Food and wine help

[powellrj]

I am getting down to trip time and have been wondering just how much time I need to allow for the food and wine.

Background information: 2 older adults who have been to Epcot before, but never for the food and wine.

That is really all we plan to do at Epcot. We really don't drink, but want to try as much food as we can. We will be going on weekdays and non extra magic hours days. We plan to get to the world showcase as soon as it opens and not sure how long we will stay.

My question is, how many days should I plan for. I cancelled my ADRs because I assume we will be full from our food and wine treats.

Thanks!

 

[PSUGuy]

We also 'Graze Around the World' so have very few table service ADRs. As for how many days, we'll be there for 9 park days skipping only Sat due to crowds and we hit WS on all the remaining 8 days and while we may hit all the kiosks once each there are always dishes we miss. So... you can't hit Ws too often, and don't forget to catch the Eat to the Beat concerts.

Bill From PA

 

[GreatLakes]

I have always done just one day for F&W but that is because those trips have just been quick trips down. I think you should schedule one day and keep a day opened in case you either don't get to everything or want to go back and do seconds one day at a few favorite places.

I also don't plan any ADRs for F&W days.

 

[powellrj]

We also 'Graze Around the World' so have very few table service ADRs. As for how many days, we'll be there for 9 park days skipping only Sat due to crowds and we hit WS on all the remaining 8 days and while we may hit all the kiosks once each there are always dishes we miss. So... you can't hit Ws too often, and don't forget to catch the Eat to the Beat concerts.

Bill From PA

We already have 2 days planned just for the eat to the beat concerts, but I am unsure if I need to plan more days or not.

 

[tobikaye]

I think 2 days would be fine, but you might want to plan a 3rd maybe day just in case. When I was there for a full week, I only really expected to spend 2 partial days there, but did stop back in on a 3rd day just to try something I missed.

Something I learned the hard way, do not go to each kiosks as you go around, you will fill up too quickly and then find you might need to skip a few sections. Instead try to hit every other kiosk or do so many and then skip so many. Then the ones you skip day 1 you can hit day 2.

 

[bc7ate9]

A couple bits of advice to add: Do some research in advance and decide what you want to eat/drink. Get a passport book (they are free at the event) and use that to keep track of what you try.

 

[AquaDame]

We're planning on doing two Epcot evenings - hitting one side of WS one night and the other the next. It's worked well in the past for us, but we split dishes at each location pretty much unless it was so good we wanted a second plate of it right then and there, lol! I think because you aren't drinkers that will help you get to more kiosks each day than we are able to - those fill you up too!

 

[ktlm]

It depends on how much you can eat before you get full! The Disney Food Blog should have a list of last year's menus. They will have some new items, but several of the items will be the same. The portions are small, but if you are like me, you can still get full after a few. Every year there are things that I wanted to try that I just didn't have room for, even though we have gone more than one day. We are more inclined to park hop during Food & Wine trips to pick up a couple of food and drink booths here and there.

Your idea of going when WS opens at least 1 or 2 days is a good one. The lines are a lot shorter when WS opens and in the afternoons than they are in the evenings. The evenings get really crowded. You can forego all ADRs and eat all meals and snacks there if you don't mind the evening crowds and you probably could get more food in that way. We typically go over when WS opens, eat until we are full, try to find room for a snack a few hours later, and then in the evening we do an EPCOT restaurant ADR to get out of the F&W crowd. We love F&W, but we also can't give up all the great TS options at EPCOT, and we aren't crazy about the evening F&W crowds.

 

[disnut8]

A couple bits of advice to add: Do some research in advance and decide what you want to eat/drink.

This is good advice and I carry it one step further (because I am a geek). There are menus available online (allearsnet should have some) but, those have the countries listed alphabetically. I copy everything into Word and then redo so the countries are listed in a clockwise fashion. That way, if I start in Mexico and don't have anything listed for me but my husband wants something, I can quickly look at my list, tell him I want something in Norway and then he can get his stuff and walk up with me so I can get my stuff. Or, if there is a table nearby, he can stay there and I can get my stuff and come back.

What we do for the food and wine is to simply do a park during the day, then visit World Showcase after that park to close out the evening.

 

[loves to dive]

I went for 3 days last year, hopping to Epcot after spending mornings at another park, eating my fill, going to seminars and still did not get to all the booths I wanted to. Grant you, the seminars take at least a hour if you factor in walking time to and from the Festival Center but still, I would get full and have to stop and shop or just walk around before I could go back for more. This year I have 5 nights, potentially 6 days and I imagine I'm still not going to get to all the booths. I have 2 seminars planned each day with the exception of one day when I'm having Tea at the GF and know I'll have a glass of wine there and one little woman can only hold so much and one day I have a food and wine pairing lunch schedule and have not planned any seminars for that day because in my experience I eat more at those than I normally do all day.

 

[MissMet]

We are a F&WF obsessed family & easily do it in two days each trip we've taken. That's not saying we won't go back for more but anyone could do it in two days easily. Like you said, we go on weekdays, except Friday. We arrive at the WS right at 10:45am- usually some of the booths will open early. We work our way around until we are stuffed and then we go on about our day. The next day we start on the opposite side & work our way to where we ended the previous day. We have traveled with large groups & small, groups, all adults, & with kids and every time we can do it in two "mornings" 10:45am-1:30pm. That evening we have room for an ADR so you don't have to cancel those. The rest of the trip, if the lines aren't bad we'll hit our favorites again, but we don't need to assign more than two days, 2-3 hours each day. Also, we go on disney food blog & look at the food pics & menus and make a plan of what we want to try, you will find you will move even quicker if you've done that.

We love it!! Can't wait!!!

 

[serene56]

We went on one Saturday. Arrive into World Showcase by 11 and finished our way around by 5:30. (but I wanted to be outta there by 5 anyways because of the crowds coming in at night) We managed every thing we wanted. I knew ahead of time what we wanted to try. There were three of us and we split everything we wanted by 3. It was a fun experience

 

[karrit2000]

We go every year pretty much. We normally stay at least 10 days up to 2 weeks but we schedule some of the special dinig events for some days. On those days we might not visit any of the booths because we are just too full from the event we've attended. We also will take some time to visit MK & DHS on some days where we might just hit some of the booths in the evenings for dinner. Most years I still end up not getting to taste everything I wanted from all the booths. There are some we skip because we just don't care for the food being served there. Definitely check out the menus ahead of time to plan what you want to try at each booth an as others have said don't try doing it all at once but pace yourselves around WS. There are several good strategies already posted such as doing groups of booths, skipping every other one & starting in opposite directions each day. I tend to use variations of each of these strategies on my visits with the opposite direction one being very important some days. Going at least two days is a good plan. I do not need to do sit down reservations when l'm at F & W as I fill up at the booths. We don't share but a lot of people do. Mom has digestive issues so there are a lot of items she just can't eat that I can so sharing really isn't an option for us.

 

[skipfierce]

All I will say is do not go on a weekend. Last year we went on a Sat and it was jam packed with locals out for a good time then we went back later on a Wednesday and it was much better. It is a lot of fun.

 

[pooch]

My plan -

Wed 11/11 Spend the day at Epcot (11 - 6) nosh around the world. Hop to MK for Fireworks
Thurs 11/12 Breakfast at Kona - spend the day at MK and hop to Epcot around 5 - dinner nosh around the world
Sun 11/15 Spend the day at AK with 3PM ressie at Yak & Yeti - hop to Epcot for evening noshing
Mon 11/16 Early lunch (noon) at Garden Grill - hop to DHS for the afternoon/Osbourne Lights & Fantasmic - back to Epcot for one last nosh!

Hopefully will be able to try everything on my not small list!!

 

[KeroKero]

We usually plan for 3 days (adding up partial days), just for F&W. We use the free passport as a guide. Last year was the first year we were able to get stamps for every kiosk! We take our time walking around, checking out the pavilions and the shops and the entertainment that we come across. We usually share food so we don't fill up as quickly.