Normally I avoid going to EPCOT on Saturdays during the Food and Wine Festival. The crowds are almost always miserable and yesterday, Oct 22, was a prime example. I happened to be nearby with a few hours to kill so I decided to brave the crowds, if just to have one of those, “I survived” tales.
Getting into the park at 12:30pm was an adventure all its own. I ended up parked at the end of row, opposite from the tram stop, so I walked in. When I got to bag check at the front of the park, both sides had lines at least a couple dozen people deep (see above). Disney security did open up some more bag check tables shortly after I arrived, but it didn’t feel safe at all with some many people gathered in one spot.
The park was, in fact, super busy. So busy that they actually closed the EPCOT Parking lot around 4:45pm Saturday afternoon. The park itself didn’t reach capacity, but so many locals were had decided to take advantage of the near perfect weather to enjoy a few bites and sips around the world showcase.
Guests arriving at EPCOT were instead directed to the TTC where they were given complimentary parking and shuttled over via Bus and Monorail.
Lines are 20+ minutes long at every booth today. Disney missing out on a ton of business by not having more food booths pic.twitter.com/0fVG8xTsxV
— The Disney Blog (@TheDisneyBlog) October 22, 2016
As someone who was in the park leading up to the busiest part of the day, I can vouch that lines for every food marketplace booth were at 20+ minutes wait. Anticipating Saturday crowds Disney had opened some additional drink stands, which also had long lines of their own. It was so busy that even quick service locations, which are normally pretty empty during the festival, had lines. Disney could have opened up a second booth next to every food location and lines would have still been 10+ minutes long.
EPCOT Has the second largest parking lot in the world, so its rare to see it filled to capacity. Normally that only occurs during the holiday season. Saturdays during the Food and Wine Festival are always busy, but October 22nd will go down as one of the busiest.
Were you there? Let us know in the comments.
I was and it was ridiculous. To make matters worse The Land, Pixar Shorts, Journey into Imagination and Ellens energy..all attractions to entertain kids closed at 7. Forcing people back out to world showcase where kids had little to do in the swarm of drunk adults. Wait time for Soarin Was 75 Minutes. They could of kept these attractions open til 9
Yet another reason to just have a weekday annual pass. :)
We were there! I have never seen the lines to purchase admission so long! Doesn’t anyone know about the Internet!!?? Crazy long booth lines. And thank goodness for fast pass!
I was there and it was mayhem. The lines to enter the park were 25 people deep by 1 p.m. Italy had 2 food lines…one to order and one to pick up…both at least a 30 minute wait. Brazil and Canada had very long lines as well. Great weather but I would reconsider going to the food and wine festival on a weekend.
I was there and I thought it was me. I said to myself, WTF were you thinking coming on Saturday. I planned this trip 1 year ago. Made food reservations 6 months ago and ride reservations 30 days ago, expectations couldn’t have been higher bringing my 2 year old for the first time. I came from NY and the trip wasnt cheap and it caused this twisted emotion of stress and happiness combined. Disney can do so many great things but arriving to the park and being thrown into such stressful situations at 730am can be difficult to manage. Especially for visitors from out of state trying to jam everything into a one week vacation. I couldnt get a Frozen fast pass and the line was over an hour when I arrived at 9am. Needless to say, I did not make it on the ride. This trip taught me one thing. I am paying whatever Disney wants for me to stay 5 nights at a resort on the monorail. I lose, Disney wins.
Interesting. We were at Epcot all day on Saturday the 22nd, and we didn’t find it all that crazy. We arrived at about 11:00 a.m. and stayed until about 9:45 p.m. (right before Illuminations was set to start). We entered the park through the International Gateway, so that might have affected our experience (no lines at all back there), but we rode a whole bunch of rides and never waited an exorbitant amount of time for any of them (we did have a FastPass for Frozen, however). Even the DVC Member Lounge in Imagination didn’t have a wait to get in when we went there in the late afternoon — and it had had a wait of 10-15 minutes on other days. I guess we lucked out.
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