Food and Wine or Thanksgiving???

[reesecup]

Just trying to think ahead of next year. We want to go to DW next year but not sure if we should go for the Food and Wine festival or go for it and go for Thanksgiving???? We are not that big on real big crowds but if there are a lot more interesting things such as parades, etc. during Thanksgiving we thought we might try it. And we also are not that king on getting the kids out too many days out of school. Any suggestions would help. I just wanted to know what the thoughts are on Thanksgiving and crowds b/k we need to try to book at the 11 month window if we are going to attempt it. Thanks so much.

 

[nestlejean]

We have gone over Thanksgiving and it is busy. We were just there for Food & Wine. It is also busy. It was Soap weekend at MGM and that was CRAZY there. Epcot was busy but MK was not so bad (compared to Thanksgiving and Xmas).I have to say, the food and wine is expensive. I wouldn't want to feed kids with it (the food). It's a sampler size and would require alot. I am not planning to go for it again. it was nothing that great, just OK. Maybe if I had gotten to do more there (seminars, classes) it would have been nicer but it's hard with kids. Thanksgiving is busy but we went the weekend before because the kid had off school Weds. Thurs. Friday so they missed 2 days. it wasn't as busy until Thanksgiving day and the weekend. Xmas /New years is way worse though. I guess it depends on if you will go for a few days BEFORE Thanksgiving so you miss some of the crowds after Thanksgiving. I would choose Thanksgiving before Xmas/New Years again. I would choose Thanksgiving over Food & Wine fest because it wasn't a big draw for me going to it. I guess it depends on what you like.

 

[ttfn3]

My vote is for Food & Wine Festival. My son is in elementary school and I wouldn't hesitate to take him out of school to avoid the crowds (of course, he's a good student). We don't like huge crowds at Disney. We try to mix some educational things in on our trip (Epcot is especially good for this - and great if you talk to the people that work there from the different countries). Get a kids passport so your child can collect signatures from different countries.

If you can time it right, it's also great to go for Halloween. Great decorations and a fun party at the Magic Kingdom - great for kids.

As for Food & Wine, we really like trying the different foods. We will often buy something and all have taste. Plus, there's lots of kids options at the World Showcase counter service if you would rather pick up the kids something there instead of the sampling booths. In addition to food stuff, we find there's more music and cultural activites, especially if there's a booth/exhibit from a country that's not normally a part of the WS. It's a great time to be at Epcot. The weekends are normally the busy time because the locals go to the festival.

 

[wintergreen]

We go every year for either the F&W or for Thanksgiving. It used to seem that it was less crowded during F&W than at Thanksgiving, but this year it seemed just as crowded to me. In the future, I will probably lean more to Thanksgiving because most of the F&W events are not geared towards kids, anyway, and because we enjoy the Christmas decorations, which are up at Thanksgiving. Either way, you will have a great time!