Food and Wine

[hacknsuit]

Planning my first Food and Wine trip for this fall How important are restaurant reservations for this time at EPCOT. Do I need to book right at 180 days out or are there tons of other dining experiences? Should I just wing it?

 

[sleepydog25]

Planning my first Food and Wine trip for this fall How important are restaurant reservations for this time at EPCOT. Do I need to book right at 180 days out or are there tons of other dining experiences? Should I just wing it?

If you wish to ensure you can eat at a particular restaurant during your stay, then I definitely recommend making your ADRs (reservations) as early as you can. Walkups are getting tougher to do, though they are possible. One option many do for F & W is to snack around the World, i.e., eating at the various food booths that are so much fun to visit, then just doing light meals at dinner wherever they can find a spot. Winging it is doable, but I wouldn't count on being able to dine exactly where and when you want unless you plan ahead.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

We've gone down for the food and wine festival the last few years....we usually "eat around the world" 2 or 3 nights and make dinner reservations the other 2 or 3 nights....as the previous posted stated if you want to eat a table service resturant you will probably need a reservation....since Friday and Saturday nights are usually the most crowded those are the days we eat a sit down dinner

 

[searlproudbottom]

Make your reservations at 180 days. popular restaurants go fast.
There are only so many seats available at popular eating times.

Good luck to you.
Searl

 

[Cee]

You can really get stuffed eating at all those booths. It's wonderful! I agree that if there is a particular restaurant and time you prefer, ADRs are the way to go. If you don't mind being flexible, we've had good luck calling Disney Dining the same day and asking what is available. We've sometimes had to eat early or later than usual, but we've never been disappointed.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We don't make any ADRs at the F&W festival. We nibble on a muffin for breakfast, then start grazing at the booths at 11:00. As a PP said, you can get really stuffed (and poor!) eating at all the booths. By around 5:00, after having something every half hour or so, we just waddle on back to our hotel, maybe have soup or something light for dinner, then get ready for the next day.

 

[mama03]

I would stay away from the F&W festival on the weekends. Its way too packed. So those nights I would make a dinner reservation. Dont forget there will also be special dinners that you might want to attend. Those need to be booked as early as possible. Those dinners will be announced sometime in Late July or August.

 

[Havana]

While we usually book ADR's for every trip, we don't book as many for Food and Wine. We go to snack at all of the booths. We can not get 1/2 way around before getting full.
Do plan to go to the booths early in the day to avoid lines. They can get long!!

 

[LisaS]

We went to F&W last year and it was difficult to get the ADRs we wanted on the weekends. If you intend to eat in any Epcot TS restaurants on Friday or Saturday night make your ADRs as far ahead as possible to give yourself the best choice of restaurants and dining times.

 

[MrsLS]

Yes you will still need reservations. We were there last year on a friday since we had reservations for Chefs de France. Epcot was beyond packed, you couldn't move in some places and they were still turning people away at the front if you didn't have adrs, I would assume it was the same for all the restaurants. I would make adrs at the 180 day mark or close to it.

 

[hacknsuit]

We don't make any ADRs at the F&W festival. We nibble on a muffin for breakfast, then start grazing at the booths at 11:00. As a PP said, you can get really stuffed (and poor!) eating at all the booths. By around 5:00, after having something every half hour or so, we just waddle on back to our hotel, maybe have soup or something light for dinner, then get ready for the next day.

This was my ultimate question: is there a ton of other options or do I need to book an ADR. We've never been, so I'm not sure what to expect. I guess if we want Le Cellier, I better book early! Although, I can't ever remember being hungry in WDW!

 

[LSchrow]

If you want to eat at any sit down (inc buffets) in EPCOT during the festival, youwill need a reservation. You will have better luck at the other parks and the resorts (BW, BC, YC, and swolphin resorts are nearby with other less crowded restaurants).
Ther are also a lot of counter service options in the park.
Fyi, we tried for about 3 months to get a chefs (france) ADR for 4 last oct to no avail.

 

[MrShiny]

You can definitely eat plenty at the booths! I foolishly thought one year - I'll have one item and a featured drink at each booth - I made it to America (half way) and I was very full and slightly drunk!

Another thing to do is the demonstrations. The wine tastings are grat, but the food ones are really neat. You only get a small sample, but they are good! Can still taste the dessert we had at the one we went to. These require a small fee for reservations (I think it was maybe $8 or $5 for AP/TIW), but well worth it. Now that they do charge a fee, you don't have the long lines that prevented me from trying them before.

If you do want a sit down meal, I would book early though. Epcot is always difficult and it is pretty busy for F&W.

 

[ddoconnell]

I agree with PP's when they say eat your way around the world. If there is a special restaurant you want to visit then make an ADR, but I would skip the booths that day. We have been to F&W a few times and have never left hungry. As a matter of fact, it is my nephews new favorite time to go to WDW because of all of the food choices!

Have a great time!

 

[Kidanifan08]

Book now . . . cancel later. You will be sorry if you can't have a meal at the restaurants that you want. You can always cancel later and make someone else happy!! As other have said, it is quite busy on the weekends, and you will definitely need ressies for those days.

 

[Ms. WDW]

Traditionally I'll make ADR's at restaurants I truely enjoy and would not want to miss. You can get filled up from the samples at the booths (depending on what you like) and then not feel like a meal; even a light one. So I will more or less decide ahead of time which days I'll go to the Food and Wine and which evenings I'll "sit down". Now this can change... and if I think I'd rather "eat around the world" then I cancel the ADR.

Either way it's such a wonderful time to be in WDW and I'm so looking forward to this years trip with my husband. Traditionally this time of year is a "Mommy Only" trip but since we're only taking 1 trip down this year "I've invited him" to join me!!

 

[Hopefully]

Generally we "Nosh Around the World 3 or 4 days/evenings during the F & W.
We make ADR's for most evenings for a TS meal. But at least 1 day we have a CS lunch and our dinner is the booths.
We are usually on the DDP, so we save that nights TS credit to combine with another and then we eat at a Signature one evening during our trip.
IMHO, if you want to eat in a TS restaurant during F & W you need to make ADR's well in advance. Epcot is very crowded during the festival.
Have Fun!!!