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

[Tinker326]

Gosh, I'm not sure I could WDW cupcakes too much. The frosting is usually way too sweet. If I have one a trip that's enough for me. But I would say there are worse things to do.

I scanned a bunch of pictures, but I think we only did 2 throwback shots. I wish we'd done more! I always wanted to do it with childhood pictures, but I only have ONE childhood shot from WDW. Not sure why since I went quite a few times.

Ahhh, but you forget sugar is MY heroin. Please notice my avatar.. it's a running medal with a cupcake in it! So I shall be all over the cupcakes.............. with a dole whip thrown in for good measure! Oh, and lots and lots of alcohol too. And maybe 19.3 miles in there.

 

[skier_pete]

Ahhh, but you forget sugar is MY heroin. Please notice my avatar.. it's a running medal with a cupcake in it! So I shall be all over the cupcakes.............. with a dole whip thrown in for good measure! Oh, and lots and lots of alcohol too. And maybe 19.3 miles in there.

The great and powerful oz says "I see lots of vomiting in your future!!!"

 

[skier_pete]

Much like it can be very difficult to push through to the end of a trip report, it was beginning to feel like it was going to be very difficult to push through and get food at each of these booths! As it is, I forgot to post a picture of the beer cheese soup from Canada.



We have the recipe and made this at home…so clearly we give it a 5! (FYI – we once had a Le Cellier themed dinner party, where we served beer cheese soup, pretzel rolls, Yukon gold potato au gratin, Strip Steaks, and Maple Crème Brulee. It was a hit, even though I think it’s the moment our friends decided we’d gone over the Disney falls in the Disney barrel. Now they barely blink when I show off my new Enchanted Tiki Room sign. But I digress…)

We headed deeper and deeper into world showcase with a stop at the Ireland booth. Somehow I botched and didn’t get a picture of the booth, but I did of the food!




This is the Kerrigold Cheese selection with 3 types of cheeses. We both like cheese, and though these are strong cheeses, enjoyed it very much. I rated it a 4, while DW must have had more room in her, because she gave it a 5. We actually found a bench in the back of the England pavilion that we could cool down and enjoy a short sit.

We then headed to France, and though we skipped the booth, we decided to take in the movie. (I actually can’t remember now if we saw it on the 4th day or today, but I THINK today.) After that we wanted a bit of dessert. I wanted some “Glace” and decided to try the butterscotch with sea salt flavored ice cream.



This was pretty good, but I am not sure the flavor fully worked for me, it was almost too sweet. I give it a 4 anyways because it’s Ice Cream. DW wanted a treat as well, and she wanted Macaroons. Perhaps because she knows I don’t care much for them, so she doesn’t have to share.



Two booths to go….but sooooo full! Oh well, soldier on. Next up was Brazil!


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We tried two things. The Pao de Queijo – a brazillian cheese bread, and Cocada – Coconut Candy.



You may sense a cheese pattern here from us. Put cheese in it, it gets a FIVE out of FIVE! Well, the Brazillians did it right. Actually, this wasn’t just pure cheese, more “infused with”, and it was delicious. The coconut candy I didn’t care for at all. I gave it a 2, but it was just too sweet but still too strongly coconutty. DW liked it a lot, and gave it a 4, so I guess it’s just subject to taste.

Last booth!



Looks like it’s waffle-time! We went with the Berry compote.



We’d had this last year, and thought it was a very satisfactory ending to our trip. Nice flavor to the waffle, and the berries added the sweetness you expect with a waffle sandwhich. It got a 4 from us. I also had a glass of the Stella Artois hard Cider, which I didn’t really care for.

So there you have it, all the food booths. (With a few “coffee carts” and other places that are there year round and we deemed unworthy of our time/money/stomach lining.)

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After this it was time to start heading back. We DID sneak in one ride on Spaceship Earth. Here’s are SSE selfie when it broke down. It took like 6 tries to get one this good!



We returned to the hotel and were able to calmly make our way from the hotel back to home. This part of the trip is neither fun nor memorable, so I will just pass it by without a 2nd thought.

Trip Wrap-Up:

This was a fantastic trip, and more than anything else convinced us that we will always want to go to WDW even without our daughter. Not that we don’t have fun with her, but it was a whole different fun when we get to do what we want when we wanted. I’m not sure when we’ll ever get to do this type of trip again. We probably won’t be going for F&W again for at least 4 years, but boy we had a good time. I have to say I highly, highly recommend a solo F&W trip to any parents that can get the chance to get away. In addition, we pretty much got to do all the things we wanted to. We missed AK a little bit, but really knowing we were coming back in 10 months eased that pain a little bit.

Weather and Crowds:

This is actually our 4th trip taken in mid-October since 2000, and it seems to have only gotten more and more crowded. The crowds were definitely sizable, but it wasn’t the worst we’ve seen, and since we weren’t doing a ton of rides, it didn’t matter much. The weather was near perfect, sunny and warm, perhaps a bit too warm (low eighties) for my personal taste, but overall pretty good for a Disney trip. In addition, we’ve never gone wrong weather wise with this week!

Saratoga Springs (SSR) thoughts :

This was our 5th ever Disney Resort. Pop Century, CBR, POFQ and AKL are the other 4. Overall, it was a nice resort, we loved our humongous 1-bedroom villa that we can probably never afford again, and “free points” were a definite plus. That said, I didn’t really care much for SSR. The big negative to me is that it had the spread-out factor that is the big thing that turns me off about the moderates such as CBR (and why POFQ gets my vote as the best moderate even though it has less amenities). I got a lot of cr8p on another thread about called SSR a moderate DVC resort, but I sort of stick by my guns. It’s nice enough, and sure it’s got a spa and a golf course right here, so yeah it’s definitely a step above something like CBR, but it’s expensive for a DVC (the point requirements are relatively high – falling in between a cheaper standard view at AKV and a higher savannah view). Quite honestly I’d rather stay at AKV than here. If we are ever to get more points there is much to consider, because while SSR points are significantly cheaper (annual dues-wise), I think it would be a rarity that I’d be happy with having to go to SSR on a vacation. This is not a big issue yet, as we are many years off from buying more points, but if I were to rank SSR with the resorts we’ve stayed at before, I would probably rank it thus from best to worst – AKV, POFQ, SSR, CBR, Pop – meaning I’d probably prefer a stay at POFQ over SSR.

Overall though – a great trip, and so nice doing Disney just the two of us. I certainly hope it isn’t the last time.

Next up, it’s time for hardcore planning. If you enjoyed reading this TR and would like to follow along to the next one, click the link in my signature about our August 2015 trip. The planning is going to start coming fast and furious over there for next month:

February 19th – SWA opens up the flight dates – airline tickets in the pocket?

February 26th – The Poly opens up to the general DVC populace. Can we get in? Or will I screw up our current BLT reservation to do so?

Late-February – We are trying to get our daughter into the Disney Youth Education Services (YES) classes individual enrollment. I expect the dates of our trip to open sometime in late February. (about 3 weeks from now).

March 1st – 180 days out from our stay. It’s time to make those elusive ADRs. Can we get into Be Our Guest??

What I ask you is – is the excitement contagious? Because I got a fever for some trip planning!

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY for getting through mostly all the food booths. Hats of to both of you. I'm not sure I could ever do that. It's just too much food for me.

Nice wrap-up. I've done a solo'ish trip without DS or DH (he was stuck in conferences) and I really liked the freedom. But I did miss the company.


Congrats on having an August trip in the works. Now I'm totally envious!

 

[Tinker326]

Great wrap up to a great trip!

What an accomplishment hitting all those booths! Woo hoo! I am full just reading your last update.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

great job getting to all those booths! Glad you enjoyed your time. We haven't done F&WF solo yet but we did do a trip with grandparents there as well, so we did get some time alone for like a "date" at a wine seminar, etc.

Best of luck with the planning for the next trip - definitely will be interesting to see how availability at the Poly DVC is (I expect low, but who knows - either way, good luck!). best of luck with getting your daughter into the Disney YES classes

 

[skier_pete]

YAY for getting through mostly all the food booths. Hats of to both of you. I'm not sure I could ever do that. It's just too much food for me.

Nice wrap-up. I've done a solo'ish trip without DS or DH (he was stuck in conferences) and I really liked the freedom. But I did miss the company.


Congrats on having an August trip in the works. Now I'm totally envious!

I find it really hard/sad to NOT be planning a Disney trip. Fortunately this has been a pretty rare situation for us. I feel very, very blessed that we are able to do these trips so often, though most of our friends think we are just plum crazy!

Great wrap up to a great trip!

What an accomplishment hitting all those booths! Woo hoo! I am full just reading your last update.

HA! Me too...I was really surprised with the two of us sharing how quickly we got filled up.

It also led to us surprisingly going well under our expected budget for food. I had set aside $200 a day for the food and wine days, figuring we would be essentially eating two meals a day there. We actually spent less than $150 both of the full days, and then on our last day spend less than $100, so I came back with about $200 in gift cards. These immediately were put away for the next trip!

great job getting to all those booths! Glad you enjoyed your time. We haven't done F&WF solo yet but we did do a trip with grandparents there as well, so we did get some time alone for like a "date" at a wine seminar, etc.

Best of luck with the planning for the next trip - definitely will be interesting to see how availability at the Poly DVC is (I expect low, but who knows - either way, good luck!). best of luck with getting your daughter into the Disney YES classes

I really wonder about that Poly availability. The Poly just started going on sale starting in January. In the past, they would only open up a small portion of the resort at a time as points sold, but it sounds like they are doing it differently this time, with about 1/2 the resort opening in April, and the other 1/2 in July. If they truly are opening all 300+ rooms, and they become available for dates from 4/15 through 9/26 all on the same day, then even if there's quite a few DVCers looking to go there, I would think the time that we are looking to get would be pretty available the first day. (It's also an odd resort in that 80 % of the resort are studios, where as usually < 50 % of available rooms are studios.) I really think the availability at the Poly - both short-term and long-term - will be an interesting test case versus the existing DVC units. My suspicision is that it will actually be generally easier to get into than the VGF.

 

[GAN]

I'm just getting into your report(a little late), noticed you got to try the Isoceles ...very nice. We haven't been to F&W since they started charging for the seminars, but if I get to sample a little of that at least it makes the cost a little easier to "swallow".

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I really wonder about that Poly availability. The Poly just started going on sale starting in January. In the past, they would only open up a small portion of the resort at a time as points sold, but it sounds like they are doing it differently this time, with about 1/2 the resort opening in April, and the other 1/2 in July. If they truly are opening all 300+ rooms, and they become available for dates from 4/15 through 9/26 all on the same day, then even if there's quite a few DVCers looking to go there, I would think the time that we are looking to get would be pretty available the first day. (It's also an odd resort in that 80 % of the resort are studios, where as usually < 50 % of available rooms are studios.) I really think the availability at the Poly - both short-term and long-term - will be an interesting test case versus the existing DVC units. My suspicision is that it will actually be generally easier to get into than the VGF.

Interesting - definitely not a DVC expert just thinking how popular the Poly is/was and that a lot of people probably want to try it out. Great point about how 80% of them are studios though. Well, I hope you are right and you get to experience it!

 

[franandaj]

I don't think we've ever gotten through all the food booths. Mostly because we like to sample nearly everything at each booth and that fills you up pretty quick. The thing I found most amusing was that at each of your last booths you chose the thing from each that would have been my last choice. Ireland, I would have had the fisherman's pie or the chocolate cake. Belgium, I would have picked the savory waffle, and which ever booth had the pork belly, well I would have been all over that!

That's OK! It's the differences in our tastes that make this world an interesting place. It was just a monumental job to get something from each of them. It's too bad that it will be so long before you gets back to F&W. For us it won't be until 2016. That's three years.

I am looking forward to the Flower & Garden Festival in a couple months. Sampling those food booths should be a lot of fun!

 

[skier_pete]

Interesting - definitely not a DVC expert just thinking how popular the Poly is/was and that a lot of people probably want to try it out. Great point about how 80% of them are studios though. Well, I hope you are right and you get to experience it!

I do agree that the Poly is going to be a very popular destination and will be generally very hard to get into...but I suspect the way they are opening up 5 months of availability all on the same day may make it easy to get in...but more as a one-time thing.

I don't think we've ever gotten through all the food booths. Mostly because we like to sample nearly everything at each booth and that fills you up pretty quick. The thing I found most amusing was that at each of your last booths you chose the thing from each that would have been my last choice. Ireland, I would have had the fisherman's pie or the chocolate cake. Belgium, I would have picked the savory waffle, and which ever booth had the pork belly, well I would have been all over that!

That's OK! It's the differences in our tastes that make this world an interesting place. It was just a monumental job to get something from each of them. It's too bad that it will be so long before you gets back to F&W. For us it won't be until 2016. That's three years.

I am looking forward to the Flower & Garden Festival in a couple months. Sampling those food booths should be a lot of fun!

I would hope they would pick things that would appeal to different tastes. In some cases it was trying new things. We've had the savory waffle before and weren't impressed. The same thing with the Fisherman's Pie in Ireland. I can't imagine trying to eat ALL the food at all the booths, so a lot of the time we just picked the one thing that appealed to us the most. You can tell we like a booth if there is more than one thing pictured!

I am not sure that we would ever again try to hit every booth. It really DID require the 3 days, and almost needed more. There were a few booths that we would've skipped otherwise (the Craft Beers one, Korea, and the vegan/fake chicken booth come to mind). I really don't know WHEN we will get back again. Perhaps 2017 or 2018 if we can swing another solo trip. It'll be hard to bring DD.

 

[bearybubba]

I loved your TR!!!! It's really helpful for planning our trip in November. Loved all of the Food & Wine pics and reviews of the food. If you don't mind me asking, do you know about how much you spent on just the food booths that you did?
Thanks!

 

[skier_pete]

I loved your TR!!!! It's really helpful for planning our trip in November. Loved all of the Food & Wine pics and reviews of the food. If you don't mind me asking, do you know about how much you spent on just the food booths that you did?
Thanks!

Hey - thanks for joining in. At one point I was going to try and make a full tally, but it became too cumbersome.

However, we had planned on budgeting $200 a day each for the two FULL days and about $100 on the final (partial) day. In fact, we actually underspent that pretty well. We spent about $135-$150 on each of the full days (remember, that was eating for both lunch and dinner). Then on the last day I think we did spend close to the $100. That includes the alcohol we consumed, which wasn't really a lot, but was probably 3-4 drinks each each day. (Except the last one.) That doesn't include the cost of the demonstrations.

I would still recommend that if you are going to spend a full day at F&W, I would budget about $100 per person. Unless you are planning on drinking around the world. Then you may want a little more.