Is the Food and Wine fest as good as they say?

[jmain007]

I have heard alot about it - Love to eat (especially new, good different foods) and we are trying to plan for it next trip. Any feedback would be great! - Thanks

 

[Todd&Copper]

Honestly, it was fun, but it gets pricey very quickly. There were a number of stands that I thought had very run-of-the-mill kind of foods that I could get at the grocery store (the one that springs to mind is Poland - kielbasa and pierogies that seemed straight out of the Hillshire Farms and Mrs. T's wrappers), and there were some that had more interesting and tasty treats. But at $3 - 5 for a couple of bites, it does add up very fast.

 

[SingLikeAriel]

If you're on the DDP, can you use credits for the Food and Wine festival?

 

[Mississippianna]

When we went 3 years ago, you could use your snack credits at the booths. We spent all our snacks in one day walking around the Showcase trying different food. It added up to be a great lunch.

 

[pianoronni37]

Last year DH and I went and we used our snack credits for the F&W Festival - it was great! We just couldn't use credits for alcoholic beverages, but some of those were delicious as well!! The $ did add up, even when using snack credits, but I think it's a great time to spend in the World Showcase, when normally we would just walk through and not visit as much.

 

[beroh2253]

Some of the food is ok and some isn't very good. Don't get 2 of the same thing unless you have tryed it already. See what others seem to enjoy. I don't know if they were Mrs T's pierogi but they were ice cold. And the potato cakes in Ireland terrible, cold and greesey. Shrip on a barbi pretty good. One thing for sure is the beer and wine are great.

 

[DiZneEChIcK]

It is a lot of money for a "bite" of food. I would just go and share a counter service meal for the price of 2 "bites" at the Food and Wine Festival.

Unless, of course, there is something that you really want to try that you cannot get elsewhere.

 

[MickeyNicki]

No its better!

The concerts are a blast!

We have been going every year since they opened and we love it. The last 3 years we have noticed the size of the portions and the drinks are waaaayyyy too small for the amount they charge!

 

[Hopefully]

We "stumbled" upon it the first year, and we have been going back ever since. It is great fun. We are on the DDP and we have used our snack credits at the F & W Food booths. We usually have one day where we "Nosh Around the World" and save a TS to use at a 2 TS location. It works out great for us.
Yes it can be expensive, and I agree with MickeyNickey, the portion sizes are waaaaay to small for the price.
All that said, we still will go back, and we have a trip planned for this fall.
Have a Great Trip.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think it's a lot of fun, but like others have said, it can get pricey. There are the included wine tastings and culinary demonstrations, but everything else costs money.

 

[Todd&Copper]

Oh, I forgot about the wine tastings, and DH & I went to a couple of them. While I enjoyed the wine at both, the speaker at one was a very snooty, twerpy man (CA winery) who thought he was the shizznit and he annoyed. The other speaker was from Chile & those wines were better, anyway.

 

[J3nn78]

We loved it and cannot wait to do another. We were on the dining plan and saved our snack credits and ate our way around the world. Some portions were VERY small, while others were quite large. I had lazagna that would have been all I would have eaten at a meal.
Totally worth it using the snack credits.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I love the F&W festival. I set aside one day for the events in the festival center, had several yummy foods and several glasses of wine. Boy, was I full-and it was free!

I haven't been disappointed in serving sizes at the booths either. The cheddar cheese soup at the Canadian booth is delicious!

 

[OhioTony]

We love F&W festival!! We'll be back this year. We typically eat a light breakfast and then snack and drink around the world. Mostly drink as the food isn't much you can't get somewhere else. Then we use a counter service dinner.

 

[Stinkerbell317]

2008 was my first F&W Fest, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. Yes, it gets pricey, but I found after to going to 3 booths, I was full. The food was pretty rich, so it filled me up. My favorite was the chimmichurri beef from Argentina. DELICIOUS!!!!!! And even the single pear I had for a snack was perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy. I wish we were going again this year.

 

[Rubbertops]

I was happy to try it once.

 

[aubriee]

We loved it! We went in '07 and because we had booked Bounce Back free dining the year before, we were able to carry the free dining over into the Food and Wine Festival. We spent two days snacking around the World Showcase using our snack credits. What we did was use a snack credit for anything over $3.00 and then paid cash for anything cheaper. It was great! In fact, I booked the Bounce Back program again when we were there this past Sept for the first week of this Sept. After thinking about it, I called just a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could move my free dining back a couple of weeks and how late I could rebook it for and still keep my free dining. I now have reservations for Sept 26th-Oct 4th, so plan on using my free snack credits to again eat around the world (paying for the cheaper stuff and using snack credits for the more expensive things).

 

[tiggr33]

I have heard alot about it - Love to eat (especially new, good different foods) and we are trying to plan for it next trip. Any feedback would be great! - Thanks

It depends on what you are looking for. I enjoyed years prior to 2008. I have heard the 2008 festival refered to as Food and Whine by many. Like everything else in today's economy, it had been scaled back and offered fewer hard ticket events, and the venues for hard ticketed events were horrible. But if you are only intrested in the kiosks and samples then it is quite enjoyable to a degree. I say that for many of the kiosks offer the same or similiar offerings year after year. Since it will be your first F&W this wouldn't apply to you, I just put it out as a general thought. To me F&W is not what it once was. In fact, I haven't made any reservations to go this years and I will wait until the summer when they announce the hard tickets and then decide.

 

[MICKEEP]

We love it. You can probably find DW and myself there every Saturday night. As others have said the food is hit or miss, some good some not so good. The concerts are great.

I have always wanted to try the party for the senses but the cost is kind of steep. Maybe this year.

 

[koolaidmoms]

We go for the food. We love it! We set aside the same amount we would normally spend on a TS meal, put the kids in the Neverland Club and head out. We try a bite at each place.

Our favorites were the pastie in Ireland, the apple cider sauerkraut from Ireland, the boboti from South Africa and the golden shrimp in Japan. The cheddar cheese soup and maple fudge were also near the top of the list. We love that it allows us to have a full tasting meal.

We have never been to the ticketed events. Love the free concerts all around though. Go and have fun and eat and drink your way around the world.