Many of you know that one of my personal tips when visiting the Epcot Food and Wine Festival as an uber-fan is to bring along a tray to carry your goodies!
Yep — that’s right: a TRAY! Juggling a credit/gift card, a drink, a plate of food or two, your receipt, PLUS any extras like a day pack, purse, wallet, kid, etc. can get really annoying as you travel from booth to booth at the World Showcase.
So for the past few years I’ve visited with a tray, which makes it easy to hold my drink(s), plate(s) of food, credit card and receipt, and any other random things while I’m searching out a good place to eat. (Remember, tables can be few and far between at the festival, so it may take some searching to find one unoccupied.)
Make Your Own Official DFB Food and Wine Festival Tray
I’ve had many readers request that I start selling DFB branded trays
for this purpose so that they could not only have a tray for the festival, but also promote their DFB reader status (which we greatly appreciate!). So I thought I’d make it one step MORE economical, and introduce…the OFFICIAL DFB TRAY BUMPER STICKER!
This way, you can use any tray you currently have — or head out and get a nice cheap one to use that suits your purposes and fits in your backpack/daypack!
Just slap on a DFB sticker and everyone will know you’ve got an official DFB Food and Wine Festival Tray! Here are a few examples…
The Mickey Tray
This adorable Disney-themed tray is the perfect choice for your festival adventures!
The Cheap and Easy Tray
This plain cafeteria tray works PERFECTLY as a Food and Wine Festival tray!
Football Tray
Everyone knows that Food and Wine Season is also FOOTBALL SEASON! Express the other loves of your life by picking up a fun, themed tray that’s sure to get you some comments at the festival.
Decorative Food and Wine Festival Tray
Wanna snaz it up a bit with color and shape? Check out this fun green square tray!
What Makes the Perfect Food and Wine Festival Tray?
What do I look for in a tray? Basically, it has to be lightweight (usually made of plastic), have a “lip” around the edge so drinks and plates don’t go sliding, be big enough to hold at least two or three plates and a glass/bottle, but be small enough to fit into my backpack for easy storage when I go on rides!
I’m tellin’ ya — once you visit the festival with a tray, you’ll never go back. 😉
Purchase your own DFB Food and Wine Festival Tray Sticker here!
And just in case you don’t have your copy yet…
News! The DFB Guide to the 2013 Epcot Food & Wine Festival e-Book is now available!
This 190+-page e-Book has everything you need to know — including full-color photos and expert tips — for making your visit to the 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival the best Disney trip, yet! We’ve compiled all of our best advice so that you save money, save time, and have a blast.
Use code CHEFS at check-out for a $3 discount!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
Adorable! Now, if only I cared about football in the slightest…
Can you get a cafeteria tray from, let’s say, the American Pavilion QS?
For those who don’t want to bring a tray for traveling reason’s, across from the Greece kiosk is a refreshment stand (they used to sell McD’s fries and soda) and they have cardboard trays that they will give out even if you don’t order anything. These worked well for us for years until we started bringing a perfect size plastic tray, thanks to a girl named “Wendy”.
How much do the “official” trays cost at F&W? I might as well get one there and have it as a souvenir, unless they’re asking $30.
Alicia — I’m not sure they’d look kindly on you taking the tray with you around the festival, but that’s the type of tray that would work well.
Eric Raymond — There aren’t any “official” trays at F&W. They sell small plates that will hold one food item and a drink, but that’s it.
Ooooh — love! My whole family loves F&W and this is an awesome idea. 🙂 Perfect for slipping in a backpack, I’m thinking. Heck, you could even customize a clipboard in this way for a slightly smaller version. Hmmmm… (sound of wheels turning…)
I will definitely be slapping this baby on everything (unfortunately, not a tray for EF&WF since i won’t be able to attend) but everything else!!!
I think this is a great idea, especially if you have a group & will be purchasing multiple items at the same time. Since I’m a major clutz, I’d probably pile all the plates on the tray and have somebody else carry the drinks.
As someone who uses a tray at home a lot, I can tell you that the size of the lip is very important. I have a couple like the Mickey one pictured above, although personally I think they’d be too large for a backpack. I have a slightly smaller square one that’s more like the green one above with a 1-1/4″ vertical lip. It would fit in a bag, but the high lip means everything has to fit exactly on the tray whereas with the lower sloped lip the edges of the plates can hang over the tray edge so you’ll be able to cram more on.
I found square trays at Party City (a party supply store)… they’re plane white… three of us are going to the food and wine festival, so I’m going to personalize each with each of our favorite Disney characters!! Thanks for the great idea!
Are new stickers available for 2014?