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
alissafalco
Well-Known Member
You mean limit the amount of profit per hour? that will never happen.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
I know, I know - if only they would clean up the barf.
emh1960
Member
This past weekend was my first visit to Food and Wine. 
Checked off my list! The roaming crowds of drunks in matching shirts ruined it. Drunks of all ages, young and old. I was so disappointed. I'm such a nerd, I just wanted to have my little passport stamped at each kiosk, but couldn't get in to the stamp CM. I also wanted to do the Remy Hide and Squeak, but crowds would not let me close enough to find him. With HS having Osbourne Lights fanatical crowds, and MK closed for the Christmas party 3 nights of my visit, it was a shame. Crowds were insane. I will not go back at this time of the year. I think if you're lucky enough to go midweek between 11 and 4 you could enjoy Epcot in a civilized manner during FW, other than that good luck. Agree with OP!
Checked off my list! The roaming crowds of drunks in matching shirts ruined it. Drunks of all ages, young and old. I was so disappointed. I'm such a nerd, I just wanted to have my little passport stamped at each kiosk, but couldn't get in to the stamp CM. I also wanted to do the Remy Hide and Squeak, but crowds would not let me close enough to find him. With HS having Osbourne Lights fanatical crowds, and MK closed for the Christmas party 3 nights of my visit, it was a shame. Crowds were insane. I will not go back at this time of the year. I think if you're lucky enough to go midweek between 11 and 4 you could enjoy Epcot in a civilized manner during FW, other than that good luck. Agree with OP!My first visit also was last weekend, Sunday 11/15. Didn't experience anything like above comment. Went early afternoon, stayed a few hours, sampled everything I wanted to try with very little wait, found a spot to sit and enjoy each time. Didn't see any drunk mobs, wasn't looking for them either. Met some nice folks sharing tables. I can't wait to go back, maybe the secret is to go for the afternoon? I found prices surprisingly affordable, I'll definitely go back.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
We've only been to Epcot twice since the Food and Wine Festival started, and both times it was too much effort to get out of Future World so we just did what we wanted in the Future World area and went home. The Flower and Garden Festival wasn't much better, lots of drunks. Pleasure IslandCot is just not a family friendly park. It's sad, my kids were so fond of the parks in years past, now they would rather stay home than have to deal with all the "mean drunk people".
We're supposed to go to Epcot this weekend, but the kids will be with a sitter if we do go because they absolutely refuse to participate. Children not wanting to go to a Disney park, how tragic is that?
We're supposed to go to Epcot this weekend, but the kids will be with a sitter if we do go because they absolutely refuse to participate. Children not wanting to go to a Disney park, how tragic is that?
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
You should definitely go before 4 or 5 in the afternoon. There are those that drink responsibly and then there are those that cannot handle the task. It's nice to see the ones in the "Staggering Around the World" shirts because these are the people that think drinking is an Olympic sport and are going for a gold medal. Not the "Drinking Around the World" shirts. I have found that most of them are decent while there. Most of them. If someone is going to alter the traditional shirt to say something that looks like a frat boy came up with it then they are looking to get plastered.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
Disney doesn't advertise it as a drinking party because they don't intend for it to be one. It's unfortunate that some people overdo it and behave poorly, but Disney has limited control over that.
They serve sample sizes. It's meant for people to have small tastes of various things. It's not intended as a drinking party any more than a visit to a winery that serves samples.
I've been several times and I've had no major issues. Weekdays and afternoons are the best time to go.
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
This is what you consider a "sample"? If it is just a "sample" to you then you may have a drinking problem. Yes, this is a beer from the Germany Pavilion. No, I do not think drinking this makes you an alcoholic. Drinking this, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, every day until you are fall down drunk or doing something stupid makes you an alcoholic.
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
This is what you consider a "sample"? If it is just a "sample" to you then you may have a drinking problem. Yes, this is a beer from the Germany Pavilion. No, I do not think drinking this makes you an alcoholic. Drinking this, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, every day until you are fall down drunk or doing something stupid makes you an alcoholic.
Not sure Germany's biergarten is a good example to make your point. Think he was referring to the sample size drinks at the booths for F&W
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
My point is that sample sizes are not what these people are getting drunk on and to say that samples are (only) what is offered is shortsighted.
SeanWM48
Well-Known Member
what you posted is completely different from the samples served
This is what you consider a "sample"? If it is just a "sample" to you then you may have a drinking problem. Yes, this is a beer from the Germany Pavilion. No, I do not think drinking this makes you an alcoholic. Drinking this, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, every day until you are fall down drunk or doing something stupid makes you an alcoholic.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
I'm sure you know perfectly well that they serve more than just "samples" at the Food and Wine festival.
If you want to be technical though, here's a "sample".
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
Wow. How are people missing my point??
My point is that NOT JUST SAMPLES ARE SERVED. Get it yet? The other poster tried to say that people cannot get drunk on the drinks because they are samples. Apparently that poster has never heard of buying a drink.
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
Wow. How are people missing my point??
Don't think he said they cannot get drunk with samples. I think it was said that it is not the intent of Disney for this to necessarily occur during F&W as the drinks at the kiosk are usually sample size. Now that is not to say Disney doesn't love how much money people spend on buying a ton of these drinks.
And of course, there is also the option of buying the typical or standard size drinks at places like biergarten. Although this type of stuff is served year round anyways.
Bottom line is that this is a fun event and people like drinking and eating different things they may not have tried before. And if you want to avoid the people that may get too crazy for your liking, go during the week or go during daytime hours.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
I was referring to the small samples typically served at food & wine booths. This beer says 'Biergarten" on the glass, is it even from a booth, or is it from the restaurant?
What is your point here? All I said was Disney does not intend for the f&w festival to be a drinking party. They aren't encouraging or expecting people to drink eight full sized beers.
All I was refuting was the claim that Disney should refer to f&w festival as a drinking party.
Wow. How are people missing my point??
I never said that. People can get drunk off samples. People can get drunk off full sized drinks. All I said was that the food & wine festival is not intended to be a drinking party, it is primarily intended to be an opportunity to sample small servings of a variety of drinks.
A guest could get plastered by drinking wine at Be Our Guest, it doesn't mean Disney is treating the Magic Kingdom as a party location either.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
Considering there were locations at F&W that did nothing but serve alcoholic drinks in between Future World and World Showcase, I can't agree with this.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
This still doesn't mean that f&w is meant to be a drinking party. Just because there are more options than usual doesn't mean we are meant to overdo it.
If availability of alcohol = drinking party, then one could argue that Epcot is always intended to be one giant bar crawl. It isn't, despite some guests choosing to treat it as such.
rucifee
Well-Known Member
Disney's lack of effort to prevent Pleasure IslandCot from being a drinking party has helped it become one. The very description of the event defines it as such.
"Embark on a culinary adventure celebrating 20 years of culture and cuisine with the finest wine and beverage offerings at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, presented by CHASE®." - https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/
Pleasure Islandcot is one giant bar crawl by design.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
Not seeing how they define it as a drinking party. Drinking is obviously a big component of it, but I'm still not buying the assertion that Disney is treating f&w like a kegger or bar crawl.
rucifee
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.