"DIS meets galore!" - Oct 15-23, 2016 -Link to New TR added - March 2nd

[skier_pete]

Hey everyone back with another update - I am trying to get to two a week for right now, life has been even-keeled enough to let me do that. Please don't be afraid to post your comments - I appreciate the feedback!

Now it was time for the best part of fall in Disney – Food and Wine festival!!



In case you haven’t figured it out, DW and I love Food and Wine. We love trying tastes of different unique foods. I also think many of the foods at F&W are extremely tasty – and make for a great experience. DD is not such a fan – while she eats perhaps more variety than many kids her age, she is also not one for experimenting too much, which is a shame because when she tries something new and likes it, she really likes it. She did try quite a few things on this trip.
We started out our tasting at the Chew Collective.



For anyone that did not follow our previous F&W trip, we now rate everything we taste on a scale of 1 to 5. Where 1 = YUK!, 2 = Meh, 3 = Good, 4 = YUM! And 5 = Gimmie MORE!

So the first food we got the Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioii with Rustic Tomato Sauce, and the Grilled Beef Skewer with Romaine, Apricots and Feta Cheese.



DD ate the Ravioli, but only gave it a 3. The Beef Skewer was a full on 4 from both DW and I. Loved the mix of flavors. Next door was the Greenhouse Guru – which didn’t actually interest food wise – but DW got a glass on Chateau Ste. Michelle Reisling.

Heading over towards Mexico we made a stop at the first booth – the Farm Fresh booth:



we got an order of the Loaded Mac and Cheese and also the Chicken and Dumplings. The loaded Mac and Cheese was the hit. It had Pepper Bacon and was just the right level of spicy and savory. DW called it a 5, while I gave it a 4. The Dumplings I thought were a bit plain. DW and I both gave it a 3, but DD LOVED this and gobbled it up – giving it a 5.



Oh, and that Mango Mama Wine – well it was pretty good, but pretty sweet.

Next stop was Australia



One of my favorite bits of the festival is the Grilled Lamb Chop with Pesto here. I gave it a 5 before I even tasted it.



The Sweet and Spicy Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas was only so-so. We both gave it a 3. Basically – the cooking of bulk shrimp is often not so good. The final bite was the Lamington. This is a traditional Australian dessert that is SOOO good. It is cake with a chocolate coating and shredded coconut. This to me was pretty good Lamington, though we have had better in Australia – so DW and I both gave it a 4 on our scale. DD loved it though and gave it a 5.

The wine we had was Bulletin Place Unoaked Chardonnay. DW doesn’t really like Chardonnay, even unoaked, and gave it a 2. I like it OK, but only rated a 3.
DD at this point got a strawberry frozen lemonade, while I decided to stop over to the Craft Beer house.





I tried the Orlando Weiss – and found it to be very tasty – not overly Hoppy as some Weiss Beers can be. I gave it a 4.

First official stop in World Showcase – MEXICO



Where else can you see a Pyramid inside a Pyramid!



We of course had to ride the Rio del Tempo – or whatever its called now.



This seemed vaguely obscene. Don’t tell Disney though – they’ll take it out.



A temple, in a temple, in a temple I’ve been Inceptioned!



It’s a small Mexico – or as we like to say – Fiesta HOY!





I honestly no longer remember what this ride was like before they added the Three Cabelleros. Either way, it’s better now.





I posted a picture of this group on Facebook, because we had been at this exact same spot exactly 2 years ago! Filed under “you know you’re a Disney World geek when…”



Next booth up was China. We tried a little of everything here!




I really liked this Bejing Roasted Duck on a steamed bun! The duck had a wonderful flavor with the Hoison sauce. DW doesn’t like Duck so much, so while I gave it a 4, she only gave it a 3.




The Black Pepper Shrimp was a large portion, but neither of us thought it was all that great. We both gave it a 3. The Pot Stickers were for DD. She liked these a lot and gave them a 4 – even though she came back later in the trip and had them again!

We also ordered the Strawberry Plum Wine Cooler with Plum Wine. This was quite good as we both gave it a 4. Very sweet though. Perfect on the hot day that this was turning into.

We had one last destination to hit before the end of the day. We had a FP+ from 1:20 to 2:20 PM at Frozen Ever After. Since we had a little time left, we got a seat in the Norway Kringla Bakery area to eat our Chinese food, but also to get a couple of Schoolbread.



Usually really love these things – but these seemed a tiny bit off. Still enjoyed them, but maybe they were a bit in need of rising to room temperature.

DD is in an “I hate anything to do with Frozen” phase, but she liked watching these two Viking warriors. One of them had taken a lightsabre from a kid and was playing with it. “What manner of weapon is this?” It was pretty funny.



DW loves the perfume sold at the Norway store, so we always have to stop in there.



DD didn’t like posing with the troll at first:



But then I told her she should pick his nose.



Time for the ride!




The standby wait was about 90 minutes – but we probably took about 10. I didn’t take any pictures on the ride, because I ended up taking video. I really liked the ride a lot, but I was in the minority. None of us thought it was worth the 90 minute wait, but I always argue “Yeah, but what is? We never waited 90 minutes for ANYTHING!” DD of course hated it. I had told her I didn’t think they’d sing “Let it Go”. She didn’t believe me

Once this was done, we had planned to return to the hotel. This was probably about 2 or 2:30 PM. We wanted to have a bit of relaxation. DD actually likes to spend a lot of time in the room on her electronic devices – and would probably stay there all day if we let her. We’ve found the trips work best if we give her some down time. So the plan was for us all to hang out at the room and maybe go to the pool for a bit, and then DW and I were going to go back to Epcot for the evening. But that's for another post...

One quick mention - the crowds. I was actually pleasantly surprised. This was a Sunday, which is usually moderate to high crowds for food and wine, but really this wasn't bad at all. We rarely waited more than 2-3 minutes for food, usually only 3-6 people in front of us. Maybe it was the weather, which was still rather warm! No rain today except for about 30 seconds when we came outside for the Fast part of Test Track - suddenly we were being pelted with a sun shower! That was the last bit of rain for the trip - no rain for the remaining 7 days!

 

[Joben]

One of my favorite bits of the festival is the Grilled Lamb Chop with Pesto

I wonder how long the lamb chop has been a staple at F&W. It is very good and I understand why they don't try something else.

I decided to stop over to the Craft Beer house.

Loved this place. I'm a big beer fan and they have some good ones. I think a couple of years ago the American pavilion had a chili beer. As I recall it was a lager with some habanero spice infused into it. Sounds strange but it was very tasty. I've had it some other times but that style can be hard to find.

not overly Hoppy as some Weiss Beers can be.

so around the late 90's my goto beer was Sierra Nevada pale ale. it was just such a refreshing beer especially on a hot day. after awhile I noticed that if I had more than a few of these I would get a bit of a bloated feeling. over time this became more pronounced. It was actually at F&W I heard someone say they had an intolerance to hops. I grilled them on it and the symptoms and it sounded very familiar to me. I don't know if this is an actual thing, but I no longer drink any beer with much hops in it. The past 5-10 years it is almost impossible to walk into a micro brewery without having 80-90% of the beers being some kind of super hopped 5X IPA.

This seemed vaguely obscene. Don’t tell Disney though – they’ll take it out.

lol

It’s a small Mexico – or as we like to say – Fiesta HOY!

it's funny how so many people are either "this is the dumbest ride ever" or " this is our favorite time killing ride"

“you know you’re a Disney World geek when…”

....you get a Dis account

Bejing Roasted Duck on a steamed bun!

I've tried to like Duck several times, and just can't get my pallet wrapped around it. and the texture of a steamed bun is just weird.

Nice post Pete. I love Epcot and especially F&W. I think that was the tipping point for me on visiting WDW. Epcot especially seems much more laid back and you don't come across tons of people hurrying from one ride to the next trying to cram as much "magic" into their trip so they get their moneys worth. It's been two long years since I've been to F&W and we won't go back till 2018 (ugh that sounds horrible) but at least we get F&W junior on our spring training trips in March (flower and garden)

 

[rteetz]

Looks like a great time at food and wine. I've never been but hope to, most likely once I turn 21.

The frozen ride looks great and even though I haven't ridden it yet I would say there isn't a whole lot attraction wise that I would wait 90 minutes for ever. I still think frozen should've gotten an e ticket in fantasyland or DHS.

 

[UKDisneyJoe]

Gutted we will be missing food and wine on our next trip but have plans for the trip after. We love our food and this looks alot of fun trying new items from different cultures. Loving the report

 

[skier_pete]

Loved this place. I'm a big beer fan and they have some good ones. I think a couple of years ago the American pavilion had a chili beer. As I recall it was a lager with some habanero spice infused into it. Sounds strange but it was very tasty. I've had it some other times but that style can be hard to find.

so around the late 90's my goto beer was Sierra Nevada pale ale. it was just such a refreshing beer especially on a hot day. after awhile I noticed that if I had more than a few of these I would get a bit of a bloated feeling. over time this became more pronounced. It was actually at F&W I heard someone say they had an intolerance to hops. I grilled them on it and the symptoms and it sounded very familiar to me. I don't know if this is an actual thing, but I no longer drink any beer with much hops in it. The past 5-10 years it is almost impossible to walk into a micro brewery without having 80-90% of the beers being some kind of super hopped 5X IPA.

Part of the reason IPAs are so popular with microbreweries (From what I hear) is that they are easy to make and hard to screw up....the extra hoppiness sort of hides any other flavor "sins". I feel the same way with IPAs, I can only drink one, by the second one I am no longer enjoying it. Give me a good lager or amber or even the occasional stout.

Nice post Pete. I love Epcot and especially F&W. I think that was the tipping point for me on visiting WDW. Epcot especially seems much more laid back and you don't come across tons of people hurrying from one ride to the next trying to cram as much "magic" into their trip so they get their moneys worth. It's been two long years since I've been to F&W and we won't go back till 2018 (ugh that sounds horrible) but at least we get F&W junior on our spring training trips in March (flower and garden)

I agree - Food and Wine is an opportunity to "take it easy" at WDW. One of the big things I've found is that over the last 10 years of Disney trips, we have taken so much more of a "take it easy" attitude. Because we have seen pretty much everything, we don't feel the need to see and do everything every trip - so trips are taken at a much more relaxed pace.

Looks like a great time at food and wine. I've never been but hope to, most likely once I turn 21.

The frozen ride looks great and even though I haven't ridden it yet I would say there isn't a whole lot attraction wise that I would wait 90 minutes for ever. I still think frozen should've gotten an e ticket in fantasyland or DHS.

Honestly you don't need to drink to enjoy food and wine - I mean, we drink a bit, but we don't do it to get drunk as others do. You just have to be willing to enjoy tasting different foods from around the world. Of course now that you are in college it's probably not a great time for you to go - but once you graduate you should definitely check it out!

I have less of a problem with WDW putting IP into Epcot - as I've said elsewhere - it's a road that they started going down 25 years ago, it does little good to complain now. I do wish they had made SOME sort of Norwegian feel to the ride - like had the characters hosting a tour of Norway.

Gutted we will be missing food and wine on our next trip but have plans for the trip after. We love our food and this looks alot of fun trying new items from different cultures. Loving the report

We wish we could go every year. And we are expecting to find a way to go most years. It's definitely worth doing every few trips if you can.

 

[franandaj]

I am trying desperately to catch up on all my trip reports, it has been a crazy couple weeks since I got home.

We hit most of those same booths with the exception of Australia. I didn't find the lamb chop as great as you did and had other things that were higher on my priority list. I too thought the mac and cheese with bacon was a total hit! I wish we could have hit that one up again. I didn't try the duck, but did have the noodles. It was way too large a portion. I didn't bother with the potstickers, I keep those in the freezer at home and have had them twice since coming back from the festival.

I'm glad you liked the Frozen ride. Smart idea to go back to the hotel and take a break for your DD.

I don't know how you keep track of the price/value of your DVC points. I'm impressed with the way that you can calculate their value. After all my years and missed trips, rented points I couldn't put dollar values on anything, but I do know that DVC is still a good value.

 

[skier_pete]

I am trying desperately to catch up on all my trip reports, it has been a crazy couple weeks since I got home.

We hit most of those same booths with the exception of Australia. I didn't find the lamb chop as great as you did and had other things that were higher on my priority list. I too thought the mac and cheese with bacon was a total hit! I wish we could have hit that one up again. I didn't try the duck, but did have the noodles. It was way too large a portion. I didn't bother with the potstickers, I keep those in the freezer at home and have had them twice since coming back from the festival.

The potstickers were no different from those in your freezer - but DD liked them. Kids aren't normally adventurous eaters, and she is no different.

I don't know how you keep track of the price/value of your DVC points. I'm impressed with the way that you can calculate their value. After all my years and missed trips, rented points I couldn't put dollar values on anything, but I do know that DVC is still a good value.

So - here's how I do it - which keeps it very simple: We bought in 2014 - which gives us 42 years worth of points at 160 per point, so 42 years x 160 points/year = 6,720 points. Without using an exact figure - I then took my buy-in cost of say $13,000 and divide that by 6,720 points to get my upfront cost per point - 13,000/6720 point = $1.93 / point. Actual cost was close enough to $2 / point that I just use that as the cost for ease of remembering. I don't worry about adjusting for inflation.

So I have the $2 / point for the initial buy-in, and then in 2016 my dues were $6.42 / point - so $8.42 / point.

It's why the newer resorts tend to be a better value to buy resale. Quick example:
Let's say Beach Club will cost you $100 per point to buy-in, BLT is $110 per point to buy-in. But Beach Club only has 25 years left. BLT has 43 years left. So your cost per point for Beach Club is $4 per point, but cost of BLT is $2.55 per point. Beach club points are 60% greater than BLT points in cost! Buying Poly direct at $170 per point, but 50 year lifetime - buying Poly direct is $3.40 a point, so STILL a better value than BCV right now. BWV is much the same. Both resorts should in theory be around $75-80 per point right now. Same with WLV.

Note this only assumes that you will use the entire lifetime of points, which many never do - either selling off the points or the contract outlives us. But what's interesting to me is that this difference is NOT diminishing the values of any of the older resorts yet - but at some point it will. 15 years from now BCV will have 10 years left while BLT has 28 years - almost triple. Resale values for these older resorts will plummet towards the end.

 

[skier_pete]

Epcot - Day 2 - wrap-up

We caught a bus pretty quickly, and the ride to Epcot from AKL is surprisingly short, maybe 15 minutes.
As we were entering the park the sun was just starting to set, we stopped in the front for a photopass picture:







Our intention was to essentially “pick up where we left off” going around WS, but we also really wanted to try the Chocolate Studio – which was in Future World West along the path over by Imagination. Two things in particular peaked our interest – Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel (right) & the Ghirardelli Chocolate Raspberry Torte.



These were both wonderful treats. The Nitro Truffle had a rich chocolately almost mousse-like quality to it, with the caramel and sea salt it was great. I gave it a 4 and DW gave it a 5. We switched ratings on the torte. I love the taste of dark chocolate with Raspberry – so this was right in my wheelhouse. I gave it a 5, DW gave it a 4. I have to say we definitely took the “Gimmie More” 5 rating to heart – because we both came back later in the trip to get our favorites.

There was a booth right next to the Chocolate Studio called Wine and Dine Studio – and so we figured we might as well hit that one as well. We tried both the Pork Tenderloin (left) with Bean Ragout and Seared Scallop with Brussel Sprouts and Wild Mushroom.



The Scallop was disappointing. While we gave it a 3 on our scale, it really was nothing to write home about – scallop was as typical slightly overcooked. The Pork Tenderloin was better received – getting a 4 rating from us. I am typically not a fan of beans, but the flavor on the pork was excellent.

Not shown is the class of Conundrum White Blend 25th Anniversary wine that we shared – and both hated. (1 = YUK!)

We then headed into World Showcase, past China and stopped at the next booth which was South Korea. Previous years we didn’t care for this food, but DW wanted to try the Korean-style BBQ Beed with Rice and Cucumber Kimchi.





I didn’t understand the “Cucumber Kimchi” – they were just sliced Cucumbers. Overall just thought this one was OK – rated it a 3.
It was turning into a beautiful evening at World Showcase. Really love how this shot came out!





The next booth was Africa – and I wanted to try the Buttered Chicken with micro Cilantro and Naan Bread.



This was really, really, good. Just the right amount of spicy – I really enjoyed this and gave it a 4 while DW gave it a 5. I was surprised later in the week when we got to Sanaa that DW did not order the buttered chicken like I did.

While she was eating that – I went to the both at Germany to try a #1 beer flight. This composed of a Radeberger Pilsner, A Hacker-PSchorr Hefe Weisse, and a Schofferhofer Zitrone Weizen-Mix.



The first one I liked fine, not great but not bad – give it a 3. The Hefe-Weisse I didn’t care for – VERY hoppy which is not always a favorite of mine – so it got a 2. The last one was really weird – it had a somewhat odd fruity flavor (The Zitrone = Citron). I kind of liked it, but also it only got a 3. In the end – I had to get an Oktoberfest to get one I really enjoyed.



At the regular Germany booth, we both ordered a Schinkennudeln – this is basically “Ham Noodles” or mac and cheese with ham and onions. It is one of our favorites even though it a very basic dish. I neglected to take a picture for some reason – but I have another picture later in the trip. DW got a lass of the Selbach-Oster Riesling which she totally loved.

The next booth was Poland – and we were not a fan of these foods here. (DW is Ukrainian, and the foods are similar here to what we have at home only much better. However, DW got a glass of Hungarian Wine. She really loved this to the point that she came back later in the week for more.
After this was Italy.



We ordered the Tuscan-style Stew with Carrots Mushrooms and Crispy Polenta.



DW absolutely loved this as well and rated it a 5. I am not a huge fan of Polenta, so while I liked the flavors of the stew, I could only give it a 4.

We next headed over to the American Adventure area. Tiffany was on stage playing, so we went to the Hops and Barley booth. At this point, I was pretty much full, but DW was still wanting more – so we ordered the Smoked Beef Brisket. This was VERY salty and we really didn’t like it, but I forgot this an ordered it again later in the trip!



After listening to Tiffany sing for a while, we were at this point making our way over to the Boardwalk for our evening at Jellyrolls. We made a couple more stops…DW wanted to Brazilian Cheese Bread.



We had really liked this two years ago, but this time it had a bit of a bitter taste to it that we didn’t care for so much. Downgrade our rating to a 3 for this one. We made one last stop in France for some Crème Brulee.





The Crème Brulee was extremely disappointing – it was a chocolate Crème Brulee but while the Brulee was good, the Crème was not – it did not taste like custard, but instead tasted like Jello pudding or something. VERY disappointing. Gave it a 2 because it wasn’t actually bad.

We headed out of the park over to the Boardwalk and our favorite place on property:



Jellyrolls is a dueling piano bar, and it’s a lot of fun on most nights – but especially when the place is hopping like it was tonight! We stuck around until around midnight.





There was a large IT conference going on, and a LOT of people from the conference were in here. You end up making friends with tables next to you. The one table next to us we noticed there were several “bro”-type guys and one woman, and they were drinking pretty hard. The men’s behavior was making me a little nervous, so when the woman went to the bathroom I suggested DW go and talk to her. She said she was OK but a little be uneasy. Her and one of the guys left right as we were going, so we ended up following them back, and then kind of passed by and talked to them a little. I wanted to give her a out if she wanted to get away from the guy, but she seemed OK to be being walked back to her room with him. Hopefully nothing unwanted happened – if you know what I mean.

We had walked over to the Swan, but there were no taxis to be had, nor any service people, so we walked BACK to the Boardwalk and went out from for a taxi. Turned out there were two other people from that conference that were headed back to AKL as well. We decided to share a cab, and it ended up that they paid for it (since it was expense) – so we saved $20 there! Overall a fun evening out!

Summary Day 2:
# rides/attractions: 7 (Soarin, LwtL, Seas, Imagination, SSE, 3Cab, FEE)
Total through trip: 12
Waits in excess of 20 minutes: 0

 

[rteetz]

Pete you are making me hungry!

So many good looking items especially desserts.

I think those are the first photos I have seen of inside Jellyrolls.

Looks like you had a great day 2.

 

[franandaj]

Ugh, I had started typing up a reply with multi quotes and all sorts of stuff and I let it go too long and *poof* it vanished from the DIS.

I do remember that I used your formula for figuring out the "price" of my points. I don't remember enough, nor do I have clear records about our SSR or VGC points, but I do have the figures for VWL and BCV, and those were somewhere close to $3 in the manner in which you figured it out. Which means our stay at the BCV for 10 nights (as we left at 3:30PM on the 10th night) cost us about $900, and we were in a one bedroom!

I loosely figured out my SSR value and since I used mostly those points for the Poly Bungalow, I calculated that one and our total price was just a bit over $1000 for the three nights! That's less than 10% of what our waitress at the GF Cafe told us that the Bungalows go for cash. She said they were $3500 per night which would come out with $11,500ish for our three night stay. So your math has sold me on DVC even though I've already considered myself a "poster child" for it.
They were delivious
I'm glad that you guys made it back to F&W and I was going to give you a comparison to all your choices to mine. I made a quick check back and we both hit the chocolate studio but we were so full we didn't truly appreciate them, but they were good. We tried the scallop and pork on an empty stomach and I really liked both of them. Maybe we got a better set of food than you did.

I loved the beef from South Korea. The Kim Chi part of the cucumbers was the delicate marinade that they had. I would have paid for just a plate of the cucumbers! They were delicious! I wish I would have tried the butter chicken in Africa, but I was always too full when I passed by there.

Another trip we missed out on Jellyrolls That was nice of you to be conscious of the potential situation with that gal and her coworkers. Hopefully nothing unwanted occurred, as you said. Nice that you got a free cab ride home!

 

[skier_pete]

Pete you are making me hungry!

So many good looking items especially desserts.

I think those are the first photos I have seen of inside Jellyrolls.

Looks like you had a great day 2.

Ha! That's what I always think looking at F&W picks before the trip. Years we don't go leave me sad. Good thing we are planning on going in 2017 and 2018!

Jellyrolls doesn't mind pictures, but NO VIDEOS! We got in trouble for that once. I don't think Jellyrolls is a big priority for many people. It's relatively small - only holds probably around 300 people, so I don't think it would show up on a ton of TR. I love Disney - but I really love when Disney does "adult" (not porn adult - just aimed at adults) As you probably know - I miss Pleasure Island and the AC tremendously. Jellyrolls is the only place with that same sense of fun aimed squarely at the over 21 crowd. I'm hoping the Edison may find a little piece of that.

Ugh, I had started typing up a reply with multi quotes and all sorts of stuff and I let it go too long and *poof* it vanished from the DIS.

I do remember that I used your formula for figuring out the "price" of my points. I don't remember enough, nor do I have clear records about our SSR or VGC points, but I do have the figures for VWL and BCV, and those were somewhere close to $3 in the manner in which you figured it out. Which means our stay at the BCV for 10 nights (as we left at 3:30PM on the 10th night) cost us about $900, and we were in a one bedroom!

That seems rather low - are you including the annual maintenance fees in there - $3 sounds like just the buy-in - aren't maintenance fees at BCV around $6 a year? It is still a fantastic deal versus paying cash. A 1-bedroom at BCV goes for around $700 / night on a cash reservation.

So your math has sold me on DVC even though I've already considered myself a "poster child" for it.
They were delivious

I was thinking it unlikely I had to convince you on DVC!

I'm glad that you guys made it back to F&W and I was going to give you a comparison to all your choices to mine. I made a quick check back and we both hit the chocolate studio but we were so full we didn't truly appreciate them, but they were good. We tried the scallop and pork on an empty stomach and I really liked both of them. Maybe we got a better set of food than you did.

I loved the beef from South Korea. The Kim Chi part of the cucumbers was the delicate marinade that they had. I would have paid for just a plate of the cucumbers! They were delicious! I wish I would have tried the butter chicken in Africa, but I was always too full when I passed by there.

I like the South Korean beef a lot - but I thought the cucumber marinade was a little too light for my tastes. It wasn't bad, just too light.

That a (minor) problem with food and wine - even sharing portions I find I get filled up pretty quickly. We ate four "meals" here. (Day 2 lunch and dinner, Day 3 lunch, Day 5 lunch (with you and Fran).) And I really still feel like I didn't get to try everything I would have liked.

Another trip we missed out on Jellyrolls That was nice of you to be conscious of the potential situation with that gal and her coworkers. Hopefully nothing unwanted occurred, as you said. Nice that you got a free cab ride home!

Jellyroll's is a lot of fun - but you have to be ready for a late night. It doesn't usually get hopping until after 9 PM, and it also takes a little bit of time to get into the atmosphere. We love it though. The woman was drinking really, really hard with the guys (lots of shots going around - they even bought DW and I a couple rounds). It very well could be the case she completely knew what she was doing, but knowing guys and how *some* behave, I felt like we had to subtely keep an eye on her. Those conferences can get really nuts.

 

[skier_pete]

Day 3 – Back to Epcot

We had decided early on to give ourselves three days at Epcot – but with F&W – we wanted to avoid Friday and Saturday, so the plan was last night was a late night – but today would be an easier day. A more relaxed pace day. And I think we achieved that.

For one, we slept in. I can’t tell you exactly what time we woke up, but it was probably around 8 AM. This may sound early to some, but since 6 AM is our normal work day “rise and shine” and 6:45 AM is when we usually get up at the parks, this was a pretty nice luxury. We ate breakfast in the room with the rough goal of getting out to the parks by 10 AM. We had a FP+ from 10:10 AM to 11:10 AM – so that was our only necessity was to be at Test Track by 11:10 AM.

So – we did get down to the bus stop at 10 AM. We didn’t wait very long for a bus, and we pretty much had it entirely to ourselves. (I always like empty bus pictures!)



I am always particularly interested in what is new going in at Disney – and especially Star Wars land. The drive to Epcot goes right by this construction area –and the day before we drove by it and I was unable to get pictures. This time I set my camera to continuous shooting and fired away as we drove by. This first picture is the newly constructed road and bridge into the construction area. This is how they will be accessing all the vehicles and equipment to construct TSL and SWE (Toy Story Land and Star Wars Experience).



The second shot is really just the empty plot of land where construction is going to take place. What’s interesting is you can see how much land was cleared. Off in the distance on the left is the back of Muppetvision – as can be spotted by the Kermit the Frog balloon. Everything behind that in the park is just GONE.



There is much complaint heard about staying at AK how far it is from everywhere – but this really isn’t true. I would say the drive to Epcot from AKL is in the 10-15 minute range. DHS is even less. Only MK is a fair distance, and we’ll talk about that a bit more later. Basically that photo of us on the bus was taken at 10:08 AM, this photo outside security was taken at 10:31 AM – so that was about 23 minutes from leaving AKV to entering Epcot.



Once we got through security, we headed to our first FP+ - actually our second, I had a SSE FP+ booked for first thing in the morning – a “burned” FP+. Test Track!



This is probably the only ride that has single rider on it that I actually prefer the queue – if only for opportunity to build your own car. Prefer using a FP+ here though if we can as the lines are often long. Here’s the car that DD made!



Our timing was pretty much perfect, as we moved right from our Test Track FP to our Mission: Space FP.



We always do the green team – I really, really want to try the Orange Team, but no one will do it with me! I also am not 100% sure I can handle it at this point – spinny rides mess me up big time nowadays!



I tried to grab a new Tier 1 FP at this point, but availability was limited. I got a 5 PM Soarin’ FP+, but was thinking we might not be in the park that late. Before finishing off Future World – we made a stop at the old “Wonders of Life” pavilion.



Mostly because DW wanted to pick up this Dooney and Burke bag, which was food and wine themed. To me a huge waste of money – but she had some gift cards and the 20% off we got as DVC members:



There’s also a Ghirardelli tasting booth inside the festival center. They had some great chocolate sculpture displays I hadn’t seen anywhere on-line.
Star Wars:



Ratatouille:


Everest – take special note of the behavior of the people in the coaster car. These people are really TERRIFIED of the Yeti.



Bug’s Life:


Big Hero Six;


My favorite part of the booth – the warm cup of chocolate. (Sorry it’s blurry)


This isn’t like hot cocoa folks, this is like drinking a small cup of warm chocolate. Let me tell you, if you haven’t tried it before – try it.



We finally convinced DD to do Ellen’s Energy Adventure 2 trips ago, and she loved it. Now it is a must do. Personally, I don’t mind it – but I also wouldn’t mind if they changed it – it is such a total time suck.



There was a remarkably large crowd – the seats were about half full. We sat in the front right row. Of course some family had to jam in right next to us - even though there was an empty row immediately behind us. How can we spread out to nap?



I remember as a 12-year old kid being kind of blown away by the original ride. The new version really isn’t very different from the original, just using humor to teach the same lesson. No flash photography of course, but it’s so dark in there it’s hard to get any pictures.





We had just watched Fantasia before leaving on this trip – there are many scenes in this ride that are a homage to Fantasia, but particularly this one!



To be continue another day with yet more Food and Wine...

 

[rteetz]

Sleeping in at Disney? What is that?!

Test track is always fun, I've never done single rider though. I love building my own car and competing against my family.

I have never done orange mission space, I'm a wimp and go green.

My mom has like 5 Dooney bags...

 

[skier_pete]

Sleeping in at Disney? What is that?!

I know! We were out until almost 1 AM though...

Test track is always fun, I've never done single rider though. I love building my own car and competing against my family.

That's why it's my least favorite single-rider line. They have optional machines that allow you to pick a car, but you can't build one. I think they should make it so you CAN build one. It's still worth it for a second ride on a trip, especially with the tiered FP system.

My mom has like 5 Dooney bags...

DW has at least 3. They are scary expensive to me, but it's her money to spend...

 

[franandaj]

That seems rather low - are you including the annual maintenance fees in there - $3 sounds like just the buy-in - aren't maintenance fees at BCV around $6 a year? It is still a fantastic deal versus paying cash. A 1-bedroom at BCV goes for around $700 / night on a cash reservation.

You're right, I forgot maintenance fees. I just got all my end of year summaries for all my properties. I didn't think BCV was quite that high per point.

Then again I just have a couple "line items" in my budget that I chalk up to "Disney habit", they all hit right around December-January and DVC dues are part of that. It's just an obscene amount of money total, so I try not to think about it much. Especially since property taxes bookend those costs.

For one, we slept in. I can’t tell you exactly what time we woke up, but it was probably around 8 AM.

For someone with a traditional day job and being at Disney, that is definitely sleeping in.

This time I set my camera to continuous shooting and fired away as we drove by.

Interesting to see the progress over there. It seems that DL is farther along. I belong to several groups where people post construction photos when they catch them and there are already structures popping up.

I really, really want to try the Orange Team, but no one will do it with me!

If I had known that, I would have been happy to do it with you!

Mostly because DW wanted to pick up this Dooney and Burke bag, which was food and wine themed. To me a huge waste of money – but she had some gift cards and the 20% off we got as DVC members:

Obviously you do not understand the mindset of a D&B collector! I can't even tell you how many I have. The hardest part is rotating through them all!

My favorite part of the booth – the warm cup of chocolate.

This isn’t like hot cocoa folks, this is like drinking a small cup of warm chocolate. Let me tell you, if you haven’t tried it before – try it.

I'm glad someone else tried this, it was insanely good, but way too rich for me!

 

[khertz]

I thought I had subscribed to this thread back when you first started but apparently I didn't?!? I happened to be scrolling through the TR page and saw this, so I'm glad I did!

Very cool that you got to meet up with a friend all the way from NZ! Disney is so great at bringing people together from all over the world.

You & DW look like you had a good night sans-DD at food & wine and Jellyrolls! Very kind of you to look out for the girl with the drunk guys too. You just never know.

Looking forward to more!

 

[katriscari]

Just read your report from the beginning....loving all of the DVC info. Makes me so anxious for our adults only trip in October of 2017. I cannot wait to experience food & wine with just the hubby

 

[skier_pete]

You're right, I forgot maintenance fees. I just got all my end of year summaries for all my properties. I didn't think BCV was quite that high per point.

Then again I just have a couple "line items" in my budget that I chalk up to "Disney habit", they all hit right around December-January and DVC dues are part of that. It's just an obscene amount of money total, so I try not to think about it much. Especially since property taxes bookend those costs.

I can't even imagine your "Disney Habit" line items!

Interesting to see the progress over there. It seems that DL is farther along. I belong to several groups where people post construction photos when they catch them and there are already structures popping up.

Definitely DL is farther along. They stated earlier there as well though - I believe most things I've read said 6-9 months earlier in California. Wondering to myself if we come out to D23 in 2019 if we will get to experience it in California first.

If I had known that, I would have been happy to do it with you!

Next time maybe - but has to be BEFORE we start Food and Wine-ing!

Obviously you do not understand the mindset of a D&B collector! I can't even tell you how many I have. The hardest part is rotating through them all!

First world problems....am i right?

I'm glad someone else tried this, it was insanely good, but way too rich for me!

We only bought 2 because we thought DD would try some. I admit that little cup of chocolate was almost too much of a good thing. Almost.

I thought I had subscribed to this thread back when you first started but apparently I didn't?!? I happened to be scrolling through the TR page and saw this, so I'm glad I did!

Very cool that you got to meet up with a friend all the way from NZ! Disney is so great at bringing people together from all over the world.

You & DW look like you had a good night sans-DD at food & wine and Jellyrolls! Very kind of you to look out for the girl with the drunk guys too. You just never know.

Looking forward to more!

Hey thanks for joining in. I've had that happen before - sometimes with YOUR TRs, since you have so many going at once.

Disney fans are all the nicest bunch of people - at least they are when they at Disney....not sure what everyone is like when they get home! But seriously, you've done an ABD so you know how chummy you can get with folks quickly. Especially on the DIS ones where it is hard-core Disney fans.

Mostly don't pay that close attention but was a large group (5-6) of rowdy guys, and one woman...in my experience often that is more typically a woman that completely can hold her own, but with those conference groups YNK - so thought better to be a "good neighbor" so to speak.

Just read your report from the beginning....loving all of the DVC info. Makes me so anxious for our adults only trip in October of 2017. I cannot wait to experience food & wine with just the hubby

Adults only F&W trips are great fun! It's a whole different deal when you aren't worrying about the kids.

 

[skier_pete]

Last update before the US thanksgiving holiday!

Day 3 at Epcot continued:

By now it was 1 PM – though we had only been in the park about 2.5 hours, we had now completed ALL of future world. (We had stopped to check out the wait for Joy and Sadness, but it was 50 minutes or more each time, so forget it.) DD had had a pretzel earlier, and now wanted a frozen lemonade –her favorite Disney snack. Mom and Dad were getting hungry too, so we wanted more food and wine. DD decided she was going to pout her way around food and wine. We are used to this, and didn’t give her any choice in the matter.

We also had been trying to touch base today with our friends from New Zealand – but we seemed to keep crossing up. We were heading over to WS as they were heading OUT of WS, but we couldn’t manage to meet up!

First stop was at the Hawaii booth. You can see DDs frozen lemonade. DW and I both had a Kalua Pork Slider with Pinepple Chutney. We both really, really liked the pork, but the roll was too dense and not very good – so we actually left the roll behind. We still rated it a 4 because the pork was so good.



Next up was Patagonia:



Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri sauce and Boniato Puree. Another highly rated favorite that received a 4 from both of us. (DD was still pouting.)



3rd stop – Islands of the Carribean



We actually tried quite a bit of the selection hear. I ordered a Caribbean Sangria, which we both liked a lot. The other options on the menu we picked were the Jamaican Beef Patty (top), the Pescado con Coco (seasoned Grouper with rice and coconut sauce) and Quesito – Puff Pastry with sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce.



The Beef Patty was quite a bit spicy, and was wrapped in a pastry. I really like this a lot and gave it a 4. DW didn’t and only rated it a 3. It was too spicy for her. The Grouper was a surprise – I don’t usually like fish, but again the mix of flavors and the coconut sauce made it tasty, and it was cooked just right, so that got a 4 as well. The Quesito was actually the biggest hit of the table, getting a 5 from both of us. (DD was still pouting.)

Next we split up and one of us waited in line at the Greece booth, where DW got a Spanikopita and a glass of the Domaine Skouras Moscofilero. Meanwhile, I got a beer-cheese soup and a filet from the Canada booth.





DW loves Spanikopita, and she really liked this one and gave it a 5, I thought it was very mediocre though and only rated it a 3. The wine she got she also liked and gave it a 4 rating. I hated it (I don’t remember why) and marked it down as a 2, which is pretty bad.

The beer cheese soup was a real disappointment. I remember liking it at Le Cellier the last time we ate there, but this time it seemed extremely salty. We only rated it a 3, though you can never go wrong with Pretzel Bread. The Filet Mignon though was awesome. And I have to say, while it wasn’t a HUGE piece of meat, for $7.50 it was a pretty good value, and it wonderfully tender and flavorful. We both gave it a 5.

In Scotland I want to give this one the true surprise of the Festival. The “Tipsy Laird”, listed as Whiskey Soaked Cake with Lemon-Cream and Toasted Oats.



It just sort of sounded like any old fruity dessert – but BOY was it GOOD. I really loved this, and if I wasn’t getting so full already I might have gotten a second one right then and there. (The biggest downfall of food and wine is being able to eat everything!)

The last stop we had of the day was the Ireland booth. DW always wants to get the Cheese Plate here – and I really wanted to try the Cholocate Pudding with Irish Crème liqueur.



Yet another hit with the family. The cheese plate we both gave a 4 rating, and the chocolate Pudding finally dragged DD out of her pouting ways a bit as she tasted it and her and I both gave it a 5. I also got a large can of beer from a cart here and that was all she wrote for me.

Honestly I have to comment here that I sometimes read complaints about the quality of the food at F&W, but our experience was that almost everything we tasted was between good and great. Admittedly, we skipped things that didn’t appeal to us, but overall we really enjoyed the festival. (And there’s one more day to go!)
It was another really hot afternoon. I have to say overall I hestitate to complain too much about the weather on the trip, as we had very little rain, and the humidity was not at summer levels, but by 2 or 3 O’Clock most days we were getting frazzled from the heat. Today was no exception. So we decided we had two more things we wanted to do. The first was to see “Impressions De France”. It has been a while since we’ve seen this one, but we really like it. Before I share this next photo, I just want to say I really like France, but we were hot and in a silly mood – and this is our “snobby French faces”:



Enjoyed the show, and so now we wanted to catch the boat from Morocco back to the front of WS. DW needed to use the bathroom first, and so we missed the first boat. While waiting, DD decided NOW she was ready to eat something, so we got her a Belgian Waffle with Chocolate Ganache – which she quickly dubbed 5-worthy. DW got a Beer-braised Beef with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes – which wasn’t so great – only a 3:



We caught the boat, and DD had to do her homework assignment that we had given her for her Spanish class – to go and ask THREE questions of a CM in Mexico. The questions she chose were “Where are you from?” , “What is your age?” and “When is your Birthday?”. She was very shy about doing this – but we made her, and she didn’t die, so all was well. The CM asked her the same questions back in spanish - so it was a neat little excercise.

With that task complete – it was time to head out of the park, but not before one final treat.



I wanted to try the lamb meatball in New Zealand.



I was pretty disappointed in this one. It wasn’t very flavorful, and the breading wasn’t good either. I gave it a 3. DW also went over the chocolate Studio and got another one of those Nitro desserts.

It was now 4 PM, we’d been in the park since about 10:30 AM so 5.5 hours, but we were calling it a day. Back to the hotel to enjoy a swim and a nice relaxing evening.
Before we went back to the room – we stopped out on the main Jambo House Savannah to take a look at the animals. There were a lot of them out. I really like how they always have CMs out to talk about the animals and answer questions.







A young giraffe having a snack.







One last thing to share today – when we were in our room about 8 PM we started hearing fireworks. I went out on the patio thinking maybe they were testing Rivers Of Light.



Nope – but we had a direct line of sight view to the Star Wars fireworks at DHS. You could actually see the flame jets from the show.





I was like – “What an awesome room!” So happy we tried the value studio. Now if we can only manage to snag them in the future.

Day 3 Summary:
# rides/attractions: 4 (Test Track, M:S, Ellen’s, Impressions De France)
Total through trip: 16
Waits in excess of 20 minutes: 0

(A quick note on this – notice we’ve only done 16 attractions in 3 days – that seems pretty low, but admittedly we only had about 5 hours in DHS, and then we’ve done pretty much all the attractions in Epcot. Stay tuned for Day 4 - where we punch out a lot of MK, tour the Poly Bungalows, and get our first true reunion event!!)

 

[franandaj]

We both really, really liked the pork, but the roll was too dense and not very good – so we actually left the roll behind.

I had the exact same thought! I put the top bun on it, took a bite and immediately regretted it. I liked it as an open faced sandwich with the chutney and sauce.

Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri sauce and Boniato Puree. Another highly rated favorite that received a 4 from both of us. (DD was still pouting.)

I decided I didn't like the chimichurri sauce (which makes sense because it is made of cilantro, and I'm sure you've seen the running joke of cilantro on my TR), but the Boniato was really tasty!

3rd stop – Islands of the Carribean

We skipped this due to the spices and coconut. I think we did try the pastry with guava sauce three years ago. Sounds like we made a good choice.

Next we split up and one of us waited in line at the Greece booth, where DW got a Spanikopita and a glass of the Domaine Skouras Moscofilero. Meanwhile, I got a beer-cheese soup and a filet from the Canada booth.

I love spanakopita too, but I remember on a previous time that I had the kiosk version but ended up liking to one at Cat Cora's better. So we skipped Greece. We have some great Greek restaurants at home, so no biggie.

We did like the steak and cheese soup. Ours wasn't salty at all, so I bet it just depended on the day and luck of the draw.

In Scotland I want to give this one the true surprise of the Festival.

I will say that too, but save which one I liked best for my TR!

The last stop we had of the day was the Ireland booth.

I can't believe you're still at it! I love that molten center chocolate cake!

Honestly I have to comment here that I sometimes read complaints about the quality of the food at F&W, but our experience was that almost everything we tasted was between good and great.

The only complaints I've heard (so far) was that the food was too salty. But I'd have to agree, even the stuff I didn't care for much was still great in that it was well though out and I'm sure some people liked it. I've had a bunch of folks say how much they loved the hummus fries. But I don't want to get ahead of you!

we had very little rain, and the humidity was not at summer levels, but by 2 or 3 O’Clock most days we were getting frazzled from the heat.

We had the same experience but I couldn't last until 2 or 3 most days. While it wasn't humid for an East Coast person, it was humid for us desert dwellers!

DW got a Beer-braised Beef with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes – which wasn’t so great – only a 3:

More? I liked this a LOT it would be up there with my top savory picks!

I wanted to try the lamb meatball in New Zealand.

I was pretty disappointed in this one. It wasn’t very flavorful,

I had the same feeling last time I tried it at the festival.

Nice view of the fireworks from your room. That is a total bonus!