According to a highly trusted source, the full Food & Wine Festival has been officially extended through the month of July.
BOOM! Best. News. Ever.
BOOM! Best. News. Ever.
Food & Wine Festival 2013
- Thread starter Haberdasher1973
- Start date
THAT...IS...AWESOME!!!
Now I don't have to rush and get all me eats this weekend.
So I guess this is to make up for a lackluster IllumiNights? Or at least divert attention away from it.
Now I don't have to rush and get all me eats this weekend.
So I guess this is to make up for a lackluster IllumiNights? Or at least divert attention away from it.
I'm honestly absolutely thrilled. The F&W Festival has changed my in-park experience more than any special event the park has ever put on. The event is absolutely superb in every way possible and I hope they continue to see the same success through July.
I've also been told by a few people that the chances of select booths staying past the event eventually does "end" is very high.
I've also been told by a few people that the chances of select booths staying past the event eventually does "end" is very high.
Anything would be better than the ubiquitous popcorn/soda/churro stands everywhere.....And from BGW's POV, they don't have to invest in building an entirely new hamlet.
My guess is that they're gonna keep Austria & France because they use existing space. That and because the food was just awesome there. All the others can try & join the club next year.
My guess is that they're gonna keep Austria & France because they use existing space. That and because the food was just awesome there. All the others can try & join the club next year.
So does this mean we will have 2 events going on at the same time or has Illuminights been put on hold?
Well, probably the main reason they're extending the F&W is because Food & Bev is a profit center, whereas Illuminights is a cost center. My guess is that sales have far exceeded what they were expecting, and so....why screw up a good thing? 
IndyRacingNut said:My guess is that sales have far exceeded what they were expecting, and so... why screw up a good thing?
This is exactly what has happened. It started slow but according to a few people I've talked to, the last week or two have exceeded the park's predictions quite nicely. I think IndyRacingNut's massive review-fest may have had some part in that...
We went for the first time yesterday afternoon. It took forever to get up there thanks to multiple accidents on 64W. Getting the wristband hooked up was fairly easy. I only ran into one problem at the Austria booth where they could not get it to charge to my card for some reason. It must have been their computers because it worked fine everywhere else. No worries about losing the wristband, it's made of some kind of plastic and I had to cut it off when I got home.
Some of the things I loved:
-Almost all of the food I tried was delicious. Very well done for having to prepare for such a large amount of people.
-I thought it was neat how some of the booths had various herbs or vegetables planted in planters next to the booth to give you an idea of what your food looks like in the ground.
-The silverware dispensers!
-Even for a busy saturday, there was not a lot of long lines at the food booths.
-The art of food demonstrations were cool. The sugar artist in Da Vinci's Garden was letting kids come up and help her build her Pegasus horse.
-Ice sculptures in the evening
-Crepes and Cafe! They bring it out to you.
Areas where they could improve:
-I got a beer sampler from German Beer but they didn't give me a description of which beer was which. (They're supposed to give you that when you order.) Turns out they ran out of description sheets.
-Booths that were hard to find or I didn't notice without looking for them: Ireland, Belgium, and France. I guess they were off to the side, but I didn't notice them until I looked for them, and when I did there were no lines. Maybe other people didn't discover them either.
-Crepes and Cafe guy didn't know what I was trying to order when I said the name of the crepe in french. (c'mon, it's your menu of like 3 items)
-Didn't get to try the Spain booth as the line was all the way down to the wine tasting. Seriously the longest line of the day that I've seen. They need to get more than one person taking orders.
-Their system of I order food, then I give them my receipt seems kind of inefficient. Lot's of standing around when there's no one in line.
-They need more shaded seating out by Scandinavia.
Overall, I thought they did a wonderful job, especially for the first year. I hope they continue this for a while. We also did the Virginia Willis dinner and it was well worth it. If you get a chance to do this, you must. I was craving more grits all the way home.
I'll post up some food reviews for what I ate/drank :-D
Some of the things I loved:
-Almost all of the food I tried was delicious. Very well done for having to prepare for such a large amount of people.
-I thought it was neat how some of the booths had various herbs or vegetables planted in planters next to the booth to give you an idea of what your food looks like in the ground.
-The silverware dispensers!
-Even for a busy saturday, there was not a lot of long lines at the food booths.
-The art of food demonstrations were cool. The sugar artist in Da Vinci's Garden was letting kids come up and help her build her Pegasus horse.
-Ice sculptures in the evening
-Crepes and Cafe! They bring it out to you.
Areas where they could improve:
-I got a beer sampler from German Beer but they didn't give me a description of which beer was which. (They're supposed to give you that when you order.) Turns out they ran out of description sheets.
-Booths that were hard to find or I didn't notice without looking for them: Ireland, Belgium, and France. I guess they were off to the side, but I didn't notice them until I looked for them, and when I did there were no lines. Maybe other people didn't discover them either.
-Crepes and Cafe guy didn't know what I was trying to order when I said the name of the crepe in french. (c'mon, it's your menu of like 3 items)
-Didn't get to try the Spain booth as the line was all the way down to the wine tasting. Seriously the longest line of the day that I've seen. They need to get more than one person taking orders.
-Their system of I order food, then I give them my receipt seems kind of inefficient. Lot's of standing around when there's no one in line.
-They need more shaded seating out by Scandinavia.
Overall, I thought they did a wonderful job, especially for the first year. I hope they continue this for a while. We also did the Virginia Willis dinner and it was well worth it. If you get a chance to do this, you must. I was craving more grits all the way home.
I'll post up some food reviews for what I ate/drank :-D
I appologize if this has already been brought up.
Take the time to answer the F&W festival survey on your way out of the park. It gives all of us a chance to voice our opinion and hopefully influence the return/extension of this event. Once you complete the survey, they give you a parting gift of a free wine cork. See the picture below. (yea, yea, I know it's blurry. It's got the BG logo on it).
Take the time to answer the F&W festival survey on your way out of the park. It gives all of us a chance to voice our opinion and hopefully influence the return/extension of this event. Once you complete the survey, they give you a parting gift of a free wine cork. See the picture below. (yea, yea, I know it's blurry. It's got the BG logo on it).
Attachments
Latest on the extension:
Expect the vast majority of the booths to remain operating through at least the end of July however expect some changes to be made as well- especially cosmetically. Also, it sounds like you can expect Art of Food, Grape Stompers, and Cooking Live! to all end on the 23rd as originally planned. As you can tell, the extension is very much still in flux so don't count on anything 100% just yet.
Protip: Eat your fill at Spain's booth this weekend.
Expect the vast majority of the booths to remain operating through at least the end of July however expect some changes to be made as well- especially cosmetically. Also, it sounds like you can expect Art of Food, Grape Stompers, and Cooking Live! to all end on the 23rd as originally planned. As you can tell, the extension is very much still in flux so don't count on anything 100% just yet.
Protip: Eat your fill at Spain's booth this weekend.
I really WANT Greece to just improve! I'm actually NOT a negative picky eater at all, but for the sake of giving an honest review, I had to rip Greece to shreds there. I really really hope next year, they get it right...and add an air conditioner in that booth for the workers. A feta cheese salad of some kind would be nice also. So much potential.
One thing BGW could probably stand to do next time around is "combo meal" some of these items. You know, like a Schnitzelwich w/a nice sampler cup of Hoegaarden beer or something for $8. You get the idea.
Or a real deal with ALL menu items included for a set price (savings of course) over an entire day, weekend or something. My preference would be to spread it out over a weekend so you don't get crunk with the wine & beer samplings.
Got a good look at this while waiting for Bangers today in Ireland:
So cool!!
On the Ireland food booth.
Got a good look at this while waiting for Bangers today in Ireland:
So cool!!
On the Ireland food booth.