Food & Wine Fest?

[nemofans]

DH wants to try the F&W Fest this year, but I'm not sure it's a good idea. I would love to go to F&W Fest, but we have a 5 yr & 2 yr old w/us. I am afraid it will be crowded & the kids will get frustrated & bored as we try all the food.
We would go the last week of F&W Fest.
Should we try to attempt it? BTW, we do NOT like big crowds at all.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

We usually go to the Food & Wine festival in early November and find the crowds very reasonable, provided you stay away from Epcot on the weekends. By Friday afternoon, it gets a little cramped.

 

[Mr. Disney 1986]

I never truly find the Food and Wine Festival to be all that crowed. That is my opinion, I know how many people have different views of how they feel how crowed the parks are.

 

[TDC Nala]

Go to the festival on a weekday. Avoid Saturdays at all costs. Avoid Sundays and Friday nights if you can.

 

[JDMickey]

We went around halloween last year, and the only place around WDW that was crowded was World Showcase. It's a good time to go (we liked MNSSHP too), just like others here said... don't do world showcase on the weekend.

 

[nemofans]

We would try to go on a Wed or Thurs. So we wouldn't be fighting the crowds walking thru World Showcase?
We usually go to WDW in Feb when there's low crowds. Our 1st trip 11 yrs ago was in summer & we never want to deal w/crowds that size again. I guess I am envisioning F&W Fest to be crowded like summer at the parks.

 

[DefLepard]

Let's see

Food & Wine Festival = greatest time ever at Disney ....

Friday = bigger crowds
Saturday = OMG stay away unless you like the concert performer
Sunday = starting to slow down, still big crowds

Weekdays = YaY small crowds, fun fun fun eat eat eat drink drink drink

 

[purple figment]

If you want to avoid crowds go on a week day at WS opening. We have our lunch starting at 11 AM, trying the food from the various booths.

 

[sue_gowin]

We've only ever gone during the F&W Fest. It might just be us, but we find it's getting busier. Good idea to go towards the end. We were there this past October (Sept30-Oct17) and it was pretty nuts. Avoid evenings...not only is it busier, but many people have already had a "couple too many" and we've seen people stumbling around. Not something you want your kids seeing (esp. at Disney!!!!). We've found that during the day is best, on a weekday. It's definitely worth attending. We love sampling different foods. If you're on the DDP, you can use your snacks towards sampling foods at each pavillion, so we normally save up all our snacks for that - just an idea!!! Have fun!

 

[nemofans]

Good idea. We will do just that; hit WS at 11 am on a weekday. I am excited to try something new. How are the rides? Pretty empty?

 

[jformica]

I don't think the F&W Festival is conducive to bringing kids. My wife and I have gone the past three years and have left our children for a few days with my parents. Granted they are older than 2 and 5 so I know that's probably not an option for you. However, they do have childcare at the resorts from 4:30-midnight and we have used that option on occasion. They do a fantastic job and give you a beeper to use within the world. You two year old may be too young. It's best to go without the children because there is so much to see, hear, eat and drink that you can't be rushed as it diminishes the experience greatly. If you bring the kids make sure to bring or rent a double stroller and start your food and wine tour later in the day in hopes that they fall asleep! Don't miss the Eat to the Beat concert it's always a great time.

 

[nemofans]

I do think it would be not interesting for the kids. My older DS doesn't nap, so there's no chance of both napping. I most likely won't try alot of the food myself, so I may take the kids thru the diff countries as DH eats & drinks. Plus, giving the boys a mickey bar will keep them happy in their stroller for a while!

 

[MickeyNicki]

We go every single year. In 06 we took our then 3 and 9 year old nieces and we happened to go on a weekend which is slamming crowded...big mistake.

We could not enjoy the samplings or the expos because the girls were bored. We were able to try a few things but that was it, the kids wanted nothing but rides, not waiting in long lines for us to eat and drink

Maybe if we took them on a weekday when it wasnt so crowded it would not have been that big a deal

 

[sue_gowin]

they do quite of bit of "meet and greets" with princesses during the festival (probably so you can both sample AND keep the little ones happy!)...so maybe have one person go grab some food and the other stand in line for a princess nearby and it might work out. Just a thought!

 

[3pletprincesses]

I did it last fall with my triplet 4 yo and they loved it. We only went during week days as it gets busy on weekends. We pretty much used all our snack credits there and my girls were always looking forward to trying food from somewhere else. We went Halloween week.

 

[plutolovr]

Just agreeing with everyone else. Go during the week.

I also think the F&W booths offer a great opportunity to introduce your kids to some new foods and flavors. The samplings are usually large enough for everyone to have at least a bite. My DH and I will usually share unless it's something we know we really like, then we get our own.

 

[lucyem]

We tend to go to Epcot every day of our trip, usually in the evenings. This past fall we were there during the F&W and did the same. With the kids we hit a booth or two but I would never try and do it all with my kids. Even when not busy you are still stopping and waiting. It gets kind of boring for them after a while and then frustrating for you having to deal with bored kids.

One weekday evening we put the kids in the kids club and went through it all on our own which was a lot of fun.

We did try a quick Saturday morning run through at opening but within 30 minutes the mob had descended. We had hoped to get an hour in but no luck. I would not even try a Saturday again. We actually went back that night for our dinner ADR and the crowds were not so thick. But the lines for food were very long.