F&W Strategies? On a Saturday?

[Aflyingbuttress]

We're visiting the week of Oct 29 - Nov 6 and are thinking about adding park hopper just so we can hop over to Epcot and eat at F&W at least a few times during the week. We will be bringing our 4 year old daughter with us and will likely go a couple nights with her and others without her. We also want to spend two days in Epcot for the Epcot experience and it's looking like one of those days will need to be Saturday.

So, a few questions:

1. Do I need to buy an extra ticket to do F&W, or is it included (I know I have to pay for the food)? Also, where do I find info on purchasing additional F&W stuff? I've seen a list of other options but no links are included.
2. Will the crowd be overwhelming on a Saturday during the day? I don't see us staying super late. We'll probably hop over to MK before real dinner time. I can't help feeling like I should attempt to reconfigure but maybe it doesn't matter if we have park hopper.
3. Is there any complication to having our daughter with us for F&W that I need to consider?

TIA

 

[1lilspark]

Extra tickets are needed for select seminars and demos.

World Showcase will be packed so if you were planning to meet characters there those might have to wait until during the week

No complications when it comes to kids maybe take her to the festival center to see the brilliant chocolate sculptures the resort pastry chefs make

 

[WEDWDW]

No extra ticket for F&W,including the Eat To The Beat Concerts.

Saturdays are BUSY-if you get to Epcot when World Showcase opens at 11:00 AM and hop to MK like you plan,you will be OK.

No complications with 4 year old for the most part,but I would try to avoid the weekend nights.

 

[dizneegirl]

Food & Wine is included with your Epcot admission - it's basically a bunch of booths around World Showcase that offer small portions of food and beverages that you can purchase. There are Eat to the Beat concerts, which are also free, though you may or may not get a seat, depending on how popular the act is. There are additional things going on that are extra $, such as cooking demos with well-known chefs, and private tastings. Here's the disney.com information, complete with a downloadable map: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/

Friday and Saturday evenings get crowded in World Showcase, as the locals come in to graze and drink. Days aren't terribly overcrowded.

Can't speak to the complications, other than the paths are narrower due to the food/drink booths, so getting a stroller through during crowded times may be more difficult.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Thanks to both of you. That helps clarify a lot. Are the food booths there during the day time on weekdays?

 

[WEDWDW]

The Food Booths are always there during the Festival-they are little themed "buildings"-really cool.

Here is a picture from the Flower & Garden Festival.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We're visiting the week of Oct 29 - Nov 6 and are thinking about adding park hopper just so we can hop over to Epcot and eat at F&W at least a few times during the week. We will be bringing our 4 year old daughter with us and will likely go a couple nights with her and others without her. We also want to spend two days in Epcot for the Epcot experience and it's looking like one of those days will need to be Saturday.

So, a few questions:

1. Do I need to buy an extra ticket to do F&W, or is it included (I know I have to pay for the food)? Also, where do I find info on purchasing additional F&W stuff? I've seen a list of other options but no links are included.
2. Will the crowd be overwhelming on a Saturday during the day? I don't see us staying super late. We'll probably hop over to MK before real dinner time. I can't help feeling like I should attempt to reconfigure but maybe it doesn't matter if we have park hopper.
3. Is there any complication to having our daughter with us for F&W that I need to consider?

TIA

One fun thing we love to do with the kids during F&W is the Remy scavenger hunt. It helps you guys get around the world and keeps the children entertained in each country on the 'hunt' for Remy. (He can be found close to the F&W booths, so you will already be there as it is!). The maps and stickers are around 7.00 and when you are done, you get a pin!

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

The Food Booths are always there during the Festival-they are little themed "buildings"-really cool.

Here is a picture from the Flower & Garden Festival.

Oh, cool! I was imagining folding tables being set up all around. We did not get a dining plan because I want to eat my way across Epcot! Lol. So, it looks like we can go during the day and walk around the world showcase and stop for bites along the way. That's perfect.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

One fun thing we love to do with the kids during F&W is the Remy scavenger hunt. It helps you guys get around the world and keeps the children entertained in each country on the 'hunt' for Remy. (He can be found close to the F&W booths, so you will already be there as it is!). The maps and stickers are around 7.00 and when you are done, you get a pin!

I just looked this up. This is great! My daughter loves ratatouille! What a great way to get her through the day. She's an adventurous eater for a 4 year old and I assume there would be opportunities for sweet treats so I was planning to bribe her a bit with that, lol. I'm thinking we can go walk around the whole thing with her during the day we go on a week day and eat from the places that are farther away. Then when we go just to hop over we can eat from the closer locations instead of going all the way around. And when my husband and I go alone we can linger longer than we would with her.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Just to clarify, am I right in assuming that on Saturday the crowd will be in the world showcase for the most part? We can plan to walk the world showcase during the week and then on Saturday focus on Futureworld where there won't be as many people? Does that sound like a good strategy?

 

[Shauna1ee]

Just to clarify, am I right in assuming that on Saturday the crowd will be in the world showcase for the most part? We can plan to walk the world showcase during the week and then on Saturday focus on Futureworld where there won't be as many people? Does that sound like a good strategy?

I'm there the first week of F&W next month, and that my plan as well. We have WS planned for Thursday and Tuesday. Saturday for Future World. We will see how that works out

 

[loves to dive]

FW should be like a regular Saturday so yes it should be fine. WS will be fine as long as you leave around 5 or so. I've been there on Friday and Saturday and it wasn't so bad but I don't have a little one. Saturday night around 7 or so it did start getting a little more crowded than usual but it was my last night there and I had been every day so I left.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Awesome. I'm going to stop hemming and hawing about the crowds now and focus on planning a great last day to our trip. Thanks!

 

[LilyWDW]

Just to clarify, am I right in assuming that on Saturday the crowd will be in the world showcase for the most part? We can plan to walk the world showcase during the week and then on Saturday focus on Futureworld where there won't be as many people? Does that sound like a good strategy?

That would be a good plan. You may see slightly larger crowds in Future World on a Saturday morning, but not enough to make a huge impact if you can be there at rope drop and plan your FP+ well.

I have done a Saturday with Food and Wine and I will never do it again. Luckily it was an "extra" day and I had done most of what I had wanted to do earlier in the trip (I plan 3-4 days at Epcot during that time of year because I love it). Even at opening of the World Showcase and the booths it was very busy. Lines at all the booths started early and just kept getting longer as the day went on. Crowds in general were very heavy and it could be hard to get through even as a single adult without having to worry about kids or strollers.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

That would be a good plan. You may see slightly larger crowds in Future World on a Saturday morning, but not enough to make a huge impact if you can be there at rope drop and plan your FP+ well.

I have done a Saturday with Food and Wine and I will never do it again. Luckily it was an "extra" day and I had done most of what I had wanted to do earlier in the trip (I plan 3-4 days at Epcot during that time of year because I love it). Even at opening of the World Showcase and the booths it was very busy. Lines at all the booths started early and just kept getting longer as the day went on. Crowds in general were very heavy and it could be hard to get through even as a single adult without having to worry about kids or strollers.

Oh, see now I'm hemming and hawing again. LOL. I love Epcot and would be really sad not to get my fill of it. But I couldn't really figure out a plan to get us there on all week days unless I push our Magic Kingdom days to the weekend and I don't want to do that either. I should just stop fretting about it and pick a schedule. If we have park hopper we can do some early morning Fast Passes at Epcot on Saturday, grab a couple of bites to eat early on and then go to MK for the rest of the day.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I love Food and Wine and I don't do Epcot after about 2 on Saturdays. Just not worth it. If I am doing Party for The Senses I come in at the last minute and go directly to the venue LOL!

 

[Hikergirl]

We will be there for the first Sat its going on and my plan is to arrive when WS opens and hit a couple booths. Dh and I have the Epcot Seas tour booked at 12:30 until 3. I figured WS was going to be pretty busy after 3:00 so I planned 2 FPs starting at 6:00 and a late dinner at 8:00. If WS is really crowded we'll just go back to the resort for some pool time before our FPs.
We aren't doing any other parks this trip so I'm trying to be strategic with my time on the Sat and Sun we will be at F&W. I read the first weekend will be brutal crowd wise. Hopefully it won't be so bad when you go.

 

[wilkeliza]

Just a personal tip that I figured out while working 2 Food and Wine festivals.

Get the first friendship boat across the lagoon and start from the back and go around from there. That way you either start in America and work towards Mexico going as follows (America, Germany, Outpost, China, Norway, Mexico) or work towards Canada (America, Japan, Morocco, France, UK, Canada) doing so will give you a pretty easy experience in the first few countries as most people start in Mexico and work around that way.

If you don't want to start in the back then go the Canada route around. For whatever reason most people seem to start in Mexico and go around that way working clockwise around so I suggest Canada and going counter-clockwise.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If you are there on a Saturday, remember the booths open at 11. Make sure you are entering at 11. The suggestion to go to the back of the WS and start there is a good one. You may want to get out when it starts getting really crowded.

The earlier you are there the better off you will be. On Saturdays you will likely see large groups of people in matching shirts "drinking around the world." Some of them may have been juicing up before they entered the park, but they should still be in the early stages of getting juiced in the early afternoon.

 

[undertheseas]

Ugh all this talk is scaring me! We won't arrive until late on Nov 11th and we have always wanted to do a F&W. DH's conference starts the 13th so I wanted to go on that Saturday but it's also Dapper Day which means it will probably be the worst Saturday of the whole festival, huh? I just don't know how else to fit it in though.

Just a personal tip that I figured out while working 2 Food and Wine festivals.

Get the first friendship boat across the lagoon and start from the back and go around from there. That way you either start in America and work towards Mexico going as follows (America, Germany, Outpost, China, Norway, Mexico) or work towards Canada (America, Japan, Morocco, France, UK, Canada) doing so will give you a pretty easy experience in the first few countries as most people start in Mexico and work around that way.

If you don't want to start in the back then go the Canada route around. For whatever reason most people seem to start in Mexico and go around that way working clockwise around so I suggest Canada and going counter-clockwise.

Thanks, this is good to know!