Originally Posted By Kevin Did anyone notice in the 2009 Food & Wine Festival Guide that the daily wine tastings (now only 4 per day) now appear to cost $8? These used to be included in park admission but apparently not anymore. It also looks like the daily culinary demonstrations will be $8 (now 3 per day).
Originally Posted By RockyMtnMinnie We were there for the Food and Wine Festival. The two set up wine tastings and the beer tasting that were available all day were an extra charge, but there were many free scheduled wine tasting demonstations and culinary demonstrations that were free. You simply had to line up in time to be included in the demonstration as they had a limited number of seats available.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Does anyone know if this is true? If so, I'm already to nail Disney for this and cross Food and Wine Fest off my annual list ... but I want to be a fair-minded Spirit and this is the first I've heard ...
Originally Posted By Kevin You can download/view this years Festival Guide here... <a href="http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/special-events/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/" target="_blank">http://disneyworld.disney.go.c...estival/</a> Perhaps I'm just reading this wrong but it looks like on page 2 that the culinary demonstrations and the wine tastings are now $8. The beer tastings in America (page 4) are still included in admission. The wine walkabouts, which used to be stand along exhibits appear to now be part of the wine stores within Italy, France and Germany and are $20 (which is probably about the same with last year).
Originally Posted By SuzieQ This still isn't a bad price. I live near Napa and it's become such a rip-off to go tasting there we rarely go or even take guests. Many wineries charge $10-$15 and give your 5, 1 oz. metered pours. And then the wine is often priced at full retail, which is above what you'd pay somewhere like BevMo. Or they only pour their wines that are not available anywhere other than the winery and are double the price. You can taste at Opus One, by reservation only, and pay $30 for a half glass pour. I'm lucky enough to live within a short distance of so many wine regions I don't have to deal with Napa. Most other regions are far more reasonable and less snobby. WDW's fees for the tastings seem on par to me. We've been three times during the festival and have only tasted at the various booths, so I didn't even know they had some that were complimentary!
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 I was also looking at is as a good deal. I was there last year and didn't know that there were complimentary tastings. I would have a glass at the country booths and they were $8 for a glass. I woould have rathered had the samples for $8.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Well, it does look like after something like 15 years of free food and wine samples that Disney's nickel and diming has now reached a new nadir. $8 for what was once free. Amazing. Truly. Tiny portions to begin with ... but at least they were free ... I hate to point out that REAL restaurants serve entire meals (with real food ... quality food) for that price depending on when and where you are. And people wonder why I bash TDO (actually does anyone wonder?) ... it's just petty and money-grubbing. Now, I'd love to believe the local foodies would be up and arms and sending hate mail to the folks at TDO ... but somehow I think they'll just relax, sit back and enjoy it as The Mouse gives them the white glove treatment!
Originally Posted By SuzieQ I'm actually surprised the liquor laws allowed them to serve free all these years. Wente has four wineries in the Livermore Valley. Two under the Wente name, about 2 miles apart. One is the Estate, where the wine is actually produced and the other is at their Events Center, which features a golf course and restaurant. At the Estate, they can offer a free flight of tastings. At the Events Center, they have to charge for the exact same flight due to the laws regarding having the restaurant on premises. I don't see Disney charging as nickle and diming. I see it as catching up with the times, and as a shareholder, a plugging of a loss of revenue.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> And people wonder why I bash TDO (actually does anyone wonder?) ... it's just petty and money-grubbing. << Did you expect anything less?
Originally Posted By MPierce >> I don't see Disney charging as nickle and diming. I see it as catching up with the times, and as a shareholder, a plugging of a loss of revenue. << Rather than catching up with times, how about setting yourself apart from the others. How about giving your guest something a little extra to remember you by. How about just being the old Disney. That was certainly enough to keep me coming back, and spending my money.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I thought they had always charged for the wine at the California Food and Wine Festival. I've never actually had any myself, but I had just assumed that they charged.
Originally Posted By leobloom Well that's lame as hell. Add it to the list of reasons why Disney isn't what it used to be. (And expect for the Walmart crowd to defend it as "good business")
Originally Posted By dl1956 So, question: how do the policies and procedures at the WDW Food and Wine Fest differ compared to DCA's Food and Wine? At DCA, other than normal park entrance, there is no admission charge to the overall event; food and cooking demonstrations are free, first-come-first-served except those labeled at the outset as premium, e.g., hosted dinners; alcohol-based sessions, the ones labeled as"seminars" or "educational" and presented by a specific maker or brewer have always served free samples, to my knowledge; events labeled as "tastings" have always charged a fee.
Originally Posted By -em Interesting... I'm mixed emotion over the change- part of me hates it and part of me is just fine with it... I went to 2 demos last year and one I'd pay the 8 bucks for and the other not- I guess Ill have to see the listings of whats available and decide if its worth it -em
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 It's almost as if TDO sits around all day and thinks (when they aren't talking about exceeding guest expecations ... oh wait, a minion tells me they stopped even talking about that back in the 90s) up new and interesting ways to screw the visitor. When Food and Win started, the samples were large and cost between 75 cents and $2. Now, they are tiny in most cases and you could blow over $100 on one person just nibbling around the world without one significant portion. Now, the freebies that have been part of this event since it began in the mid-90s are gone ... guess what? so am I ... they have no respect for their loyal customer base whatsoever.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Wait, what if the price and smaller glasses are because afterall they don't want the guests to become intoxicated. Once again, they show their concern for us stupid people. Yeah right.
