# Food and Wine Festival



## spencersmama (Oct 5, 2012)

I was in EPCOT last weekend, the first weekend of the Food and Wine Festival.  I noticed both this year and last that as the festival gets bigger, more and more groups of people go for the sole purpose of getting really drunk.  Even at 1 - 2 pm in the afternoon, I saw lots of people really drunk and obnoxious.  My kids are teens, so I really am not as bothered by the swearing, but I noticed at least 3 or 4 families with younger children trying to go on rides and do activities, visibly upset.  I think it's gotten worse as the number of kiosks have increased.  Anyone else notice this lately?


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## dvc_john (Oct 6, 2012)

I did last year. Mostly on the weekend. The weekdays were fine, but I don't think I'll go back on a weekend again.


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## spencersmama (Oct 6, 2012)

dvc_john said:


> I did last year. Mostly on the weekend. The weekdays were fine, but I don't think I'll go back on a weekend again.



That's what I suspected.  It looked like groups of relatively local 20 or 30 somethings.


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## chriskre (Oct 6, 2012)

We go every year and avoid the weekends for this and other reasons.
It's so much nicer during the week when the locals are still in school and working.  

Disney just came out with a new Monday thru Friday annual pass for Florida residents.  That's the pass I will be buying from now on since it's night and day difference between the weekends and weekdays in the parks.


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## spencersmama (Oct 6, 2012)

chriskre said:


> We go every year and avoid the weekends for this and other reasons.
> It's so much nicer during the week when the locals are still in school and working.
> 
> Disney just came out with a new Monday thru Friday annual pass for Florida residents.  That's the pass I will be buying from now on since it's night and day difference between the weekends and weekdays in the parks.



I have a friend that bought those passes for her family.  She takes her kids out of school.  She has much younger kids than I do.  I actually upgraded a couple of years ago to the premium annual passes because my kids were so busy it was hard to go even on the weekends during the school year, let alone justify having them skip school for Disney.  (They are in high school and middle school.)  I miss those mid-week fall visits, though!


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## Twinkstarr (Oct 8, 2012)

I've done F&W during the week back in 2009(3rd week of Oct) and we were down last year the weekend before election day(start of Jersey Week).

I think it may have been a toss up on the drunk behavior. I was expecting it for our weekend trip, but was kind of amused by the mid week behavior as it seemed to go against the standard DIS/Mouseowner board advice. 

Didn't realize Sister Sledge had such a hard partying following.:rofl:

On both trips, the "unseemly behavior for Disney" seemed to come from a bit older crowd, I'm guessing mid 30-late 40's. Kids home with grandma trip?


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## bnoble (Oct 8, 2012)

> I'm guessing mid 30-late 40's. Kids home with grandma trip?


We are in that age bracket, we are headed to BCV later this month, and we are leaving the kids at home with the grandparents.  Our plan is to eat, drink, and be merry, so I suppose I'll be One Of Those People.


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## spencersmama (Oct 8, 2012)

Twinkstarr said:


> On both trips, the "unseemly behavior for Disney" seemed to come from a bit older crowd, I'm guessing mid 30-late 40's. Kids home with grandma trip?



It wasn't the drunkenness that was the issue, at least in my opinion.  It was the loud swearing, especially around little kids.  Hopefully the "leave the kids with Grandma" crowd will know better than to yell out, hand pumping in the air, "H*** yeah, I'm getting F***ed up in Disney!  Woo hoo," in a sea of preschool girls dressed as princesses.  

I probably saw three separate incidents like that.  I thought one dad was really going to help the guy get f'ed up, and not in the way Mr. Obnoxious was intending!


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## jme (Oct 8, 2012)

*F&W Festival trip upcoming*

In November I'm taking my wife and staff of 5 girls to WDW for F&W Festival. Never been before to the festival, so i'm trying to learn a little online. We have a week at a 3-BR Marriott Lakeshore Reserve townhouse, but we'll actually only be able to stay 4 nights because of the staff's family left behind-----a week away from work is just too much, so, we'll leave it empty when we depart.

I'm pretty sure we'll only do two days at WDW, MAYBE 3, and not sure about that extra day.....Maybe Universal, maybe nothing......might need a down day. Don't care about Sea World. 

Any suggestions?  How many days can you get for the Park Hopper Passes? We may only want 2 days.  3 at most. 

We have dinner reservations at one of the countries in Epcot for one night already, and plan to roam around and do the samples from several countries another night......winging it the rest......but what would you do?  

not sure about any special shows or seminars/demos, etc... ---I think we'll maybe catch the Eat to the Beat Concerts-----one is 38 Special, other is Howard Jones. 

any random suggestions for anything?  thanks


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## Twinkstarr (Oct 8, 2012)

spencersmama said:


> It wasn't the drunkenness that was the issue, at least in my opinion.  It was the loud swearing, especially around little kids.  Hopefully the "leave the kids with Grandma" crowd will know better than to yell out, hand pumping in the air, "H*** yeah, I'm getting F***ed up in Disney!  Woo hoo," in a sea of preschool girls dressed as princesses.
> 
> I probably saw three separate incidents like that.  I thought one dad was really going to help the guy get f'ed up, and not in the way Mr. Obnoxious was intending!



Yes, I saw older people being just as obnoxious as that. But only saw that behavior back in World Showcase. To be honest if I was that sensitive with my kids(mine are older and I know they have heard worse on the school bus) I would avoid World Showcase after 3pm on any day of F&W.

I said it over on the DIS boards, I think alll of the rowdy behavior I have witnesses over the years at WDW and the DVC resorts has been from a definately older crowd that should know better.


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## chriskre (Oct 8, 2012)

Twinkstarr said:


> I said it over on the DIS boards, I think alll of the rowdy behavior I have witnesses over the years at WDW and the DVC resorts has been from a definately older crowd that should know better.



Well this is true since they put in the new Tequila bar.
It's almost as rowdy as Cozumel some days.  
Gotta admit that it is now one of my "must" stops in Epcot.


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## Twinkstarr (Oct 9, 2012)

chriskre said:


> Well this is true since they put in the new Tequila bar.
> It's almost as rowdy as Cozumel some days.
> Gotta admit that it is now one of my "must" stops in Epcot.



I'll keep it in mind for my next solo trip, maybe next year.

This year's "mom trip to save my sanity" is a cruise on the NCL Epic. 
DH figures I need a break from him and the boys and my very nutty sister.


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## bnoble (Oct 9, 2012)

> How many days can you get for the Park Hopper Passes?


Anywhere from one to ten.

And, yes, the margaritas at La Cava are very very good.  If you go on a Margarita Monday, and follow them on facebook or twitter, they may sometimes discount the margaritas for you---and will sometimes offer a deal on a shot as well.


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## spencersmama (Oct 9, 2012)

jme said:


> In November I'm taking my wife and staff of 5 girls to WDW for F&W Festival. Never been before to the festival, so i'm trying to learn a little online. We have a week at a 3-BR Marriott Lakeshore Reserve townhouse, but we'll actually only be able to stay 4 nights because of the staff's family left behind-----a week away from work is just too much, so, we'll leave it empty when we depart.
> 
> I'm pretty sure we'll only do two days at WDW, MAYBE 3, and not sure about that extra day.....Maybe Universal, maybe nothing......might need a down day. Don't care about Sea World.
> 
> ...



I haven't done any of the seminars.  If you are a foodie or wine lover, they might be worth it to you.  You'll pay for the experience, though.  I think the events I saw cost between $95 - $200 per person.

The concerts can be fun, if you like the musicians.  The real fans line up really early, but if you don't mind sitting in the back, you will probably get in to at least one of the three concert times.  I could easily hear and see the band just walking around the America section.

It's kind of hard to give advice about what to do or see since I don' know your interests.  Any time you go with a group, it takes longer to actually do anything.  I also usually stick to one park a day because the day gets long and tiring when you park hop.  You should look at the ticket prices online. For instance, a 3 day park hopper is $299, but a 4 day non park hopper is $256.  When I go to the parks, I very rarely go for the entire day.


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## capjak (Oct 9, 2012)

For a huge splurge go to party of the senses. it is unbelievable, of course it is expensive.  crique du soleil does performances while approximately 25 chefs from around the world create dishes for you to try including desserts.


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## Twinkstarr (Oct 9, 2012)

I did a food & wine pairing, which was I think about $55. Also caught some of the chef demos(one from the GF, the other a sushi chef from Japan pavillion at Epcot). You got a sample of the food and a rather small glass of wine. I think those were around $15 ish with a DVC/AP/TIW discount. And I did do wine tasting, but I can't remember how much that was.

I would have sprung for one of those dinners that run a couple of hundred, but in 2009 they didn't have any during the week. DH wasn't impressed with any of the offerings, so we ended up doing the tasting menu over at Bluezoo. Well worth the money.


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## bnoble (Oct 9, 2012)

We're doing the dessert/cocktail thing on the Friday we are there.  I think it is around $60 per person or so.  I thought about Party for the Senses, but we are going to get to see New Fantasyland on that Saturday evening instead as part of a D23 Preview.

I haven't signed up for anything else yet, as it is our first time, but I might try to get in to a couple of the deminars.


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## got4boys (Oct 10, 2012)

Last year I went to Food and Wine and the best advice is to go early, when World Showcase area opens up 11:00 a.m.

Eat a light breakfast (or none). You can go around the world, pick the foods, take your time and be done by 12:30 before the crowd joins. It did get very packed after noon.

We actually got Soaring fast pass tickets and when we were done going around the world we did Soaring.

Peggy


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## happybaby (Oct 11, 2012)

We plan on going Tuesday and be there at opening at 9am.  So should we venture over to World Showcase for 11 am opening.  I cant imagine being out of there by 1230pm to see all countries and sample food in an hour and a half.

maybe wonder over there by noon and sample foods for our lunch and then go back to future world

OP mentioned the new Fantasy land.  We will try to do all that  in the MK Sunday at the MNSSHP 4 til midnight.  If not , go back maybe Friday


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## happybaby (Oct 22, 2012)

We did Epcot on Tuesday as planned and got to see everything.   But we did not go into all of the countries, just sampled food til i could eat no more!!!

Of course we have been to Epcot before so going into all the countries was no big thing even tho we should have taken grd in to see them.  she still enjoyed eating the food  
Did the boat ride in Mexico and ride in Norway

I liked the lamb chop at Austrailia and she liked the shrimp taco at Mexico  

all in all ........all was good

And we saw no drunks as op have mentioned!!!!

Also did MNSSHP on Sunday and saw it all   4pm til midnight.  No need to go back to MK later in the week


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## AnnaS (Oct 23, 2012)

We have gone the last three years.  Once we went, we knew it would become a yearly trip.  Skipped this year since my oldest just got married.

Weekend are definitely packed.  We have not encountered any drunk behaviour - does not mean it does not happen but have yet to see it ourselves.

We love the concerts too!!!


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## MommaBear (Oct 24, 2012)

I was there last week. Saturday was an overcrowded bacchanalia complete with drunk frat boys in togas, lines 30 to 50 deep at each kiosk. Tuesday and Wednesday were delightful with every line no more than 3 to 4 people deep, easy walking room. Next year? I will arrive on a Sunday, go weekdays only and get out before the weekend. I love the concept, the music, the food and the party atmosphere during the week. I have not yet done any of the seminars but will try to booka  few ahead next year.


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## happybaby (Oct 24, 2012)

Going on Tuesday was pleasant.

Both Future World and World Showcase were not crowded at all.

None of the parks were overly crowded  
The MNSSHP(Sunday) or Hollywood Studios (Thursday)

Even Isl of Adventure for Harry Potter wasnt packed.  We bought the express ticket which was a waste of money.    went on Wednesday

Think we did get a few fast passes but really the lines were not bad!!!


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