Food and Wine Festival

[cannonballer70]

We originally planned our trip thinking that the Food and WIne Festival wouldnt start until middle of October. Now we found out that its going to start 15 days earlier. How much of an impact does it have at Epcot and effect at the other parks??? I was hoping it wouldnt be too crowded. Havent been in 10 years and was hoping for a great experience again.

 

[KFISCHER]

Unless you go on the weekend.

Don't forget, October and November aren't terribly crowded at all.
And now with the festival spread out a little more, it shouldn't be a problem.

I've been 3 times, and have never experienced any HUGE crowds.
You might have some lines at certain food stands....but on the other hand, isn't that a GOOD sign?

Go, don't worry, it's a great event!

 

[Eeyore1954]

It doesn't impact Epcot that much -- until Friday/Saturday evening. Then it's almost shoulder to shoulder people

We visited at toward the end of the Festival last year and on most days the crowds were not bad at all. Waits at the booths were minimal, sometimes no wait at all! But on the weekend evenings -- wowzers, you could wait for a long, long time. My DW and I decided to leave rather than deal with the mass of people.

It is a great experience and provides a wonderful opportunity to experience lots of different foods. I'm not that adventurous as a diner, but buying smaller portions that my DW and I could share was perfect. I wish we had signed up for more of the forums, tough.

 

[safetymom]

The thing I don't like about Food and Wine is the large number of people that are drunk or are acting like it. The weekends were especially bad.

 

[maciec]

It's funny that you should say that because I have never seen anyone that was drunk and actually found it rather odd. With all of the tasting sessions and the booths I thought for sure that there were going to be a lot of drunk people, but again I have never seen anyone.

 

[MelessaG]

It was going on during our last trip (Nov 2002) and I don't remember it being a problem at all. In fact, it was convenient for us the night we were staking out a spot to watch Illuminations because, once we found the spot, we took turns going to different booths to get food that wasn't too expensive or in portions we couldn't finish.

 

[floridagirrl2]

We were there for 3 days last year, and saw only one person noticeably drunk. I came out of the bathroom near Test Track, and saw my DH talking to a guy in a wheelchair. I knew instantly that DH must have picked the guy up off the ground -(I know DH really well, plus he's a big strong guy, and a licensed physical therapist). Sure enough, the guy was unbelieveably drunk, and DH had come upon him on the ground with his wife trying to pick him up.

The crowds were thin on weekdays, thick on weekends, but still NO comparison to the crowds at the Magic Kingdom. We had a complete blast, and the experience is what inspired us to return to the World 3 more times in the next 6 months.

 

[Baloo]

I've been going to F&WFest for years and never had a problem until last year.We were there the first day it opened,a Sat.,and OMG the place was packed!!! By night fall in some places around WS it was shoulder to shoulder ,and for the first time at a F&W Fest I saw alot of disgustingly drunk people.

I chaulk this exprience up and will AVOID opening day like the plague from now on!!!

In past years we've been there through the week and everything was great.Hardly any lines even in the evening and no rowdy crowds!

Oct. has become a VERY popular time at WDW as many schools now have Fall Breaks throughout the month.I started going to WDW in Oct. about 10 years ago and I can see how the crowds have grown but it's still my FAVORITE time to go!! The crowds are really manageble and the weather is usually gorgeous at that time of the year.You''l love it!