Epcot in Sept - Food and Wine or skip?

Hi–We’re taking our 2 boys, 3 and 6, to Disney for the first time Sept 10-16. I’ve been to MK and Epcot for a total of a day and a half when I was 12, so basically a first-timer. :slight_smile:

I noticed that the Epcot Food & Wine festival is starting earlier this year, on 9/14. We can hit Epcot either on Monday 9/12, or Thurs 9/15. For those who’ve been, what are your thoughts on Epcot during F&W with the kids? Will it be much more crowded? And is it worth it–if we were alone my husband and I would love to eat and drink our way around the park, but this trip is really for the boys and they’re hardly “foodies.” Part of me thinks we might not really be able to enjoy it much so we should just go there before it starts. Thanks for your help!

I would go the Monday before F&W starts just to avoid possibilities of crowds in World Showcase given you have a choice. Future World is relatively unaffected and the worst crowds during weekdays won’t be until the evenings. It’s not terrible, and I’d still go to Epcot, but the World Showcase side can be decidedly more crowded due to F&W - both in people and in extra “carts” selling stuff which takes up space. Some of the crowd may be drinking heavily which makes it a more annoying crowd to deal with given young kids as well.

If it’s “just about the kids”, then going on the earlier date may be the better idea. But there are many unique food and drink opportunities during the festival that YOU would probably enjoy, and as was said earlier, the crowds in the afternoon on a weekday will be a bit larger, but probably not unenjoyably so. PMs WILL get more crowded and possibly a bit more rowdy, so if your plans are to stay for IllumiNations, I would consider the pre-festival date.

I think you an do both. The boys can enjoy the kid cot while you and hubby enjoy food or drink from the country you are in. I would go anytime during the week and stay away from holidays or weekends. I took my kids and we enjoyed but we had missed a couple of countries so we went on a Saturday. It was packed.