8/11 UPDATE:
DVC Members have been added to the list of folks receiving the discount and early booking option.
We just heard the news that both Tables in Wonderland members, Disney Vacation Club members, and Disney World Annual Passholders will be able to book 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival low-cost seminars and demonstrations taking place Monday-Thursday during the festival for a discounted rate.
More big news? Those same groups will be able to book those events four days earlier than other guests! Tables in Wonderland members and Annual Passholders are able to book on August 12th at 9am ET for ALL low-cost seminars and demonstrations during the festival. All other guests must wait until the August 16th booking date, when all events open for booking.
Announcement for Tables in Wonderland Members -- click for larger image
From the Disney World Annual Passholder Website:
* Mixology Seminars: A mixologist demonstrates the art of preparing trendy and classic cocktails, then serves you the final product. Cheers! At 6:00 p.m. daily. $10 per Passholder, tax included.
* Culinary Demonstrations: Celebrated chefs and beverage professionals offer helpful tips and tasty samples at these 45-minute culinary demonstrations. At 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily. $9 for standard demonstrations and $11 for celebrity chef demonstrations. Cost is per Passholder, tax included.
* Wine/Beverage Seminars: Meet a featured winery principal or beverage expert, learn helpful tips and sample the selected wines/beverages. At 12:00 noon, 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. daily. $8 for standard wine/beverage seminars and $10 prestigious wine seminars. Price is per Passholder, tax included.
To book, call (407) WDW-FEST or (407) 939-3378. Remember, discounted prices listed above are only valid for pre-arrival bookings on Monday-Thursday events.
The only remaining info we need? What the seminars are. Here’s hoping we get that information soon!
For comprehensive information on the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, see our fully-updated index page!
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Index
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival World Showcase Booth Menus
Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Events
2011 Eat to the Beat Concert Schedule
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Special Events
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Low-Cost and Free Seminars and Activities
Epcot Food and Wine Festival Fans Facebook Page
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Are Party for the Senses tickets included in this pre-booking?? It looks like no, but I thought I’d ask.
Also, AJ, I received this email as a TiW holder, but NOT as a DVC member. I’ll email you if I get an email from DVC MS regarding this.
Thanks Melissa Sue! And, nope, Party for the Senses booking doesn’t open til the 16th.
I am going to F&W this year for the first time, so this is all new to me. If you book a culinary demo, is it refundable? I am a TiW cardholder and want to book 2 on Friday, but am allergic to seafood. So if I show up to one of them and it’s all fish, it’s a total bust for me. Do you generally announce what the demo will be in advance, or do you find out when you show up?
Since it’s low cost I’ll probably just book it Friday and cross my fingers.
Hi John! The tickets are non-refundable, but we ARE expecting Disney to post the details of the seminars and demos on DisneyWorld.com/FoodandWine tomorrow or early Friday morning before booking opens. They’ll announce the chef/presenter for each event, and last year they also gave the name of the dish being presented (this is subject to change though, so you’re still taking a little risk).
Ah, perfect, thanks for letting me know!
I’m a DVC member but not either of the other two listed so I REALLY hope they open early booking up to us as well. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything 🙂 (keeping fingers crossed)
Is there a listing anywhere that shows what demonstrations will be given at each time and who the chefs will be? I’d hate to buy tickets for a specific time slot and have it be something I’m not interested in.
From the passholder site – Book as early as August 12, 2011 at 9 a.m. for events held Monday through Thursday. Book as early as August 16, 2011 at 7 a.m. for events held Friday through Sunday.
So that means that the only things currently posted you can book tomorrow are : Food & Wine Pairings, Culinary Adventures in Signature Dining, Italy’s pairings, and Best of Bocuse Dinner, in addition to the Culinary Demonstrations, Wine/Beverage Seminars & Mixology Seminars which aren’t announced yet. That means about 75% of the events aren’t available for early booking. August 16 is the normal date for everyone to book. Guess i’ll have to wait till next week to book the most of my events.
I am a DVC member, and I just got an email with the DVC perks, including the offer to purchase tickets to “select events” on August 12 🙂
Hi Josh — Actually the only things you can book tomorrow are the seminars and demonstrations that take place on Mon-Thurs during the Festival. These are the demos that are held in the Festival Center, not the special and signature events — those don’t open for booking until the 16th. So, really, that percentage is even higher! Yep — most of us will be waiting til the 16th to book the big events.
Holly — Thank you!
Sarah M — Nope! Not yet. It should show up on DisneyWorld.com/foodandwine sometime today or early tomorrow morning.
Wow…they really aren’t giving us a lot of time to look at our options!
I called 407-WDW-FEST and the cast member was able to give me bare-bones information about what culinary demos would be offered on the dates of my trip, i.e., “on November 2, at 1pm Rich Norris of Publix’ Apron’s Cooking School will be preparing a savory dish with beef, at 3pm Pam Smith will be presenting an unknown dish, and at 5pm Nick (missed his last name) from Cinderellas Royal Table will be preparing a savory dish with halibut”. That date was the most detailed info, the rest of them were just the chef’s name and “a savory dish”, except that on Nov. 1 at 3pm a chef from Epcot’s Italy Pavilion will be presenting risotto and a pastry. Everything else was “a savory dish”.
Am I crazy, or in years past have we been able to see all that information for ourselves a day or so prior to booking opening up?
Grrr, maybe I’m just having a crabby afternoon, but you’d hope that some of the significant annual price increases would go towards putting out this info accurately and on time. Both the AP site and the TiW email had some pretty misleading wording and at least some of the CMs at the dining line seem to have access to the details for each session, so how come it’s not yet available publicly?
I guess they’re not using last year’s online booking system for this advance either – I’m dreading that it’ll be a huge headache tomorrow as people will need to have the CM read out the schedule before deciding what to book…
I just booked my seminars and while it wasn’t as easy as the online experience, it was pretty simple. A few of things:
1) They do need your annual pass number so have that handy (and yes even if all you have is the eCertificate it will work).
2) The system gives a different reservation confirmation number for every seminar you book so have pen and paper ready to jot those down.
3) The best part: You get a discount on all the seminars! I had 2 for Wed, 2 for Fri and 1 for Sat and they were all $9 (previously $11 seminars) not just the ones on Wed.
Oh and I forgot to mention, calling in at 9:30am my wait was about 15 minutes. Not too bad.