Epcot International Food and Wine Festival questions

[gramto2boys]

if you have done this was it nice, expensive, worth going to it? my dates for the wdw vacation were changed, I did not want to go during cheer week

 

[budbeerlady]

It is alot of fun, we wish we could do it again this year. We did the party for the Senses on Saturday night. It was wonderful and very, very worth it!

We ate thru the showcase on a Wednesday afternoon since it is very busy on the weekend. That was fun also and we tried alot of new things.

If you can find the dates I would recommend it!

 

[FireDancer]

I love the International Food & Wine Festival. You can easily just skip ADR’s for the day and wander around WS grazing. I wanted to get down for the RFTT 10K but the budget won’t allow it this year.

If I had to chose one event to go to at WDW this would be it!

 

[Bill From PA]

We've done this twice, including last year. We never do any of the formal, sit-down type events, we just graze around WS, sampling the food and beverages. I've actually found that we spend less during these trips because we do fewer table service meals and buy smaller servings of brew and wine than we otherwise would.

Bill From PA

 

[gramto2boys]

Sounds fun, so these are the resturants around the lake in epcot? Anyone know the dates yet?
we are going from 11/3/2008 to 11/10/2008

 

[Bill From PA]

It's usually all of Oct to mid Nov., it'll be on for your dates. There are outdoor booths/kiosks with small portions of food, wine and beer. If I were you, I'd avoid WS all day on the 8th. Last Oct the crowds at all WDW parks were less than what we're used to seeing on our yearly Disney vacation in early March, except for Sat. Then, the locals and weekenders come out and the Food&Wine Fest is insanely crowded and, as Jim Carrey said in Dumb and Dumber, 'The beer flows like wine'. I personally have no trouble negotiating throngs of drunks, I just join 'em, but that scene is not for everyone.

Bill From PA

 

[BriarRosie]

Looks like you're hitting the final week of the festival.

There aren't restaurants, but food kiosks all around World Showcase. They sell appetizer sized portions of food for about $2-5 or so, depending on the item you get. They also sell tasting portions of beer and wine at various kiosks, too.

There are special dining events that can range from $40 to $200 or so, depending on the event, and we don't know what the schedule is for those until usually in July.

If you want to graze around the festival casually, the kiosks are the way to go. And the festival guides show the culinary demo and wine demo schedules, and it's good to get there 30-45 minutes ahead of time to go. They serve free samples of what they're demonstrating.

The guides can be picked up almost everywhere, but the Welcome Center is probably going to be where Wonders of Life used to be on the east side of Future World.

 

[webray]

Food and Wine has the booths located around the World Showcase that you can purchase sample size portions of food/drink as you wish. This can be as expensive as you want it to be, depending upon how much time you spend and how much you want to try. Sample prices aprox $2 to $5 each, or a bit more.

There are also special events from about $35 on up to hundreds per event you can reserve and attend.

 

[suzimar57]

as much as i love the F&W, i tend to spend more money when we're there during that time, because we get one (sometimes two or more!) items from each of the 25+ booths - yep, it adds up!!!

 

[PatsMom]

It's usually all of Oct to mid Nov., it'll be on for your dates. There are outdoor booths/kiosks with small portions of food, wine and beer. If I were you, I'd avoid WS all day on the 8th. Last Oct the crowds at all WDW parks were less than what we're used to seeing on our yearly Disney vacation in early March, except for Sat. Then, the locals and weekenders come out and the Food&Wine Fest is insanely crowded and, as Jim Carrey said in Dumb and Dumber, 'The beer flows like wine'. I personally have no trouble negotiating throngs of drunks, I just join 'em, but that scene is not for everyone.

Bill From PA

I'd have to agree about avoiding the F&W on the weekends, especially in the evening. The urge for some people to "drink around the world" seems to grow during F&W. We even saw at least two groups with special commemorative T-shirts. The drunks don't bother us but DD is 16 now. When she was younger I might have been more concerned. Some of the language and behavior was not appropriate for young children IMHO. Last year the Canadians were doing something I wish they did all the time - selling the cheese soup at a kiosk outside the restaurant! I could save a bunch of money on Le Cellier reservations if DD could get her cheese soup all the time without actually having to eat there!

 

[gramto2boys]

Sounds like an expensive and crowded place to be. I think I will stay clear of this, after all we can have a nice sit down somewhere and enjoy our meals.
thanks all.

 

[TigerKat]

We're catching the last two days and are hoping for a Party For The Senses!!!!

 

[nytimez]

I've really enjoyed browsing and grazing at F&W -- but I didn't go on a weekend night, so I can't confirm what others have said. It's a great way to spend the time between when you would normally have lunch and dinner, eating neither "meal" but wandering the countries for the afternoon/evening and eating whatever grabs you. Depending on how much you sample, and whether or not you try the wines, it could cost more than a "normal" lunch and dinner, but well worth it.