Festival of Arts 2024

[jimim]

I was just looking at the all ears review of the food. Maybe it's me but the food looks way way better then food and wine. And I say this because shouldn't food and wine be the one that shines. We have been to food and wine 2 years in a row now and this second trip we pretty much passed. But this year food for the art festival looks really good. Presentations of both food and desserts just look so much better. I mean it's nice if it is, but shouldn't food and wine get more of the attention cause it's the point of food and wine?

or maybe they should do like they did 20 years ago and bring the booths out 1xyr vs having the most year round and throwing food at us every month with a different name.

but al in all I think this festival food looks the best since starting them again after covid reopening. wish we were there.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

The festivals are way too popular for them to return to just F&W for a few weeks. Without a doubt, FOA is our favorite and F&W our least favorite. The food/drink choices change each year at each festival as they experiment with different options. Some years are better than others. But we really enjoy the creativity and 'artsy' side of food/drink at FOA - along with some fun art options (some of which we actually end up purchasing!). We're not going to stop at all the booths this year at FOA, but there are enough of interest that we've now planned 2 days of booth 'grazing' to try all kinds of interesting things!

 

[Genie+]

I’ve noticed the same and think it might come down to this -

Food and Wine already has a long history with strong popularity. No matter what people show up. I laughed a couple years ago when the 2 new food booths added to F&W were french fries and mac n’ chz. Hilarious!

FOA seems to take food booths more seriously as a culinary ‘art’.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

In recent years, hasn't F&W also gone from several weeks to now being several months long?!

 

[loves to dive]

FOA is all about presentation, the art of the food. So they concentrate on how it looks. It doesn't necessarily taste any better, its just all in the presentation.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

As a whole F & W is such a shell of it's former self. Disney really just phones it in for that festival. As far as menus go, for the festivals a whole, I think it's just a matter of preference and what sounds good to each patron.

 

[jimim]

In recent years, hasn't F&W also gone from several weeks to now being several months long?!

Yes so going back to just food and wine would still be a loooong time for the food side of it.

Festival of arts was always nice. They should keep that for art vs food and flower and garden flowers vs food.

It used to be like that. The food they did have at flower and garden was an “extra” not the focus that it’s becoming.

I get it food is a profit maker. Booths already there. Equipment there. Just material at this point. And then pure profit.

 

[jimim]

FOA is all about presentation, the art of the food. So they concentrate on how it looks. It doesn't necessarily taste any better, it’s just all in the presentation.

Thats how food and wine should be.

 

[loves to dive]

Thats how food and wine should be.

I'm hoping with the new festival center F&W goes back to how it used to be with the little wine tasting seminars and little cooking demos. The food demos were done by either Disney chefs or in some cases some famous Food Network chefs. They were fun and you got a little tasting of what they cooked. Back when the started you got a wine pairing with them as well.

 

[Pens Fan]

We went to the FOA last year for the first time. It was by far our favorite festival - both for activities and food. F & W has more booths and selection but we've always found the food to be pretty hit or miss. Almost everything we ate at FOA we loved and the presentation was lovely. It does take a bit longer to receive your food, but it was always worth the wait. We prefer the food at Flower and Garden over F & W as well. In both cases it feels like quality over quantity.

I agree with the previous poster and I really do hope they go back to the demonstrations and seminars during F & W once the festival center opens. It needs a boost!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Yes so going back to just food and wine would still be a loooong time for the food side of it.

Festival of arts was always nice. They should keep that for art vs food and flower and garden flowers vs food.

It used to be like that. The food they did have at flower and garden was an “extra” not the focus that it’s becoming.

I get it food is a profit maker. Booths already there. Equipment there. Just material at this point. And then pure profit.

If I read this correctly, you'd prefer that the food option not be there for the FOA and F&G festivals? If so, we'd very much disagree. We prefer the food offerings outside the F&W. The last time we did F&W a couple years back, the attention seemed way more on the 'wine' side than the 'food' side. And I know many prefer the 'drinking around the world' approach to the festivals. We're perhaps in the minority where we prefer the interesting food options much more - and we found more of that at FOA, and even F&G.

Goodness, I can remember all the way back to when EPCOT and WS first opened - one of the only food options in all of WS was fast food at the American pavilion. Come a long way since then, especially with these nearly-year-long festivals!

 

[BlovesC]

F&W has never been a favorite of ours, because it's always so crowded, so hot, so expensive...I've just never wanted to pay $9 for two bites of filet mignon I have to eat over a trash can in the unrelenting 98-degree humidity of September.

But FOA we LOVE! The weather makes cozying up with some outdoor treats more bearable, crowds are lower (generally), the food items are more on the whimsical side and there's not 920 of them, the festivities are FUN, and as a Figment fan I love getting to see more of him everywhere.

 

[Lesverts]

If I read this correctly, you'd prefer that the food option not be there for the FOA and F&G festivals? If so, we'd very much disagree. We prefer the food offerings outside the F&W. The last time we did F&W a couple years back, the attention seemed way more on the 'wine' side than the 'food' side. And I know many prefer the 'drinking around the world' approach to the festivals. We're perhaps in the minority where we prefer the interesting food options much more - and we found more of that at FOA, and even F&G.

Goodness, I can remember all the way back to when EPCOT and WS first opened - one of the only food options in all of WS was fast food at the American pavilion. Come a long way since then, especially with these nearly-year-long festivals!

I enjoy wine and found the wine selections for Food and Wine to be not great and too expensive for the pour. I find the beer selections at the various festivals I have experienced to be a lot more reasonable and enjoyable. My favourite is Holidays because I love the fun dark heavy beers. FOA has a peanut butter beer that I cannot wait to try next weekend.

Food booths use to not be a big thing at Flower and Garden.

Trash can eating has never been my thing, so I have always just grabbed a drink and enjoyed the space of WS. But that is just me.

 

[jimim]

If I read this correctly, you'd prefer that the food option not be there for the FOA and F&G festivals? If so, we'd very much disagree. We prefer the food offerings outside the F&W. The last time we did F&W a couple years back, the attention seemed way more on the 'wine' side than the 'food' side. And I know many prefer the 'drinking around the world' approach to the festivals. We're perhaps in the minority where we prefer the interesting food options much more - and we found more of that at FOA, and even F&G.

Goodness, I can remember all the way back to when EPCOT and WS first opened - one of the only food options in all of WS was fast food at the American pavilion. Come a long way since then, especially with these nearly-year-long festivals!

Im saying the attention should be food andwine during a food and wine festival like it used to be and that the art and flowers should be the main priority on the other 2 (with food being an option but not the focus). like it used to be.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

All the festivals, including the holiday festival, have become quite popular based on their focus on food/drink options from around the world. We wouldn't go just to see the flowers - we go for the food variety. We wouldn't go for just the art - we go for the food variety. F&W is our least favorite, so we haven't been there in years, even with the food variety. The holiday festival - we'd go for the holiday feel, not a focus on food for that one!

Many options and many different ways to enjoy them....

 

[Simba's Mom]

I remember when the F&W festival started at the end of September...then the beginning of September....then,when I was there a few years ago in July, it began. And the same thing with F&G-it used to start in early May-last year it started at the beginning of March, less than 2 weeks after FoA ended. I'm not suggesting we go way back to the old dates, but it seems like "all festivals all the time" is a little over the top.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Does anyone know if there is a list of the Disney character chalk art?

 

[monorailmom]

The thing is with Food and Wine, we have lost so much. No festival center, no tastings, no Party for the Senses, etc. We do have Eat to the Beat but the bands are only there on weekends, which is another huge loss. Does anyone else remember the Festival Center? Getting to see the chocolate sculptures and getting a sample on the way out? Seeing the the merch? Trying wine? It was so much fun. Now there is very little wine in the whole of the festival, which for a festival whose name claims to be about wine in part is so sad.

Epcot is my favorite park, so I don't want anyone to think I am being harsh. But at FOA we get to see the chalk art, the many artists, the Broadway performers, etc. in addition to the food booths. Flower and Garden we are all well aware of the many gardens to visit. Festival of the Holidays has the Santas and Candlelight Processional. Crazy to think how much more these festivals have to offer than Food and Wine.

I'm hoping once all of the construction is done these elements will return. They are sorely missed!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

The thing is with Food and Wine, we have lost so much. No festival center, no tastings, no Party for the Senses, etc. We do have Eat to the Beat but the bands are only there on weekends, which is another huge loss. Does anyone else remember the Festival Center? Getting to see the chocolate sculptures and getting a sample on the way out? Seeing the the merch? Trying wine? It was so much fun. Now there is very little wine in the whole of the festival, which for a festival whose name claims to be about wine in part is so sad.

I remember the chocolate sculptures-I used to love them! And I remember the uproar when they stopped giving out the chocolate samples. I even remember when the 1 hour demos were FREE, not a paid event, and they included wine. DSadly, I don't think they'll be back in that form.