Lines at Flower and Garden Festival food booths

[KindOfPretty]

We will be travelling to WDW in the third week of May, and are interested in eating at many of the food booths during our day at EPCOT instead of doing any sit-down or counter service meals. How long should we expect to wait at one of the booths? It doesn't look like there is mobile ordering. If I want to try a few things from different booths, am I going to end up spending 20-30 minutes at each and mess up my day?

I also read somewhere that popular food items sell out during the day. If I want to eat at the food booths for dinner, will I have limited options?

Lastly, some of the food booths have the same name as a quick service restaurant, like Tangerine Café. Are there two locations, or is it just a special menu at the quick service restaurant during the festival?

Thanks!

 

[nco91590]

I have tried (and failed) several times to enjoy booths at the Epcot Festivals. F&W, FoA and F&G. If you are a single person without any impatient kids or any agenda, you can definitely hit up many of these booths. Unfortunately, the long waits really prevented me from committing to more than like 1-2 booth each festival. The lines are long and it didn't seem to matter the day of the week or the time of day.

Also--Make sure you have your ID on your person if you're ordering alcohol. I got denied even though I'm 40 because my husband had mine in another part of the park.

 

[KindOfPretty]

Thanks for the reply, that is what I am afraid of. I will definitely have impatient kids... May have to send one parent to a favorite booth while the other feeds the kids from a quick service stop.

 

[Moliphino]

If you start early in the day the lines aren't usually bad. They also tend to be less crowded on weekdays.

Tangierine Cafe is not open as a QS, it is only a food booth at this time (unfortunately).

 

[Her Dotness]

Monday-Wednesday are generally the best days to do festivals, IMO.

Locals start showing up more near the weekend, and there can be special weekend events starting on Friday that draw more than you'd think from off-property.

 

[gharter]

We were there 2 weeks ago. A few kiosks had long lines, but most were not more than 3 or 4 people.
As a pp noted, start there when they open and you will miss a lot of the long lines.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I have been twice. Most lines weren't long, and they did not run out of anything.

If you enter through the main entrance at WS opening, the booths near the entry to WS will be slammed - keep walking around if you want shorter lines.

also note Tangierine Cafe is not a separate restaurant anymore - it closed back when the operations of the Morocco restaurants reverted to Disney, the company that was running them went bankrupt during Covid. all they do there is serve the festival food. Marrakesh never reopened at all. Disney is operating Spice Road Table.

 

[holden]

We went in March and never waited more than 5 minutes in any line. Never asked for ID either.

 

[gharter]

If you enter through the main entrance at WS opening, the booths near the entry to WS will be slammed - keep walking around if you want shorter lines.

So true.
I forgot about the lines at Mexico. Both were very long.
Didn't notice the others near the entry to WS being as long, but certainly longer than most other lines except France.

 

[princesspiglet]

We've been to at least 10 festivals and have never waited longer than 10-15 mins in any line. You can usually just walk right up and order. The longest line we ever waited in was in Italy during the F&W festival in 2019. One guy ordered 42 slices of pizza for his whole family. The booth had to call in more people to help and they eventually brought him over whole pizzas from Via Napoli. No one in line could understand why this dude didn't just go get whole pizzas in Italy instead....it was perplexing. By the time we realized what was happening, it was too late...we had already ordered and paid and were just standing there waiting....and waiting...and waiting....until a manager came out and apologized and told us what was going on. 30 min wait for meatballs... smh

 

[gharter]

We've been to at least 10 festivals and have never waited longer than 10-15 mins in any line. You can usually just walk right up and order. The longest line we ever waited in was in Italy during the F&W festival in 2019. One guy ordered 42 slices of pizza for his whole family. The booth had to call in more people to help and they eventually brought him over whole pizzas from Via Napoli. No one in line could understand why this dude didn't just go get whole pizzas in Italy instead....it was perplexing. By the time we realized what was happening, it was too late...we had already ordered and paid and were just standing there waiting....and waiting...and waiting....until a manager came out and apologized and told us what was going on. 30 min wait for meatballs... smh

Wow, glad I've never seen that happen.
How big of an army was he feeding? I can't even imagine trying to carry 42 slices or the cost of that many.