Tell me about the Food and Wine Festival...

[jraymond503]

I just found out I will be visiting the last week of Food and Wine fest at EPCOT. We are now rethinking our ADR plans because of this.

I heard that all the "food booths" set up offering the samplings from the countries are all snack credits, true?

We are doing DxDP, do you think it is feasible to do "lunch" as you progress around World Showcase using just snack credits?

 

[bluejasmine]

Well the portions are quite small, much smaller than an appetizer portion in my opinion. We did use a snack credit once or twice but paid OOP for a few other things and wow it isnt cheap. Last yr was our first experience and we decided it just wasnt for us, so crowded and there was alot of drunk ppl which just seemed odd to see in a disney park. I mean when we go out to a bar we accept it but our two teenagers were not comfortable being around it. Hopefully its not a common experience during F&W but we made sure to book our bounce back trip well before the F&W this yr

 

[ElizabethB]

We always enjoy the Festival! It is definitely feasible to do "lunch" by sampling from the booths. Last year, some of the servings were actually rather large for a "sampling". The Fisherman's Pie at the Ireland booth comes to mind. It was delicious and quite sizeable actually. Some servings at some booths are smaller.

As a pp indicated, it gets pricey quickly, though using snack credits would help. Most servings cost $4-$7, with things at last year's Festival like the lobster roll, grilled lamb chops and sashimi with avocado being on the higher end. We found that we could easily spend $60 to $80 or so in a selected tasting of foods and wines for lunch.

I fully appreciate the pp's concerns about crowds and roving packs of drunks gulping from huge steins of beer and stumbling around. We don't like that scene either. For that reason we NEVER go on a Friday or Saturday night when the locals are out in force. We try always to do the booths for lunch on, say, a Wednesday.

 

[Leota]

We go to F&W Fest just about every year. We eat a good number of lunches & a couple dinners by snacking our way around World Showcase. It's perfect for us, we love to eat "Tapas Style".

It does add up tho - we can spend $50-$70 in an afternoon in no time at all.

As far as crowds & drunks, that must happen more on weekends. We avoid weekends because of the crowds. But we have never seen any sloppy drunks either this way.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We love the F&W but it is very expensive to make a meal out of it...we try to sample as much as we can but each booth can cost you $15 or more!! DH and I share the samples so we can try just about all of it

 

[jraymond503]

I understand it can get pricey, but I was told by someone that all the food is considered a "snack credit" and since my family is doing the deluxe dining plan and they don't differentiate between "adult" and "kid" snacks.... we will get 8 snack credits a day. I am sure we won't use that many on other days so I was hoping for a plan of kind of "hoarding" them to use at Food and Wine...

Does this make sense???

 

[T-rox]

appreciate the info

 

[marshwiggle]

I understand it can get pricey, but I was told by someone that all the food is considered a "snack credit" and since my family is doing the deluxe dining plan and they don't differentiate between "adult" and "kid" snacks.... we will get 8 snack credits a day. I am sure we won't use that many on other days so I was hoping for a plan of kind of "hoarding" them to use at Food and Wine...

Does this make sense???

I've only been to F&W once, but that was the case last year - any of the food samples (excluding the alcoholic drinks) regardless of price was considered a snack.

Maybe our expectations were too high, but we weren't super impressed by our experience - the food at the booths was mostly fair/middling at best and we mistakenly thought that the staff serving the samples might know something about them. If we go back this year, we'll probably try some of the demos or dinner events but they already seemed pretty pricey last year...

 

[HunnyJar]

Well the portions are quite small, much smaller than an appetizer portion in my opinion. We did use a snack credit once or twice but paid OOP for a few other things and wow it isnt cheap. Last yr was our first experience and we decided it just wasnt for us, so crowded and there was alot of drunk ppl which just seemed odd to see in a disney park. I mean when we go out to a bar we accept it but our two teenagers were not comfortable being around it. Hopefully its not a common experience during F&W but we made sure to book our bounce back trip well before the F&W this yr

I agree with the underlined bold text. We did it once and I doubt we would do it again. Especially with our kids. We saw quite a few drunk people who were rude, LOUD and very pushy. Both my mom and my son (11 at the time) had drinks spilled on them. Even though, we were there for my son's birthday he asked that we not go back to WDW during the Food and Wine Festival again.

That said, we did like the offerings of food we tried. We didn't try much, though. We were on the dining plan and while we could use some of our snack credits for this event, we opted to save them for other things. It was fun to try once, but in all honesty.. I'd much rather see the Flower and Garden Festival.

 

[Eeyorerocks!]

We love the F &WF, however, I do agree that it is best to avoid it on the weekends, and it is much more low-key at lunch. Also, at night when it is very crowded, it is difficult to navigate with young children and strollers in tow! Our kids were 8 when we last went, and, even at that age, they tend to straggle behind. We also had DS(1 at the time) in a stroller, and it was difficult.

It is one of our fave events in the World, though You just have to do it right . . .

 

[BriarRosie]

I have to wonder if the people who experienced the drunk and disorderly types went on a weekend? I ask because I book my trips specifically around the festival, and I try to avoid the weekends due to the crowds.

I think the food and wine kiosks are a good use of snack credits. I spend a ton over the course of several days on the kiosk food just to try as many different items as I can.

 

[candielips]

Is it busy in all the parks or just Epcot? We are currently booked the last 2 wks in Sept but were thinking about changing our dates to the first 2 wks in Oct. but not sure that we want to if it is that busy.

 

[HunnyJar]

We went October 12-22 in 2006. We had three days planned in Epcot. One of those days might have been a weekend, but not all three of them because we don't like to do the same park two days in a row. I remember Epcot was busy and the AK was busy.. But I don't remember MK being all that bad. I doubt that the problems we faced are typical, but for us it was bad enough that none of us really want to go back during this time. Maybe we will try it again in a few years, but no time soon.

 

[Art 1]

Food and Wine, well, been to it many times only because I like EPCOT and go often. It's a quick way to burn thru $100, easily. It's really nothing special. IMO.

 

[BriarRosie]

Is it busy in all the parks or just Epcot? We are currently booked the last 2 wks in Sept but were thinking about changing our dates to the first 2 wks in Oct. but not sure that we want to if it is that busy.

It won't be as busy at Epcot in September because the festival starts October 1st this year. Weekends will be way busier in October than in September.

 

[RoxyFour]

I understand it can get pricey, but I was told by someone that all the food is considered a "snack credit" and since my family is doing the deluxe dining plan and they don't differentiate between "adult" and "kid" snacks.... we will get 8 snack credits a day. I am sure we won't use that many on other days so I was hoping for a plan of kind of "hoarding" them to use at Food and Wine...

Does this make sense???

We went last year and did just that. Many of the offerings at the F&W Fest tend to be pricier than the other snacks you could get, so using your snack credits at the booth is a good idea. If you want to try a lot of things make sure to check the prices first so you know which dishes are the cheapest. You might as well get the most bang for your buck.