2019 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: August 29-November 23, 2019

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I really feel bad for Pam Brandon because people keep confusing her with the ever annoying Hostess Extraordinaire (in her own mind) Pam Smith. Unfortunately PS is still around after all these years. They continue to let her overshadow the Presenters we are over-paying to see. Meanwhile the other hosts/hostesses have been relegated to ticket takers because they now have pre-recorded intros for the beverage seminars. The one plus with that is you don't have to sit through what used to be a good 10 minute long winded welcome & wind up prior to the actual introduction of the presenters.
 
I really feel bad for Pam Brandon because people keep confusing her with the ever annoying Hostess Extraordinaire (in her own mind) Pam Smith. Unfortunately PS is still around after all these years. They continue to let her overshadow the Presenters we are over-paying to see. Meanwhile the other hosts/hostesses have been relegated to ticket takers because they now have pre-recorded intros for the beverage seminars. The one plus with that is you don't have to sit through what used to be a good 10 minute long winded welcome & wind up prior to the actual introduction of the presenters.

So right! Sorry Pam Brandon. I knew her name was Pam.
 
Not sure if it is the same person. But a few years ago there used to be what we called the Food & Wine Nazi. She ruled all the demos and duos she hosted with an iron fist. Can’t remember her name for the life of me. She was always drinking lots of wine, talking really loud, and trying to control all the events she hosted. The presenters had a hard time getting a word in sometimes. Maybe that was her and she wanted the wine for herself.

Nope that's Pam and I no longer book food demos because her drunk "LOOK AT ME" act was so horrid. This is the other woman whose name I don't recall. Dark hair, and runs the wine and beverage demos. She thought was all wanted to hear about her Boston baseball team to. (No we didn't!) One year before they started charging or making people leave between demos she actually didn't even bother to introduce the speaker because "you have all been here all day today so you know who he was" A little shocking for those of us who only came to that demo.
 


This is a (somewhat blury) photo of Pam Smith-


That’s her! We saw her a number of times that year and every time she had a glass of wine in her hand. It really turned us off to the demos and duos. She wasn’t at the beverage seminars that we went to. I think I will stick to special dinners and the booths. The demos aren’t worth listening to her prattle on. Can’t believe she is still there.
 
Nope that's Pam and I no longer book food demos because her drunk "LOOK AT ME" act was so horrid. This is the other woman whose name I don't recall. Dark hair, and runs the wine and beverage demos. She thought was all wanted to hear about her Boston baseball team to. (No we didn't!) One year before they started charging or making people leave between demos she actually didn't even bother to introduce the speaker because "you have all been here all day today so you know who he was" A little shocking for those of us who only came to that demo.

The other one is Diane. She is really a very nice person but I don't think the hosting gig was something she was prepared for or ever very comfortable with. In a way I think it's good that the intros are now pre-recorded for the beverage tastings. It is brief & gets the event started in a more timely fashion even though the personal touch is gone. No host is ever going to please everyone. As much as I liked Bud even his intros got long winded & monotonous after a few seminars if you attended more than one. As for the tossing out of perfectly good poured but un-drunk beverages, I don't know if it's a Liquor Law thing or just a decision to not tick off anyone who might not get an extra sample, but there again no answer is the right one to justify just tossing it all away. Years ago some of the presenters showcased more than 3 samples. I remember one where we actually had 10 wines to taste. I won't mention the well known big name Producer but I found all of them to be horrible & it was the only time I didn't finish even one sample.
 
Well all this demo discussion, it is really reinforcing my decision to skip them this year. Still debating on one of the dinners. We might just wait till that week and see if anything is open. We did that once and was able to hit a lunch at Tutto Gusto by just asking the day before at the headquarters area. Probably not likely with all that is going on this year. But having nothing available will make the decision for us. Super excited to try Wine Bar George and Jaleo this trip. Love that you can make reservations at both of those through Open Table, no cancellation penalty. Funny, this trip half our ressies are through Open Table.
 


The other one is Diane. She is really a very nice person but I don't think the hosting gig was something she was prepared for or ever very comfortable with. In a way I think it's good that the intros are now pre-recorded for the beverage tastings. It is brief & gets the event started in a more timely fashion even though the personal touch is gone. No host is ever going to please everyone. As much as I liked Bud even his intros got long winded & monotonous after a few seminars if you attended more than one. As for the tossing out of perfectly good poured but un-drunk beverages, I don't know if it's a Liquor Law thing or just a decision to not tick off anyone who might not get an extra sample, but there again no answer is the right one to justify just tossing it all away. Years ago some of the presenters showcased more than 3 samples. I remember one where we actually had 10 wines to taste. I won't mention the well known big name Producer but I found all of them to be horrible & it was the only time I didn't finish even one sample.

Well step one would be to not pour the entire room if before the event you have only sold 20 tickets. (You might get some walk ups but not a full house)

Step two would be to consider the fact that there was a person sitting in the back of the room who had to sit there to keep an eye on a stroller so your team standing there throwing things away was very distracting. (Actually the noise was distracting to everyone).

Step three would be to treat the vendor who paid that money and by extension your salary with some semblance of respect instead of acting like a two year old. If there was a logical reason state that not act like you are "in charge" and any threat to your authority as the "leader" of the event.


She acted like a two year old. And I have seen that act from her before. (she nearly had a stroke one year when someone wouldn't sit in their assigned seat LOL! It wasn't like the room was half empty and the man objected to being crammed into a table with several other people. All of them were rather large and they were basically touching. I agreed with him, if you have all that room use it. That time she said something about security, hurried away and did come back with security who looked at her like she had a third head and did nothing)
 
She acted like a two year old. And I have seen that act from her before. (she nearly had a stroke one year when someone wouldn't sit in their assigned seat LOL!
Sounds like someone needs to go back to the Disney University. Wonder if any chefs or reps have refused because of her. That is really pathetic more so since Disney holds itself to a higher standard (& as a result, so do we).
 
Anyone know if the Parisian breakfast has booked up yet?

Last I looked (last week) there was still availability for late Oct but I see the “check for availability” interface is now missing. I know it’s very popular but I’d be shocked if it was already sold out across the board. Not impossible ... but I’m thinking it is more likely a glitch.

EDITING to correct my post. I was on the phone when I asked about availability, I don’t think you can book online.
 
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I can't believe Booth Menus aren't even out yet. It seems like Disney would just prefer to not even do Food & Wine this year, for as little hype as it's getting. We've only got 2 days for F&W this year, and there's only a couple events even scheduled when we're going to be there - neither of them really appealed to us.
 
I can't believe Booth Menus aren't even out yet. It seems like Disney would just prefer to not even do Food & Wine this year, for as little hype as it's getting. We've only got 2 days for F&W this year, and there's only a couple events even scheduled when we're going to be there - neither of them really appealed to us.
I’m anxious too - between Galaxy’s Edge and Food & Wine I cannot wait for Aug 29th! Menus weren’t released until mid-July last year so it’s not unusual not to have them yet. I’m (perhaps foolishly) optimistic they’ll be released ahead of the typical schedule as was the case with announcing & booking special events. 🤞 I was also a bit underwhelmed by the special events schedule.
 
Menus weren’t released until mid-July last year so it’s not unusual not to have them yet. I’m (perhaps foolishly) optimistic they’ll be released ahead of the typical schedule as was the case with announcing & booking special events.

I have in my notes that the marketplace menus were released on July 13 last year.
 
It's been a few years since I've been. Certainly seemed like they'd at least announce the booths if not the menus several months prior. We're actually going to be down there in July with the same people we are coming back in October with ... it would be kind of funny if they released the booth menus while we're down there and we can sit around planning what we want to hit at food and wine a couple months later.
 
Has anyone went to the Cheese Festival? Seemed different & interesting, but was wondering is it really worth it to pay $200+ for a couple? Any comments from anyone that may have attended in the past or thinking of it this year please let me know. I mean it sounds like fun, but for $200 we could get a really nice Dinner somewhere else. Thanks!

We do a cheese seminar whenever possible - we were skeptical the first time we did one and loved it! The cheese is good, the wine (or beer) is fairly free flowing, and the information is fun! Yes, you could get a nice dinner elsewhere but we could do dinner anytime time. We love Max McCalman! We are signed up for the 10/5 cheese demo this year!
 
What is going on with ease of booking and wide open availability? We have been doing F&W annually since 2010 - my experience with booking has been chaos, things selling out (ie I have to call ASAP on the day booking opens), and frantically booking 1 or 2 days after the schedule was released (generally at the end of July). This year, I booked our room late 2018, then got busy with moving our family half way across the country. I haven't been paying attention to F&W news until today. I found out booking opened a few weeks ago and I fully expected to be shut out of every event.

I just booked everything we wanted including Sunday Brunch with Robert Irvine, Jet Tila, a cheese seminar, and WVL at PFTS. Why the wide open availability? I'm not complaining because I am thrilled we got the bookings despite my lack of diligence but what is going on? Has Star Wars changed everyone's booking plans or goals with respect to F&W? Theories??
 
What is going on with ease of booking and wide open availability? We have been doing F&W annually since 2010 - my experience with booking has been chaos, things selling out (ie I have to call ASAP on the day booking opens), and frantically booking 1 or 2 days after the schedule was released (generally at the end of July).

My guess is the overall increase in the cost of a trip to WDW over the last few years. There were two ticket price increases over the last 12 months, beginning of tired ticket prices, resort rates going up, Disney Resorts now charging for parking, etc. People don't have extra cash for paying for Food & Wine Festival special events after having to pay for the overall increases. There have also been numerous complaints about the decreasing quality of the special events and seminars over the last few years. I remember from last year, there were many people who attended the Party of the Senses who commented that would be their last.

Maybe people became tired of the reservation process, having to stay on the phone for hours in order to book events. Last year's booking for events was a disaster; details on the events had not even been released on the day that reservations started.
 
Looking forward to this fall again. Got the Mediterranean Food and wine pairing for our son and his wide and the French Family Favorites for all 4 of us.
Loved the Tequila pairing last year, but it just didn't fit into the schedule. It was one of our favorites, and we plan to do it again.
 
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