Food & Wine Sickness

[Moms]

Wow! I don't feel so bad now. Have always wanted to do the F&W festival but being on a school schedule makes it a bit difficult (managed 1 afternoon once but it was brief ... but awesome). I actually pictured it as an event full of a bunch of self-important "foodies" tasting, critiquing, and sipping with upturned pinkie fingers ... guess not!

 

[Bonniec]

That's what I had imagined to. Definately not.

 

[kbelle8995]

My mother went this weekend to F&W and swore that she would never go again.

1). Very crowded.
2). People were too "rowdy" due to the wine and beer.

Now I know why she said that. (I was not with them.)

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

We were there Sept 27-Oct 7 for the opening of the festival and the TOT run. While we (luckily) didn't see any of the puking that some people have seen...we did notice and comment on the number of drinking around the world themed shirts/birthday party shirts/bachelorette party shirts that we saw around the World Showcase during the weekends that we were there.

Apparently it's become a much bigger deal to head to F&W to drink?? It's really a shame that the weekends have become this, but I don't have to say that we still had a great time at the festival during the week.

 

[Denine]

We enjoy the F&W festival. We try to go every year. We avoid the weekends and have never seen any of the drunks. Frankly, it sounds like it has gotten worse since they started offering beer everywhere. How is beer part of a wine festival?

 

[Carbonfiber07]

We enjoy the F&W festival. We try to go every year. We avoid the weekends and have never seen any of the drunks. Frankly, it sounds like it has gotten worse since they started offering beer everywhere. How is beer part of a wine festival?

The wife and I were wondering that same thing. Germany had many beer offerings, as well as other locations, for sure; and many pavilions offered after-dinner type drinks that were not wine. Greece had two very nice wines.

Frankly, I do not know why 10/20 was so tame compared to 10/27 regarding the number of "drunks" who were sick, as we chalked it up to being close to the end of the festival and the nice weather brought people out. It was also much more crowded on 10/27 compared to 10/20.

The only reason we even ventured into the World Showcase area, admittedly, was because after riding some of the rides, I had a craving for the fish-n-chips in England. We only got about 1/4 of the way there when I thought it was just too crowded and too "adult" for my kids, so we turned around and left (and I am still craving the fish-n-chips).

 

[jimandami]

This is so sad to hear. I know that this is an event geared more towards adults, but my boys and I are coming in toward the end. Sat. the 10th is our first night and I was going to stop by to hit a few booths in the afternoon so we didn't have to do them all on Monday. Now I am really rethinking. I don't want my boys to see a bunch of adults that don't know when to stop.

A little off topic, but just wanted to say that the last Saturday of F&W was one of our first days last year, so we just wanted to check it out in the afternoon. We got there around 12-1 and omg...you literally could barely walk in the WS! The lines were very long and it was wall to wall people. We ended up with a hot dog at the African Outpost (my poor DS7 was super hungry) and went out the IG over to the Boardwalk. It just wasn't worth it. Anyway, not trying to discourage you...just be prepared for crowds!!

 

[WDmommyof4]

A little off topic, but just wanted to say that the last Saturday of F&W was one of our first days last year, so we just wanted to check it out in the afternoon. We got there around 12-1 and omg...you literally could barely walk in the WS! The lines were very long and it was wall to wall people. We ended up with a hot dog at the African Outpost (my poor DS7 was super hungry) and went out the IG over to the Boardwalk. It just wasn't worth it. Anyway, not trying to discourage you...just be prepared for crowds!!

LOL This whole thread has discouraged me. Just doesn't sound like it will be the place to be with me and four boys by myself. Don't want to lose any in the crowd and don't want them to see a lot of inappropriate behavior. I don't drink, so they are not used to even being around alcohol. I could care less if others are having a great time, but when it gets to the point of being foul, it's kind of disgraceful and not at all Disney-like.

We will just wait until Monday and just not do as many booths as we would have liked. At least it will save me money.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

We were there Oct 12-17 & unfortunately, our experience was similar. When we tried to visit the WS at Epcot in the evenings on the weekend it was not at ALL the environment we wanted for DD8.

I was a little shocked & disappointed, honestly. I get that it's the F&W festival but it is STILL Disney & it was the first time in 20 years that both DH & I felt that there was anything inappropriate at WDW. This was very disappointing to all of us - especially since DD had been gearing up for F&W for weeks & was very excited to try new foods. She's a little foodie at heart

We ended up waiting until a weekday to go through WS & were able to hit every booth we wanted to with little to no wait & there was no drunken revelry to work around.

 

[DznyCrzy11]

DH and I have been during F&W but that was in 2008. I have thought it would be nice to go during that time again but after reading this thread I'm thinking otherwise. It's a shame that people feel the need to get drunk to have fun. You would think Disney would put some sort of limit on all the drinking. When we there in Sept there was a group, they looked college age, at the France Pavilion getting loud and obnoxious while tasting the wine, I can only imagine what F&W is like!!

Sent from my GalaxyS II

 

[SCDisneyMom]

We are annual pass holders and decided to head over to Epcot last night with the kids to hit the Future World rides for a few hours (we live close). The reason is that just my wife and I went to the F&W festivities last week and, while crowded, was not unbearable - especially for the rides.

I know it was a Saturday evening, and the tail end of the F&W, but I was a bit surprised by all the people who were "sick" at Epcot, even in the Future World area. At one point, my wife and I noticed that for every person being "sick" a Disney custodian was standing next to them with cleaning supplies at the ready. There was an army of custodians cleaning up "messes" in various locations. I am no stranger to drinking, but had never witnessed so many uncomfortable people at the F&W festival before. Strange.

Yuck! People can be so nasty sometimes.

We were at F&W on Friday October 19th. It was pretty crowded and we saw plenty of drunk people, but thankfully we didn't witness anyone getting sick. People were very rowdy and were running into us left and right without so much as an "excuse me". The lines were also longer than we would have liked, so we eventually gave up and ended up having dinner at the Tangierine Cafe. I was pretty disappointed in our experience this year. I knew better than to go on a Friday but decided to go with it anyway. It was my sister's first F&W experience and she was not that impressed, but hopefully I can change her mind on a future trip.

Now last year we went to F&W on a Tuesday night and it was AWESOME. The lines were practically non-existent and no one seemed to be obnoxiously drunk. In the future we will probably only attend on a weeknight.

 

[jaysmom4285]

We were at WDW last week and went to Epcot several times. During the week, the World Showcase was only a little more crowded than usual, there were no lines for the F&W kiosks, and people weren't being inappropriate at all. Some people were walking around with a glass of wine or beer, but there didn't seem to be any drinking to excess that we could see. We could easily sample from any of the kiosks without waiting in line, and it was quite pleasant. Saturday, however, was a much different story. We spent the morning in Future World, played minigolf for a while, and returned to Epcot to see the 5:30 Eat to the Beat concert and finish up some World Showcase shopping. I knew that WS would be crowded, so I was ready for that. But the serious drinking crowd had definitely come out by that point. It seemed like nearly everyone had a drink in each hand and had already had a few too many. There were trails of vomit in several places, and the lines at the F&W kiosks were insanely long. Not a pleasant place to be at all. We saw our concert, got food at the place by the American Adventure, did our shopping and went back to the Boardwalk around 7.

The weekdays are definitely the time to check out the F&W festival kiosks if you want to try the different food samplings. Crowds are fairly low and well behaved, and there are no lines. But the weekend crowds really do seem to be getting out of hand, and it is definitely not the family experience that one would expect at WDW.

 

[GAN]

It's been a few years since we've been to a F&W, but we've been going every few years since '04. Avoiding the festival on Friday and Saturday has always been part of the plan -unless there was a particular vineyard that was sponsoring a seminar that we felt would be worth it to attend(this is when they were free). So the crowds are nothing new, but it sounds like the drinking is getting crazy. We were in Epcot on a Sunday this past August and did notice more people drinking around the world than we had in the past - not that it bothered us, it mostly added to the fun atmosphere.

Roll Tide!

 

[SunnyDey]

We were there on Friday night, and we saw so many people that had over indulged. One father with his two young children could not even stand up straight to get off the boat ride in Mexico. A CM had to help him. It was a college frat party atmosphere, especially around Mexico and Germany. We went earlier in the week in the evening, and it was very peaceful. We plan to avoid weekend evenings from now on.

 

[labattblue]

I would expect in the coming years that the F&W problems get worse not better. Here's why...

1 - People drink excessively at F&W and word of mouth spreads about what a great "party" it is

2 - Disney looks at very large F&W receipts

3 - Disney pretends to not notice obnoxious drunks

4 - Rinse & repeat

 

[GuyCai]

Two years ago at the F&W we saw a lot of the same thing going on. I think Disney's bartenders have to be trained on when to shut someone off. It's that simple. At any other alcohol serving establishment they are, but heavens forbid Disney say no to a paying guest! LOL

What really took the cake was some guy urinating in the bushes near the Canada pavillion, when bathrooms were literally feet away. He didn't seem to care at all it seems.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Wow...we were in Epcot snacking around the world on Saturday 10/27 from about 5pm to 9pm and maybe we were lucky but we didn't see anyone sick?...had a great time...some lines were long but moved quickly...other lines not long at all.....I should add we are all adults..my kids..lol are 21 and 24......I wouldn't have wanted to push a stroller around

 

[wgeo]

We were there last week and while I saw people who were quite "happy" last week, no one was obnoxious and I didnt worry about my kids.

This is absolutely pure speculation on my part, but I'm guessing that a number of people have a few drinks before they ever get to Epcot to "get the party started" so to speak. This was a common practice before heading out to bars way back when I was in college, and I've read more than a few trip reports where people mention having drinks before going to the parks (or even smuggling some in with them).

 

[TaraPA]

Was also there Sat. 10/20 & it was the worst I'd ever seen. Anyone else there on the 20th see the group with the drunk guy in the Santa Claus hat? We kept coming across that rude, obnoxious, intoxicated group. We saw security talking to the guy earlier in the evening, and then saw him shoplift a sombrero from the stand across from Mexico. We told a CM who shrugged & said too bad that it happens when there's lots of people drinking. So it's ok to drink & shoplift around the world now I guess? I get they can't procve it, but they need to beef up security or CMs in general during this time. The female in his group (who was pushing a small child in a stroller) was yelling "Snow White was a ****" as loud as she could as well. He also staggered & dropped his very full beer that spilled & splashed on many other people & kids. He laughed hysterically, never once apologized.

We also saw 2 different people laying in the shrubbery. Why aren't they escorted out or taken to first aid immediately? I mean they seriously laid on their backs in shrubs for 10-15 min. each before we moved on.

The bus ride back to POR was a nightmare. The majority of the bus was the same drunk group and other guests were afriad to say anything to them because there were so many of them. The bus driver gave up trying to make them settle down but she did keep the bus lights on the whole ride. They berated the bus driver the entire time, I felt so bad for her. She said she's used to it during F&W. Why should she be used to that behavior??

I wish Disney could come up with a way to better control this. I know I will not be back to F&W on a weekend night ever again!

 

[kbelle8995]

Ah dear. I've heard that the beer serving were regular size. And that it was bad.

How can Disney stop it and more to the point will they?

I think if it's starts hurting their business or too many people complain they might. I think to limit beer at the festival and limit the servings of beer might be a help. Heck they could limit alcohol in general.

But will they at this point I don't think they will.