Annually this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. The two-day general admission ticket ran about $160/pp this year which, while expensive, is very worth it. Between the awesome food, the seemingly never-ending pours of wine and beer, and the always changing amenities this is the best food festival in Phoenix.
The crowds this year made it a lot tighter than years past. I'm not sure if that's from more media credentials, more tickets sold, or the fact that every line seemed to be 40% volunteers/employees who were on break. As a paying guest, this is pretty annoying. An additional area of improvement can be with organizing those lines. Between people blending lines together and not moving once they get their food, it gets confusing if two popular spots are next to each other.
The restaurants all do a great job in presenting their dishes and it's great to get to try lots of new places. Phoenix represents itself well here and if you like eating and drinking in a beautiful setting...this is a splurge worth doing.