Let me start with saying I am not here to bash or judge anyone who is an aficionado of the food and wine festival and in fact we used to be.......until today! We are here now enjoying a wonderful family vacation. We have done the food and wine festival almost every time we have come here but, I was truly SHOCKED at the change in the atmosphere the food and wine festival has now. While I completely understand crowds and know you can't change crowd numbers but I have never seen this many people there for the festival. The lines were so long that the thought of waiting in them to spend that kind of money for a small sample (although good samples) was not worth it. The part that really disturbs me is that to me Disney has always portrayed a family atmosphere in their parks but what we saw and experienced was far from family atmosphere. I saw stumbling drunks, people laying down on the side of the walkways with friends laughing at them, cuss words left and right, people casually smoking in all areas around the park, groups of people shouting, and trash everywhere. Now correct me if I am wrong, isn't Disney a big proponent of their image and pride themselves on no trash allowed around the parks. I saw ZERO security patrolling (I would think with the amount of drinking going on, security would be enhanced), I saw minimal staff members lingering doing the their usual clean up work. We attended with our daughter who is 9 and even she commented on how different this was compared to our last visit and at one point just wanted to leave. Now I know some will say we could have just left and yes we could have but, we paid to be there, why should we have to waste our money because Disney doesn't have a better system in place. We did our best to stroll through quickly and tried to enjoy the shops but our usual stroll through was just not enjoyable. We felt like we were attending a spring break drunken frat party. You may look at what I am saying is just a big ol' giant complaint and yest technically it is but, google reviews for this and you will see a lot of people saying the same things! Get it together Disney! I know everyone has a right to come here, everyone has a right to enjoy themselves and I would never say you can't allow people to drink but if they want to promote this as a family destination than it should be kept that way! Can't some of this be solved by allowing people to continue to drink and enjoy themselves by doing something like a prepaid wrist band that requires you to show ID when you buy it. As you enjoy the festival and get your drinks you get a hole punched on your band and after you reach a certain number say like 10 or 12 alcohol drinks you can't get more? I mean I had to spend over $200 to attend the Very Merry Christmas Party and had to have wrist band to be able to get cookies and hot chocolate but Disney can allow people to just drink themselves stupid because they spend more money. I did not do any research on the food and wine festival because we have done it so many times before but, lesson learned and this long time foodie will not be attending this again unless we arrive first thing in the morning on a weekday for it. Just not impressed with the image portrayed to children today! end rant!
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Trip Report Disappointed!
- Thread starter natolij02
- Start date
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
What's another word for "celebration"? Oh, party!
It's ok though, I don't feel like I have to convince people who don't want to be convinced.
That website highlights drinks, food, festival centre, music, events, chefs, etc.
Picking out the word celebrate, from a line stating this is a celebration of 20 years of the festival, and claiming this constitutes Disney selling the event as a drinking party, is really stretching.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
Whatever you have to tell yourself to convince yourself that Pleasure Islandcot isn't what it actually is. It's cool, no worries. Pleasure Islandcot obviously isn't one big drinking party, and everyone who thinks it is is obviously making it up, I mean duh. LMAO
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/drinking-around-the-world-drink-at-epcot
http://jezebel.com/5944673/the-10-best-things-to-do-drunk-at-disney-world
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/drinking-around-world-epcot-world-showcase/
http://www.cracked.com/personal-exp...-tells-you-about-working-at-disney-world.html
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
Sigh. Some people treat it as a bar crawl. Some don't. Nothing you have posted there supports the claim that Disney intends f&w festival to be a drinking party, which is the point I argued against.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
You mean you argued against your straw man? You don't say.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
No, I replied to someone's post suggesting Disney should describe the event as a drinking party.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
Yes, F&W is a drinking party.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Huhhhhhh???????? Have you been to Christopher Street recently? It's kind of a ghost town.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
How the heck am I supposed to get locked out of my hotel room naked if they limit my amount of drinks?!?!?
stingrock23
Active Member
Even when it's not F&W, people go to Epcot to drink around the world. Epcot has always been a more "mature" park. The key to the crowd issue is to avoid the weekends. Just got back from a trip and did F&W during the week and it wasn't crowded or full of obnoxious drunk groups. I had a great time and will definitely be back for F&W. Just like everything else with Disney, you gotta do your research and plan accordingly.
YoungNY
Active Member
I do think it's inappropriate to get falling down drunk while in Epcot and it could be solved by having everyone over twenty-one wear a wrist band that gets punched and you can only have a certain amount of drinks. That's what I've seen done at drinking festivals I've been to.
With that being said, that doesn't mean the drunks won't still exist. Everyone has a different alcohol tolerance. Some can drink 14 beers and still walk a straight line, others like myself can have 2 drinks and stumble to take a nap. So even if Disney set a limit at say 11, you'd still have a lot of drunks.
Yes, Disney is a family park, but families are made up of more than just parents with small children. People need to remember that. You may have paid good money for your vacation but so did they. Some enjoy drinking to excess on vacation and some don't. We just need to learn how to tolerant each other and enjoy ourselves at the same time.
With that being said, that doesn't mean the drunks won't still exist. Everyone has a different alcohol tolerance. Some can drink 14 beers and still walk a straight line, others like myself can have 2 drinks and stumble to take a nap. So even if Disney set a limit at say 11, you'd still have a lot of drunks.
Yes, Disney is a family park, but families are made up of more than just parents with small children. People need to remember that. You may have paid good money for your vacation but so did they. Some enjoy drinking to excess on vacation and some don't. We just need to learn how to tolerant each other and enjoy ourselves at the same time.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Translation: Cast Members (especially CPs).
Falling down drunk? Pictures or it didn't happen. This site produces pictures of burnt out light bulbs, a stray cigarette butt at the TTC, and wilted lettuce, but we have all of these falling down drunks with no visual evidence thereof.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
None of those strike me as anything I'd hesitate to let my child see. Someone having fun and dancing does not detract from the "family atmosphere" of Walt Disney World. I've seen people dancing like that to the music in Africa at DAK at 9:00 in the morning. No alcohol there.
A guy being an idiot and diving off a pole into a bush is not what a "falling down drunk" is. A "falling down drunk" isn't smiling and laughing and goofing around with their friends.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
No, you're right about all that I suppose. I haven't come across any that were "falling down". I've seen angry yelling drunk at Epcot, and drunk on bench persons but never thought to record any of it.
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
I've seen falling down drunks at F&W. I've seen drunks puking in bushes, laying in the walkway, etc.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Like a certain someone who had been in the news a lot this year and recently doubled and tripled down on something he said he saw even though the facts have proved it incorrect, the Prohibitionists on here are constantly claiming they have seen "drunks" puking in bushes, peeing in garbage cans, passed out on the sidewalk, etc.
When asked to produce photographic evidence, it never arrives or they just post pics of people dancing or a video of someone screaming. Those could just be sober jerks. I'm still waiting for one of the Prohibitionists from a similar thread to post a video he claimed he had of a girl puking in a bush while someone held her hair back. He fed me a whole lotta blah blah blah when I called him out but he never posted the video, which I now think is as real as the tooth fairy.
The moral of this tale is just because you say something doesn't make it true.
I'll never forget the woman on here who swore over and over that Be Our Guest limits you to two glasses of wine which I thought was ridiculous at the time but she stood by her guns, doubled down that it was true, that she'd been there and experienced it first hand. Well, I have sense learned that her assertion was total and complete fictional garbage. No such policy exists, which I should have realized by using common sense. What happens if you order a bottle? They yank it after you empty two glasses? Come on.
So, photographic evidence, please, my delightful Prohibitionists. It must exist. Just like the tooth fairy.
When asked to produce photographic evidence, it never arrives or they just post pics of people dancing or a video of someone screaming. Those could just be sober jerks. I'm still waiting for one of the Prohibitionists from a similar thread to post a video he claimed he had of a girl puking in a bush while someone held her hair back. He fed me a whole lotta blah blah blah when I called him out but he never posted the video, which I now think is as real as the tooth fairy.
The moral of this tale is just because you say something doesn't make it true.
I'll never forget the woman on here who swore over and over that Be Our Guest limits you to two glasses of wine which I thought was ridiculous at the time but she stood by her guns, doubled down that it was true, that she'd been there and experienced it first hand. Well, I have sense learned that her assertion was total and complete fictional garbage. No such policy exists, which I should have realized by using common sense. What happens if you order a bottle? They yank it after you empty two glasses? Come on.
So, photographic evidence, please, my delightful Prohibitionists. It must exist. Just like the tooth fairy.
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
Like a certain someone who had been in the news a lot this year and recently doubled and tripled down on something he said he saw even though the facts have proved it incorrect, the Prohibitionists on here are constantly claiming they have seen "drunks" puking in bushes, peeing in garbage cans, passed out on the sidewalk, etc.
When asked to produce photographic evidence, it never arrives or they just post pics of people dancing or a video of someone screaming. Those could just be sober jerks. I'm still waiting for one of the Prohibitionists from a similar thread to post a video he claimed he had of a girl puking in a bush while someone held her hair back. He fed me a whole lotta blah blah blah when I called him out but he never posted the video, which I now think is as real as the tooth fairy.
The moral of this tale is just because you say something doesn't make it true.
I'll never forget the woman on here who swore over and over that Be Our Guest limits you to two glasses of wine which I thought was ridiculous at the time but she stood by her guns, doubled down that it was true, that she'd been there and experienced it first hand. Well, I have sense learned that her assertion was total and complete fictional garbage. No such policy exists, which I should have realized by using common sense. What happens if you order a bottle? They yank it after you empty two glasses? Come on.
So, photographic evidence, please, my delightful Prohibitionists. It must exist. Just like the tooth fairy.
Mr. Extreme, take it down a notch.
I'm not saying people need to stop drinking. I am saying people need to do it responsibly. Don't get your knickers in a bunch because you "think" someone is telling you to put down the liquor. Sorry if I don't stick around to get a photo op with the morons puking in the street. It isn't something I wanted to see once. Let alone have a treasured memory of the occasion. And to your point, just because you say that it doesn't happen it doesn't mean you're right. You like to drink, fine. Do it. Just do it responsibly or don't get all offended and damaged when people here say something about it.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Not extreme, not offended, not damaged, and not specifically speaking to you, but there is a hefty contingent on here who consistently make pretty ludicrous accusations about what they have seen (I'm lookin' at you BristolsMom aka Buzz Killington) and hey, forgive me if I call BS on it. I've been dozens of times and have never once, not one single time seen anything like some of these people have described over the years. And believe me, after reading all these wacky stories, I have looked for it. I'll gladly admit I am wrong if someone shows me the evidence. It must exist somewhere on the Internet. Everything else does.Mr. Extreme, take it down a notch.
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