***Epcot Food And Wine Festival Info 2008***

[PatriciaH]

We went to the festival on Friday (PM) and Saturday. It was PACKED Friday night. Lines at the booths were crazy. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was very good! On Saturday we made it into one cooking demo (Pam Smith) but were a little late for the whiskey one. Saturday seemed a little less crowded. We were going to go Sunday too but it was so HOT Saturday (strong sun) I will wait till next weekend! Free seminars seemed to be filling about 1/2 an hour ahead.

 

[webray]

I think its funny that they put in bold "Judges were drinking champagne throughout the day" Is that to say they were a little drunk by the time judging came around!

Thanks for the post kabuki!

Wow, whoever wrote that article wasn't paying attention, lol. Nope..they definately were not drunk. All the judges were great..not drunk though and definately not swilling champagne all day.
Those guys were kept so busy, they barely had time to breathe themselves.

 

[Forever Fairy]

This is the last of the rating cards! I didn't know what to put for the Brewer's Collection booth - so I will have to fill that one in when I find out what beers they have. Have a great time at Food & Wine Fest everyone!

Cheers!
-Michelle

Thank you Michelle for putting the time and effort into making these cards. Since this will be my first time at the F&W Fest, I'm sure these will come in handy.

 

[MickeyNicki]

For anyone that has been to the 08 F&W so far...do you know if they have the Twinnings Ice Tea stand in England?

How about the flavored daquiri stand at the entrance to the countries?

They had both in 07 and we loved them!

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Thanks for everyone who has posted to help make this another Magical Food and Wine Festival. I am completing preparations to attend this Thursday- Sunday and am so excited. Meanwhile I have a report from a Friend who was there Sat/Sunday. He is a semi-Disney local and reported that the lines were long, but managable. They carried the wait time lanyard 3 times and each time it was 10 minutes or less. There were some food booths so crowded they skipped but they ran out of appetite with the time they had. There were credit card issues as the scans did not go through, but the food preparers were very efficient.

 

[Paul in CT]

Can anyone tell me if you can use Disney dollars for the F&W kiosks? I received a gift of $200 Disney dollars in denominations of $10. Will they give change or should I convert them to a Disney gift card? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[webray]

Can anyone tell me if you can use Disney dollars for the F&W kiosks? I received a gift of $200 Disney dollars in denominations of $10. Will they give change or should I convert them to a Disney gift card? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

If you are planning on eating a lot, or even if not, I would just convert them to a disney gift card to be used easily anywhere.

 

[Forever42]

Still trying to "digest" the weekend a bit (no pun intended). We actually gave up Saturday evening, it was just TOO hot and too crowded for us, and we'll have nearly every other weekend to go, so we went home to relax.

To me, the "cheapening" of the FWF this year is noticeable, with only one seminar location now instead of two, so approximately half the free seminars. Portion sizes on drinks are especially noticeably smaller. Maybe 1oz or so less on the wines? Beers are still well portioned, but I'm sad there's no Tusker lager.

The chocolate creme brulee is still awful - I don't understand how they get away serving what amounts to runny chocolate pudding with caramelized sugar on top.

We'll be going back I think Wed, and definitely Friday though.

For anyone that has been to the 08 F&W so far...do you know if they have the Twinnings Ice Tea stand in England?

How about the flavored daquiri stand at the entrance to the countries?

They had both in 07 and we loved them!

No, neither this year. There's no large display area at the end of the rose garden at all, which I was sad about.

 

[MickeyNicki]

No, neither this year. There's no large display area at the end of the rose garden at all, which I was sad about.

Thank you so much for answering my question...I am really bummed out about this too! Last year we sucked down more ice teas than I can count, they were so refreshing on a hot day

 

[kabuki]

Thank you so much for answering my question...I am really bummed out about this too! Last year we sucked down more ice teas than I can count, they were so refreshing on a hot day

I have to say when I saw your question a bout the ice tea stand I was excited and scared to learn the answer. Thought it was a great idea and also drank gallons of tea on hot days! Sorry to hear it's not around!

 

[puffkins]

10 days away...can't wait to go

 

[ImprovGal]

Can anyone tell me if you can use Disney dollars for the F&W kiosks? I received a gift of $200 Disney dollars in denominations of $10. Will they give change or should I convert them to a Disney gift card? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Disney Dollars are treated as cash in the parks and Disney resorts. They will give you change at the kiosks.

 

[Paul in CT]

Disney Dollars are treated as cash in the parks and Disney resorts. They will give you change at the kiosks.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Paul in CT]

If you are planning on eating a lot, or even if not, I would just convert them to a disney gift card to be used easily anywhere.

I may convert some to a card since that would be easy to use, but I will save some just in case their "computer" goes down.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[tkbk]

8 days to go and counting to our first F&W festival!

PFTS 10/11/08
Saki, Sushi and sashimi pairing 10/13/08
(squeezing in MNSSHP 10/13/08, haven't ever been for this either)
Med. food & wine pairing 10/14/08
Jamie Dean kitchen conversation 10/18/08

and of course our favorite ADR's too and a few new ones like Jiko and Flying Fish

Can't wait, so excited!

 

[jcvalenti]

Well, it's 5:45 am and I leave in 15 minutes to catch the morning flight down to Orlando. If all goes according to plan, I should be walking through the International Gateway sometime around 12:00 pm. Just in time for lunch !

And I'm pretty sure noon is wine time somewhere in the world . . .

I'll try to make sure some food (and wine) is left for everyone coming later in the month

 

[gismo1554]

OK so one please tell me that this year they have BRAHMA on the Brewers collection stand? Just managed to see a list and I don't see it! ARGGGG!

 

[gismo1554]

Still trying to "digest" the weekend a bit (no pun intended). We actually gave up Saturday evening, it was just TOO hot and too crowded for us, and we'll have nearly every other weekend to go, so we went home to relax.

To me, the "cheapening" of the FWF this year is noticeable, with only one seminar location now instead of two, so approximately half the free seminars. Portion sizes on drinks are especially noticeably smaller. Maybe 1oz or so less on the wines? Beers are still well portioned, but I'm sad there's no Tusker lager.

Youll have to pop to Animal Kingdom or AKL to get some as they both serve it

 

[Forever42]

OK so one please tell me that this year they have BRAHMA on the Brewers collection stand? Just managed to see a list and I don't see it! ARGGGG!

Nope, they don't have it this year.

Youll have to pop to Animal Kingdom or AKL to get some as they both serve it

Yeah, I know The Total Wines on Colonial here in Orlando has it as well, so that's where I get it when I want it. I just have a tradition of ordering a Tusker during FWF on a hot day and walking around with it.

So not so much of a "oh no I can't find it!" but that I'm sad it's not at Epcot this year.


It was absolutely GORGEOUS here last night, so DH and I went over to Epcot. No lines anywhere, beautiful weather. Got through a decent number of booths on an after work weeknight, and Sheena Easton was great. The liquor based drinks are seriously tiny this year though, with a large increase in price for the one that was here last year (frozen Bailey's drink at Ireland). I don't see myself ordering another one now that we've tried them all.

 

[Tinkbellfan]

Getting excited to go (2 weeks!) but wanted to do a little research for a friend coming with me. She is vegetarian and we will be eating around the world for one of our dinners. Where can I find info on veggie booth offerings. She does eat fish so that will help. Is there info posted on this or do we have to ask at each booth? Any help would be appreciated.

ps - we are also doing PFTS on the 18th. Is there alot of veggie stuff available usually for this. It will be our first time attending.