Hey all. I spent a weekend at Epcot only for Food and Wine while staying at Pop Century and thought I'd share some thoughts.
Firstly, Epcot wasn't "empty" but it was definitely way less crowded than this same time last year. The three big rides, Test Track, Frozen and Remy, had over an hour wait each for most of the day. Walkways weren't too bad and a ton of restaurants had availability according to the app. I ate at La Hacienda and more than half of the restaurant was empty (this was around 5-6 pm). It was VERY hot over the weekend and there were a lot of people camped out at Sunshine Seasons. People (kids and adults) laid out across booths and taking naps. I also took like an hour break sitting in there with a coffee. Epcot really needs more places to sit in the shade IMO.
I never buy
Genie+ in Epcot but I did yesterday (was $17 per person). I am very happy I did because I was able to Remy, Frozen, and Test Track with some "fiddle faddling". Keep checking for LLs. People drop them all the time and a sooner time can pop up. I had initially gotten a 5:30 pm Frozen but after refreshing for a little bit, a time for right now showed up and I was able to grab it. Wait times are also super inflated. At around 10 am, Remy was showing a 40 minute wait but the queue was not outside. I took the risk and hopped on line and I didn't stop walking until I got to the room where you pick up the 3D glasses. My rule of thumb is if you don't see the line go outside, get on line for that one.
On saturday I didn't buy Genie+ and instead got the LL for Guardians. The ride broke down and had to be evacuated before I could ride, so I was able to get a refund and another LL for sunday at guest relations. The CMs were super nice about it and I appreciate it. I heard a lot of extremely angry people who paid for the LL yell at the CMs and that's not right.
As for the festival booths, some things were really good and others were meh. I noticed that France's booth consistently had the longest line. I even saw people waiting in line about 30 minutes before it opened. Yes, there are people rope dropping festival booths out here lol France's booth was pretty good. I also liked Japan, Canada, the Fry Basket one and Greece. Italy and Germany once again commit to having mediocre booths food wise (the Prickly Pear beer at Germany is good though!) Other than France and sometimes China, none of the booths had super long lines. A lot of them do close when it thunders though. For example during thunder, Germany stops serving beer but will still sell food. The Fry Basket one was open during thunder. The Brew-wings one gets insanely busy during rain due to it being indoors.
Onto the resort stay - I had never stayed at Pop before but my sister got a really good Florida resident rate so we picked it over the All Stars. The room was nearly identical to the one I stayed in at All Star Music. Nothing much to say about it. We were on the first floor in the 70s section and it was pretty quiet for a value. Not a lot of people walking past our room. I also liked that it was fairly close to the bus stop and the Skyliner station. We didn't rope drop or leave the park at park close, so can't comment on the Skyliner line. After peak rush times the line for the Skyliner was nonexistent though at night time my party was seated with another group. Never had that happen during morning hours. The Skyliner does close during thunder so on sunday night we had to take a bus back to the resort. The bus was at the front of the park and also had Art of Animation folks on it, so it was packed like sardines in there. Most uncomfortable bus ride at WDW probably.
Ate at Everything Pop for breakfast and it was one of the first times I encountered a rude CM. I mobile ordered and when I went to pick up my food, I didn't receive the drinks I ordered or one of the sides of eggs. I told the CM this and showed my receipt, but I received a passive aggressive, snarky response back. ....okay? Another CM helped me get the other items I ordered but I was so taken aback by the rudeness. Every other CM I saw was very helpful and friendly, so that one was just an outlier.
So yeah, I enjoyed Pop and going for the Food and Wine festival. Heat was pretty bad and I can see why people don't want to come to central Florida in the summer. I bet the pools at the resorts were packed to the brim.
That’s what we had to do. Lots of other angry people on the bus did too.
