Internaitonal Food & Wine strategy for newbie

[jlundeen]

Hello, folks,

This is the first time I've tried the new format for the forums and am a bit confused about finding my way around. If there is a better location for this type of question, please direct me (with a link, please) and I'll take the question there,

My husband and I are considering a trip to WDW in October during the Food and Wine Festival...a first time for us at that time of the year. We've been many times, especially during the Christmas holidays, but are looking forward to warmer weather and all the many different offerings during the Festival.

Any strategies for a newbie??? We'll be staying on property, but are wondering if a dining plan is really needed with all the different choices available in EPCOT...of course, we'd be visiting the other parks, and could use up the dining plan meals on days we don't go to EPCOT...but would it make more sense to just pay out of pocket instead of a plan?

Advice, please...

Thanks!!

Jeanne

 

[figment_jii]

If you do opt to go with the dining plan, it's worth noting that historically, the food items and non-alcoholic drinks have qualified as snack credits on the DDP. There are usually a few pricey items, so it can be very economical way to use your snack credits. Unfortunately, the F&W booths have not accepted CS credits in the past. When my family used to get the DDP, we would still get it during F&W. The snack credits would great and we still liked to have one sit down meal per day. We general snacked our way through the F&W for lunch and then planned a sit down meal for dinner.

For F&W information, I would check out the Disney Food Blog. They had a lot of good information.
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2014-epcot-food-and-wine-festival/

 

[JimmyV]

I would skip the dining plan if you intend to visit Epcot more than once. If you really make the most out of your visits to the food booths, paying an additional amount for the DP would be a waste. You won't need a full dinner if you spend the afternoon in World Showcase chowing down. On the other hand, if you are only going to go to Epcot once, then the DP can make sense as you can burn through all of your snack credits for your length of stay all in one day and sample quite a bit. For example, if you had 6 snack credits each, the two of you could get 12 items all in the same day. Not a bad haul. But of course you would have no snack credits left for your days in other parks. Also, if you only go to Epcot once, (or even twice), you could fill up on food from the booths on those days and skip dinner. You could then roll over that TS credit to a different day, doubling up on that day for a nice Signature meal. From a cost standpoint, however, know that the cost of using the booths as "full meals" is higher than a typical WDW restaurant charges. In other words, the amount of food that you would have to eat from the booths to "make a meal out of it" would cost more than going to a table service restaurant. Make a budget for food booth purchases. And then double it!!

 

[LSUfan4444]

I would skip the dining plan

 

[PSUGuy]

We never use a dining plan and during F&W we book very few ADRs, last Oct we did Ohana and Cape May while at WDW for 8 park days. Consider skipping WS on Sat. crazy crowded then, we hit another park that day, cruised around the Board Walk on a surrey bike and went to Raglan Road that night. We tend to graze around the World, sampling many of the offering there and we hit WS every afternoon except on Sat.. Be sure to check out the Eat to the Beat concerts, we caught 4 acts last Oct.

Bill From PA

 

[schoen]

It is such a fun event. My DH and I usually go twice to try everything. Unless it is something we KNOW we will love, than we split all items during these first two visits. On a 3rd, 4th, or 5th visit we will usually just hit up our favs from the first two visits. This past year my favorite item was the shrimp tacos at the Mexico booth. The lines are much much longer on the weekend, if you can avoid weekends, I would suggest it. If you can't avoid the whole weekend, I have found that Sunday's nights are (understandably) more manageable than Friday and Saturday nights.

 

[jlundeen]

Thanks for the advice...we normally to go EPCOT the first day, which will be a Friday this time around. So maybe, since it will be really crowded, we will just get a "lay of the land" that day, do our usual "First Day Dinner & Illuminations" thing, and come back during the week for real sampling of the Festival. Based on last year's hours, it looks like MK closes at 7 for the MNSSHP, and AK and HS close around 8-8:30 - but EPCOT is open until 10, so we might get a good idea of what we want to come back to try later.

What was your FAVORITE Festival food/drink/event?

 

[patster734]

Be sure to go to the Festival Center (Wonders of Live Pavilion) and pick up a passport. They're free and contain all of the food and drink options at every booth. It's a good way to keep track of what is offered at each booth. You can also get the passport punched at each booth as an added bonus.

 

[disnut8]

We've been to the Festival a few times and once we met my father and stepmother for Animal Kingdom in the morning and afternoon before going over to the Festival, which we do every evening while we are there. My father was in the last years of his life and in a wheelchair so, while at Animal Kingdom, he wanted to eat at Rainforest Cafe and we couldn't say no to him so we had lunch there. Not the greatest food but still a full meal. My father and stepmother then left for home so it was just my husband and me at the Festival. We found we couldn't enjoy it that much that evening because we were still full from the lunch. So we now go and plan absolutely no meals during the day, only snacks at the other parks since we want to have our fill at Epcot and the Festival.

Favorites at the Festival for me - cheese plates. Favorites at the Festival for husband - all meat dishes since they have so many different flavors and he can pick and choose as he's not sitting down somewhere with a huge plate of food and feeling like he has to eat everything. We truly nosh around the World at the Festival.

 

[weeniecat2442]

fun thread!
Myself, mom, aunt and cousin (an all ladies trip) are headed to our first F&W this October. Im trying to read up on the festival as Im not sure what to expect.
What does everyone think about the food and wine seminars?

 

[ghtx]

Don't get the dining plan. I don't think you need a strategy per se, except to avoid F&W during weekend evenings. If you go during weekday afternoons (e.g. between lunch and dinner) then it won't be crowded.

 

[Cee]

I agree the DP is not necessary. You will be "grazing" and rarely be hungry enough for a traditional meal. You can use your Magicband (with your CC attached) to pay easily at the kiosks. An even better way IMO is to purchase one of the themed gift cards on a wristlet, load it with the amount of money you are willing to spend and swipe away!

I hope you have a wonderful time. F & W Festival is our very favorite time at WDW!