Feedback on Food and Wine Festival

[VickiVM]

After 7 trips over the years at various times of the year, we're going to finally try the F&W event at Epcot...just me and my husband!!!!! (Haven't told the kids yet!)

I'd love to hear feedback about the event. Must do's, what you liked/didn't like about event, etc. I chose Oct 8-11th (a Sunday through Wednesday) and hoping to rent points from a DVC'er for a studio at BWV.

The last 3 trips we kept muttering to ourselves that "next time, we're leaving the kids home" and now we finally are treating ourselves! Can't wait!!!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

DH and I did this last year. Left the kids at home and he took me to WDW for my 40th birthday the 1st week in November.

We stayed at the Swan, so it was so convenient to attend the F&WF. It was so much fun. Eating and drinking through Epcot. It was a lot less stressful to be there without the kids and we were able to do all the grown-up stuff. You'll love it. Have a great time.

 

[Emmo]

No children yet to leave behind but we did food and wine fest in 2000 and 2001 and we loved it. Getting to try all different foods and wines etc at a fraction of the restaurant prices was fun, just remember to pace yourselves!
Last June, on our Honeymoonmy Husband andI tried to drink ourselves around the world, but after 2 drinks with dinner in Japan, champagne france, with a crepe and a pimms and lemonade in UK i'm glad it was time to watch Illuminations in Mexico with a margarita, I wouldn't have lasted much longer!
Have a great time!

 

[Hopefully]

We have done the Food & Wine Festival 3 times and we now always plan our trips to coincide with it. We love eating and sampling foods and beers around World Showcase. We have attended the Eat to the Beat concert series (we saw Chubby Checker one year and it was great fun.) We have attended some of the free beer and wine seminars held throughout the day.
We have not, however, attended any of the extra cost events, like the special lunches with chefs, and dinners. Maybe next time I will get DH interested in some of these - they sound wonderful and hopefully someone who has attended will post of their experiences for you.
Last October we were able to use our Dining Plan Snack credits for food items at the booths around WS. It was a nice surprise and we were delighted!
You will have a great time!!!!!

 

[cinderlexa's mom]

Sorry to be a downer...but we went to the F&W Fest. last October and thought that most of the food from the booths was pretty gross. We do like most the food in the different "countries" though...

 

[gapack]

We're going also in Oct. for our first F&W. Can hardly wait!! Would love to find out more info. I've done a search for info. for the past several days and keep getting a busy server. If anyone has more info. that they could share, I would really appreciate it.

 

[tammyandtommy]

Vicki VM, we are also ditching the kids to go to the F&WF this year, also celebrating our 10th anniversary, we will be there from Oct 8th-15

 

[TiggMan]

This will be our 5th trip in a row! We love the F&WF. We go for a long weekend, and do nothing else but the F&W. There are a lot of free wine tasting seminars to attend as well as some cooking demonstrations. There are also extra fee events to think about. We have done a lunch and learn at Italy, have taken the Italian Wine course, and the Party for the Senses. They have all been a blast, and we have met some really nice people. If you are interested in reading about last years events, click on the following: http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ep/foodwine.htm

 

[VickiVM]

Sorry to be a downer...but we went to the F&W Fest. last October and thought that most of the food from the booths was pretty gross. We do like most the food in the different "countries" though...

I'm disappointed to hear that. Is that because they were all "fast food- type" of sampling or because the actual samples cooked were not appetizing? For instance, I love Moroccan food, but not a huge fan of Japanese - sushi, tempura, etc. So some of the Japanese fare may be gross to me while a lot of people don't like Moroccan.

 

[VickiVM]

Vicki VM, we are also ditching the kids to go to the F&WF this year, also celebrating our 10th anniversary, we will be there from Oct 8th-15

Hey - might see you then!!

 

[VickiVM]

We have done the Food & Wine Festival 3 times and we now always plan our trips to coincide with it. We love eating and sampling foods and beers around World Showcase. We have attended the Eat to the Beat concert series (we saw Chubby Checker one year and it was great fun.) We have attended some of the free beer and wine seminars held throughout the day.
We have not, however, attended any of the extra cost events, like the special lunches with chefs, and dinners. Maybe next time I will get DH interested in some of these - they sound wonderful and hopefully someone who has attended will post of their experiences for you.
Last October we were able to use our Dining Plan Snack credits for food items at the booths around WS. It was a nice surprise and we were delighted!
You will have a great time!!!!!

I'm also considering doing meal plan - but not sure if we'll take full advantage of it if we're snacking all day. How did you do with it?

 

[helenm29]

We are going in October also but we have our 3 kids with us. Any suggestions on what to or what not to try? when do the dates come out? what are the "extra" cost things?

 

[jann1033]

our last trip was kidless and the best yet. next will be with the entire brood but want to hear any goodies about food and wine

 

[Wendy1953]

DH and I did it last year...only one DD and she's 23 and works for Disney so no problem doing it by ourselves...DH signed me up for one of the cooking classes....had a great time....learned different things (married for 29 years now...so I've been cooking for quite a while!)...DH took Wine 101...had a great time also.....both of us did two wine and food parings...the one at Coral Reef was good, the one at Alfredo's I hated...although DH didn't think it was that bad.....going again this year Oct. 27 - Nov 5....waiting for the schedule...would love to cook again, want to do the party of the senses, DH will do the food and wine parings..I'll skip them...doesn't make much sense to pay that price and not have something I like to eat (by the way...Alfredo's main course was Wild Boar Stew.....just the thought of it and I couldn't eat it..but many in the paring loved it)...from what all that we met said....the Party of the Senses is great...like a wonderful cocktail hour..but more....can't wait to go...one more trip in between however...April 30 - May 5...Flower & Garden time..not as exciting, but exciting none the less!

Go have a great time...schedule usually comes out late August begin of Sept!

 

[annameg]

We went last year with DD6 and DD3. We really enjoyed the different food. Neither of my girls are picky eaters. Their favorite was Morocco. They had small chicken legs with rice. Each daughter had 2. The kabobs in Australia were great. It seems to me like Australia also had a wine tasting for $5. We also enjoyed the lamb dish from Greece and the cheddar cheese soup from Canada and anything from Mexico and the quiche from France and.......... We loved it all. We are going back this October and I was also thinking that it might be a waste of the dining plan during F&W festival. Any thoughts???

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I'm also considering doing meal plan - but not sure if we'll take full advantage of it if we're snacking all day. How did you do with it?

We had the meal plan in October. But it was free.
Snack credits can be used at the various booths.
The booths were just ok. You didn't really get all that much food at the price. Just a taste. So you'll still eat your meals.

We had little ones in tow so Party for the senses and some of the seminars were out of the question. But my sense is that's where the real meat of the festival is. Someday when the kids are old enough, Mom and Dad are going to around the world.

 

[Timmbco]

We went in Oct. with the free dining also. We were able to use our snack credit for the festival booths. This was a great bonus. However, we were disappointed overall with the Food and Wine Festival. Generally the portions were tiny and not really inexpensive. Aside from the food, we did free beer and wine tastings. The Sam Adams samples were fine and that was fun but at England you had to pay. We love wine and went to a few tastings-some free, some payed. You get a very small amount and the free ones have a long wait unless you time it just right. I think I expected something more fabulous from Disney.
I would not go next time just for this event. If however, they have free dining again....I'm there!!!!!

 

[CNMooner]

My advice? Don't go on a saturday night! It looks like your dates (mid week) are fine however. We went on the last Saturday night of the F&W festival and were OVERCOME by crowds. We went back the next morning so we could actually eat something!

I really liked it a lot and would go back that time of year again. You'll love it!

 

[Hopefully]

When we went in October we had the Dining Plan (paid for) and used our snacks at the Food & Wine Festival. One thing that I did was plan a full day of "Noshing Around the World". On this day I did not plan a TS meal at all. We just ate and ate in Epcot. I took the TS credit saved that day and used it to go to Yachtsmen Steakhouse - 2 credits - one night.
We love Epcot and we love the Food & Wine Festival. For this reason many of our TS were in WS. We ate at Rose & Crown, Teppanyaki, Le Cellier and Morroco for lunch. On our Morroco day, we also used the Food & Wine offerings as our "dinner". We also ate at 'OHana and the Yachtsman Steakhouse
We did have a CS left over on our last day. (1 per person) and we picked up food to take to the airport with us.
I saved our receipts and we, 3 adults, saved $450 over the cost of the Food Plan. I felt that we were able to maximize the Dining Plan and still enjoy the Food & Wine Festival

 

[gapack]

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?