Food and Wine festival... waiting.... patiently... not!! :)

[SamSam]

Quin222, Yes, you have to pay for the events when you call in. I also am securing reservations for 3 couples, what I do is charge all to my credit card and then the other couples pay me. If 3 couples called in to try and get the same ressies; it just might not happen! In the past, when I've called for Food and Wine ressies, there have been events that I wanted that were already sold out (at 7AM), so if you want to attend events together you may want to consider booking them together.

 

[slmjam]

My husband and I are trying to decide between POTS and Sweet Sundays. We will have our two kids with us during the festival (DD15 and DS11) so POTS seems really pricey. But it seems like it may offer more to see and do than Sweet Sundays for our kids. Help me out..... what would you do and is it worth it considering our kids will be tagging along with us?

 

[BensMom]

I am sorry, but I just can't get the same warm and fuzzy at Foxwoods that I do at Disney!

 

[BensMom]

BROCKTOON -- Last year, at the Brewer's dinner - there were approx. 150 people??? About 12 to 15 tables of 10 or 12 guests would be my best guess. At our table - 8 out of ten of us were having a great time meeting the others - the other couple was obviously unhappy at having to share a table with others and ignored the rest of us. To each his own. Expect the same amount of people at most of the dinners.

I'm amazed that so many people are interested in the Brewer's dinner this year - last year, it didn't seem to get as much interest.

Goodness, you remembered these two after a year? They must have been lost...perhaps they were at the wrong park? LOL

Brewer's dinner seems neat, a bit different than all the others. That's why I want to do it. We were going to last year but dropped so much cash on the other stuff, we couldn't justify it. But now, after one week on the Disney cruise, with a $1300 wine bill, nothing is phasing us!

 

[Nanajo1]

Do I call the regular WDW Dine number to book or is there a special number?
TIA

 

[Figment2]

I'm not sure your children would enjoy POTS. There is no soda/pop/milk and the food is fairly adventurous (items like braised duck with mashed potato and slaw). It's fairly loud between the crowd and the music. Little ones might feel a bit overwhelmed and they definitely can't be picky eaters.

I have seen children at POTS but none that looked like they were really enjoying the evening.

JMHO

Cyn

 

[eeyore45]

I am sorry, but I just can't get the same warm and fuzzy at Foxwoods that I do at Disney!

I know - dh found another food and wine "event" here - and of course we attended... it was missing the "Food" - I mean they did have some stations (smoked salmon 'pops' were the delicacy they rolled the salmon around a ball of plain cream cheese, stuck a stick in it and it was a delicacy!!)

All the wines were very short - no water in between - it was hugely crowded lines for every "taste' - the "ice wine" they had was not canadian and it tasted, well flat...

dh and I both decided to go back to Disney after attending this event!!

and do call wdw dine for the ressies...

I really appreciate everyone offering up their opinions and experiences of all the events!!

(and I agree, about not spending that money on the kids to attend - I'm sure at their ages they'd rather have a pizza and give them the cash!! The Cirque performers arent continual - and they'd be bored and liable to 'bring down' your experience... just my opinion of course... again, there just is water and wines, etc)

 

[BensMom]

I'm not sure your children would enjoy POTS. There is no soda/pop/milk and the food is fairly adventurous (items like braised duck with mashed potato and slaw). It's fairly loud between the crowd and the music. Little ones might feel a bit overwhelmed and they definitely can't be picky eaters.

I have seen children at POTS but none that looked like they were really enjoying the evening.

JMHO

Cyn

My son will enjoy PFTS just fine at Sandcastles Club at the Beach Club!!

 

[BensMom]

salmon around a ball of plain cream cheese, stuck a stick in it and it was a delicacy!!)

All the wines were very short - no water in between - it was hugely crowded lines for every "taste' - the "ice wine" they had was not canadian and it tasted, well flat...

sounds yummy (not).

Ice wine...yes, you're right. I am not a big fan of icewine, but we had the occasion to be in Niagara on the Lake back in May and visited Inniskillin Winery...I think they wrote the book on icewine.

 

[webray]

My husband and I are trying to decide between POTS and Sweet Sundays. We will have our two kids with us during the festival (DD15 and DS11) so POTS seems really pricey. But it seems like it may offer more to see and do than Sweet Sundays for our kids. Help me out..... what would you do and is it worth it considering our kids will be tagging along with us?

If you have children with you, I definately wouldn't choose party for senses, the kids would be bored. Sweet Sundays, maybe, but I have never seen children at them. There are no childrens menus or childrens pricing.

Maybe you would consider letting the two of the explore on their own for a few hours and meeting up with you later if you feel they are mature enough. Our teens used to love time on their own at disney at that age. Their only requirement was they had to stick together. They had a place and time to meet up with us, they completely understood disney transportation and knew to ask a disney employee if they needed help or had problems. They had a certain amount they were allowed to charge to their room key cards for meals, souveniers, etc and they always had a blast. If you don't feel they are mature enough..you could always get them a babysitter.

 

[BensMom]

Do I call the regular WDW Dine number to book or is there a special number?
TIA

I believe it is 407-WDW-3378. Don't call now, because it will redirect you into Disney Dining. I tried yesterday and got the usual "Welcome to Disney Dining. We're glad you called..."

Then the woman with whom I spoke told me that number would not be in operation till 7/31.

 

[BensMom]

I am just so excited. I can't wait, I can't wait!!! Woo hoo.

 

[cdtommie]

Wow, saw the prices this year and had sticker shock...we usually do two PFTS during our Oct trip but may cut back to one. Maybe they'll beef up the wine list this year. No lunch-n-learn type events for us this year...maybe just a couple of the $40 pairings (we especially liked the Suishi, Sake and Sashimi the past couple of years).

Disappointed no Spirited Ball type event this year...we went last year and although I didn't think it was a total success was hoping for some type of event tied into Halloween.

I wish they would bring back the brewer's event they had two years ago - was only $55! We probably would have considered the SA Jim Koch event this year if it was on during our stay but I have a hard time spending that much money for SA only products which are pretty much run of the mill.

 

[eeyore45]

My son will enjoy PFTS just fine at Sandcastles Club at the Beach Club!!

That's us too!! My dd is almost 10 and I'm hoping she will enjoy the WL den!

and the Canadian Ice wine is definately better than the Ice Wine I've tasted from 2 different California vinyards - I do enjoy tasting them... but since the Innisken Ice Wine is now a 'distant' memory, it appears I must go back and try it again!!!

ok, so do we call the F&W number or the regular Disney Dining number?

 

[BensMom]

That's us too!! My dd is almost 10 and I'm hoping she will enjoy the WL den!

and the Canadian Ice wine is definately better than the Ice Wine I've tasted from 2 different California vinyards - I do enjoy tasting them... but since the Innisken Ice Wine is now a 'distant' memory, it appears I must go back and try it again!!!

ok, so do we call the F&W number or the regular Disney Dining number?

I am assuming to book the clubs? Call Disney Dining to book any of the kid clubs. My son has been to ALL, including Cub's Den (in fact, he'll be there Saturday night while we eat at Artist Point) and loves Cub's Den. They will take a credit card deposit to hold the ressy. They won't charge you, but have a 24 hour cancellation policy charge of $20 per kid.

 

[betterlatethannever]

From the wdwinfo.com page on the F&W festival:

New for 2006 - A weekly "Teen Cuisine" seminar will be offered for guests ages 11 - 16. Regional flavors will be the focus of this fun class

Does anyone have any info on this?

I would expect it would be a ticketed event, so it would have been on the web site. But maybe its free and that's why its not showing up

Ed

 

[ImprovGal]

I am sorry, but I just can't get the same warm and fuzzy at Foxwoods that I do at Disney!

LOL!
I didn't mean a trip to Foxwoods would be the same as a trip to Disney. I'm going to the Foxwoods one in addition to the one at WDW. I just brought it in as an example to show that the WDW events (especially PFTS) are still competitively priced.

And to the poster who visited another food and wine event only to find smoked salmon and cream cheese on a stick, well... I'll let you know if the Foxwoods one is that bad. But I do have fairly high expectations from Matsaharu Morimoto and Tyler Florence.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

LOL!
I didn't mean a trip to Foxwoods would be the same as a trip to Disney. I'm going to the Foxwoods one in addition to the one at WDW. I just brought it in as an example to show that the WDW events (especially PFTS) are still competitively priced.

And to the poster who visited another food and wine event only to find smoked salmon and cream cheese on a stick, well... I'll let you know if the Foxwoods one is that bad. But I do have fairly high expectations from Matsaharu Morimoto and Tyler Florence.

Tyler Florence!

I might have to go to Foxwoods just for him!

 

[slmjam]

Maybe you would consider letting the two of the explore on their own for a few hours and meeting up with you later if you feel they are mature enough.

Decision made. Kids are going to explore Epcot for a couple hours on their own. They love Mission Space, Test Track, etc... so I know they'll be happy while we do the "adult" thing.

Another question, if we decide on Sweet Sundays, is there a preference over the morning or afternoon session? Is there enough food to make a meal, or should we plan on something else to eat in addition to this?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Another question, if we decide on Sweet Sundays, is there a preference over the morning or afternoon session? Is there enough food to make a meal, or should we plan on something else to eat in addition to this?

Last year (2005), there was only one Sweet Sundays session each Sunday — from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon.

This year, you have a choice of 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. or 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. Either session includes a light meal — breakfast or lunch, respectively.

I suppose it depends on whether you're a morning person, or you prefer to get going a little later.

Friends of ours told us that the breakfast last year was very good. Nobody can speak about the light lunch from experience, because they didn't offer it last year.