Food and Wine Festival....please give me the "low down"

[d96j97]

Hi all! We have been to WDW many times but have never been there during the Food and Wine Festival. I do not know anything about it and that's exactly why I am asking here (no better place to get the best information ). I know that as long as we have park admission, we are good to go but from there I am clueless. Do we pay extra? Do you have to have any type of reservations? What are the MUST NOT MISS things we need to do? This trip is for our 25th anniversary and I'm super excited to try this out. Thanks so much in advance for all of your advice and tips!!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Hi all! We have been to WDW many times but have never been there during the Food and Wine Festival. I do not know anything about it and that's exactly why I am asking here (no better place to get the best information ). I know that as long as we have park admission, we are good to go but from there I am clueless. Do we pay extra? Do you have to have any type of reservations? What are the MUST NOT MISS things we need to do? This trip is for our 25th anniversary and I'm super excited to try this out. Thanks so much in advance for all of your advice and tips!!

On the Restaurant Board there are 2 Stickies for Food and Wine.

Moving you over to Restaurants.

 

[d96j97]

Thanks so much!!!

 

[loves to dive]

Also check out the disneyfoodblog, he has loads of info. Basically there will be 35 food booths, their menus are posted on the other sticky, the prices for the food ranges from around $4.50 to $9.00, little sample sizes. There are also special food and wine pairing meals you can sign up for and pay extra. There is a festival center with some pretty cool stuff and they have little culinary demos where you get a small taste of what the chef cooked and wine tastings, both $17 each. Special little merchandise booths are set up as well. Most of it takes place around world showcase but they have started putting a few booths into future world.

 

[Hopefully]

Generic Information "Stickie"
https://www.disboards.com/threads/2...ival-august-31-2017-november-13-2017.3562540/

 

[L&Lfan]

My boyfriend and I attended our first Food and Wine festival in 2008 and we've gone back every year (except 201o and 2015) since. Our main tip for you is that if it's your intention to sample as much of the offerings at the booths (35 this year), don't make any ADRS for your Food and Wine days. If you're like us you'll be more than full from all the entrees, desserts and drinks you'll be sampling. And if by chance you ARE still hungry, there's always plenty of quick service in the park and your resort. We devote two full days to the festival and we graze for our lunch AND dinner, but again trying all these unique food and beverage offerings is the point of our visit. Oh, for two adult males it usually costs us around $400-$500 for two days at the festival.

 

[Micca]

My boyfriend and I attended our first Food and Wine festival in 2008 and we've gone back every year (except 201o and 2015) since. Our main tip for you is that if it's your intention to sample as much of the offerings at the booths (35 this year), don't make any ADRS for your Food and Wine days. If you're like us you'll be more than full from all the entrees, desserts and drinks you'll be sampling. And if by chance you ARE still hungry, there's always plenty of quick service in the park and your resort. We devote two full days to the festival and we graze for our lunch AND dinner, but again trying all these unique food and beverage offerings is the point of our visit. Oh, for two adult males it usually costs us around $400-$500 for two days at the festival.

This is good stuff! You look at those small plates and think "This isn't very much food" but after a few kiosks you feel like you've just had a big Thanksgiving style feast. It does get pricey, especially if you like the alcoholic drinks. Lots of fun though, highly recommended.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Split everything you buy! You'll fill up quickly so we like to get there right when the world showcase opens and try a bunch of things for "lunch", and then come back later for "dinner". Splitting everything lets us try more before we're too stuffed to eat!

 

[FSU Girl]

They post menus ahead of time of what each country will be serving. Read over those and pick out what you'd like to try. It's really fun to try all sorts of different food and I wouldn't make a ADR for anything that day since the food can be really filling.

 

[helenm29]

Hi all! We have been to WDW many times but have never been there during the Food and Wine Festival. I do not know anything about it and that's exactly why I am asking here (no better place to get the best information ). I know that as long as we have park admission, we are good to go but from there I am clueless. Do we pay extra? Do you have to have any type of reservations? What are the MUST NOT MISS things we need to do? This trip is for our 25th anniversary and I'm super excited to try this out. Thanks so much in advance for all of your advice and tips!!

You are going to have SO much fun! remember, if you eat breakfast eat small amounts so you have room for all the goodies. If you can, work in a sit down meal some time during your day so you can enjoy the experience fully. Don't let the crowds bother you..bring lots of patience. Don't be afraid to try something out of your food zone..You'll be surprised how good it all is! These are just a few of my suggestions so just have a TON of FUN! also, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

if you have a choice about what day to experience the festival, avoid weekends like the plague. Saturdays are the worst but Friday nights can approximate them. Go Monday-Thursday for the best crowd experience.

 

[mousefan73]

Do booths stay open during EMHs? Are crowds insane then? Better skipping Friday EMHrs??

 

[squeezle]

There is no way you will be able to try everything, so my advice is to go over the menus before hand and strategize! We went in knowing what we definitely wanted to try and what booths we were willing to skip, that way we didn't end up too full to to eat something we really wanted to try. One day we started toward Mexico and ate until we were full and the next time we started toward Canada and did the same.

 

[loves to dive]

No, the booths are not open during EMH. I go for at least 4 days, usually 5 or 6 and eat all my meals except breakfast and one special food and wine pairing meal at the booths and deminars. I try to get one thing from every booth (go solo) but last year I kind of had to cheat and count a drink as one thing because I was just fuller than a tick and so bloated I couldn't stuff more food in my mouth by the last day. I'm not as organized as some, I start at whichever end I've entered at. Sometimes I enter through the IG since I stay at the Epcot resorts, sometimes I enter at the main gate if I've been to another park that morning. Then I go in the opposite direction I went the day/time before. I just get something at a booth and maybe sit and eat it, maybe walk around and eat it. Then I get something at the next booth I come to if I was walking around. I can make many,many,many trips around WS during the course of an afternoon and I tend to wander through the shops after I've finished my sample, allowing my stomach to kind settle down. I'll normally take a break and go back to the resort or another park for a little while then head back to Epcot and start all over again. I don't plan in advance which items I want or budget. I tried that the first year then I'd see someone walking away from a booth with something that looked good and I'd get that. I drink a lot of water too, it's hot and the food can be a little heavy.