Food & Wine Extravaganza...the TR. Finished 12/6

[onelilspark]

Welcome!

My name is Kelly, nice to meet you! I'm a Disney-holic. Most recently, I visited Walt Disney World from October 2-9. Let's get started, shall we? This is our cast of characters...

This is me:

(The human, not the cricket.) I've gone to WDW more times than I can count. I picked up an AP on this trip...and yes, I live in NY. My favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion, but I absolutely love the World Showcase.

My fiancé, Geoff:

He's not a huge Disney fan, more of an enabler, so I approve. He doesn't really have a favorite ride, but he's a big fan of World Showcase as well. He absolutely hates Roller Coasters--he calls them "death machines"--so I'm on my own on them!

My Mom:

Her & my Dad moved to FL a couple years ago. They're about 45 minutes from the gate. Her favorite ride is the Peoplemover.

My Dad:

Also a FL resident (obviously.) His favorite ride is Small World...hence the sad face.

Now that the introductions have been made, let's get on with the show!

 

[onelilspark]

Some background...I had flown down to FL on September 27 for a work conference. Geoff flew down Oct 1. We spent Oct 1 at my parents before driving up to Disney.

Geoff had heard that XBOX 360 was doing a preview for Kinnect over at Wide World of Sports. He's a bit of a gaming geek, so we went up early to check things out. So we waited, and gave it a try. I had never been to Wide World of Sports, so we decided to take a look around. Things were pretty busy over there as people were checking in for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

Some shots around WWoS

After checking things out, we decided we were a little on the hungry side. We were meeting my parents over at the Grand Floridian for tea, so we decided to head over to the Poly to explore before heading over to meet them.

We grabbed lunch at Captain Cook's (review here.) Then we explored around the Poly for a bit.

Geoff really wanted for years to go to Fiji for a honeymoon. We did a little research and I told him how long the flight was...he then changed his mind So I told him we could just go here:

He wasn't amused.

I, however, was amused by this:

We tried taking the walking path from the Poly to the GF, but somehow managed to find the service entrance to the Poly. So we turned around and took the monorail over

We explored the GF for a while, but it was hot, and we were tired. So we went and chilled out in the lobby until my parents got there. Here's the light fixture in the lobby...

My parents got there, we checked in, and enjoyed our tea (review here.)

After the tea, we headed back over to the Poly to pick up the car and headed over to Orange Lake Country Club, our home for the week! We unpacked and relaxed before heading over to Epcot that night for Party for the Senses!

 

[onelilspark]

After freshening up, we headed over to Epcot to catch part of the Eat to the Beat concert and for Party for the Senses!

This was only the second day of the festival, and a gorgeous Saturday to boot. Which can only mean one thing...Epcot was crazy busy.

Entrance:

I was super excited to see all the F&W signage!

Entrance to World Showcase:

We fought our way through the crowds over to the American Pavilion to see Taylor Dayne. My Mom was quite insistent that we see Taylor Dayne at the concert, but then we got there and she didn't know any of the songs So we made our way back over to where the Party was being held (the old Millenium Celebration building.)

If you want to read about PFTS, you can see my review here, here, and here. I also did a guest review for the Disney Food Blog, and that can be found here. For the purposes of this review, I'll stick to just my overall thoughts and a few pictures

This was mine & Geoff's first PFTS, my parents had done it before. I was rather anxious to try something a little different during the Festival this year! There are stations set up all around the room, in sets of 4-2 food, 2 wine.

I can't drink red wine, so one of the things I really enjoyed about PFTS was the ability to try a lot of different white wines. I was nervous about doing a food & wine pairing dinner because I can't drink red and so many foods are paired with reds! This allowed me to really try some new wines without worrying about risking a migraine! I'm a big fan of dry, acidic white wines. My Dad knows this and mentioned to me that there was a station that had a Riesling available. I went over to the station and it was Red Newt, which is a Finger Lakes winery. We like visiting the wineries around here on weekends for fun, so we've been to Red Newt. I was surprised to see them there. Of course I got a glass because I knew I'd like it!

A few more pictures...the room set up:

Chef at work:

Cheese table:

PFTS ends when Epcot closes, right at 9. They gave the 15/10/5 minute warnings for the start of Illuminations. We left around the 10 minute warning, gathered a bag for our wine glasses, took a couple of the caramels beings offered, and went to find a spot to watch. We didn't make it far as there was a decent spot right outside the area where the festival was being held. It was a perfect way to cap off our night!

 

[onelilspark]

Geoff & I took a short trip down to Disney to enjoy Food & Wine Festival last year. We only spent a half day in the Animal Kingdom and Geoff really liked it. So I promised him a full day this trip

We got there shortly after the park opened (we're early risers.)

Stopped for the obligatory picture:

We headed right for the safari. I haven't done it in years, so I was looking forward to it!
In line:

After a very short wait, we were climbing aboard our safari vehicle!

I like that they toned down the poacher story...or at least it felt like that to me! Our driver was (or seemed!) very knowledgeable as he told us about the animals. I took a lot more pictures, but I'll share my favorites!

I think this one looks like an ad! I'm quite impressed with myself!

After we were done, we grabbed a quick snack and headed for Rafiki's Planet Watch, something I don't think I had ever done before!

Train

Self shot!

Approaching the building:

We explored some of the different exhibits. While we were there, a goat was having his eye operated on. Gross. The boys were getting really into the bugs that were out. Me? I wanted my picture taken with Jiminy!

The boys pulled themselves away from the bugs long enough to take a picture with Rafiki. Afterwards, I kept getting smacked (lightly) and being told "it's in the past!" That was fun

We didn't stay too long. I enjoyed looking at everything, but it's definitely aimed at kids. If you have kids that are real curious types, definitely check this out!

Our train back to the rest of the Kingdom

Where would we go next? Stay tuned!

Next

 

[norybell]

I'm in! Great start!

 

[jenny105]

I'm here! Great start.

I don't know if I want to stay at GF. I've walked around the lobby a few times and I feel like I'm going to break something when I'm there. I think it'd be high anxiety if I stayed there.

 

[KatMark]

I'm in.

 

[mickeyfreak13]

Love the TR so far. The pics you have posted remind of how much fun it is be in WDW that time of year.

I am truly jealous of you being at the Food & Wine Festivities. Trying to convince DW that we should go...soon!

Looking forward to future posts.

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hurray, you've started your TR!

 

[athenna]

I'm in too

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here! Sounds like a great start to the trip - yummy tea, Party of the Senses, and Illuminations! AK is such a beautiful park, you snagged some nice pictures on the safari - I agree with you about the ad!

 

[Deon.Newmankgyxc]

hey can you post more pics

 

[onelilspark]

I'm in! Great start!

I'm here! Great start.

I don't know if I want to stay at GF. I've walked around the lobby a few times and I feel like I'm going to break something when I'm there. I think it'd be high anxiety if I stayed there.

I was all about the GF when I was 13, so we stayed there. It was nice, but it's not my favorite.

I'm in.

Love the TR so far. The pics you have posted remind of how much fun it is be in WDW that time of year.

I am truly jealous of you being at the Food & Wine Festivities. Trying to convince DW that we should go...soon!

Looking forward to future posts.

I love F&W! You and your wife should definitely go!

Hurray, you've started your TR!

I'm in too

I'm here! Sounds like a great start to the trip - yummy tea, Party of the Senses, and Illuminations! AK is such a beautiful park, you snagged some nice pictures on the safari - I agree with you about the ad!

Thanks

 

[onelilspark]

When I left off, we were just returning from Rafiki's Planet Watch (side note: I keep wanting to call it Conservation Station!) Where would we head next??

We headed over to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to see the gorillas (that's GO-rillas, not GAH-rillas...10 points to anyone who knows the reference )

This is the only decent picture I got on the trail

We took our time exploring the trail. There were a number of gorillas out, it was a good time to go! We then started heading out of the park for lunch at Sanaa! Stopping to take a few pictures...

I think this is my favorite spot for a picture:

So pretty!

We decided instead of moving our car, we would just take Disney Transportation over to Kidani Village at the AKL. We waited all of 5 minutes for a bus to show up and we were quickly whisked away to our lunch date! We've been over to Jambo House plenty of times, so we explored Kidani a little bit. Definitely a smaller lobby, but still very pretty!

You can find my review here. We had a fantastic view from our table:

We absolutely loved Sanaa for lunch, I totally recommend it! Afterwards, we headed back over to AK. First up, we hit It's Tough to Be a Bug. I hate 3d movies like this, they terrify me. So Geoff & I walked through and my parents watched. The only thing I like about the show is being able to oogle the tree:

After the show, we quickly made it over to Flights of Wonder to catch the show. None of us had seen it before, but I had heard a lot of great things about it, so I was excited to see it!

There was one part where a group of doves flew overhead. Scared the living daylights out of me, which only made my family laugh Overall, we really enjoyed the show! I can't believe it took us that long to see it!

To be continued...

 

[onelilspark]

Next up, we hit up Everest. Geoff hates it (I conveniently "forgot" to tell him it went backwards last year...he wasn't happy with me) and my Mom wasn't feeling it. So it was just my Dad & I. Since it was just the two of us, we decided to just jump in the single rider's line. Which I love. It's so quick! The CM's were funny, ooing and ahhing over my ring since I had my "Just Engaged" button on.

After our ride (which was great as usual) it was almost time for the parade. Jammin' in the Jungle is my favorite parade at WDW! Here are some of my favorites

After the parade, we had just enough time to make it back to Finding Nemo: the Musical for the last show! Finding Nemo is one of Geoff's favorite movies and last year we missed this show (we saw the Lion King show last year instead!) So we were really hoping to catch it this year.

We had no problems getting seats in the middle, in the back section.

Geoff really loved the show, so I'm glad we had a chance to see it! When the show let out, the park was closed. So we headed out, got some pizzas from one of the local places and watched the 2nd half of the Eagles play the Redskins (which was a horrid game...glad we got revenge last night!! )

Next up: Epcot & Food and Wine!

 

[jenny105]

Just read your review of Sanaa. I've heard good things about it and Boma as well but I'm not sure if I'd like either. I think I would go just to check out AKL! Never been!

I love the Tough to be a Bug line. The photo ops of the tree are the best! So much detail went into it!

 

[norybell]

Sounds like you had a great day at AK! I really want to try Sanaa one of these trips...I don't know if I've read a single bad thing about it!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Ooh, I can't believe no one has gotten the "GO-Rilla" reference yet. It's in Disney's "Tarzan" of course! Specifically when Clayton and Tarzan meet for the first time. Love that movie!

At least you got a shot of a gorilla. Sometimes they are too sh to come out in the open. I've never see the parade. DH is not one for parades, but I know when we take the family in October he's going to have to suck it up! I'll finally get to see all of them! Not to mention Nemo, never seen it. Can't wait!

 

[onelilspark]

Just read your review of Sanaa. I've heard good things about it and Boma as well but I'm not sure if I'd like either. I think I would go just to check out AKL! Never been!

I love the Tough to be a Bug line. The photo ops of the tree are the best! So much detail went into it!

I'm not big into spicy or exotic foods, but I thought Sanaa was pretty tame. They also have a burger on their menu, so when all else fails...

Sounds like you had a great day at AK! I really want to try Sanaa one of these trips...I don't know if I've read a single bad thing about it!

We had a really easy going day at the AK. It was great!

Ooh, I can't believe no one has gotten the "GO-Rilla" reference yet. It's in Disney's "Tarzan" of course! Specifically when Clayton and Tarzan meet for the first time. Love that movie!

At least you got a shot of a gorilla. Sometimes they are too sh to come out in the open. I've never see the parade. DH is not one for parades, but I know when we take the family in October he's going to have to suck it up! I'll finally get to see all of them! Not to mention Nemo, never seen it. Can't wait!

Nope Not the gorilla reference!

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DH0u4NGZEc&feature=related starting at 9:10

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Nope Not the gorilla reference!



I'll have to wait until I get home to see the actual reference. No You Tube at work.