EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, Sept. 25 - Nov 16 2015

[mara512]

She asked which day I wanted and that is the date we chose. I also asked about deminar, but was told those were not ready for booking yet.

I was told the date I picked was the day I wanted my package to start and would not be the day I attend the ISDR. I was told I would have to book that at a later date the system was not available yet.
I called this morning and this afternoon and was told the same thing. When the system is available I will have to pick the day i want to attend the ISDR and my deminar.
Hoping we get a clear answer soon

 

[PrincessJen09]

Having the date be the date that the package starts doesn't make sense though. Doesn't the package have to be Monday through Thursday? Wouldnt that mean that all of them would be listed on Monday? Maybe I am missing something.

 

[karrit2000]

I was told the date I picked was the day I wanted my package to start and would not be the day I attend the ISDR. I was told I would have to book that at a later date the system was not available yet.
I called this morning and this afternoon and was told the same thing. When the system is available I will have to pick the day i want to attend the ISDR and my deminar.
Hoping we get a clear answer soon

Having the date be the date that the package starts doesn't make sense though. Doesn't the package have to be Monday through Thursday? Wouldnt that mean that all of them would be listed on Monday? Maybe I am missing something.

The description on the WDW website in part contains the following:
"The date and time the Food & Wine Premium Package is booked indicates the date and time you will attend the IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party."

I think that it's pretty clear that the date of your reservation should definitely match the date you want to attend the dessert party. I can't believe there is still so much misinformation being put out there by the CM's answering the phones. I also don't understand why if they are not able to book all aspects of the package as described on the website they are allowing anyone to make a reservation for the package at this time. They are going to have a huge mess to clean up once they figure this whole thing out. Someone dropped the ball big time on this event and the guests are the ones who will lose.

 

[BionicEar]

I need clarification regarding dining credits at F&W - I'm aware that we can use snack credits, but what about quick service credits? Trying to plan this out.... We have the premium pkg booked, as well as tasting sampler and the tequila lunch.

Thanks!

 

[FoodieFriend]

The description on the WDW website in part contains the following:
"The date and time the Food & Wine Premium Package is booked indicates the date and time you will attend the IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party."

I think that it's pretty clear that the date of your reservation should definitely match the date you want to attend the dessert party. I can't believe there is still so much misinformation being put out there by the CM's answering the phones. I also don't understand why if they are not able to book all aspects of the package as described on the website they are allowing anyone to make a reservation for the package at this time. They are going to have a huge mess to clean up once they figure this whole thing out. Someone dropped the ball big time on this event and the guests are the ones who will lose.

this new statements that the CMs are making is very different from what I was told when I initially booked my PP. this occured before Disney posted the details of the PP on their website. since then I've called the FEST line a number of times & received different information so I've emailed Disney & never received a response.
anyone know how long I should wait before following up?

 

[karrit2000]

Someone posted they were told they would be allowed to trade a QS credit for 3 snack credits at the F & W booths but they would all need to be used at the same booth in one transaction. There has been no official confirmation of this and I doubt we will know for sure until the Festival actually start & people report actually being able to trade the credits. I don't know if it would be cost effective to do this as the DP snack credits can not be used on any of the alcohol offerings just the food. It may be a good deal at some booths but not all. I did calculations based on just using the QS dining plan last night. Leaving the cost of the drink mug out of the equation you would need to spend an average of $6 per item at the food booths to break even if you traded both QS credits to 6 snack credits and the included snack credit. Not very many of the food items at the booths cost $6 or more. I have a split stay so I was trying to figure if it might be worth getting the QS plan for the shorter part of my split stay.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I need clarification regarding dining credits at F&W - I'm aware that we can use snack credits, but what about quick service credits? Trying to plan this out.... We have the premium pkg booked, as well as tasting sampler and the tequila lunch.

Thanks!

Someone posted they were told they would be allowed to trade a QS credit for 3 snack credits at the F & W booths but they would all need to be used at the same booth in one transaction. There has been no official confirmation of this and I doubt we will know for sure until the Festival actually start & people report actually being able to trade the credits. I don't know if it would be cost effective to do this as the DP snack credits can not be used on any of the alcohol offerings just the food. It may be a good deal at some booths but not all. I did calculations based on just using the QS dining plan last night. Leaving the cost of the drink mug out of the equation you would need to spend an average of $6 per item at the food booths to break even if you traded both QS credits to 6 snack credits and the included snack credit. Not very many of the food items at the booths cost $6 or more. I have a split stay so I was trying to figure if it might be worth getting the QS plan for the shorter part of my split stay.

Actually a lot of the items are around the $6 range, but the biggie is 3 in one booth that are at that price or higher. Or that you want to eat. Plus some booths only have two selections listed this year.

And as I said higher up in the thread a LOT of the CMs that work this booth are new and hired just for this. Good Luck with them actually knowing how to make this conversion

 

[rsimon]

The description on the WDW website in part contains the following:
"The date and time the Food & Wine Premium Package is booked indicates the date and time you will attend the IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party."

I think that it's pretty clear that the date of your reservation should definitely match the date you want to attend the dessert party. I can't believe there is still so much misinformation being put out there by the CM's answering the phones. I also don't understand why if they are not able to book all aspects of the package as described on the website they are allowing anyone to make a reservation for the package at this time. They are going to have a huge mess to clean up once they figure this whole thing out. Someone dropped the ball big time on this event and the guests are the ones who will lose.

Just to clarify as I think there is some confusion about the dessert party. There used to be a really good dessert party that was similar to Party for the Senses. This doesn't look like it is offered anymore and the dessert party the premium package is getting access to is just the normal dessert party along the world showcase lagoon during the nightly fireworks. Basically a $49 item that is held every night.

 

[TDC Nala]

I need clarification regarding dining credits at F&W - I'm aware that we can use snack credits, but what about quick service credits? Trying to plan this out.... We have the premium pkg booked, as well as tasting sampler and the tequila lunch.

Thanks!

I'm afraid there will not be any clarification on this until the festival opens and someone actually tries to do it and reports back.

Somebody on the thread sent Disney an email and got a note back saying that yes you could trade quick service credits at the booths as long as you got all 3 snacks from the same booth...but we all know how often that stuff ends up being correct.

it's also true that you can't use the snacks for alcoholic beverages.

 

[mara512]

The description on the WDW website in part contains the following:
"The date and time the Food & Wine Premium Package is booked indicates the date and time you will attend the IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party."

I think that it's pretty clear that the date of your reservation should definitely match the date you want to attend the dessert party. I can't believe there is still so much misinformation being put out there by the CM's answering the phones. I also don't understand why if they are not able to book all aspects of the package as described on the website they are allowing anyone to make a reservation for the package at this time. They are going to have a huge mess to clean up once they figure this whole thing out. Someone dropped the ball big time on this event and the guests are the ones who will lose.

I agree it didn't make sense to me either but that is exactly what I was told. So I just called back again and got a great CM and told her my situation and she said the date that you book is the date you will attend the ISDR but the package is for Mon - Thurs of that same week. Since I was given misinformation when I booked she was able to move the day that my booking had for us to attend the ISDR to the day I actually wanted. Thank Goodness, she (Jackie) was wonderful. She did confirm deminars are still not available to book.

 

[TIGGERmetoo]

I just booked the premium pkg and was told I couldn't book the demonstration until I got to Epcot but I was able to book the Dessert Party for the Wed nite that week.

 

[romitaz]

Wow, it looks like there is still quite a bit of confusion surrounding this package. I hope we can get better info on this soon. I just looked at several deminars that we would be interested in and they are already booked up. Do the deminars have to be in the Monday through Thursday time frame?

 

[bcarey2k]

I'm afraid there will not be any clarification on this until the festival opens and someone actually tries to do it and reports back.

Somebody on the thread sent Disney an email and got a note back saying that yes you could trade quick service credits at the booths as long as you got all 3 snacks from the same booth...but we all know how often that stuff ends up being correct.

it's also true that you can't use the snacks for alcoholic beverages.

It was me! Luckily, we're not arriving until November .... So I am one of the lucky ones who will get to see/hear/read how/if the QS conversion to snack credits will (a) Work and (b) is worth the potential pain.

Brian

 

[sunnygal041]

Anybody else having trouble booking beverage seminars? The site says I have to call when I click for availability. Thanks

 

[TIGGERmetoo]

I called back again and got a cast member who verified some items for me. She said my dessert party is not in the Wednesday I was originally told it was, it's on the Monday. Also told me I would be able to call back later and book the demonstration.

 

[Hopefully]

Someone posted they were told they would be allowed to trade a QS credit for 3 snack credits at the F & W booths but they would all need to be used at the same booth in one transaction. There has been no official confirmation of this and I doubt we will know for sure until the Festival actually start & people report actually being able to trade the credits. I don't know if it would be cost effective to do this as the DP snack credits can not be used on any of the alcohol offerings just the food. It may be a good deal at some booths but not all. I did calculations based on just using the QS dining plan last night. Leaving the cost of the drink mug out of the equation you would need to spend an average of $6 per item at the food booths to break even if you traded both QS credits to 6 snack credits and the included snack credit. Not very many of the food items at the booths cost $6 or more. I have a split stay so I was trying to figure if it might be worth getting the QS plan for the shorter part of my split stay.

I too had asked way earlier in this thread.
For us it would make sense to convert 1 QS credit to 3 Snack credits to use in one booth. We are a party of 3 adults. We are on the regular DDP. I booked the World Showcase Destinations Discovered tour during our week and that includes lunch at Morrocco. So we will each have one QS credit extra - which could become 9 snack credits for the booths. We always each get 1 food choice at the booths we stop at, which is 3 at once, - so it would work for us.
Here's Hoping!!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Anybody else having trouble booking beverage seminars? The site says I have to call when I click for availability. Thanks

Ditto when I just checked for my Nov dates, but mixology comes up just fine. Weird.

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

I wonder if they're starting to realize there's not going to be room for PP people if they don't stop enrollment in the beverage and food seminars?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

It's possible some spots were held back for the packages and might get sold the day of if the packages don't take them up.

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

For what it's worth, I also received confirmation from a CM that you can use a QS credit to purchase 3 snack items at any location that accepts snack credits (including F&W marketplaces!) as long as you specify that you are using a QS credit for the 3 snacks and purchase them in one transaction.