Festival of the Arts Food compared to Food and Wine Festival

[scrappinginontario]

Irma caused our family to reschedule our September trip at the last minute. I had been reading posts, listening to podcasts and keeping track of all the yummies we wanted to try at the F&W Festival. That list was put on hold until 2018 with hopes that many of the items we were looking forward to might be offered at next year's F&W Festival.

In the meantime our Sept 2017 trip was rescheduled to Jan 2018 and to my delight the Festival of the Arts was announced and it will be held during our trip.

For those who have attended both festivals, is there much/any crossover of the food or is it basically different for each Festival? Are there many food booths at the Festival of the Arts?

Looking forward to something new to us in January and then the tried and true Food and Wine Festival next September!

 

[supersnoop]

I don’t remember seeing much, if any, overlap between the festivals. There were items I loved at the Arts festival that I couldn’t find at F&W. But the Arts festival has only been held once. There’s no telling what may happen in the future.

 

[gingerfeathers]

I don't recall seeing a ton of additional food options at the festival of the arts this past year. But it was the inaugural year, so who knows. It was fun though!

 

[AngiTN]

Flower and Garden seems to have more cross over than the Arts festival did.
The thing is, they really played up the Arts portion of the Food and Arts festival. So that the food they served was plated in a more artistic manner. That may well keep a lot of cross over down since they push food through too fast at the other festivals to be able to put as much attention on presentation.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Personally this was VERY disappointing "festival"

Put up a few art booths, put up a few booth booths, call it a festival and take cash.

The food was overly creative and not really very good. They were more concerned with "fun names" and "cute" then edible IMHO LOL!

I wasn't impressed and won't plan another visit.

 

[scrappinginontario]

It will be interesting to see if they change things from last year? We just happen to be at Epcot during the Festival so will briefly check it out. I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open for reviews that will begin shortly before we arrive. Thanks for all the info you've shared everyone!

 

[Shellyb84]

Personally this was VERY disappointing "festival"

Put up a few art booths, put up a few booth booths, call it a festival and take cash.

The food was overly creative and not really very good. They were more concerned with "fun names" and "cute" then edible IMHO LOL!

I wasn't impressed and won't plan another visit.

I have to agree with this review. Hopefully in the future it will get better.

 

[AngiTN]

I guess I didn't view it the same way. It didn't cost anything for the Art portion of the festival.
This festival was more about Art and less about food
I loved being able to see all the artists around working live.
Both on free standing pieces and on art on the ground (like chalk art)
You were able to stand around and chat with the artists, watch them work, come back and see the progress, etc.
Even got to participate in making some art.
Food was sort of added as an afterthought. Even though what they had was pretty to look at, it was not the main focus, so that's why I call it an afterthought.
I don't think every festival has to be heavy food, since even Flower and Garden has taken on a bigger food feature.

 

[cigar95]

It will be interesting to see if they change things from last year? We just happen to be at Epcot during the Festival so will briefly check it out. I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open for reviews that will begin shortly before we arrive. Thanks for all the info you've shared everyone!

The '17 Festival was all but "thrown together" in a matter of just a few weeks. Given the success, they now have almost a whole year to plan for the second edition. I have to think it will be a lot more detailed, and hopefully even better. (We were there for '17 and are booked to experience it again in '18 - not because of the festival, it just happened that way.)
This might mean more food, but it could possibly mean less - for '17, the F&W booths were already available and just needed setting up and staffing, so they could have been a failsafe in the absence of more of the artistic content.

 

[randumb0]

Flower and Garden seems to have more cross over than the Arts festival did.
The thing is, they really played up the Arts portion of the Food and Arts festival. So that the food they served was plated in a more artistic manner. That may well keep a lot of cross over down since they push food through too fast at the other festivals to be able to put as much attention on presentation.

That's funny I don't remember any crossovers with F&W and F&G. Maybe I missed something?

 

[AngiTN]

That's funny I don't remember any crossovers with F&W and F&G. Maybe I missed something?

They greatly increased the food booths offered during F&G about 2 years ago. Before that, it was mostly all Garden with some food booths. Lots of Food demos, and special dining options but fewer booths.
And the food options offered are way more similar to those offered during F&W. None of them hold the same artistic features that the food did during the Arts Festival.

 

[ChrisNY2]

I loved the Festival of the Arts! I thought the foods that I tried were creative and delicious. I was going to upload a few photos, but there are a bunch of great ones here: https://www.disboards.com/media/categories/festival-of-the-arts-2017.637/

 

[TiffanyA]

I honestly expect ALL festivals at Epcot to increase the food portion as they go. The mouse follows the money.

 

[Nohal]

I loved the Festival of the Arts! I thought the foods that I tried were creative and delicious. I was going to upload a few photos, but there are a bunch of great ones here: https://www.disboards.com/media/categories/festival-of-the-arts-2017.637/

Wow the prices for the food are really high. At least the portions look larger that what they offer at F&W. Thanks for the link as we are going in January during the festival.

 

[ChrisNY2]

Wow the prices for the food are really high. At least the portions look larger that what they offer at F&W. Thanks for the link as we are going in January during the festival.

This was one where I thought the quality and value were worth it. Luckily most of the food items (but not all) were valid for snack credits. I really hope the value, quality, and artistry hold up next year - I'll be there Feb 2-6!

 

[scrappinginontario]

It’s also a treat that we get 2 snack credits per night of stay. They will stretch twice as far next year!

 

[k8Davies]

I'm really looking forward to the festival - alright the food isn't on the scale as F&W, but it doesn't have to be to make it good.

Although as the festival is going to be on for more days, in 2018, year I think it'll probably be bigger.

I'm really hoping they do a preview soon, just so we can get even better idea (currently using this year as my baseline) of what to expect.

 

[disney144]

Those food items look very pricey and many quantities look very small