EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, Sept. 25 - Nov 16 2015

[Empress Room]

I called the FEST number at exactly 7:00 a.m. Was connected immediately with no wait at all. Was able to book PFTS Wine View on October 10, French Family Mea Traditions on October 11 and Italian Regional Food & Wine Pairing Lunch on October 12. Was literally done with the call in less than 15 minutes. Easiest booking experience I have ever had!

 

[marsh0013]

My original quoted wait time was 4 minutes. An agent picked up at 7:19 am. I only wanted to book 1 thing, and we got it! What's Cooking With Robert Irvine on October 30!!!! Wooo hooo so excited!

 

[calypso726]

PFTS not loaded, not really surprised.

It should be. I booked it for 10/10.

 

[disneyoctober2014]

Same here- got thru to a Agent and Agent can't find anything in her system to book the Tasting Sampler. Told me you buy the sampler at Guest Services on the day of the event. Ummm...I can't imagine that is accurate. Trying to picture all of us in line at Guest services charging events on our Disney visas ...plus only the folks at rope drop would have a chance at purchasing.

 

[SarahInMN]

I'm trying to book the Sampler and possibly the Premium Package.

Is there confirmation that the Premium package is back this year? I can find the Sampler but I can't find any confirmation of the premium package.

 

[griergirl2]

My 20 mins is at 28 and counting :-(. I had to stay up to book our fast passes last night too. I am so going to need coffee today!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I think what I heard as "6 minutes" was actually "60 minutes" lol. 60 minutes looks great compared to 2.5 hours though, that's just ridiculous. I called wdw-dine at 7am but it took me at least a min to get through the voice menu.

 

[nordkin]

My original quoted wait time was 4 minutes. An agent picked up at 7:19 am. I only wanted to book 1 thing, and we got it! What's Cooking With Robert Irvine on October 30!!!! Wooo hooo so excited!

My 4 minutes is still on hold at 32 minutes!!

 

[YodasMom]

Is there confirmation that the Premium package is back this year? I can find the Sampler but I can't find any confirmation of the premium package.

No, there is not confirmation that the Premium Package is back this year. But, neither is there confirmation of the Sampler Package and a lot of other things. I mean, so far, a lot of the items people have already booked this morning are still not up on the Disney F & W site!

 

[crazy4wdw]

Just think of the folks who are trying to call in just to make regular dining reservations for their vacations. They must be wondering what the heck is going on?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

every year it seems like an IT disaster with certain agents being able to book and others not. Two years ago both my husband and I got through at the same moment: my agent had no idea what I was talking about, couldn't find the events, etc but his agent had everything booked and done before mine found the first event.

I'd think they would have a vested interest in getting their collective acts together for F&W but apparently not.

Nope, we continue to throw money at them and they have no motivation to fix anything LOL!

Got right in at 7:00 AM with no waiting. I spoke to 2 agents. One transferred me to her supervisor. The 2 things I wanted to book are reportedly not yet loaded into the system. They said there must be "some type of technical problem". They don't know when they will be loaded but are hoping some time later today. The supervisor took my phone number and said she would call me back. It sounded like there were a lot of things not yet loaded. I'm trying to book the Sampler and possibly the Premium Package. I have a feeling I won't hear back. Tried calling again but the wait time is 2 1/2 hours and I need to leave for work in an hour.

BTW......Both agents understood these requests were for the Disney Visa advanced booking, so that is not the issue. They simply do not have access to the events. They are trying to find out from IT why they aren't available in their system.

So disappointing!

Your big problem on "premium package" is that Disney hasn't even confirmed it exists this year! They did at least announce the sampler package!

Both phones on hold over 30 minutes. Monitoring this thread for "sell out" announcements. There generally is very little capacity for Chase so .....

Can people please post the dates they book Parisian Breakfast for? Hate to waste time booking if it's not an option on my Saturday LOL!

 

[SarahInMN]

Just think of the folks who are trying to call in just to make regular dining reservations for their vacations. They must be wondering what the heck is going on?

I hadn't thought of that - how not fun would that be? I must admit after going so many times we only bother to get ADRs for one or two meals since we don't use the dining plans and since TiW is so versatile. I had almost forgotten about the insanity of calling in to do the 180+10 ADRs.

Both phones on hold over 30 minutes. Monitoring this thread for "sell out" announcements. There generally is very little capacity for Chase so .....

Me too...although I don't know if "sell out" announcements will be accurate since some people are reporting booking an event with no problem and others are running into problems.

I called at 4 am PST on the dot, by the time I navigated through the menus I was quoted a 60 minute wait.

 

[FoodieFriend]

i'm on the phone with an agent who CAN'T book me for the Parisian Breakfast! ARGH!! Problems started with the 407-939-1870 given to me by Disney Visa. DOH! i wouldn't recognize any voice responses or phone entries. AAAAARGH! Now the agent can't book my event on her computer. i've been on hold 3 times so far & i'm concerned this is NOT going well. she seems to KNOW that as a Disney Visa card holder that I should be able to book events today.
But she's also told me that the Premium Package will be offered but can't find any info on how to book it.

update: i was able to book my Parisian Breakfast for the date i wanted. the Premium Package is currently "not in the system" so can't be purchased at this time but she kept saying it will be available this year. no clue when...

 

[herb102211]

Called right at 7am and had a 25 minute wait. Was able to book the what's cooking with buddy valastro on 11/6 and the parisian breakfast on 11/7!

 

[disneyoctober2014]

Has anyone been able to book the Tasting Sampler?

 

[lats118]

Has anyone been able to book the Tasting Sampler?

From what I've read, the Sampler can only be bought on the day you use it. Also I've read that there are only a limited number sold each day.

 

[YodasMom]

Your big problem on "premium package" is that Disney hasn't even confirmed it exists this year! They did at least announce the sampler package!

I haven't seen any official confirmation that even the Sampler package is available on the Disney Food & Wine Festival site either. Most of the special event info has still not been loaded onto their site. The Disney Food Blog is where the Sampler package was first announced.

We're not doing the other special events this year since we've done so many of them and I have someone new coming with me who wants to get a feel for the event without being too tightly scheduled. Thought these options I am trying for would great. Oh well! (I did reserve some culinary demos last Friday when the DVC / AP/ TIW ressies opened).

 

[katie43901]

Was able to book the Parisian Breakfast on 10/17.

 

[YodasMom]

From what I've read, the Sampler can only be bought on the day you use it. Also I've read that there are only a limited number sold each day.

There has been nothing officially announced regarding buying on the day you want to use it. In fact, they have not even officially announced the sampler package except through places like the Disney Food Blog. So, Disney needs to announce, describe and explain the package.

 

[BriarRosie]

I was one of the lucky few that got in right away at 7am. The agent needed her supervisor's help, because the events were not showing up right away in her system.

Also, the Italy pairing with beer is called Wine vs. Beer pairing, not Italian Food, Wine, and Beer as stated on Disney's site. It helped when I mentioned the times each event I wanted started.
I was able to get everything, and I did not ask about the premium packages.