Food and Wine Festival and Camping...

[Sir Ron]

I was thinking of a surprise trip down with my soon to be wife (getting married at Disney in August) for the Food and Wine Festival. Since we would have just had a wedding and spent a week there in August, I thought I'd make us a surprise yet inexpensive trip. What I want to know is... will I be able to find my tent after a day at the Food and Wine Festival? Is it worth going back down to WDW just for that for a weekend?

EDIT: I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this post. My apologies if I'm in the wrong.

 

[disnut8]

We go for Labor Day Weekend and then return for a quick weekend for the Food and Wine Festival so I would say that it's worth it.

As far as finding you way back to your tent after enjoying the Festival, if you are that impared, you're not making this an inexpensive trip. If you go with an average of $4 per sample of wine and about $5 for one of beer, figure out how many of each you would need to feel that bad. It's a good chunk of change. Plus, you will hopefully be constantly eating which will help.

I do see some people enjoying the Festival a bit too much and always wonder how they can afford it. Honestly though, I'd sample some wines and once you find one that you both like, buy the bottle and enjoy it back at my campsite later. You did say the two of you just got married didn't you?

 

[Sir Ron]

The part about drinking too much was a joke. Thanks for your info though.

 

[Tent Camping Mom]

You're in the right forum since you're camping

Is it worth going back down to WDW just for that for a weekend?

Depends on what you mean by worth. Do you mean in money, time, or both? We love the Food and Wine festival and tend to do it every year that we're not cruising. A weekend wouldn't be worth it for us in terms of time because it would be a day of driving to and a day of driving back (also factor in the setup/take-down time), we wouldn't be able to go to the festival much less relax afterward at our campsite or enjoy the amenities of FW.

 

[FloridaTeacher]

We definitely think it's worth it. We try to go during the Food and Wine Festival every year. Here's a tip that we use - before we go, we go on line and find out the "menus" of the food and wine samples that will be sold at the festival. That way we know the ones we "definitely don't want to miss." It also helps you if, like us, you also need to budget for it.

Happy Camping!

 

[hatchmo]

This will be our third year, or is it fourth, I'm not sure, too much alcohol and some years were a blur. Just kidding - we drink a little wine, but we really enjoy the food items and the great entertainment at the Amercan pavilion stage. Be sure to check out the entertainment schedule before you select a weekend to go. Also check on the restaurant and preferred seating plans for the entertainment. If you schedule right, you can catch the last day of one group and the first day of the next group. Definitely worth a long weekend and surprise for a new bride.

 

[Tent Camping Mom]

On another thought, since you want to make it a surprise...is your bride-to-be a tent camper? If not, it may not be worth it in that aspect, she may not take it well. I've heard of a few women who refuse to sleep in a tent...heck I've even heard of a guy refusing I saw one woman sleep in her car while her husband slept in the tent. She told us she couldn't take the heat. She had that car running most of the night with the AC on and this was in central Alabama, not Florida.

 

[Colson39]

The Food and Wine festival is an annual event for us, we wouldn't miss it. We go the second week of November, which is the last weekend of the event (plus there are tons of things going on at Disney that weekend).

It's definitely worth it, and as others have suggested, print out the menus beforehand!

We normally go with a small group of people, and I print out the menus about a month in advance. I then take anything that we don't understand or know (some of the meals are kind of hard to figure out), go on the internet and research them, and then compile a list and give it to everyone with the descriptions of the hard to figure out ones.

Makes the trip up a blast, because we go over the list on the way up, talking about what we'll have here and there, and before we know it, we're in Disney!

Shouldn't be too hard to find your tent, just remember the site number! And if you get lost, no worries, there will be plent of people willing to help. It's Fort Wilderness!!