Food & Wine Ready - Starting A Tradition! Sept 2015 PTR - UPDATE 9/22

[Teetah]

Hellllloooooo Disers!!!!

We are back for another round of Food & Wine!!!!! If you recall (and you probably don't), we spent a whole week at Food and Wine last year and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!!!!!! So much that we are back for a long weekend this year!

But, let me back up...intros and drumroll, please...



ME:

I am Tara, aka Teetah (pronunciation: teetaw). My nephew gave me that nickname when he first started trying to say "Aunt Tara". Later we found out from a Philippine friend of mine that "Teetah" is very close to the word "Aunt" in her families native language, (insert joke about my nephew's real father), which we all found rather bizarre. So, it stuck and now most of my friends and my husband's family call me that.

My passions include: Disney, photography (tarasmithstudios.smugmug.com), various musical instruments, fashion, and motorsports!

The HUBS (Tim)

He isn't QUITE the Disney freak I am, but he is into details and engineering, so Disney (especially Epcot) suits him just fine.

He loves playing drums, motorsports, classic cars and making stuff out of metal.

Onward Ho! No, I am not calling you a ho. Or a hoe.



I don't know. It's Friday.

I have a confession before we go any further...I never finished last year's Trip Report. I left you all hanging at Day 5. I am a jerk. I know you wanted to see more food pictures. I get it. But, please, let all your anger melt away, as I promise I will complete very shortly...in fact, before I get much further into this PTR. And don't listen to @skier_pete He will convince you that I will never finish.

So we are heading off again for Food & Wine...IN ONLY 28 DAYS!!!!! Yes, you read that right! We will be at Food & Wine for their opening weekend!!!! September 24-28, 2015.

Now, I understand that there are mixed views on opening weekend. But, look, I ain't made of money. It is cheaper to go then and we got a smashing deal at....

YACHT CLUB!!!!!!

WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

I will take the late September Florida heat if I get to hang out in Stormalong Bay and walk to Food & Wine! Because...if you remember the title of my 2014 Trip Report...I like to drank. It is what it is.

Day 1: Arrival
Day 2: Friday
Day 3: Saturday
Day 4: Sunday
F&W Tracker
An Exciting Update To Sunday!
Day 5: Monday (Final Day)
Is It Time Yet? Prepping & Schedule Updates
Just Two More Days...I can make it, right??

 

[Bubbenstein]

We'll be going this year for our first F&W Oct. 16th-25th. Loved reading your trip report from last year and seeing all the delicious selections!

Yacht Club sounds like the best possible choice for drunken walks home from Epoct! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Teetah]

We'll be going this year for our first F&W Oct. 16th-25th. Loved reading your trip report from last year and seeing all the delicious selections!

Yacht Club sounds like the best possible choice for drunken walks home from Epoct! Can't wait to read more.

I believe you said you have a spreadsheet in your other comment...I will be including a spreadsheet in this PTR & TR that you might enjoy. It will compare dishes from one year to the next. I am just a bit embarrassed about that, but mostly proud.

I agree completely about YC! When we stepped inside of that resort looking for directions last year, we just fell in love. I am super pumped!

 

[Teetah]

Day 1 - ARRIVAL

This will just be a quick update today!

Our flight will be landing at 5:55pm on Thursday, where we will be then jumping aboard the Magical Express! We opted for no rental car this time, since we will be there only a short time. Also, no WWoHP. It was VERY hard for me to not tack on an extra day for that. I have a buddy that goes to Orlando for conferences sometimes and heads over there when she does, so I may join her this year if I am lucky!

We are flying Southwest. We are typically Delta-only. We even have the Delta SkyMiles AMEX. However, we opted for SW because they have direct flights to MCO from IND, which Delta does not. Since this is a short trip, again, time is of the essence. It was also significantly cheaper and the SkyMiles didn't justify the extra cost. We are going to Belize in December and NOLA in March, so we will be getting plenty of miles coming up soon. Plus I used all my SkyMiles for a discount on the Belize flight.

We did decide to stay our first night at Art of Animation. I really wanted the chance to check out this resort and since this is a short day, it seemed like the perfect opportunity! We plan on arriving, exploring the resort to take photos and maybe taking a pool dip. Food will be pizza or Landscape of Flavors. We will figure out what to do about a light breakfast the next morning for MK, as we have an early lunch ADR. I am pretty excited to tack on this extra resort stay!

One thing I decided to do for this trip is track costs. Even though it might make me die a little inside. It is good to stay aware! I will update the actual costs for any food/souvenirs in the TR, so this isn't really a budget - just tracking it for future reference and for any of you out there that might be interested and to have cost placeholders.

DAY 1 $$$:

Airport Snack
Flights (Total for Trip): $432.00
Flight Early Bird Check In: $50.00
AOA 1 Night: $141.75
AOA Dinner

Running Total: $623.75

I have a humorous spreadsheet I will share with you all, as well. I will be comparing dishes from last year to this year when we sample the same items. I think this will be a really fun way to document the differences, especially since we are going the first weekend. Plus, I do think my palate changes from time to time. I will share it when it is ready!

I did finally finish my TR from last F&W! It has some great food photos and details. Link in signature!

Since I hate to leave a post without a photo, here is one of my sweet Lucy!



More details later this week!

 

[dreamseeker9]

Subbing! We are also staying at YC starting Friday, Sept. 25th - see you there!

 

[Teetah]

Subbing! We are also staying at YC starting Friday, Sept. 25th - see you there!

Welcome! I joined in your PTR - it looks amazing!!!!​

 

[Teetah]

Before starting Day 2, I am contemplating an ADR for Day 1 evening. I worry about eating too much at restaurants when we will be eating so much at F&W, but we have eaten as so few Disney restaurants. I hate to pass up a free evening. However, after working the morning then travelling, we may be tired and I don't want to miss any resort exploration or pool relaxing. Any opinions? And I am talking myself out of it now, after typing this Day 2 portion...two ADRs on Friday then F&W!

Day 2: Friday

Get up and at 'em early. Check out and get our bags sorted, and on their way to YC. Quick bite of whatever we picked up the night before. We are going to TRY for rope drop at MK. We have never made it to a rope drop, and I would love to see the opener at MK. If we manage to get there timely, we will head to Adventureland and hit a ride or two over there, depending on crowds. THEN:

10:40am Lunch ADR at BOG!!!!! SOOOOOO excited about this! Tried for it last year and we had an ADR but ended up missing it due to switching some plans around. We already put in our orders!



YUMMMMM.....

We then have some FP+s!!!!



We have never ridden Buzz Lightyear, so that is exciting! And you all know how I feel about the Teacups...

We have a 2pm ADR at Tony's Town Square. Hoping to get a seat on the porch to watch FOF at 3pm! We will see if that works...if it doesn't, we will eat a quick bite and move on.

Next up is 7DMT FINALLY! So this is awful since we have been waiting so long, but we may not keep this FP+. We have one for Saturday night, too, since we will be back for EMH. I am going to guess we will be ready to go check in at YC and get settled then off to F&W. BUT, who knows, maybe we will feel sparky and stick around!



MK closes early for MNSSHP, so we will head to YC, check in and head to F&W until Epcot closes at 10pm! We will hit the Festival Center and grab our Passports then get to eating and drinking! We will plan our choices at each location like we did last year, but we are not going to plan which day we hit which booth. The lines were so different that we will just play that by ear. We might see how the view is in Mexico for Illuminations. Or we might take that opportunity to hit some of the busier booths. We did the Illuminations Cruise last year and have seen it numerous other times. We love it, but are ok with missing it this night. We want to focus on hitting Wishes on this trip and trying to find a spot to watch Hallowishes on the night that is scheduled!

Day 2 $$$
Breakfast - Either leftover pizza or whatever small item we purchased night before.
Lunch: BOG $42.76
Tony's: Appetizer/drink
F&W: $$$

Running Total: $666.51

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Joining in! You seem to love drinks as much as I do

Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Teetah]

Joining in! You seem to love drinks as much as I do

Can't wait to hear all about it!

Welcome! So it seems....

 

[dreamseeker9]

Sounds like a great first full day! When you're in the MK, you could check if you can switch 7DMT to earlier if that works better for your schedule - sometimes the FP+'s open up more with the release of the same-day FP+'s. If you do it early enough before other people use their 3 FP+'s, that may be your best bet. But it will also be great to ride at night on Saturday night.

I hear ya on not being sure about making an ADR on arrival night. I decided to wing it, partly because we have people arriving at all different times, and partly because 3 of us will be taking 6:00 AM flights, so we may crash earlier than others.

I'm also thinking we may watch HalloWishes from either the Contemporary or the GF one evening.

 

[Teetah]

Sounds like a great first full day! When you're in the MK, you could check if you can switch 7DMT to earlier if that works better for your schedule - sometimes the FP+'s open up more with the release of the same-day FP+'s. If you do it early enough before other people use their 3 FP+'s, that may be your best bet. But it will also be great to ride at night on Saturday night.

I hear ya on not being sure about making an ADR on arrival night. I decided to wing it, partly because we have people arriving at all different times, and partly because 3 of us will be taking 6:00 AM flights, so we may crash earlier than others.

I'm also thinking we may watch HalloWishes from either the Contemporary or the GF one evening.

That is a great idea on 7DMT! I will most definitely do that!

I am having a tough time deciding on how to handle HalloWishes - I am not familiar enough with Disney property myself and I read so many different things online. Might just have to pick a few options and just try one!

 

[Teetah]

On to Day 3!

We will most likely sleep in a bit here, eat a light breakfast, then spend some time at the pool before hitting more F&W. As on the previous day, we will just wander to our heart's content. Once we are full for the afternoon, we will head back to YC and freshen up, drop off the camera, and head out for an evening of EMH at MK!!! We have some FP+s ready:



We are going to see what we can come up with as far as a good spot to watch Wishes! I think we will grab something yummy to snack on and a drink then find a good spot and wait it out. We may even skip our Space Mountain FP+ so we can find a spot and relax and enjoy. We don't typically do things like that, but I imagine we will be ready for a break by this point. We also have only ever sat and watched Wishes twice (I think), so we would really like to enjoy it once, especially since we will be sticking around for EMH.

For EMH, we will just be playing it by ear! Wander around and enjoy it. Maybe do a bit of shopping, as we won't be back to MK for this trip. I won't be bringing my camera to MK that day, since I will be doing plenty of picture taking at MK the day before. One less thing to worry about. I am also a natural light photographer, so I don't do much night shooting. We have a small point and shoot we might take or just use our phones.

Well, that isn't much planning, is it? As you probably know, I am not a huge planner. I am very organized and there are certain things I want to be sure to hit, but I don't like to over plan every moment...especially since it is just the two of us. I do make sure I have a list of to-dos in case we stand around saying what's next.

Day 3 $$$$
Breakfast
F&W
MK Food/Drinks
MK Shopping

 

[dreamseeker9]

Sounds like a great Day 3! My friends are going to Wishes and EMH at the MK, but I'll be hanging back with my parents, my brother, and other friends. But we will be in EPCOT earlier on that day, so maybe we will see you then!

 

[Teetah]

Sounds like a great Day 3! My friends are going to Wishes and EMH at the MK, but I'll be hanging back with my parents, my brother, and other friends. But we will be in EPCOT earlier on that day, so maybe we will see you then!

Awesome!

 

[Teetah]

Day 4 - Sunday

First of all, can I just say....OMG WE ARE DOWN TO 15 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Depending on the weather, we will eat breakfast at YC then head to DAK for EMH. If it is miserable/muggy, we will be staying at the pool for the morning. We missed AK last trip, though, and we are both huge animal lovers. The forecast isn't looking too bad, so we shall see!



I couldn't get the FP+s I wanted early in the morning, so we will just play it by ear. I want to hit:

Kilimanjaro Safaris
Finding Nemo - The Musical
Festival of the Lion King

The only one of these we have done before is KS. I did make FP+s for later in the morning just in case we don't make it early and the weather is decent. I realize we don't really need FP+s for a couple of these, but it is nice to have just in case and can produce better seats. And don't worry, if we decide to not use something we have booked, I do go in an cancel them.



We will most likely head straight to F&W after this. We have the Garrison Bros Distillery Bourbon Mixology at 2pm. After that, we may head back to YC for a pool break until it is time to head back for another drink experience at 6pm - the Wild Buck American Rye Whiskey from NJoy Spirits. After that, more F&W!

Hallowishes is this evening...we are going to try to find a place to watch them. Maybe the beach at the Poly or if we can get a spot at a lounge in an MK resort with a good view. I have also heard that a good view is at the Ticket & Transportation Center at MK. We have never tried to do anything like this before and have have never been to the Contemporary or California Grill. We have been to the beach at the Poly, but that was in 2009. I barely remember yesterday. Should we end up in the MK resort area, we will probably hang out there for drinks. If not, we will head back and finish the night at YC at the Crew's Cup.

That concludes our Day 4!

Day 4 $$$
Breakfast at YC
Snack/Drink
F&W: $60 on Mixologys
Poolside Treat
Nighttime food & cocktails

Running Total: $726.51

 

[Teetah]

The Ultimate F&W Tracker!

Since I am a dork, I decided to start a spreadsheet to track our F&W experiences. This will only be Year 2 for us...but hopefully there will be many more years ahead! This spreadsheet will track essentially what we visited, ate, what we thought and cost from year to year. It is very basic right now and will no doubt expand into further nerdiness as the years go on. I thought I would share it with you in case you want to do something similar or if you want to quickly review what we thought was eh/good/great.

Here is a link to the Tracker! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1138NdXVr1dlZESGM1SkpUA0X2TCy0ABuHN4I9j284ow/edit?usp=sharing

 

[dreamseeker9]

How much are we loving that forecast!?! I hope it stays the same, I can deal with highs in the low to mid 80's!

OMG, I love your spreadsheet, what a great idea! I didn't even look at the mixology events, now I may have to take a peek, though they are probably all sold out.

Sounds like a grand Sunday!

 

[Teetah]

How much are we loving that forecast!?! I hope it stays the same, I can deal with highs in the low to mid 80's!

OMG, I love your spreadsheet, what a great idea! I didn't even look at the mixology events, now I may have to take a peek, though they are probably all sold out.

Sounds like a grand Sunday!

I am crossing my fingers nothing changes! I will take it! It has been crazy hot and humid here for about a week and a half now, but we should be getting relief soon.

DEFINITELY check out the Mixologys and other demos...there are lots of low cost ones, too! The one we did last year on tequila was great! It is my TR if you want to check it out. I do remember there were a handful of open seats, so it might be worth trying!

 

[Teetah]

Update to Sunday!

In true Teetah fashion, I have been tempted by the wiles of Disney. As you know from yesterday, we are planning on hitting DAK Sunday morning. I KNOW that unless we have something specific to get to, we will lay in bed too long and kick ourselves later. Yesterday, I received a marketing email from Disney about ALL THE THINGS I could be booking for our trip. HAHA. Looks something like this...you have probably seen one or two before:



Heck, why not look thru it...then I saw THIS:



No, I didn't know about this. I am clearly not the Disneyest. I clicked Read More, as I was told and started to get pretty excited about this whole thing...



The nail in the coffin....



Seriously, Disney:



So we now will be doing this on Sunday morning at 8:45am.

Cost: $400.25
Running Total: $1126.76

 

[dreamseeker9]

Good for you! The Wild Africa Trek sounds awesome, I can't wait to hear how you like it!