**2011** Epcot Food & Wine Festival HAS ENDED. 2012 Festival 9/28 - 11/11

[kabuki]

Silly question. How do you find out what booths are where and what they offer?

On the 1st page of this thread they have a link to last years offerings. They will put out the booth menus for this year closer to the festival.

 

[wundermommy76]

Out of curiosity, how much snacking do you plan on doing durring the F&W? I only ask this because having lunch at CR and then dinner at Akershus is not going to leave you a whole lot of room for tasting. If you plan on doing a lot of sampling, you may want to consider dropping one of those ADR's.

Just a little bit of constructive criticism.

Those 2 resturants are ones that my kids really want to go to and since we are planning on doing Epcot in just 1 day, then I wanted to make sure we get those 2 resturants in. However, the day we arrive to Disney we are only going to Downtown Disney to explore (& take my youngest to the T-Rex resturant since he is obsessed with Dinosaurs!) and will probably head on over to Epcot around 7pm to do a little tasting of wine/food. I might even just go with the hubby if my Mother-in-law agrees to taking the kids back to the cabin for the night to rest up for Magic Kingdom the next morning. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one! But, we weren't going to Epcot for the F&W festival anyway - just happened to book our vacation while it's going on. Sounds like a lot of fun though!

 

[gismo1554]

Awesome! The 2 days I have set aside for Epcot are both weekdays! Hmmm, now i have to consider if I want to cancel the ADR I have for the second day and just do F&W. But it is for Cape May, and I do love me some seafood. Decisions, decisions lol! I can't wait!!!

All I would say is, although food and wine is every day, there are events on different days like I think wine tasting last year was only Saturdays and Thursdays if I remember right

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Woo Hoo! I can't wait for the booths to be announced as well as the special events! My hubby loves FWF just as much as I do, so we are devoting 3 "meals" this trip to it! I'm sure I'll find myself trying something extra the other times we are in Epcot as well.

 

[*Flower*]

Love seeing this thread starting already!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sorry for asking probably a dumb question, but is F&W ever day of the week? For some reason I had it in my head that it was only on weekends. Thanks in advance.

it is everyday, however in the past they had more special events (that cost more $) on Friday - Sunday

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm excited! Still finalizing my dates but it looks I'll be there around Oct 23rd to 29th.

 

[Cee]

What I learned the first year I attended the F & W Festival was that I was WAY too full to keep most of the ADRs I made! If you are going to attend F&W most days you are there, don't even BOTHER making ADRs for those days!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

There was a question on another (now closed) thread about the availability of the special F&W Gift Cards availability and purchasing.

Disney does not allow you to use a Disney Gift Card to purchase another Disney Gift Card. However, there is nothing to prevent you from applying the Disney Gift Cards to your Resort Folio and then purchase Gift Cards at another location.

Also, at the two water parks we sell Disney Gift Cards that are half the size of a regular card and come with a wristband. These are the same size (just different artwork) as the F&W Gift Cards. And they can be used at any location on WDW or The Disney Store.

 

[tiggrbaby]

So my best bet would be to charge the mini-card to the room and use my reward $ to pay for that? And should I expect mad crazy crowds since we're going on Sun. 11/13?

Can't wait 'til they have the list of vendors! We had a blast in '09!

 

[1971DBday]

There was a question on another (now closed) thread about the availability of the special F&W Gift Cards availability and purchasing.

Disney does not allow you to use a Disney Gift Card to purchase another Disney Gift Card. However, there is nothing to prevent you from applying the Disney Gift Cards to your Resort Folio and then purchase Gift Cards at another location.

Also, at the two water parks we sell Disney Gift Cards that are half the size of a regular card and come with a wristband. These are the same size (just different artwork) as the F&W Gift Cards. And they can be used at any location on WDW or The Disney Store.

Thanks! It was me!!!! Not new to WDW, but a first-timer to F&W! This will be my 40th celebration and I don't want to hold back, so a little extra funding would be nice.

 

[1971DBday]

So my best bet would be to charge the mini-card to the room and use my reward $ to pay for that? And should I expect mad crazy crowds since we're going on Sun. 11/13?

Can't wait 'til they have the list of vendors! We had a blast in '09!

Brilliant!!!!!! Thank you....good option!

 

[TDC Nala]

And should I expect mad crazy crowds since we're going on Sun. 11/13?

There will be lines. It will not be as bad as Saturday but you should expect to do some waiting. It shouldn't be a problem getting seats in the theater for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy if you are so inclined.

 

[dgbg100106]

Can't believe it took me this long to find the sticky!

But I am here.....

 

[dgbg100106]

What I learned the first year I attended the F & W Festival was that I was WAY too full to keep most of the ADRs I made! If you are going to attend F&W most days you are there, don't even BOTHER making ADRs for those days!

Agree with this 100%

 

[sjs314]

The disney parks blog posted and updated list of performers for the "Eat to the Beat" concert series which includes dates not previously posted


http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...ampaign=Feed:+DisneyParks+(Disney+Parks+Blog)



Taylor Dayne: 9/3-10/2/11
38 Special: 10/3-5/11
Jon Secada: 10/6-7/11
Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp: 10/8-9/11
Billy Ocean: 10/10-12/11
Starship starring Mickey Thomas: 10/13-16/11
Sugar Ray: 10/17-19/11
The Orchestra starring former members of ELO: 10/20-21/11
Howard Jones: 10/22-23/11
Boyz II Men: 10/24-26/11
Gin Blossoms: 10/27-28/11
Sister Hazel: 10/29-30/11
Hanson: 10/31-11/1/11
The Pointer Sisters: 11/2-3/11
Night Ranger: 11/4-6/11
Air Supply: 11/7-8/11
Richard Marx: 11/9-10/11
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: 11/11-13/11

 

[LWQuestie]

I'm planning to go Sept 30 Friday which is F&W's first and our last day at WDW. Our plane departs around 7:30 so I figure I have until 3pm at EPCOT. Should I make lunch ADR or would I be ok with just tasting at different booths? I plan to save as much snack credit as possible to eat around different booths but just wondering if that should be enough instead of a good meal....

If you have the ability (AP or Hopper pass), you may want to pop by Epcot on Thursday also. They have done soft opens of the booths a day ahead in the past. Then you get a little extra time to try more stuff!

 

[BriarRosie]

The Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic (Friday Oct 7 and Sat Oct 8 2011) has updated their placeholder site. Now you can click links to purchase tickets.

http://www.swandolphinfoodandwineclassic.com/

I went last year and enjoyed it...at a $50 price point. By raising the prices for tasting area on the causeway and separate pricing for the seminars, I'd be hard pressed to recommend it this year.

 

[BriarRosie]

I have more news about the Food and Wine Festival, actually. One of the podcasts I listen to posted interviews with some Disney marketing people.

One of the interviews was with Gabrielle Bill, who is an Associate Marketing Manager for the Walt Disney Company. The podcast host asked about the festival, and Gabrielle said the theme is "Passport to a World of Flavors". Bringing back Scandanavia, something called "Caribbean Islands Marketplace" there will be something featured on Hawaii, which will likely tie-in to promoting the new Aulani DVC resort.

I am glad I was able to hear it from an interview with direct Disney source. (WDW Today Podcast ep 880.)

 

[redzinner]

I have more news about the Food and Wine Festival, actually. One of the podcasts I listen to posted interviews with some Disney marketing people.

One of the interviews was with Gabrielle Bill, who is an Associate Marketing Manager for the Walt Disney Company. The podcast host asked about the festival, and Gabrielle said the theme is "Passport to a World of Flavors". Bringing back Scandanavia, something called "Caribbean Islands Marketplace" there will be something featured on Hawaii, which will likely tie-in to promoting the new Aulani DVC resort.

I am glad I was able to hear it from an interview with direct Disney source. (WDW Today Podcast ep 880.)

Thanks for the updates! With the Caribbean Islands Marketplace I would prefer to see something with Jack Sparrow and Rum.

I'll probably still do one of the Swan & Dolphin causeway nights. Lots of good restaurants in those hotels to sample their offerings. Hopefully they've learned a few things from last year which will make this year more enjoyable.