F&W Dwindling ???

[TheRustyScupper]

1) The F&W has been extended year-after year.
2) The F&W prices have been increased year-after-year.
.
3) The greedy WDW managers, (including Ogre) might have reached their limit !!!!!
4) As of tomorrow (10/31/2016), CM's get 20% off at the F&W booths.
. . . never happened before
. . . previously, only A FEW non-F&W booths offered CM discounts
5) WDW is trying to attack more people to spend their bucks, so they HOPE cast members, might make up the losses.
. . . the general public is shying away from the extended F&W dates
. . . or just eating less of the OVERLY over-priced food offerings
6) Sounds like WDW might have finally over-extended their program.

NOTE: Evidently, WDW has learned: "Because you build it and charge Big Bucks, they still might not come." GOOD FOR THE (generally gullible) PUBLIC.

 

[Pumbaa_]

wow, that is new

I know i don't do F&W but its with for prices and for the drunken crowds on the weekends. Horrible!

 

[Micca]

We enjoyed it last month, but if we could get larger portions/lower prices that would make it even better.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I agree F&W goes on for TOO long! Defeats the purpose of a "special event" if it lasts for 1/4 of the year lol. And yes, the inflated prices for tiny bites of food is ridiculous. (We've found that it's actually far less expensive to rent a car & eat offsite rather than paying WDW's outrageous food prices, F&W or not!) Interesting that they're offering cast members a 20% discount, hmmm...

 

[TheRustyScupper]

F&W goes on for TOO long! Defeats the purpose of a "special event" if it lasts for 1/4 of the year lol.

1) The definition of Epcot SPECIAL EVENT is when there are no parties or celebrations.
2) At the moment, it seems like there are only 3-4 weeks a year when there is not a party or festival at Epcot.
3) P.T. Barnum (or his relative) seems to be the Vice-President at Epcot.
. . . "there is one born every minute"
. . . "and let them come and spend their money"

 

[BigAlsGal]

Who knows?

 

[TeresaWen]

This year we stuck mostly to food items that were new - not many! And the pours at many booths were tiny. Not enjoying the move to cocktails at the festival booths. To me they are expensive cups of sugar.

As we become more "into" wine, the offerings the booths have lost their appeal. Mot much out of the ordinary.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

All I know is that I sell one-day Epcot tickets to the entire population of Miami every Saturday. You'd think they didn't have any bars down there from the behavior of these folks!

 

[nj disney family]

we used to love trying the different foods at all the booths, but that was when we got free dining and could use snack credits. now free dining isn't offered during our normal travel time and i can't afford to pay the $ for the small plates for 5 people.

 

[rwdavis2]

I've read some reviews and we'll target unique items or drinks. easywdw has checked it out pretty well and identified some good and bad values.

 

[L&Lfan]

We get increasingly disappointed with the Food & Wine Festival every year. We've gone every year for 7 years. This year will be our last for awhile. For us the cost and the drunks aren't the problem, it's the lack of new food items every year that bores us.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

This year I did go extra early because it was closer to my birthday. But it was hot as hades! Don't know if I'll do that again.

But yea, the food prices are getting pretty outrageous for the portion sizes. As well as the beverages. I pretty much didn't have any beverages. And rented a car. So while I did do a bunch of food & wine booth food, I had pretty much no other meals on WDW property. I really loved the Ale House, Flippers Pizza as well as the deli at Publix!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I noticed that the What's Cooking With events even with celeb chefs were much slower to sell out this year, if they sold out at all - whereas in years past if you didn't get through in the first hour the day they opened, you were out of luck. There was even an empty table (smaller one) at a recent one. Maybe they finally have hit the tipping point where many can't justify the cost. That said, I guess I'm one of the "suckers" because I still enjoyed my visits this year - my budget just doesn't go as far as it used to, unfortunately. The extended dates don't bug me - spreads out the opportunities for locals to visit.

 

[LovesTimone]

I have been going since the early days when it was about seeing and experiencing other cultures Food and Drinks and was a special event... Not this drunken bash that it has become on the weekends the last few years.. now its more about drinking and drinking more, and that trying the food options we noticed has gone by the way side. We met some friends the second weekend and it was a so bad with the drunks, people throwing up in the bathroom and in the bushes near that model train town just out of the German pavilion. One guy passed out against the railing, it was like a frat party only worse. A lot of these people should have been cut off....If the customer can't verbalize what he or she wants, or can't figure out how to get out their wallet and pay for the drinks, or is swaying like a rope swing in a hurricane... Then they should not serve them...If your going to allow that bar atmosphere then.. there needs to be some security, bouncer, and ability to cut people off. I hope that Disney will rethink next year and make some changes. Like dividing up the lines one for food and drinks and one for drinks only. Which would so help with the lines for people wanting to try the food. With the drinks only they could monitor it better. While we did enjoyed our visit with our friends, we would have tried more food at the booths. We ended up eating dinner at Via Napoli.

 

[Lesverts]

I tried F&W for the first time this year. I was hugely disappointed. Portions/prices/pours. Just awful. So for the second day that I had intended to eat at F&W I had a lovely dinner at Flying Fish with multiple glasses of wine and it still cost me less than the day at F&W. I recently ran into an acquaintance that is a DVC member. I told her how disappointed I was with F&W and she was shocked. It just did not life up to the hype and hearing a guy brag about bringing in water bottles filled with tequila was off-putting. And I enjoy a drink.

 

[LowesChevy]

We tried to avoid the F&W a few years ago going earlier in September, but they kept starting it early! So annoying! We went in January 2015 and it was great-no booths, lots of space to roam without drunken people yelling or bumping into you, and lower crowds. All people want to do is eat or drink something from every country. That's fine, but it's been done, no need to brag about it.

End of September is a great time for DF and I because orders slow down at work as other business transition into the holidays, so we like to go then, but I hope they tighten up the dates real soon. Personally I have no interest in waiting 40 minutes in line for a sample size piece of food when I could go to a restaurant. A lot of the lines this year were ridiculously long. Plus the menus and offerings don't change drastically from year to year. To keep something exclusive you have to limit availability, but they look at the ledger and want the cash.

October to mid November is probably enough.

 

[kittyab]

Now we enjoy it, we cant wait to go back.

 

[Mome Rath]

I do wish they could come up with a way to limit the amount of alcohol consumed in hourly/2 hour chunks. I doubt it would be that hard with magic band/ID combo... I still like the festival, but won't go on a weekend, not because of the crowd, but because of the drunks and their behavior.

 

[gorkt]

My great aunt and Uncle complained about the drunkenness when they went years ago. We always go in the middle of the day on a weekday to avoid the drunkenness and crowds and have had good luck with that strategy. Can't do anything about the increasing prices except to eat less.

 

[hildarumpole]

We went to F&W for the first time 9/30 - 10/2. Friday night was a cluster. We had ADRs at Tokyo Dining, so didn't plan on eating at booths, just wanted to get a lay of the land. I expected drunks, but it was as if people had simply given up. They were tripping, falling, spilling and smoking all over the place. There were also a lot of strollers and very cranky young children. I've never seen so many strollers in the World Showcase. So between dodging and weaving among the drunks and strollers, we decided we'd only visit F&W at opening and leave early afternoon. Saturday started out fine, but it quickly became very busy, with long waits at booths, so we left earlier than anticipated. We would have spent more money, but between lines and lack of efficiency at getting orders out at some of the booths, it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Last Monday, DS14 had a day off from school, so we went to Magic Kingdom. We decided to give F&W another try at lunch. Obviously, a Monday is going to be much less crowded, so we were able to try some new things and had a much more pleasant time overall.

I know Disney has been promoting F&W to families, but from what I observed, it's probably not the best choice for young children. Friday was a nightmare, but even on Monday, in the early afternoon, we witnessed lots of breakdowns. Rolling on the sticky floor, kicking and screaming, at Club Cool is not fun for anyone.