Food & Wine dates announced!

[DVCkidz]

We're going October 18-20 staying at BWV. Can't wait!!!

 

[Webheine]

Ohhhh, that’s a bummer for us. We always go early August due to European school holidays, and this year was the first time with the “free” dining plan ….the festival was a major motivator for me, looking forward to using all those snack credits wisely on festival food.
I am already hesitant if to stay offsite again at our beloved Wyndham bonnet creek - a great Condo and pools with slides as opposed to staying in a Disney value resort with the QS dining plan with allows us to splurge a bit more on higher priced food items and some cocktails which otherwise I would avoid.
Now without festival and even hearing about longer lines in QS the on-site DDP stay loses attractiveness.

 

[hes122]

Our dates are 8/22 - 8/25, so we'll be missing it this year. Now we're waiting to see if the MNSSHP dates coincide with our dates or not. We have some semblance of a game plan either way, but now we're just waiting.

 

[jason423]

With this announcement, F&W starts during our vacation. How bad is it actually to go during the opening day? I'm not that concerned about ride times, just more wondering about the crowds in general. I have some time planned in epcot before F&W starts but we were hoping it would have started already and the crowds would have died down. I now only have two days to enjoy F&W before we leave.

It should be pretty busy. We have been there for the first day of the Holiday festival and last day of Food and Wine and both had pretty insane lines.

 

[jmbarnes101]

Anyone think people with a vacation set to start before F&W will change their dates?
Just wondering if maybe Poly will open up for my BB haha.

I’m considering cancelling our week long August trip and going elsewhere. We go August 10-17 and with no festival, potential DAS changes impacting my kids, and potentially no Mickey party it might not be worth it especially since wife and kids won’t enjoy the heat and with nothing “special” going on might be hard to keep them content. DVC members, we’d be cancelling Boulder Ridge and three nights at Boardwalk with a Boardwalk view.

 

[jason423]

Not a fan of Disney doing this especially when so many people booked trips assuming Food and Wine will be going on in the summer. Hopefully the crowds won't be so bad that the main stands are overcrowded. My guess is they are hoping the full opening of the new section draws attention. I still would not be surprised if they announce a summer festival to go along with the opening on June 10th or plan on one in the summer starting in 2025.

 

[sponica]

Only problem is the QS places in Epcot will be uber busy. We went a week between festivals recently and had visitors with us (we live local) who wanted to have lunch and all the QS had LONG LONG lines and chaos. We ate funnel cake and waited for our dinner ADR, starving.

Honestly I found that QS was bonkers with a festival just because the dining plan had returned.

 

[kanerf]

So from the end of May till the end of August, Epcot is deadsville, nothing going on. I had gotten used to the long running festivals and will actually miss F&G this year because I changed my normal mid-may trip to late May and early June to accommodate some visiting relatives. I will be there for F&W though in September. Come on WDW, throw us a bone and do something for the early Summer months.

 

[HopperFan]

Honestly I found that QS was bonkers with a festival just because the dining plan had returned.

Oh that added to my thought that they crunched the numbers and found those early weeks were not profitable enough to justify all those food booths etc. I mean we never stood in the lines or bought food because it was too hot, we only bought some beers. Now that folks will be paying with dining plan snack credits it would mean even less money coming in.

I get the disappointment but the F&W festival was never in summer or Sept until more recent years. Looks like the summer start date began in 2020 obviously trying to make up for some losses during closure. Prior to that it was the last weekend of August. In 2015 and prior to that was end of Sept/beginning of October.

They tried to expand it ... obviously it didn't work for them. For us we love Diet Epcot. There are less people, still some food booths open and more enjoyable. We had no issues with getting food anywhere.

 

[TinkB278]

So from the end of May till the end of August, Epcot is deadsville, nothing going on. I had gotten used to the long running festivals and will actually miss F&G this year because I changed my normal mid-may trip to late May and early June to accommodate some visiting relatives. I will be there for F&W though in September. Come on WDW, throw us a bone and do something for the early Summer months.

We also booked early June because we are bringing relatives that work in the schools with us. It will be their first trip and I was so excited for them to see flower and garden. These new dates are just so disappointing.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

From reading other posts I think I may be in the minority.
While I did say in a PP that I was sad as I grew accustom to F&W being earlier I do also enjoy EPCOT just being EPCOT.
It means it will be much less of a traffic jam walking throughout the park along with more places to sit and relax.
The part that I'll miss the most is just being able to have sample sizes of food spread throughout a period of time vs taking an hour+ and becoming too full then walking in the heat and going on attractions.
But I do praise Disney for taking control back over how long the festivals are and how early in the "season" parties start and when party dates are announced.
I know it annoys people because they want to lock in their dates and plan their trips according to when certain things are or are not taking place but it had gotten to a ridiculous point especially pre C because you don't need things like MNSSHP tickets and late summer/fall FD to come out January 2nd. And you don't need a Halloween party happening practically in July. Just my opinion.
And again that is coming from someone that enjoys those things but just felt like it was getting out of hand.

 

[Harmacist]

This is going to upset a lot of people, many booked expecting a festival like previous years. I am really surprised they aren't going with a new Summer festival, but I would assume they'd announce that before a fall festival. I guess this was to give people a little head's up, no festival during this summer.

I really think there was diminishing returns with having F&G and F&W being so long. I will also add the F&W food was usually not great for summertime, I really wasn't feeling a cup of Beer Cheese soup in the middle of August...

I wonder if this was to appease the restaurants, maybe they had lower occupancy rates with the non-stop festivals. This gives them the summer crowds.

 

[Imamom2]

We are at Poly 8/25 - 8/30 so we will be there for the opening. I do wish it started earlier, but we are hoping for Not So Scary that week, too. The first days are always packed but at least it’s not starting Saturday. Labor Day weekend will be wild.

 

[georgina]

From reading other posts I think I may be in the minority.
While I did say in a PP that I was sad as I grew accustom to F&W being earlier I do also enjoy EPCOT just being EPCOT.
It means it will be much less of a traffic jam walking throughout the park along with more places to sit and relax.
The part that I'll miss the most is just being able to have sample sizes of food spread throughout a period of time vs taking an hour+ and becoming too full then walking in the heat and going on attractions.
But I do praise Disney for taking control back over how long the festivals are and how early in the "season" parties start and when party dates are announced.
I know it annoys people because they want to lock in their dates and plan their trips according to when certain things are or are not taking place but it had gotten to a ridiculous point especially pre C because you don't need things like MNSSHP tickets and late summer/fall FD to come out January 2nd. And you don't need a Halloween party happening practically in July. Just my opinion.
And again that is coming from someone that enjoys those things but just felt like it was getting out of hand.

I agree that it is nice to not always have a party/festival going on, but I can sympathize with those who have to plan their trips so early. There was one year, I had to look back at my photos (2015), that I was at WDW and the first Halloween party was Sept. 15! It was very badly run also, massively crowded. Last year my trip was (unintentionally) during the space between festival of the Arts and Flower & Garden. You unfortunately can't count on dates until they are officially released.

 

[gottalovepluto]

With this announcement, F&W starts during our vacation. How bad is it actually to go during the opening day? I'm not that concerned about ride times, just more wondering about the crowds in general. I have some time planned in epcot before F&W starts but we were hoping it would have started already and the crowds would have died down. I now only have two days to enjoy F&W before we leave.

Bloggers at WDW on opening days can be a rude bunch making for a stressful crowd, I would not do opening day unless it was my only choice. I’d do it if it was my only choice but I’d go in knowing it was gonna be a zoo.

 

[glocon]

Whew- barely making it for this year!
Going 9/1-9/8 with 3 days for F&W .
Last year was our first time and we loved it!
Sad for those looking forward to going and now dates don’t work out.
I hope of you can re-arrange dates, but with kids and school that is not always possible.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I am going the week of Thanksgiving and I am excited that Nov 23 it will still be going! We switched our reservations to Epcot... I am assuming it will be crowded... do they sell out a lot of stuff on the last day?

 

[shaluminati]

I'll be in WDW 8-23 - 8-31. So for opening day and the next day which is a Fri. Which day do you guys think would be "busier?" We're there for over a week, so we'll definitely get to Epcot another day with no festival which will be nice actually (been 4 times and always during a festival). But we do like to try at least some of the snacks and food options during the festivals. A part of me almost thinks that opening day would be the better bet than the first Fri. But maybe Fri is better cause it probably won't get busier til later in the afternoon.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I'll be in WDW 8-23 - 8-31. So for opening day and the next day which is a Fri. Which day do you guys think would be "busier?" We're there for over a week, so we'll definitely get to Epcot another day with no festival which will be nice actually (been 4 times and always during a festival). But we do like to try at least some of the snacks and food options during the festivals. A part of me almost thinks that opening day would be the better bet than the first Fri. But maybe Fri is better cause it probably won't get busier til later in the afternoon.

I think the vloggers are very much a factor on the first day. They won't impact any attraction wait times -- just booth wait times, availability of tables/trashcans. It can also be really fun to see them recording their videos. But honestly some youtubers are respectful of others and others are oblivious. I'd vote Friday am for trying booths .

 

[gottalovepluto]

I am going the week of Thanksgiving and I am excited that Nov 23 it will still be going! We switched our reservations to Epcot... I am assuming it will be crowded... do they sell out a lot of stuff on the last day?

In my experience they sell out of a couple items but most are still available. I hit the booths at lunch, not dinner. Merch will be pretty wiped out so if you see something you like grab it immediately- the upside is sometimes merch goes on discount at the end of the festival.

And yeah, it’s gonna be slammed. Not so much because it’s the end of the Festival but because it’s the beginning of T-day, a Saturday and the only day T-day travelers will get a shot at F&W. Do the booths when they open and review the booklet ahead of time so you have a plan (I like to buy them on eBay, they’re only a couple bucks and I can arrive prepped).