Each year the F&W Fest seems to expand.
Last year, it ran for six weeks, from Oct. 1 to approximately Nov. 16. I think that this year, it will be starting at the end of September.
Special dining events must be reserved and paid for before you arrive. Generally, the reservations line for these events opens up mid-July. In previous years, they have announced the schedule of events in May or so, giving people plenty of time to make plans for the special events, as many visitors (myself included) would be flexible enough to plan the dates of their trip to make sure to be able to go to certain events or see particular celebrity presenters. Not so last year--they released the schedule only two or three weeks before the reservation date. And these special events get booked up FAST.
I was there for the first week of the 2007 F&W Fest (it was our sixth F&W Fest overall) and it was fine, capacity-wise, during the week (although the weather was yucky). We learned our lesson about weekends in 2006, and saved our visits to the other parks for Friday night through Sunday! This year, we will likely return to our usual November visit.
Hope there was some helpful info there, feel free to ask specific questions.