News 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival

[eliza61nyc]

I don't think they need to ditch the alcohol, but maybe keep better track of how many drinks a person has had - it's the ones who think it's fun to get fall-down drunk that are the issue.

I never understood that, even when i was in college. have a keg party to just get royally plastered? how is that fun, not to mention the next day is usually not pretty.

I would hate to see the bill some people pay to get hammered at these events.

Got that right.

Could there be an easy way to keep track of how much one is drinking?? How did the whole "drink around the world" thing start anyway. Has to cost a fortune.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I always wondered what it was.. I'm guessing it depends on what a person drinks and what not.

MD2020 haha, that and Boone's farm wine.

OMG!! do they still make Boone's farm. MD2020 was really just another name for cherry flavored drain cleaner, man that stuff was nasty.

 

[LuvWDW2]

This will be my first F&W in at least 6 years (maybe 7). Granted, I’m planning on going at opening on a Friday and not weekend evening (despite it being 100 degrees) but I’m going to keep an eye out for drunks. We didn’t really see any during Festival of the Arts in February but did see plenty of Team Drink Shirts. I’m fascinated that people are willing to spend $200 to get drunk in Epcot instead of Happy Hour in Dis Springs.

 

[Kingoglow]

Several people in this thread: 'Sure I drink many of the offerings at F&W, but I am not stumbling around like a drunk.'

Everyone else: 'You are exactly who we are talking about.'

 

[nor'easter]

Sure man, keep the fake news machine rolling Thought you were more intelligent than that, proved me wrong!

Donald, is that you???

 

[christine7257]

I had no idea the F&W festival was so controversial. We go every year and enjoy it. We avoid weekends and that has apparently served us well as I’ve never encountered vomiting (that’s not to say it doesn’t exist - we just haven’t seen it). We’ve met and chatted with some really great people while waiting in line, sharing a table, or attending an event. Some of the drinking teams are a little “extra” (as the kids say) but havent encountered a group that impacted our fun through bad behavior or other.

 

[Rue D'Baga]

So interesting to read everyone's perspectives, I too didn't realize this festival was so controversial... I've only been to Food and Wine once last year and all I saw were obnoxious shirts, no drunks...but I wasn't there on a weekend.

The worst person I saw was during the Flower & Garden festival last year - a middle-aged lady who was shouting VERY LOUDLY about how much she looooved wine to her group of friends. That was pretty early in the afternoon, too...should have followed her around for a few more hours, then I would have had a great story to contribute.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Festival of The Food & Wine Holiday's with their new mascot..Boozy Santa

 

[RSD Part Deux]

Wow this and GE open the same day? What a nightmare the whole World is going to be.

 

[jaklgreen]

I drink. I drink liberally. I'm not anti-alcohol. But the issues are getting more severe as the years pass. One thing you can count on during Food & Wine weekends, is the plethora of people in their matching "drinking team" t-shirts. They seem to feel the need to announce the fact that they are there for the explicit purpose of getting drunk. Which is a lot different than an individual who is enjoying the park and over imbibes (hey it happens).

The "drinking teams" also seem fixated on reliving some bygone era of their youth and are somehow magically transported to a time where apparently immaturity and obnoxiousness was vogue.

Other than that.......

I have to agree with this. I have been going specifically for the F&WF for the past 8 years. I try to avoid WS on the weekends because of these groups of adults that congregate in the walkways. I have seen drunks, but mostly just ones that are having fun and talking. I am not saying that people do not get out of control, but I don't think that the park is full of them. I don't understand why so many of these groups of (I'm assuming locals because they are mostly out on the weekends) feel the need to go and get drunk there. For one thing, it has to cost a small fortune to do so, there is no place to sit, and it is hot. It does not bother me if people are drinking, what does annoy me is that they block the walkways, making it hard to get through. I am also kind of shocked that so many grown adults actually feel the need to get really drunk. I can see having a couple of drinks, but the days of getting hammered should be long past.

 

[Kman101]

I like the f&W festival, I don't go on the weekends so I guess I miss the hoards of marauding drunks.
Whew, that's got to be crazy expensive, drinks at the park ain't cheap.

I guess I miss them too? (also not saying it's not a problem, but I guess I'm just lucky?)

But I also don't actively scan the crowd looking for drunks so I can keep track of how many I see ...

 

[MisterPenguin]

Peter Quill would like you to include his Summer Mixtape Live as a qualifying festival and recount.

He’s upset with the way you just snapped your finger and dismissed him.

Excellent idea! I'm going to write to Chapek to have an intergalactic festival with booths from each planet in the Marvel universe!

 

[TeriofTerror]

So interesting to read everyone's perspectives, I too didn't realize this festival was so controversial... I've only been to Food and Wine once last year and all I saw were obnoxious shirts, no drunks...but I wasn't there on a weekend.

The worst person I saw was during the Flower & Garden festival last year - a middle-aged lady who was shouting VERY LOUDLY about how much she looooved wine to her group of friends. That was pretty early in the afternoon, too...should have followed her around for a few more hours, then I would have had a great story to contribute.

I'm sorry. I'll try to be a little quieter.

 

[larryz]

Thank god I'm not going this year. Food and wine is the devil and deserves to rot in hell.

Perhaps I should be clearer?

Epcot being renamed to Hellcot, CONFIRMED!

 

[DISR]

My 5 year old had a protein spill at EP during F&W (too much Disney excitement and junk food). While my wife was getting him cleaned up in the bathroom, I was still in the area of the spill. It was funny to hear all the people railing about drunks and saying no alcohol should be served after noticing the mess on the sidewalk. He can be a stinker, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't hitting the booze while we weren't looking. Sometimes a spill is just a spill.

I noticed lots of tee-shirts and people having a good time, but nothing too over the top (we went on weekdays or earlier in the day). The food and drink offerings are really amazing. My biggest gripe with F&W are the extra crowds it brings to an otherwise more relaxing park. There is also so much to see/eat/drink there without F&W, that I never get to do everything on my EP revisit list when F&W is in session.

 

[MisterPenguin]

My 5 year old had a protein spill at EP during F&W (too much Disney excitement and junk food). While my wife was getting him cleaned up in the bathroom, I was still in the area of the spill. It was funny to hear all the people railing about drunks and saying no alcohol should be served after noticing the mess on the sidewalk. He can be a stinker, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't hitting the booze while we weren't looking. Sometimes a spill is just a spill.

Are you sure he didn't use a hypodermic needle to put vodka in his juice boxes?

 

[DISR]

Are you sure he didn't use a hypodermic needle to put vodka in his juice boxes?

I won’t say I haven’t been tempted, but ultimately I’ve determined I was better off drinking the vodka than he was.

 

[wdwmagic]

Eat to the Beat Concert series line-up for the 2019 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival

Epcot International Food and Wine Festival News

35 acts will appear at this year's Eat to the Beat Concert series at Epcot.

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[Tony the Tigger]

That lineup is...meh.

 

[splash327]

I saw a good amount of fall over drunks for F&W last year. I usually go in October when there is a big master's swim meet in Orlando. Given that I'm swimming most of the weekend, I usually get to Epcot late in the day. Last year there was one very drunk man in the bathroom in Innovations. He was plastered, couldn't stand up, and yelling rude comments to everyone. When he came out to his group, they were all laughing. The next night I saw several again (Saturday night). Sunday night was the calmest of the nights that weekend I was there.