Some observations 9/20 -9/24....

[Imamom2]

Food and Wine is excellent! The food is amazing - our faves were the Culinary Corridor booths. Crab cakes, shrimp and scallops, mac and cheese all so good! Canada offerings were very good, too. Lots to try and really nice portions on most dishes. The food is very rich and we spent 5 days tasting our way around the world - we needed that long. The 8-item tasting sampler is great for drinks and we used it for Passionrita's and things over $10 so it was a good deal.

Weather - beautiful! A little shower in the afternoon Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but that was it. Not too humid either.

Crowds - in MK and AK lots of people with lots of strollers. Epcot was really OK . Friday and Saturday night were busy but not crazy. HS was really just a lot of people walking around looking for things to do. I just have to comment on the whole Star Wars storm trooper marching thing - so creepy. It was really disturbing to hear that voice telling everyone 'the resistance must be stopped' or whatever they were saying. Not fun. The Star Wars fireworks at night were pretty good.

FoP - we got on line at 8:00pm Thursday when the wait said 110 minutes. We were off at 9:10. Friday morning at 9:30 the lines went down the Tiffins one way and Festival of the Lion King the other way with a 3 hour wait. Crazy even for people who did rope-drop. I would definitely do stand-by line at night. Navi River is beautiful. Stunning detail. All of Pandora seems very crowded tho' and it probably will be for a while.

FEA - sad to say I was really disappointed. After 7 Dwarfs opened a few years ago I expected the Frozen ride to be stunning and it was really lacking in details. There are sections of brown wall on the left that are actually blank - no detail. So many people with little ones on line and yes, the kids were all singing and excited so it's a must-do if you are a 'Frozen parent' but I don't think I would use FP again for it.

Keys to the Kingdom and Savor the Savana were very good tours. Dinner out on the Boma in AK was delicious and they served a lot of food. Olivia and Kate were great guides and the pictures are amazing.

PhotoPass - loved it! We have so many fun pictures with 'magic' in them.

All who are going to F & W I hope you have as much fun as we did!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Sounds like a great trip! I am hoping the FoP lines settle down before we go in February but not counting on it.

 

[Imamom2]

Sounds like a great trip! I am hoping the FoP lines settle down before we go in February but not counting on it.

I screwed up my FPs and got Navi first - I was never able to get FoP and I tried every day. If you can't get FPs or plan to ride twice definitely do the stand-by line at night. The que is pretty cool and the line went fast.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

We love the Storm Troopers!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree, that Frozen ride is terrible (and I'm a huge Frozen fan)

Glad you liked your trip!

 

[JerseyJanice]

Our trip dates overlapped. My trip was 9/16-9/23/17.

That Storm Trooper Star Wars thing was deadeningly loud! I was there with my baby great nieces and couldn't get away with them fast enough. They're too little to start experiencing hearing loss.

Also, was this your first F&WF?

 

[mamamelody2]

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for sharing!

 

[heather13]

Thanks!
Interesting perspective on FEA. It seems to be the ride to do at Epcot, but maybe no? I've convinced my daughters (who were pretty sick of Frozen six months after it came out, and still are) that they would have to do that and Frozen Sing Along, but if it's not worthwhile - like Peter Pan caliber - then maybe we should skip it.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Most people seem to like FEA. We have the obligatory fast pass for it. My policy is to try it at least once before deciding whether or not it's for me.

 

[Marney0612]

The Stormtroopers terrified my four year old. It's an unfortunate placement of them next to the Disney Junior stuff. I get that they're trying to create a mood,but it can be intimidating for the little ones.

 

[Dolby1000]

FEA is terrible. The music is way too loud and it drowns out anything the characters may be saying. We did it once with a FP and vowed that once was enough and have no interest in riding it again. And, yes, we loved Frozen, but this ride didn't do it for us at all. We were very disappointed to lose the Norway ride to this waste of time.

 

[Bimmy56]

FEA is terrible. The music is way too loud and it drowns out anything the characters may be saying. We did it once with a FP and vowed that once was enough and have no interest in riding it again. And, yes, we loved Frozen, but this ride didn't do it for us at all. We were very disappointed to lose the Norway ride to this waste of time.

was there 15-23rd. We were also disappointed by the Frozen ride,although the queue was pretty cool, will not do it again. I noticed that there were strollers and crying babies, toddlers everywhere. One bus ride we were the only family without a stroller (often double strollers). However, there was a notable lack of school children, and hardly any teenagers.

 

[Imamom2]

Our trip dates overlapped. My trip was 9/16-9/23/17.

That Storm Trooper Star Wars thing was deadeningly loud! I was there with my baby great nieces and couldn't get away with them fast enough. They're too little to start experiencing hearing loss.

Also, was this your first F&WF?

It was our first F&W - we loved it! 2 years ago we missed it by one week so I'm so glad we could do it this time. Already planning Sept. 2019. The Storm Troopers just don't fit in for me.

Thanks!
Interesting perspective on FEA. It seems to be the ride to do at Epcot, but maybe no? I've convinced my daughters (who were pretty sick of Frozen six months after it came out, and still are) that they would have to do that and Frozen Sing Along, but if it's not worthwhile - like Peter Pan caliber - then maybe we should skip it.

If you haven't done it you should just to get your own view inside. For us the 'must do' is Soarin'. The updates are beautiful. Not a fan of Test Track either but we do like Mission Space and Spaceship Earth. I'm hoping to see something more with Guardians of the Galaxy. Epcot is so lovely on its own I'm sure the additions will really change the vibe of the park but the World Showcase is my favorite place in all of Disney.

 

[2Gma]

there was a notable lack of school children, and hardly any teenagers.

At DHS today and agree, the stormtrooper march is loud even our 8yr old was like "lets be done with this."

And now that you mention it, yes, ALOT of families with little ones in strollers and mid aged adults. I guess we are the few "bad" parents who don't mind pulling our kids from school

 

[TwoHeartsBeat]

At DHS today and agree, the stormtrooper march is loud even our 8yr old was like "lets be done with this."

And now that you mention it, yes, ALOT of families with little ones in strollers and mid aged adults. I guess we are the few "bad" parents who don't mind pulling our kids from school

I'm a bad parent too. We'll be missing 4 days of school in October before the official fall break starts.

I love going during the school year.

 

[heidijanesmith]

We were there the exact same days!

I loved the weather this trip. It was hot, but it seemed that there was a nice breeze and low humidity.

I did MNSSHP on Friday the 22nd, it was great. Loved the Hocus Pocus show!

 

[Minniekins]

@Imamom2 Sounds like you guys had a fun trip, and some yummy food, that's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Can you share anymore about "The 8-item tasting sampler "? What is this, and does it work for food and / or drinks? Do you remember how much this was? And one more thing, can you get one and split with someone? Thanks, and again, glad you had a great trip!

 

[Imamom2]

@Imamom2 Sounds like you guys had a fun trip, and some yummy food, that's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Can you share anymore about "The 8-item tasting sampler "? What is this, and does it work for food and / or drinks? Do you remember how much this was? And one more thing, can you get one and split with someone? Thanks, and again, glad you had a great trip!

@Minniekins the 8-item sampler is $69 tax included and it has 8 tabs for any item except flights and the champagne. We used them on Passionreita's, Strawberry-Lemon Sunsets, and Margaritas... any drink over $10. There weren't really any food items over $8.50 so the sampler is best for alcohol. We also purchased the $200 lanyard and the wrist gift card that you can reload. Since we went to Epcot every day that worked great for us. We purchased them at the Festival Center near Mission Space but you can purchase them at multiple locations.