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

[sunflare]

last year they refused to sell me a gift card using my Tragic Band YMMV

I've heard scattered reports this year of people being able to do it. I hope so!

 

[Brooke357]

Please help!!!!!

I'm trying to plan for the Sugar Ray concert! I already have a fast pass booked for the 6:45 show. Is the seating better when you purchase the Sampler Package with priority seating or fast pass seating???? Thanks so much!

 

[ChrisNY2]

Was wondering if anyone attending the Burger Party with the Chew this past Friday?

Yup, it was really fun! Lots of tasty sliders and drinks.

 

[NicoleLarson]

Please help!!!!!

I'm trying to plan for the Sugar Ray concert! I already have a fast pass booked for the 6:45 show. Is the seating better when you purchase the Sampler Package with priority seating or fast pass seating???? Thanks so much!

According to a very disgruntled lady I talked to this weekend (she's bought 3 packages) sampler seating is the worst. She said its in the very back.

 

[Disbug]

Thanks for your detailed review! Were you pleased with crowd levels on weekdays? That's when we are hitting the booths. Can't wait!

The crowd levels were surprisingly high during the week... it was manageable but never did I run into a time of low crowds. At first we thought Monday was crowded because people were taking a long weekend. Then came Tuesday, and Wednesday!! So I would be prepared to jump in early when the booths open at 11 AM. The one thing that seemed to work right was they had plenty of cash registers going. Anywhere from 4 to 6 per booth, depending on the expected crowd level. It was a fun time... so don't worry overmuch about the number of people. As long as they can keep the food/drink lines moving...everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 

[FoodieFriend]

Happy Hour? I'm intrigued! Do you remember about when you were there?

(And soggy churos? EWW! Shame on Disney, do it right or just don't have the dessert party. It sounds like the package was well worth it without that.)

My friend took a pic of the "free drink" ticket. it said it expired at 4:45pm so i'm guessing it was from 3:45-4:45 if it was a true "happy hour". everyone was lining up! usually they charge for the liquor they serve in the lounge but the soft drinks, tea, coffee & water were free all day!

i'm glad you saw my point about the sub-par desserts. i wonder if they will continue offering the Premium Package in the future? I really liked it & i put that in my survey. I might have to send another email about it with a suggestion to change the dessert party portion. i think they were trying to save money by combining an existing event into the Premium Package instead of having a special one just for PP. shrug. i don't have any suggestions/ideas for a substitute that won't cause the price of the package to skyrocket! i felt it was worth it at it's current price.

 

[Disbug]

According to a very disgruntled lady I talked to this weekend (she's bought 3 packages) sampler seating is the worst. She said its in the very back.

I attended the Smash Mouth concert on Monday and we (the sampler package people) were not in the back. We were in the 2nd section first few rows. I did notice that the FP+ people were in the first section first rows! (I also thought that was messed up...)

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

I have a question about the sampler package... we arrive the 24th of this month. I want to do a sampler package mainly for the F&W credits, not necessarily concerned about the Eat to the Beat seating. What if I buy it for the 24th but can't get to EPCOT until the 25th or even 26th? Will they still let me get it? (Knowing I would give up the concert seating.)

 

[AngiTN]

I have a question about the sampler package... we arrive the 24th of this month. I want to do a sampler package mainly for the F&W credits, not necessarily concerned about the Eat to the Beat seating. What if I buy it for the 24th but can't get to EPCOT until the 25th or even 26th? Will they still let me get it? (Knowing I would give up the concert seating.)

Why not just buy it for the first day you plan to get there?

 

[AngiTN]

My friend took a pic of the "free drink" ticket. it said it expired at 4:45pm so i'm guessing it was from 3:45-4:45 if it was a true "happy hour". everyone was lining up! usually they charge for the liquor they serve in the lounge but the soft drinks, tea, coffee & water were free all day!

i'm glad you saw my point about the sub-par desserts. i wonder if they will continue offering the Premium Package in the future? I really liked it & i put that in my survey. I might have to send another email about it with a suggestion to change the dessert party portion. i think they were trying to save money by combining an existing event into the Premium Package instead of having a special one just for PP. shrug. i don't have any suggestions/ideas for a substitute that won't cause the price of the package to skyrocket! i felt it was worth it at it's current price.

Maybe it was due to the relocation due to weather? We did the dessert party in August and all the offerings were fresh and delicious.

 

[Mkm172]

My friend took a pic of the "free drink" ticket. it said it expired at 4:45pm so i'm guessing it was from 3:45-4:45 if it was a true "happy hour". everyone was lining up! usually they charge for the liquor they serve in the lounge but the soft drinks, tea, coffee & water were free all day!

The happy hour is thirty minutes and is one beer, wine or prosecco per person. A guy just came in and handed them out as a thank you from chase. CM stated that it happened completely at random at different times different days. It was awesome though!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I am really curious on how well the sampler package is going. This week every time I have walked by the areas there has been practically no one in the areas. At most there seems to be one couple. So there are more Cast Members then customers. I am sure service is great, but... it seems to me they need more "action" LOL! (I had considered it, but after seeing how lonely they looked I decided that as a solo I would prefer to be out with people! So far I have not had any issue finding a place to eat! )

The line for the Chase Lounge was HUGE. Saw no reason to even try to get in.

Oh and there is one other chase perk I have not seen mentioned. For "selected" seminars at the Festival Center there's a chase "preferred" seating. Ask if they have it when you pick up your ticket, then they give you a second ticket. All it does is get you in before the rest, but... I guess it's OK! Folks still lined up early, I continued to wait until they opened the door and strolled in at the end of the Chase Seating.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Oh and there is one other chase perk I have not seen mentioned. For "selected" seminars at the Festival Center there's a chase "preferred" seating. Ask if they have it when you pick up your ticket, then they give you a second ticket. All it does is get you in before the rest, but... I guess it's OK! Folks still lined up early, I continued to wait until they opened the door and strolled in at the end of the Chase Seating.

Chase preferred seating for some seminars? Does that include the culinary demos? I'll ask about it when I'm there next week.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Hi, we arrive on Sunday the 18th

See you there! I'm booked for the 1:00 culinary demo on Wednesday, 10/21. Also, I'm planning to see Air Supply at least once, maybe more.

 

[DopeyDave]

I apologize if I missed this, but has anyone figured out how to get multiple colors of the limited pin offered with the Tasting Sampler package? Do they rotate them by credential handed out, by day, etc? Should I purchase all five packages for the same day, or two for one day and three on another? (Obviously, we don't care about the concert seating!)

Thanks in advance!

 

[loves to dive]

Hoping to attend F&W in next year. I figure weekdays are better to avoid crowd. But what month is better or what time of F&W is less crowded? Is it better in November.

Also, can you get accommodations at the 7 month mark during F&W?

In the mean time I will just enjoy the photos and reviews.

I was there 9/28-10/3 which was right after the first weekend, during the week I thought it wasn't crowded at all but I might have a different tolerance level for crowded. On Friday night it was shoulder to shoulder starting around 6. I didn't stay past 7 that night. I never stood in line longer than 3 or 4 minutes except for at the Korean booth, that one was about 10 min. I booked my resort, YC, about 2 months in advance. I was solo so that might have made a difference in the resort but I kept checking up to about 2 weeks before I went thinking I might add a day at the beginning of the trip and there were still openings at most of the mods and values.

 

[jessicag13]

probably a weird question, but i'm trying to plan how i'm going to pay for food- do charges at the booths show up as a food/restaurant charge on a credit card? i'm trying to figure out if i should/will get double points on my disney visa (for disney purchases) or on a chase sapphire card (as a restaurant). lord knows how much i'll end up spending total, but if i can get double points towards future trips somehow (disney or travel/southwest points), i'll be happy
thanks in advance!

 

[loves to dive]

Pretty much typical for Pam She's the reason I quit going to the food demos she won't SHUT UP! (I have gone to guest services and complained!) The presenter the week prior did a good job of just dominating her but.... your presenter has to be the one driving her!

She can be annoying but she actually helped at the seminar I attended which was done by the chef at Tokyo. He was a little shy and didn't talk a lot unless she prompted him.

 

[loves to dive]

This was posted on the "other" board with regards to crowds this past Saturday

"Saturday, however, was absolutely ludicrous. Epcot was completely packed to the gills with people (some being rather unpleasant as the alcohol was obviously starting to set in). We ended up not even getting in line for anything because the amount of people in line at each kiosk was ridiculous. I mean, in Mexico, the line was probably just shy of 100 people! It was a complete waist of our time as it was hot in the sun, and the queues are not covered. Cars were actually parking on the grass areas around the parking lots. Aside from capping the number of people allowed in Epcot on any given day during this event, I don't know how else to avoid that from happening. For me though, it was completely not enjoyable on Saturday. We were not there at night however."

Is it possible that Saturday during the day was worse than at night??

I was there Saturday, Oct. 3 during the day early. I got there about noon and left about 2. It didn't seem too crowded to me at all but I might have a bigger crowd tolerance than others. I only went to one booth, the one in America and grabbed a slider, didn't stand in line longer than a minute or two but they opened a second line on the other side. After that I went to France for an ice cream cone, I've never seen that place not packed but still didn't wait longer than 4 or 5 minutes. Friday night, however, was a zoo. Around 6 it started getting to be wall to wall people, I was almost done by then so I went to one or two more booths and left. I didn't have to stand in line too long for either booth - Poland and Belgium, maybe 3 or 4 min.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

Why not just buy it for the first day you plan to get there?

That's the thing... Not sure whAt the first day is going to be that we actually go to EPCOT