"It's a 5 - gimmie more!" - A Food and Wine Trip Report Oct 16-20. (Final Update 2/9/14!)

[skier_pete]

Welcome, welcome, yet again to what is my now SEVENTH trip report! And thank you to any loyal readers that still find my ramblings mildly interesting.
I’m going to keep the introductions brief: I have been on the DIS since 2006 and have been a Disney fan all my life, but DW and I became true Disney World addicts with our first stay on-site when our DD was 3.5. Since then we’ve taken 8 trips to WDW, 2 to DL including an ABD tour, and one Disney Cruise earlier this year.



We also recently bought into DVC, which in a way led to THIS trip. We weren’t really thinking we could afford a trip this year as we already took a cruise, though we wanted to do a getaway trip just the two of us. The points we ended up buying came with some “freebie” points, allowing us to plan a short trip with no hotel expense, and we scrounged up the money to pay for the rest. We left DD with DMIL, and planned a 5-day escape. She knew we were going to Florida and "a day" at Epcot, but no more.

The main reason we wanted to do this trip was to “DO” food and wine. Not just for a day, but to really get into it and try all the different foods and beverages, and maybe check out a seminar or two (or four). So while this report will have our entire trip, understand it is mostly going to be about FOOD & WINE. All the booths. Much of the food. A real detailed experience.
At the very first booth we stopped at, we decided to also RATE all the food we ate. And here is the scale we came up with

1 = BLECH!
2 = Meh
3 = OK
4 = YUM!!!
5 = Gimmie MORE!!!!

Thus, the name of our trip report! "It's a 5 - gimmie more!"

I also want to make a point at this stage to thank those DIS-friends that took the time out of their vacation or their personal life to spend a little time with us on the trip. I find one of the great things that the DIS has given us is that we now seem to always make friends that we get to spend time with.
So, come along and take a whirlwind 5-day tour of WDW with us. There won’t be much sleep --- but they’ll be plenty to eat and drink!

 

[skier_pete]

Day 1 - Arrival @ SSR
Day 1 - Terra, Patagonia, Mariachis, Australia and New Zealand
Day 1 - Norway, China, Schoolbread and Hash
Day 1 - Wine Seminar
Day 1 - Culinary Seminar - Pesto Shrimp with Linguini
Day 1 - Our room at Saratoga Springs
Day 1 - Evening at F&W & DISMeet #1

Day 2 - Morning at Hollywood Studios
Day 2 - Afternoon with friends and dinner @ Yachtsman

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom! (Rides 1-5)
Day 3 - Rides 6 - 9 @ MK
Day 3 - Back in the SSR & Late night (early morning) at MK to wrap it up

Day 4 - Back to Food and Wine
Day 4 - Italy and America
Day 4 - Wine and Culinary Seminars
Day 4 - Eat to the Beat and Dueling Pianos

Day 5 - 3rd time (@Epcot) is a charm!
Day 5 - Wrapping it up!

 

[skier_pete]

So, I will try to limit the boring travel part of the trip to this single paragraph. We end up on a VERY early flight when SWA change the flight schedule from leaving Buffalo at 8 AM to 6:30 AM. The advantage, we could get there all that much ealier. Really, besides having to awaken at 4:45 AM to get to the airport, the trip was uneventful. It seemed like the sun wasn’t even up for half the flight! Our plane landing slightly ahead of schedule, we headed right down to the ME desk, boarded the bus almost immediately which was already mostly full of people, and after about a 5-minute wait we took off for WDW.



One short stop at Old Key West and we were checking into our resort – Saratoga Springs!



For those that didn’t follow my PTR – this is our first ever stay as DVC owners. Our “home” resort is AKL, but when we got our points to book this trip, the only availability was in a 1-bedroom at Saratoga Springs, also known on the DIS as SSR. Under normal circumstances, we don’t have the money/points to stay in a 1-bedroom, but we had 127 points available, and 4 nights at SSR in a 1-bedroom cost 122 points, so it worked out perfect for us. The 1-bedroom would be the height of luxury for us as we are used to a moderate or value room at Disney.

Arriving at the resort at 10 AM we pretty much knew our room wouldn’t be ready. However, we wanted to get through the check-in process. The main check-in area:



As DVC likes to say - WELCOME HOME!


Shots of the main lobby:






Our check-in process went ultra smooth. While we had two carry-ons with us, we were taking one into the park and left the second one with Bell services. Then it was off to the bus stop for a ride to the park.
The “themeing” for this resort is clearly “19th century Saratoga Raceway”. Lots of pictures of horses everywhere.



This resort is VERY spread-out, there was to me a amazing lot of open (dead) space. Not just lakes like this but also greenery, as well as part of one of the golf courses went through the resort.



There were five bus stops in all. After spending 5 days at the resort, I still don’t have a good feel for the layout without looking at a map. This map shows the main area in the center as “The Springs”. We were staying at the lower right corner “Congress Park”, in the farthest building to the right (1101-1436).



We picked this location because of the convenience to the DTD bus route. In fact, it also wasn’t really that far from “The Springs”, maybe about a 5-7 minute walk. There are certainly portions of this resort that would be a LONG way from the main building, particularly the “Carousel” section.
We did duck into the food court area for a look around. Considering how busy and hectic most food courts are at resorts, this one was certainly quieter. This could be because a large percentage of the villas at this resort are equipped with kitchens:







We weren’t really that interested in looking around the resort at this stage. It was time to get to the park! We waited probably about 10 minutes for a bus. We actually had EXCELLENT bus karma this trip with only ONE real exception. For those that don’t know me, “bus karma” is what I call the fortune with which you have your bus arrive without a long wait. As a planner – I do not need good fortune to wait in short lines for rides or make to the shows I want to see. The only “good fortune” I need on a Disney trip is to not to wait for long periods of time for a bus. I call it bus karma because I feel that my behavior at WDW is hopefully rewarded in this way. Treating other people in the park with respect, giving up my seat on the bus for a older person or a tired kid, helping someone take their picture, giving someone directions in the park, all things I do trying to be a good person, but hoping to be repaid with my “bus karma”.

If you walk up to the bus stop just as the bus pulls up, you’ve received good “bus karma”. Waiting 40 minutes for a return bus to your resort is bad “bus karma”. We spent quite a bit of time on Disney transportation this trip, because everyday we had at two trips from the resort, so figure 20 or so examples of using the transportation system. Overall, only ONE case of bad bus karma! And some really good cases, as this one was!

So, as it happened, we were walking into Epcot right about 11 AM. Not had considering we were in our bed in Western New York not 5.5 hours before this! And guess what, 11 AM is also when the Food and Wine booths open!


Coming up next...FOOD glorious FOOD!

 

[DisneyNole12]

Cant wait to read your TR!!! Living in FL we mostly do daytrips and only venture over to Food and wine during the mornings to escape the crowds so Ive never really gotten the whole experience of trying ALL the foods over a few day span...just pick some favorites and move on to another park. Cant wait to hear about everything you tried!

 

[franandaj]

Looking forward to hearing all about F&W, new items, returning items. I didn't get to go this year. Really can only justify once every three years since there are so many other "times of year" to want to go.

In in!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

joining! Sounds like a fun trip - I love the thought of a sans-kids trip for F&WF!

And congrats on being DVC owners!

That is pretty darn cool to wake up in Buffalo NY and be at EPCOT when WS opens!

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY! You started.

Here for the vicarious living.

 

[skier_pete]

Cant wait to read your TR!!! Living in FL we mostly do daytrips and only venture over to Food and wine during the mornings to escape the crowds so Ive never really gotten the whole experience of trying ALL the foods over a few day span...just pick some favorites and move on to another park. Cant wait to hear about everything you tried!

It was fun, but the amount of food selection was impressive. We actually had a hard time getting to all the booths even with three days. But (spoiler alert!) we did it!

Looking forward to hearing all about F&W, new items, returning items. I didn't get to go this year. Really can only justify once every three years since there are so many other "times of year" to want to go.

In in!

I can't say I'm enough of an expert to talk about new items vs returning items, though I do mention some of our favorites that were repeats from previous years. However, there's a LOT of items in the mix.

joining! Sounds like a fun trip - I love the thought of a sans-kids trip for F&WF!

And congrats on being DVC owners!

That is pretty darn cool to wake up in Buffalo NY and be at EPCOT when WS opens!

It WAS cool. I love when we can get direct flights (it doesn't always happen). It kept thinking that for the first few hours...we JUST left home this morning, and here I am eating an empanada and sipping a glass of wine in world showcase.

I also kept thinking the whole trip about how we have friends at home that when we said we were going to Disney without our daughter they looked at us like we had three heads. And I wanted to tell them "If you don't think you can have a good time at Disney World without your kids, then you just don't know how to do Disney World."

YAY! You started.

Here for the vicarious living.

I feel a lot of pressure to get the TR going. Since I don't have 1000s of followers like you, I feel like if I don't get it going, people will stop reading. And I admit I feel great satisfaction knowing people are reading along and (hopefully) enjoying my TRs.

So, Stay tuned I am going to try and squeeze another update in today.

 

[skier_pete]

It's now 11 AM and after a whirlwind morning of travel, we are entering Epcot...heading for World Showcase.

We made one quick stop on the way. We were going to try and re-create some of the pictures on this trip from our very first two trips together before our daughter was born. We actually managed to either forget or just not be able to do many of them. (The hub construction screwed up one.) But here’s one of the few we got:

October 2000:


14 years later:


I also texted “Teetah”, the DISer who we were planning on meeting up with for a time today. As it happens, we beat them to the park! (How far did you guys have to travel?) It took us a while to catch up with them, but eventually we did.

Before I get into F&W details, one thing that really surprised me at Food and Wine was the crowd levels. I realize that this is a very popular event, but we planned that two of our days would be week days, thinking that we could avoid crowds. Well, it wasn’t super packed, but both days there were really quite a few people.

As part of F&W, we wanted to try and see a lot of the acts in World Showcase we never really get the time to see. Unfortunately we just missed out on seeing some (such as the World Showcase Players – who we’ve seen before – and Off Kilter – who we hadn’t). So, to decide which way to go, we decided to turn left towards Mexico to see Mariachi Cobre.

So, when you turn left – the first booth is….





Wait –what? Crabless Crabcake? Chick-n? Um, I came here for food, not this stuff. (Sorry, I won’t get on an anti-vegan rant, but suffice it to say, if you are going to eat something that simulates chicken, just eat the damn chicken.)

So we chose the lesser of two evils – the Chicken stuff with the ferro wheat and gumbo sauce.



This dish was carried almost entirely by the nice flavor of the gumbo. The chicken managed to taste almost (but not quite) like chicken, and the ferro wheat tasted like barley. Overall – we gave this one a 3 out of 5.

Next up was Patagonia. I think this is an odd choice for a booth, as it is a region more than a country. They didn’t want to just represent Argentina and Chile separately? They had to throw it into one booth?





Now, THIS is more like it. DW decided she wanted to try the beef skewer, whereas I went for the empanada. DW also had the Terrazas Reserva Malbec while I tried the Viognier.



The beef skewer DW gave a 4, while I gave it a 3. The flavor was good, but I didn’t quite think it was a “yum”. The Chimichurri sauce also DW liked a lot more than I did.



The Empanada on the other hand was VERY tasty. I had low expectations for this South American hot pocket, but the meat was very flavorful and the dough of the empanada was very light. A 4 from both of us.

We actually met a DISer here that we invited to share our table. She said to us “As long as you don’t mind if I take pictures of my food.” Her Lime Green Mickey Head ID’d her as a DISer, but I didn’t get her name. If you stumble across this TR, give me a shout!



We decided to head off and listen to Mariachi Cobre next, as there showtime was fast approaching. We had never watched this group perform, and they were really great.







What surprised me was how large a group it was! I was expecting the 3 guitarists, but not so many violins. They were really excellent. We stayed for about 5 songs, before deciding to check out the Mexican pavilion. I was originally thinking of stopping in at Cava Tequila, but when we got in it wasn’t yet open. We rode the “Donald ride” (sorry, no pictures). Not sure why, I supposed so we could say we rode something besides a bus today. I like this re-do on this ride, but of course it’s a pretty minor attraction. When we got off, there was a giant line of people at the Tequila bar and it still wasn’t open because it was just before noon, so we decided to skip it for now.

We hadn’t eaten a lot yet, so decided to head back a bit and catch the Australia booth. (Shout out to my Aussie Peeps – especially PrincessInOz – who I know will see this.





This is one of my favorite booths because I absolutely LOVE the way they prep the lamb chop with the pesto and potato chips (they call them something else). I could get like 6 of these and have dinner. It’s definitely a “5 – Gimmie MORE!” for me. DW only gave it a 4. What’s wrong with her?



The other thing we got was a Pavlova. This is a traditional Australian Dessert that used meringue and custard with fruit. I guess it was OK, though I thought what we tried in Australia when we went was better. This was not to me an example of the best Australian dessert which is Lammington. Here’s a picture from our Australia trip. And trust me, it’s even better than it looks!

The Pavlova got a 3 from me, and a 4 from DW.

We skipped the shrimp, but I can tell you from past experience that this is also an excellent choice. Overall, along with the wine options (DW had the Reisling while I had the Shiraz) that this is a favorite booth of ours!!!
Next up across the Tasman Sea (OK, maybe not) is New Zealand. Shout to my Kiwi peeps! (OK – just Brightee.)





Ick, couldn’t try that first thing – don’t know which made it less appealing the word “lip” or the word “mussels”. Since we just had lamb in Australia, we decided to try the venison sausage with pickled mushrooms and baby arugula.



I didn’t care much for the pickled mushrooms, but the actual sausage was quite delicious. A little bit spicy and not at all gamey. DW and I both game this tasty treat a 4!

DW also tried the unoaked Chardonnay, which she tends to like (she doesn’t like the typical oakiness of regular chardonnay ). That put her at three drinks to my two. Hey, who’s the lush here!

I liked this shot of SSE across the bottomless sinkhole. (look it up)



To be continued in next post...

 

[skier_pete]

We skipped the Mexico booth and headed around world showcase towards Norway and the ride formerly known as Maelstrom. In the 8 trips we’ve taken since 2006, I only rode this ride once, so I was a bit sorry we missed it by only about 2 weeks. I felt more sorry for these CM that were posted outside the boarded up gates that had to repeat every 20 seconds “No, the ride isn’t available anymore. Why don’t you go into our store to buy some Frozen crap and then enjoy a nice snack from our bakery.” They seemed very chipper though.



Since we didn’t need any Frozen crap, we headed right to Kringla Bakery. Because we wanted to get a recently discovered favorite – SCHOOLBREAD!



I have to say, this was not the best Schoolbread we ever had. The schoolbread is like a heavier-dough donut, with a crème filling and a coconut glaze top. However, this one the filling was rather sparse and I thought that it was a little too cold, causing it to not taste as fresh. Still delicious though! Gave it a 4, though usually gets a 5.

So, as I was reorganizing our stuff, DW wanted to go into the store because she really likes one of the perfumes they sell here called “Laila” and it just so happened the designer was in today, his name was Gier Ness. We had quite a long chat (maybe 5 minutes) with him about designing perfumes. He also had a men’s fragrance, of which he gave me a sample. (Didn’t really like it.) DW really enjoyed the talk. I look at this picture and she looks very smitten with him.



It was almost time for our beverage and culinary seminars, but we figured we had time to stop in China and watch the Circle vision movie, which we hadn’t seen in a few years, especially since it was just letting in as we walked up. While I like these 360 movies, I really wish that they had seating. I think it’s worse to stand still for 15 minutes than to walk around.









Following this, we stopped at the “Farm Fresh” booth. This is I think a new booth with all locally grown stuff.



Of the two choices, we decided on the Pepper Bacon Hash. Meanwhile, DW got the Dr. Loosen Reisling, while I got my first beer of the trip, the Cold Nose Brown Ale.





DW absolutely loved this (gave it 5!), and I thought it was really good (4 for me) it had quite a bit of spice to it from the peppers (those are jalapenos on top) but not just kick a lot of flavor in general. It went really well with the beer also.

It was now time for us to head for our seminar, so now seems like a good time to pause the tale, which I will pick up with later.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Good job recreating that photo! That is a great idea - sorry you didn't get more done though. Oh well, another reason to plan another sans kids trip

I had no idea that there was an official full music act in Mexico with set times, etc. - though just random mariachi playing

You guys hit up a bunch of booths already! We liked everything from New Zealand our last trip for F&WF (though the green lipped mussels were kinda not the best value).

Ok, your line about Frozen crap cracked me up!

Ok, now to go take my daughter (who is dressed up as Elsa) out trick or treating with the other hundreds of girls dressed up as Elsa

 

[PrincessInOz]

I am officially green (lipped mussels) with envy. I really LOVE Food and Wine and looking at your pictures, I wish I were there.

I have to admit that I don't like the pavlova or the lamington at the Aussie booth. They just don't know how to cook either of those desserts and they taste 'off' to me.

But that Patagonia stand? I had the empanada from Argentina in 2010 and it was fantastic.


DW looks like she enjoyed her meet and greet with the perfume designer. What luck and great timing.

 

[skier_pete]

Good job recreating that photo! That is a great idea - sorry you didn't get more done though. Oh well, another reason to plan another sans kids trip

I had no idea that there was an official full music act in Mexico with set times, etc. - though just random mariachi playing

You guys hit up a bunch of booths already! We liked everything from New Zealand our last trip for F&WF (though the green lipped mussels were kinda not the best value).

Ok, your line about Frozen crap cracked me up!

Ok, now to go take my daughter (who is dressed up as Elsa) out trick or treating with the other hundreds of girls dressed up as Elsa

Our DD was dressed up as Hermione. I only saw ONE Elsa in the neighborhood though!

Of course we hit a bunch of booths - this was "lunch". Mostly we shared one item at each booth too, but we usually found about 5-6 booths we were already getting pretty full. Darn getting older and getting smaller stomaches yet bigger bellies!

I'd never known about the Mariachi act either, so maybe it's a newer one. We did get to check out a couple of the new acts later in the trip.

I am officially green (lipped mussels) with envy. I really LOVE Food and Wine and looking at your pictures, I wish I were there.

I have to admit that I don't like the pavlova or the lamington at the Aussie booth. They just don't know how to cook either of those desserts and they taste 'off' to me.

But that Patagonia stand? I had the empanada from Argentina in 2010 and it was fantastic.


DW looks like she enjoyed her meet and greet with the perfume designer. What luck and great timing.

I would bet that a lot of the dishes would not be that great if you were an actual resident of the country tasting it at Epcot. This was a rare case where we've actually had Pavlova in AU, so in my view it wasn't as good either. Not sure why since it's basically meringue and custard, but I agree with you that it was "off".

It must be hard seeing someone say, "we hopped on a plane at 6 AM and were in Epcot by 11 AM". And yet there's still millions of people that are way closer than us. I'd like to say we can do these little getaway trips every year, but it might be a few years before we get to do this again.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'd like to say we can do these little getaway trips every year, but it might be a few years before we get to do this again.

For as long as I've been writing Trip Reports on the Dis, it's always been in comfortable knowledge that you've been writing a PTR/TR at the same time as me. It's just been one of those quirks of being on the Dis that I've just come to call a 'norm'.

I was reading your TR the other day and had come to the sad realisation that you will probably be writing a TR next year and I won't be (we have no travel plans for next year).

 

[skier_pete]

For as long as I've been writing Trip Reports on the Dis, it's always been in comfortable knowledge that you've been writing a PTR/TR at the same time as me. It's just been one of those quirks of being on the Dis that I've just come to call a 'norm'.

I was reading your TR the other day and had come to the sad realisation that you will probably be writing a TR next year and I won't be (we have no travel plans for next year).

Awww...you made me both happy and sad in a simple paragraph. It makes me happy to feel like we are part of each others on-line lives, even 10,000 miles away. It makes me sad that you will run out of TRs to write!

However, just because you have no travel plans right now doesn't mean things won't be forming. I can't believe you guys won't be hopping a plane at some point in the near future, even if it's not necessarily Disney related.

 

[khertz]

I'm here! I'm late, but I'm here!

Great start so far. I can't believe how much y'all got done on your first day. Guess you have to make the most of your time on a short trip, though.

As much as I like Frozen, I am pretty bummed about Maelstrom being replaced. It's so cheese but it was a staple of our visits to Epcot. Sad to see it all boarded up!

Looking forward to more.

 

[skier_pete]

I'm here! I'm late, but I'm here!

Hey, I think I was like four months late for your TR from last fall...glad you could make it!

Great start so far. I can't believe how much y'all got done on your first day. Guess you have to make the most of your time on a short trip, though.

What are you talking about, we've only been in the park for 3 hours so far! Plenty more to go on this night.

As much as I like Frozen, I am pretty bummed about Maelstrom being replaced. It's so cheese but it was a staple of our visits to Epcot. Sad to see it all boarded up!

Looking forward to more.

Yeah, I think most Epcot/Disney fans are a little disappointed in the change. Hopefully they'll make it a really fun ride and we will forgive them putting fictional lands into world showcase.

 

[skier_pete]

So, the food and wine seminars take place in the old “Wonders of Life” building. Until recently, I never realized how set back this building was compared to the other three in that area (Energy, Space, and Motion) . You really could stick a couple trees and hide it’s existence.



I realize this pavilion has been closed a long time, but it IS used for this and Flower and Garden, so it is a bit disappointing at the level of shabbiness of the building. I’m sure Disney doesn’t want to sink a lot of money into it, but the dome looked really worn from both the inside and outside, and I noticed the bathrooms had some mildew in the grout. Not cool,Disney, not cool.
Walking into the building for the first time in 14 years made me feel a little melancholy. Wonders of Life was the very first attraction that DW ever went to together on our first trip. I remember really liking Body Wars and Cranium Command, but there were also some fun displays. I have video of DW riding a recumbent bike that projected a ride through Disneyland and I remember a bunch of other interactive things there two. I am not sentimental to much of “Yester-EPCOT”, because much of the ye olde stuff there I only ever saw once back when I was a kid, but I do get the nostalgia, because I feel it in this place.



So back to the seminar. We got there about 10 minutes before the seminar, and we had to wait to pick up our tickets.



Then we had to get in line for the seminar. This one was Justin Vineyards and Landmark Vineyards, both in California. Here are the three wines we were tasting.



And here is the actual glasses.





The representative from the wineries came out and introduced the wineries and the wines themselves, a little history and then talked about the wines as we tasted them. You wouldn’t think that this could take 45 minutes, but somehow it did.







We started with the Landmark Chardonnay. Before we start this, I should state that while my wife and I enjoy wife we are a long way from connoisseurs. We typically find wines that we like in the $10-15 a bottle range, and my top criteria for selecting a bottle in a restaurant is “what’s the cheapest”. We also like lighter wines typically Reislings and Pinor Grigios for whites, and on the reds Cabs or Pinot Noir. However, we’ve done enough of this to be able to taste the differences in wines, and to appreciate the affects of food combined with wine on the pallet. So, it’s always a little disappointing to me when wine tastings don’t also include food that goes with it – yet my secondary disappointment was that there was so little in the glasses!

Overall though we really liked these three wines. The Chardonnay probably the least, since we don’t really care for the oakiness of a Chardonnay, but for that it was good. The Cab Sauv was very good, but by far the Isosceles blend was the best. It had a nice rich flavor to it and was very smooth.

Unfortunately, we found out it was $70 - 80 a bottle, so we won’t be running out and getting any anytime soon. But, boy it was pretty good!
Overall for $15 (we paid $13 with DVC) I thought this was a nice seminar. You learned a little about the wines and winery, got three modest size tastes of some pretty good wines.

However, I thought the vastly superior experience was the Culinary Seminar that was up next. (Continued in next post)

 

[skier_pete]

Again, there was a line to enter, and some tables gave a better view of the cooking stage. Ours ended up being front and center since we were only a party of 2.

This was a case where you got to watch a chef prepare a dish, and also get to taste it. In this case, they had brought over Robert Leonardi, who was the head chef at Wolfgang Puck’s at DTD.





However, first you were presented with a glass of wine to go with your food. This was a true full glass of wine. The hostess introduced the representative from the winery. I can’t recall the wine (the print is too fine on the above picture) but it was a pretty tasty Chardonnay (not to oaky) that really went well with the dinner.



The chef then came out (with his minion) and started preparing the pesto using fresh basil.










One thing that was really nice was they had an overhead camera that could be used to look down on what was cooking.





I can’t remember specific details of the talk, but it was really a great presentation of the recipe and ways in which to vary it and the key ingredient. Specific points I remember about cooking spaghetti was (a) don’t BREAK the spaghetti (If spaghetti was meant to be shorter, it would be sold in shorter packages) and (b) use salt in your water when cooking pasta.







He also butterflied the shrimp, which made them curl up as they cooked. This was a nice little touch. Eventually they brought us each out a portion to taste.



It was scrumptious! I wanted to yell – “A FIVE – gimmie more!” The worst part of it was at the end there was a big plate piled high at the front. I wanted to take seconds off of this!



At the end you could go up and get the chef to autograph your recipe, and also ask him questions. DW asked a few questions while I salivated over the plate of pasta.

Overall, this was an absolutely fantastic experience, especially when you consider that it cost us only $13 a piece, you got a glass of wine, a portion of food, and a lesson in the culinary arts. An excellent value at a location that is clearly not known for it’s excellent values (Disney and F&W.)

We made one last stop in the festival center at the Ghirardelli chocolate display. They had some diorama’s made out of chocolate that I for some reason didn’t take pictures of. They also sold a “cup of chocolate drink”. Not talking about hot chocolate, but what really tasted like melted dark chocolate.



It almost seemed like expresso for chocolate lovers. It was so rich it was nice that we were able to share the cup.

Continued in next post.

 

[skier_pete]

By this point, it was 4 PM and we had gotten a text a while back saying our room was ready. We again texted with DISer “Teetah” and knew that they were doing a mixology seminar at 6 PM, so we figured we would meet them after the seminar, and we planned to head back and make sure our room was ready.

We got a bus almost the instant we walked to the bus stop, so we stopped back at the main area at SSR to pick up a few things at the grocery store for breakfast (eggs,butter, milk – we should have gotten flour and baked a cake) and also to pick up DWs bag from the plane. We actually could’ve gotten a ride to our room from Bell Services, but decided to see how the walk was. It wasn’t bad, probably about 7-8 minutes, and we were the farthest building away in “College Park”. Our Building…



Unfortunately, when we got to the room – neither of our Magic Bands worked! This was a case of “Oh no! Not again!” We were glad that we had come back to the room rather than waiting until 10 PM to find this out, but we weren’t about to walk all the way back to the main building. So, we went down by the elevator and used the house phone to call the front desk. They said they would send someone out, but in the meantime if we found anyone from housekeeping, we should ask them to let us in.

We waited about 5 minutes, and then we did see someone from housekeeping, at first she didn’t want to let us in, but then said she would do it, but would have to call the front desk to confirm that we are who we say we are. (This seemed like a fair thing – I wouldn’t want them letting someone in a room just because they said so.) So she called the front desk, but what we didn’t get out of it was whether they were still going to send someone else out.

In the meantime, we were happy to see all our bags had arrived in the room, and while she was on the phone we checked out the room. As stated before, we had ended up in a one-bedroom, and OMG this room was absolutely HUGE!

The entryway:


The living room area:






The Kitchen:




The bedroom:


Most outsided of all – the bathroom, which was about twice the size of our bathroom at home! The pictures don’t show it, but there was one section of the bathroom (shown below) that had a sink, closet and bathtub, that was attached to the bedroom (and there was no way of closing it off from the bedroom). Then there is a second area that has another sink and shower, and a third room containing the toilet. Overall, it felt like the bathroom took up about 1/3 of the property.





The view from our balcony would have been fantastic except for one thing – a giant tree right outside that basically left us with no view at all.



Overall, the room was great. In fact, it felt like a huge waste of space. I never once sat on the couch or turned on the TV in the living room. We used the table to eat breakfast and store our crap but that was it. The kitchen we did use to cook our eggs, and we also had hot oatmeal that we had brought from home, but a full kitchen was overkill for this purpose. The balcony I went out on to take a picture and other than that never used it. The tub we didn’t really use either. We enjoyed the king-size bed, but I don’t mind a queen.

Back to the trials of the MB locks, though. So once the woman from housekeeping left, I called up front to try and resolve the issues with the room key (MB). They tried to reset it over the phone, but no dice. They said we would have to come back to the front desk. We decided we didn’t want to go all that way and then have to come back to the room, so we unpacked our meager stuff, freshened up a bit, and then was planning to take a bus back to the main area – after which we would go back to Epcot. (The bus routes made traveling this direction much easier.) However, as we were heading out, a golf cart with two repairmen showed up, and they wanted us to go back up to the room. They were trying to change out the battery, when yet another person showed up (bell services type-guy perhaps?). When they were unable to determine anything wrong with the door lock, we had to go back to the front desk. There CMs were all very accommodating and helpful and ASSURED us that our MB would now open our room key. I asked for a phone # in case we got back to the room later tonight and still couldn’t get in…which they provided.

Overall, I want to say this was not a great experience, but the CM were all very friendly and helpful at trying to solve the issue. It was disappointing to spend our afternoon break dealing with this, but at least it wasn’t a totally inconvenient time. (i.e. first thing in the morning.)

So, we headed back to Epcot for the evening.
Would we FINALLY make it to our first DISmeet?
And would we be able to get back into our room tonight?
Stay tuned for the next update!