Food and Wine Festival 2021

[Mushroom]

about half of those are complaining about rides not being open, or to cold to open the ones meant to be open. Those are people that did little research.

I would argue that this is at least partially the result of the park doing an insufficient job of communicating the state of the park right now. If you go on the park's website, yes, you can find a page of what limited attractions are available right now, but you have to actively look for it. There's no obvious indication that the Food & Wine Festival is a limited-capacity, limited-operation COVID event and not the full park, which is to say that it's entirely possible to navigate to the park's webpage and straight to buying a ticket without encountering any sort of information to warn them of the park's limited state right now.

And yeah, it may seem obvious to us that things are going to be limited right now, but if you're a non-enthusiast and you happen to decide to make a trip to BGW and buy a ticket, are you really going to be going out of your way to look for whether everything is open or not? Would you know any better than to assume your $85 ticket is going to get you the BGW experience you usually expect? When I visited last weekend with a handful of friends, they had no idea so many things would be closed until I told them; they're not stupid people, they just didn't know any better.

tl;dr I believe the park's poor communication is at least partially responsible for "the people that did little research" not being aware of the current state of the park's operations.

 

[horsesboy]

Add to that members who were told that they wouldn't get their free months till the park fully reopened getting them and assuming that means the park is fully reopen. Honestly I think the we have the full loop = fully reopen but this is a limited event double speak added confusion to many pass members that are not local.

 

[WDWRLD]

I dont think the list of what is and is not open being hard to find a oversight from the park....in fact I would say its probably intentional so if you were to complain they can say "its listed on the website".

To your post @horsesboy when they said they would pause payments when the park fully reopened I still expected some things to be closed but no where like what we are actually getting. Honestly if they would have paused payments when they were closed then restarted them now I would probably cancel my membership but the way they did it canceling now does nothing but causes me to lose access to something that I have already paid for. Its a rip off.

 

[WDWRLD]

First off....completely my fault for not checking. So last Thursday hours were like 11am-6pm I think anyhow I stopped by around 2 and was here a couple hours. Figured i’d do the same today since it was cloudy and drizzling crowds would be lower.....well I get there at 1:30 and find out park dosent open till 3pm.
I sure will be glad when daily hours get back to normal.....oh well back home I go.

 

[horsesboy]

The shrimp taco from the Mexican booth is very good. Sure fried shrimp isn't hard to do but the Pico slaw is and that is what really makes the dish in my opinion. Also being able to sit behind the bird enclosure and enjoy their chirping while eating really adds to the enjoyment of the booth.

Now if only the closest open drink stand wasn't halfway across the park.

 

[Thomas]

Looks like you can use your pass member food and wine sampler for a smaller size alcoholic beverage at the booths now. Don’t remember that being the case before.

 

[Thomas]

Another thing of note is the new edible straws that they now have for the alcoholic drinks. I’ve seen Strawberry in Jamaica and Lime and Chocolate straws in Mexico. A very neat idea and I much prefer them to paper.

 

[warfelg]

So much better. I rather be forced to buy and carry a reusable straw than use a paper straw.

 

[..…]

I've been dreaming about edible drinkware ever since I saw Willy Wonka for the first time. It's finally here!

 

[sotomexx]

Yup, had those straws at seaWorld’s 7 seas festival in Feb and was hoping they would bring them to BGW. Easier (and tastier) than using the plastic straws from the refillable cups to finish a frozen drink when the paper ones become useless

 

[ludmarco]

The shrimp taco from the Mexican booth is very good. Sure fried shrimp isn't hard to do but the Pico slaw is and that is what really makes the dish in my opinion. Also being able to sit behind the bird enclosure and enjoy their chirping while eating really adds to the enjoyment of the booth.

Now if only the closest open drink stand wasn't halfway across the park.

Nice! I’m pretty impressed with the presentation also! I’m happy to see that the park is definitely trying with this event and not just “throwing things together.”

 

[ludmarco]

Another thing of note is the new edible straws that they now have for the alcoholic drinks. I’ve seen Strawberry in Jamaica and Lime and Chocolate straws in Mexico. A very neat idea and I much prefer them to paper.
View attachment 23010

I got a strawberry straw from Tropical Smoothie Cafe but forgot to use it. Now it’s just been sitting in a drawer for months (it’s wrapped, of course). I know you said they’re better than paper, but do they taste pretty good, or should I not waste my time?

 

[Rothbury]

The "ATM" machines to get the F&W voucher were not working tonight. Had to go to Guest Relations to get vouchers. Even then some cashiers have no clue what they are for or how to ring them up.
WDWRLD you should have stuck it out no lines anywhere. All kiosks open and Festhaus mostly empty.
Agree with Horseboy. They are still sadly lacking in places to get a drink if you get food from a kiosk. Even the self serve drink machine at the Festhaus wasn't working tonight. Bottles or nothing.
If they would just do away with masks now it would be much more enjoyable. As heat and humidity pick up masks are getting uncomfortable.

 

[WDWRLD]

The "ATM" machines to get the F&W voucher were not working tonight. Had to go to Guest Relations to get vouchers. Even then some cashiers have no clue what they are for or how to ring them up.
WDWRLD you should have stuck it out no lines anywhere. All kiosks open and Festhaus mostly empty.
Agree with Horseboy. They are still sadly lacking in places to get a drink if you get food from a kiosk. Even the self serve drink machine at the Festhaus wasn't working tonight. Bottles or nothing.
If they would just do away with masks now it would be much more enjoyable. As heat and humidity pick up masks are getting uncomfortable.

We did come back about 7pm, Your right no lines and park is empty. Should have a video up by morning. I did redeem my vouchers at the kiosks but you had to push on the screen really hard. After the first one I switched machines and it was the exact same way.

 

[horsesboy]

The "ATM" machines to get the F&W voucher were not working tonight. Had to go to Guest Relations to get vouchers. Even then some cashiers have no clue what they are for or how to ring them up.
WDWRLD you should have stuck it out no lines anywhere. All kiosks open and Festhaus mostly empty.
Agree with Horseboy. They are still sadly lacking in places to get a drink if you get food from a kiosk. Even the self serve drink machine at the Festhaus wasn't working tonight. Bottles or nothing.
If they would just do away with masks now it would be much more enjoyable. As heat and humidity pick up masks are getting uncomfortable.

Did you use the ones by the ones by the tram stop? Those were working normally for me but none of the other ones have been working this year.

 

[Snow56border]

I would argue that this is at least partially the result of the park doing an insufficient job of communicating the state of the park right now. If you go on the park's website, yes, you can find a page of what limited attractions are available right now, but you have to actively look for it. There's no obvious indication that the Food & Wine Festival is a limited-capacity, limited-operation COVID event and not the full park, which is to say that it's entirely possible to navigate to the park's webpage and straight to buying a ticket without encountering any sort of information to warn them of the park's limited state right now.

And yeah, it may seem obvious to us that things are going to be limited right now, but if you're a non-enthusiast and you happen to decide to make a trip to BGW and buy a ticket, are you really going to be going out of your way to look for whether everything is open or not? Would you know any better than to assume your $85 ticket is going to get you the BGW experience you usually expect? When I visited last weekend with a handful of friends, they had no idea so many things would be closed until I told them; they're not stupid people, they just didn't know any better.

tl;dr I believe the park's poor communication is at least partially responsible for "the people that did little research" not being aware of the current state of the park's operations.

I do agree, it is misleading. Though, if you did look at the site, the information isn’t that hidden.

busch gardens said the free months for pass holders wouldn’t start until the park is officially open... I’d say it’s hard to claim it’s official open though. It’s like all the other limited ticket events where most things are closed.

Good news is I’m seeing more people reporting lines are better. I also noticed on the website that reservation days aren’t hitting sold out. whatever capacity they picked seems much too high for what they are staffing

 

[WDWRLD]

Tonight they didnt even ask for the reservations, I had the screen shot of the bar code on my phone but wanted to see if they asked for it.

As far as food and wine they need way more tables. Mexico had none. Every table we did use around the park was filthy, im mean like it did nt look like it had been cleaned all day. They were covered in sauces, crumbs, spliied drinks.....you name it it was on them. There were zero lines tonight but for me overall the event didnt feel right, something was missing, there just wasnt the same excitement I have always had before.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

The theatrical elements of each kiosk (sound, lighting, decor, costumes etc.) seemed incomplete today at most locations. The music volume was nearly inaudible at most kiosks except for Hawaii, which was performing well in every way I can think of today. Hawaii even had the tiki poles in the flowerbeds that haven’t been there in a while, which was an excellent touch.

Almost all of the food that I had tonight was perfect, but the event itself seems to be suffering from the lack of an entertainment department to make each kiosk a more exciting and immersive experience.

 

[WDWRLD]

The sound at Mexico was all jacked up, the booth itself had a good soundtrack but directly across from it was a speaker in the busches that was super loud and with both going you couldnt really hear either.

 

[BGW Family]

The plastic straw aren't edible?