Feedback on Food and Wine Festival

[Ghost]

Thanks so much for all the helpful responses. Haven't know what to expect from the Food & Wine Festival. Does anyone know if the non-Epcot parks are less crowded during the festival or is it typically of an Oct. crowd?

Been in 2002, 2003 and 2005. I felt crowds where the about the same in all parks.

 

[joeyandangiesmom]

DH and I have gone several times without the kids and have a blast. However, studios around the park, especially in the EPCOT resort area, fill up fast. We ended up with a 1 bedroom at SSR in mid October. That is something to consider.........and we went Sunday to Wednesday.

 

[ncbyrne]

I have been to the F&W festival twice. Once with DD and DGDS (7+11) and once with just DH and me alone! You can guess which experience I liked best... We attended the Epcot event several days of the trip. One day last year we attended a "Nosh Around the World" DIS meet event, sponsored by another DISer. What a grand time we had!
DH and I did the food plan and it worked out very well. On our Epcot days we only ate at the food booths....slowly walking around WS, sampling as we went. We used all of our snack credits for the booths. Since we did not dinner in a restaurant on our Epcot days that left us extra credits that we used at signature restaurants and we were even able to do HDDR at no cost!
We enjoyed almost all of the booths and thought the samplings were very tasty. I very much enjoyed the tea seminar that was given in the UK. We were each given several samples of tea to try with ideas on how to blend your own flavors. Mr. Twining himself (10th generation) was there from England and I had him sign one of the tea bags.
We attended the Samuel Adams beer seminar, but I don't like beer at all and D only likes specific brands, so well skip that next time.
There are several offerings for free tastings, seminars, etc. and you can check them out when you arrive at Epcot by just checking the schedule. Some of them fill very early in the day, (like the tea seminar) so be sure to check out what's available as soon as you arrive and get your name on the list if anything interests you.
They had lots of bottles of wine for sale, but thought the prices were a bit steep for wines I can buy elsewhere.

 

[helenm29]

How is it for the kids? are there things that they might light to eat and taste?

 

[VickiVM]

Thanks for all the helpful advice - sounds like you can still get your moneys worth even if you add the dining option. I'm not so much into beer or really wine for that matter - however, DH is a sales rep for a gourmet international food distributor and I'm sure he'll get a lot out of the various food offerings. I just want an excuse to go to WDW without the children and not worry about potty breaks, counting heads, temper tantrums, or picky eaters!

 

[Sylvester McBean]

we love it. we always go during the lunch hours because the crowds SWELL for dinner. it's great wandering around the WS and sampling different things. it's very relaxing.