and now MDE says
Epcot Food & Wine Premium Package Seminar Wednesday, October 21, 2015 and says nothing about the dessert party on monday the 19. So my question is did anyone else's MDE change like that after you booked your seminar or did it show both reservations. I'm trying to figure out if I need to call them back and have them fix things because we still want to pickup our stuff and do the dessert party on monday.

that happened to me two days ago and the castmenber had screwed up and cancelled my pp and booked the wine seminar and then was refunding my credit card i almost hit the roof i was so angry, especially since it took her an hour to screw up my reservation

 

[POOHsie]

rats! they've changed the culinary demos for my PP week! ARGH! I have a "TBD" in the 5pm slot for tues, sept 29. frustrating!! I wonder what happens to those who've already booked it? and bacon instead of beef for Monday! cheaping out, Disney? sheesh!

Well...FINALLY got my deminar booked on the Premium Package after two more days of phone calls....It wasn't a huge deal, but we manages to get the bacon demo on 9/28

(Everything's better with bacon)

omg on the phone now with CM who is insisting that there is no updated schedule from WDW. she's quoting me all the seminars that were posted last week & not the current ones that are showing on the OFFICIAL WDW website. i explained that i would HATE to book something & show up and they're featuring something completel different. ARGH!

update: she had to check with a supervisor & she got the updated schedule with TBD still showing on sept 29. she said i can take my chance & just book it & wait to see what they feature that day. yikes. or just keep waiting & if other demos fill up in the mean time, oh well. tragic.

I just called at 6:00 pm (8-14-15) to schedule my Premium Package Culinary Seminar on Sept 28th. The CM told me the 28th featured Matthew Reid of Yachtsman Steak House for Beef, Tuesday the 29th would be lamb (chef unknown), Wednesday the 30th would be Scallops (chef unknown), and October 1st would be Escargot (chef unknown).

It's true that the PP Seminar info given to me doesn't match the info posted on the official F&W Seminar list. Does this mean that Premium Package patrons are going to seminars other than those listed on the F&W Seminar list? The official F&W Seminar item listed for the 28th, Bacon, would be OK with me if that's how it turns out. At this point, I'm confused about everything. Disney should change their name to 'Dizzy.'

Bonus confusion for everyone: I asked the CM about transferring leftover balances on our 2014 Epcot F&W Gift Cards to new 2015 F&W Gift Cards. She said 'sure.' I asked if the new Gift Cards come pre-loaded with a certain amount of $$. She read off her computer screen -- to paraphrase: The special 20th Anniversary Food & Wine Gift Card will come with a special 20th Anniversary F&W lanyard and a sleeve for the Gift Card. Minimum load amount will be $200!!!

So I asked the CM, 'Isn't there a lesser F&W Gift Card for folks to put just $50 on it?' She said 'probably' and directed me to check at the Disney Gift Card dot com website for all the information. So I go there and guess what? -- There's not a single Ding-Dang thing about F&W gift cards! Argggh!!!

 

[karrit2000]

Seems to me they downloaded the first Deminar schedule somewhere that the dining CM's computers are being directed to rather than the current updated info.

I'm tempted by that special 20th Anniversary gift card. Even if I don't use the whole $200 at F & W the leftover balance can be used anywhere. Of Course since I'm not on any dining plan I should have no trouble spending that $200 and more while I'm there as I'm scheduled to be there for almost 2 weeks.

 

[POOHsie]

Seems to me they downloaded the first Deminar schedule somewhere that the dining CM's computers are being directed to rather than the current updated info.

I'm tempted by that special 20th Anniversary gift card. Even if I don't use the whole $200 at F & W the leftover balance can be used anywhere. Of Course since I'm not on any dining plan I should have no trouble spending that $200 and more while I'm there as I'm scheduled to be there for almost 2 weeks.

I could use up the $200 special Gift Card, too. But I'm going with DD30 and I'd like us both to have cards to use. Can't go for $400 for two. And I would want them to be the same.

Now I'm looking at the official seminar list. There's Bacon (and dried cranberries) on the 28th, TBD on the 29th (I was previously told lamb), scallop on the 30th and escargots on Oct 1st. I'm curious about the TBD on the 29th. If no further info soon, I will probably keep Bacon on the 28th.

I'm curious -- Is everybody on this thread who booked the F&W Premium Package staying at a Disney resort? Just wondering how many off-site guests are booked, since they weren't eligible last year & maybe didn't notice the runner service before.

 

[Tozzie]

I could use up the $200 special Gift Card, too. But I'm going with DD30 and I'd like us both to have cards to use. Can't go for $400 for two. And I would want them to be the same.

Now I'm looking at the official seminar list. There's Bacon (and dried cranberries) on the 28th, TBD on the 29th (I was previously told lamb), scallop on the 30th and escargots on Oct 1st. I'm curious about the TBD on the 29th. If no further info soon, I will probably keep Bacon on the 28th.

I'm curious -- Is everybody on this thread who booked the F&W Premium Package staying at a Disney resort? Just wondering how many off-site guests are booked, since they weren't eligible last year & maybe didn't notice the runner service before.

I am staying on property

 

[FoodieFriend]

I could use up the $200 special Gift Card, too. But I'm going with DD30 and I'd like us both to have cards to use. Can't go for $400 for two. And I would want them to be the same.

Now I'm looking at the official seminar list. There's Bacon (and dried cranberries) on the 28th, TBD on the 29th (I was previously told lamb), scallop on the 30th and escargots on Oct 1st. I'm curious about the TBD on the 29th. If no further info soon, I will probably keep Bacon on the 28th.

I'm curious -- Is everybody on this thread who booked the F&W Premium Package staying at a Disney resort? Just wondering how many off-site guests are booked, since they weren't eligible last year & maybe didn't notice the runner service before.

I'm also staying on property. I do think the listing you were quoted is from last week. when I asked the CM to PLEASE check with their supervisor to make sure she had the current schedule, she came back & read me the current info that's posted on the WDW site. I agree with @karrit2000 that the CMs haven't been updated with the new schedule & don't even know that it was changed at all!

btw, that's what I wrote in my survey. I don't know if Disney even values the surveys but I had to emphasize that they are not educating their CMs & this has been less than a "Premium" experience.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

You cannot buy a gift card with another gift card. So they generally won't let you transfer from the one you had last year to a new one this year.

They will be selling the standard gift card. Disney's not going to pass up that opportunity. Remember you are calling dining, not general information. These cast members don't sell gift cards.


for that special card I have a feeling the part the CM is leaving out is the additional charge to get the card on top of the minimum load. And that will be hysterical when people start paying extra for a gift card

 

[mara512]

I could use up the $200 special Gift Card, too. But I'm going with DD30 and I'd like us both to have cards to use. Can't go for $400 for two. And I would want them to be the same.

Now I'm looking at the official seminar list. There's Bacon (and dried cranberries) on the 28th, TBD on the 29th (I was previously told lamb), scallop on the 30th and escargots on Oct 1st. I'm curious about the TBD on the 29th. If no further info soon, I will probably keep Bacon on the 28th.

I'm curious -- Is everybody on this thread who booked the F&W Premium Package staying at a Disney resort? Just wondering how many off-site guests are booked, since they weren't eligible last year & maybe didn't notice the runner service before.

I too am staying on site.

 

[mara512]

I have a 2:40 reservation at Coral Reef and my deminar is at 5, my question is do I have enough time between the two to not be rushed. Not sure how quick seating and service is at Coral Reef. Should I move my deminar to another day?

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Bonus confusion for everyone: I asked the CM about transferring leftover balances on our 2014 Epcot F&W Gift Cards to new 2015 F&W Gift Cards. She said 'sure.' I asked if the new Gift Cards come pre-loaded with a certain amount of $$. She read off her computer screen -- to paraphrase: The special 20th Anniversary Food & Wine Gift Card will come with a special 20th Anniversary F&W lanyard and a sleeve for the Gift Card. Minimum load amount will be $200!!!

So I asked the CM, 'Isn't there a lesser F&W Gift Card for folks to put just $50 on it?' She said 'probably' and directed me to check at the Disney Gift Card dot com website for all the information. So I go there and guess what? -- There's not a single Ding-Dang thing about F&W gift cards! Argggh!!!

You cannot buy a gift card with another gift card. So they generally won't let you transfer from the one you had last year to a new one this year.

They will be selling the standard gift card. Disney's not going to pass up that opportunity. Remember you are calling dining, not general information. These cast members don't sell gift cards.


for that special card I have a feeling the part the CM is leaving out is the additional charge to get the card on top of the minimum load. And that will be hysterical when people start paying extra for a gift card

The disneygiftcard.com website now has a self-help feature to transfer the balance from one Disney gift card to another. There are apparently some specialty cards, however, that don't work. It's worth a try, though.

 

[kristenrice]

I'm looking into the sampler package (again) and trying to decide if I should pull the trigger. I am looking to book it for our arrival day, which is a Thursday. Our non-stop flight lands at MCO at 10am and we are taking DME to Pop Century. We plan to drop our bags and head directly to Epcot, hopefully arriving there by 1pm. I would only buy the package for myself and I would be splitting the 8 entitlements with my mother. I don't know if the concert is something we will attend, but I won't rule it out completely. It's my mom's first F&W festival and I don't want to "shell-shock" her with the prices. I want her to "dive in" and start sampling away and I think "paying" for the food/drinks with "credits" will be a little easier to stomach. We aren't going until October so there should be plenty of folks posting the prices for this year and we can plan a strategy that will use up the credits on the most expensive (but included!) items.

Epcot has EMH that night so we would have until 11pm to use the 8 credits. Would you consider it "risky" to book this non-refundable package for our arrival day?

ETA: Dang! Now I went and checked out the site (online) and they only accept credit cards. Ugh! I am working with a strict budget and all of my dining expenses will be covered by Disney Gift Cards, which I've already purchased. Will they accept a Disney Gift Card for payment if I call?

 

[bcarey2k]

I have a 2:40 reservation at Coral Reef and my deminar is at 5, my question is do I have enough time between the two to not be rushed. Not sure how quick seating and service is at Coral Reef. Should I move my deminar to another day?

You should be fine. Coral Reef can be slow seating, but you've left yourself enough time.

 

[pepperandchips]

I'm curious -- Is everybody on this thread who booked the F&W Premium Package staying at a Disney resort? Just wondering how many off-site guests are booked, since they weren't eligible last year & maybe didn't notice the runner service before.

We are staying offsite at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for the first 7 days of our trip and then the last two nights at AKL. We probably would have stayed onsite the whole time at one of the Port Orleans resorts but there's a conference in town during our arrival weekend that ate up tons of availability and the "leftover" options didn't appeal to us. Especially with the very limited fall discount that was released.

It's my mom's first F&W festival and I don't want to "shell-shock" her with the prices. I want her to "dive in" and start sampling away and I think "paying" for the food/drinks with "credits" will be a little easier to stomach. We aren't going until October so there should be plenty of folks posting the prices for this year and we can plan a strategy that will use up the credits on the most expensive (but included!) items.

Epcot has EMH that night so we would have until 11pm to use the 8 credits. Would you consider it "risky" to book this non-refundable package for our arrival day?

I can definitely see the appeal with the sampler here. I don't think you will have any problem using 8 entitlements between the two of you. Just as an aside, the booths do not stay open for EMH. But you should have plenty of time to use those 8 credits before then. Let us know about the gift card payment - I imagine it would work over the phone.

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

ETA: Dang! Now I went and checked out the site (online) and they only accept credit cards. Ugh! I am working with a strict budget and all of my dining expenses will be covered by Disney Gift Cards, which I've already purchased. Will they accept a Disney Gift Card for payment if I call?[/QUOTE]

I do believe a couple of pages back someone said they were able to purchase with gift cards when they called. However, they had to get a supervisor involved. Just an fyi in case the original phone CM says no.

 

[ksromack]

I have a 2:40 reservation at Coral Reef and my deminar is at 5, my question is do I have enough time between the two to not be rushed. Not sure how quick seating and service is at Coral Reef. Should I move my deminar to another day?

I should think so...even if you aren't seated until 3pm that gives you 1.5+ hours to eat.....and the Festival Center is close enough to Coral Reef.

The disneygiftcard.com website now has a self-help feature to transfer the balance from one Disney gift card to another. There are apparently some specialty cards, however, that don't work. It's worth a try, though.

Yep, the Disney gift cards I've received from people as gifts (like the ones you can purchase at places like the disney store) do not combine with the Target Disney Gift cards. Not sure why. But those special purchased gift cards WILL combine with each other. You can combine up to $1000 to one gift card.

ETA: Dang! Now I went and checked out the site (online) and they only accept credit cards. Ugh! I am working with a strict budget and all of my dining expenses will be covered by Disney Gift Cards, which I've already purchased. Will they accept a Disney Gift Card for payment if I call?

I paid for my culinary deminar and beverage deminar with my disney gift card by calling the FEST number....no problem, although two people including a supervisor told me I couldn't...I knew that wasn't right. I hung up the phone and called back, getting a different CM and NO PROBLEM!

 

[mara512]

You should be fine. Coral Reef can be slow seating, but you've left yourself enough time.

Thank you! I thought so but wanted another opinion.

 

[luvpooh]

Epcot has EMH that night so we would have until 11pm to use the 8 credits. Would you consider it "risky" to book this non-refundable package for our arrival day?

Unless something has changed, the F&W booths aren't open during EMH.

 

[mara512]

I should think so...even if you aren't seated until 3pm that gives you 1.5+ hours to eat.....and the Festival Center is close enough to Coral Reef.


Yep, the Disney gift cards I've received from people as gifts (like the ones you can purchase at places like the disney store) do not combine with the Target Disney Gift cards. Not sure why. But those special purchased gift cards WILL combine with each other. You can combine up to $1000 to one gift card.


I paid for my culinary deminar and beverage deminar with my disney gift card by calling the FEST number....no problem, although two people including a supervisor told me I couldn't...I knew that wasn't right. I hung up the phone and called back, getting a different CM and NO PROBLEM!

Thank you! I was hoping because I didn't want to have to change with all the confusion booking for pp.

 

[Ceryssa]

I'm looking into the sampler package (again) and trying to decide if I should pull the trigger. I am looking to book it for our arrival day, which is a Thursday. Our non-stop flight lands at MCO at 10am and we are taking DME to Pop Century. We plan to drop our bags and head directly to Epcot, hopefully arriving there by 1pm. I would only buy the package for myself and I would be splitting the 8 entitlements with my mother. I don't know if the concert is something we will attend, but I won't rule it out completely. It's my mom's first F&W festival and I don't want to "shell-shock" her with the prices. I want her to "dive in" and start sampling away and I think "paying" for the food/drinks with "credits" will be a little easier to stomach. We aren't going until October so there should be plenty of folks posting the prices for this year and we can plan a strategy that will use up the credits on the most expensive (but included!) items.

Epcot has EMH that night so we would have until 11pm to use the 8 credits. Would you consider it "risky" to book this non-refundable package for our arrival day?

ETA: Dang! Now I went and checked out the site (online) and they only accept credit cards. Ugh! I am working with a strict budget and all of my dining expenses will be covered by Disney Gift Cards, which I've already purchased. Will they accept a Disney Gift Card for payment if I call?

Couple things: As already mentioned, the booths won't be open during EMH. Also, if you aren't sure you will be attending the concert, it seems like it would just be simpler to use a gift card instead of worrying about the package, since you wouldn't even be able to use one of the perks of it--only you would get the reserved seating, so it'd be a little silly to pay the package price and then end up lining up for general admission if you decided you wanted to go, after all. Since you're going to be using gift cards and it's going to be prepaid anyway, it seems like it would just be easier for you to do the booths that way instead of adding in the sampler package complication. As for the gift cards--lots of people seem to have had problems paying for these that way.