Ooh-de-lally! A dining heavy October '13 Trip Report *update 2/23-We're Going Back!*

[TheMaxRebo]

Great pictures from the safari!

Thank you! Fairly happy with how they came out. Definitely one of our better safaris as we were at least able to see all of the key animals (if some it was a partial view) and the experience with the giraffe was very fun!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 7 - Part 5: McNamees Day off​

So time for Uncle Phil to once again pull a bit of a bait-and-switch and before getting heaving into the Food and Wine Festival, I thought I would cover a bit of what the McNamees did on their day off from the parks.

Well, first they had some fun by the resort pool. Our unit was very close to the pool that had a zero entry which was great with having young kids - overall it was very nice and usually had enough people to be interesting, but never super crowded.

They then spent the afternoon/evening at Downtown Disney.

Required shot of the World of Disney store to set the scene:

Specifically, they spent quite a bit of time at Goofy's Candy Co.:

So, this certificate is cool and all, but when exactly did Mickey find time to become a Director of Candy Science? Like, did he go to night school? Does the University of Phoenix offer that degree?

They also spent some time with Pooh and his friends:

I promise next update to get to some Food & Wine Festival, well, food and wine ... including a wine tasting with a guy who is usually tied up making computer animated movies.

 

[Leshaface]

It's official...i'm caught up!

Miniature golf looks like so much fun! It's been so long since we've done that, it would be nice to check it out if we ever had a no park day...that or doing the Richard Petty Driving Experience!

The beer flight looks so refreshing and so does that Sangria!

I would never even think to order the pate. Sounds good enough!

I've heard great things about the bread pudding. Looks marvelous!

Thank you very much for your review of CG. I've heard less than stellar reviews as well after the refurb, but it's good to hear that you enjoyed it. And what a nice touch having a champagne toast while watching Wishes

Such a sweet family picture in front of the castle.

Wow! That breakfast lasagna sounds terrific...won't even bother thinking about the calories in that one...

"Expecting the worst so mediocre seems pretty darn good" ... note, that was also the advice I gave girls I dated in college.

That's a good one.

Yay for BoG!

Wow have never seen a line for the TTA. That's very odd.

What an awesome meet with Naveen and Tiana! Love Naveen's face too!

That Jack Skellington cupcake looks like something right up my alley

Love the Poke-a-hontas pun

Geez, you guys had quite a long and eventful day at the Magic Kingdom. Good job!

Love the cropped photos of Olivia and Peter!

Peter looks so happy and content playing with the water area of AK

 

[annie170]

Great photos from the safari!

True story, Phil. I know the guy in your Expedition Everest photo! I emailed his wife to let her know her husband made it into a disboards trip report. She's scouring your pictures to see if they turn up anywhere else!

Looking forward to your Food & Wine review!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's official...i'm caught up!

Woohoo! Do the dance!

Miniature golf looks like so much fun! It's been so long since we've done that, it would be nice to check it out if we ever had a no park day...that or doing the Richard Petty Driving Experience!

it was definitely something we hadn't considered until we saw another family do it in another trip report and we thought it would be a fun thing to do. The kids really enjoyed it and I thought the price was reasonable so fun all around. That driving experience would definitely be cool - though not as kid friendly

The beer flight looks so refreshing and so does that Sangria!

I would never even think to order the pate. Sounds good enough!

I've heard great things about the bread pudding. Looks marvelous!

Always a fan of beer flights. a few places near us have tons of craft beer that rotate and offer flights which I partake in quite often

We are a big fan of pate and that ilk and we really like Raglan's - give it a go next time!

It really it wonderful and when it comes out it doesn't look like that much, but once you get into it you realize how big a portion it is - great for sharing!

Thank you very much for your review of CG. I've heard less than stellar reviews as well after the refurb, but it's good to hear that you enjoyed it. And what a nice touch having a champagne toast while watching Wishes

I was really anxious especially since I had been talking it up with the McNamees - but it turned out just fine. I am starting to hear more positive reports so I am hoping that they have gotten their act together, so to speak.

The champagne toast was super nice and so unexpected. A few trips ago California Grill was our "date night" so it brought back memories of that

Such a sweet family picture in front of the castle.

Thank you - we were definitely trying to find the balance of getting enough pics of different combinations to ensure we got at least a few good ones without taking up 1/2 the day and really upsetting those behind us ... another good thing about the pre-park opening ADR is there really aren't many people waiting for your photopass person so we didn't feel bad

Wow! That breakfast lasagna sounds terrific...won't even bother thinking about the calories in that one...

Yeah, I go with the theory that all Disney food is full of wishes and pixie dust and therefore do not contain any calories

That's a good one.

Yay for BoG!

I am super glad that it worked out - though I think that might be one place where I had expectations too high and while I very much enjoyed it the crowds and somewhat chaos kinda took away form the magic a bit. Don't get me wrong, it was still great ... just not the best thing ever and OMG!!!!, etc.

Wow have never seen a line for the TTA. That's very odd.

We were pretty surprised with the crowds all week considering it was October - but that one really got me

What an awesome meet with Naveen and Tiana! Love Naveen's face too!

It really was a great meet & greet and totally makes me like the characters more. I mean, I like The Princess and the Frog but not one that I have seen a ton and love the characters - but this moved them up a peg ... A FULL PEG!

That Jack Skellington cupcake looks like something right up my alley

It was quite good and huge ... I think I was just a little disappointd in the fact that was the extent of my "Limited Time Magic"

Love the Poke-a-hontas pun

Geez, you guys had quite a long and eventful day at the Magic Kingdom. Good job!

I love all the puns on that ride and very glad I heard some new one!

We had a great day - was very long ... but hey, this is a trip to Disney World - not a vacation!

Love the cropped photos of Olivia and Peter!

Peter looks so happy and content playing with the water area of AK

Thank you .. we were rushing a bit and that probably didn't help, but glad I was able to work some magic on the pics

The kid loves water - he would have been content to be there the whole day. We had done a trip when Olivia was 8mo old and she loved those areas too - spent like an hour in the one near the Jungle Cruise in MK

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great photos from the safari!

True story, Phil. I know the guy in your Expedition Everest photo! I emailed his wife to let her know her husband made it into a disboards trip report. She's scouring your pictures to see if they turn up anywhere else!

Looking forward to your Food & Wine review!

Thanks!

That is funny/cool that you know a guy in that ride photo - what a small world! If she let's us know where she was when I can share other photos

Coming up soon - probably will be split across a couple of updates - we hit a bunch of stands!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 7 - Part 6: EPCOT - Food and Wine Festival ... well, food and wine​

Back to our regularly scheduled trip report ....

So we had left Animal Kingdom and made our way over to EPCOT. This was the one time we were really glad we had the AAA Diamond Parking as it let us park pretty close to the entrance despite arriving after noon.

Upon arrival we checked the status of Fastpasses but they were already out for both Test Track and Soarin and both standby lines were over 100 mins so they were out (some slow October, huh?)

Well, the main reason we were there was for the Food & Wine Festival anyway so back to the World Showcase we went. WE stopped at a stand on the bridge that leads you to the World Showcase to purchase two of the wrist strap gift cards and load them up. As we approached the lagoon Bob tapped me on the shoulder and indicated that we had gone long enough without beer, so we stopped at the Craft Beer stand.

As I always have to get one of the souvenir steins I thought this was as good of an opportunity as any so decided to get the Abita Brewing Company, Fall Fest, which, in said souvenir stein cost $12.75 (steins are 22oz):

This was good, but not great. I generally like Abita Brewing but this was not one of my favorite of their's. I think the balance was just off and the spice notes just didn't mix with the malt. Fortunately this was not to be the high point of my beer consumption that day.

We headed towards Canada (a.k.a. America's Hat) and we kinda just kept wandering as the lines for the booths were still pretty long. Also, we were doing our best to try new things this trip and we have had most of the offerings in this section before. Eventually we realized we needed some food so we stopped to find somewhere to sit in the shade (twas hot out) and got some food from the New Zealand Booth:

Gratinated Green Lip Mussels with Garlic and Herbs - $3.50

Venison Sausage with Pickled Mushrooms, Baby Arugula and Black Currant Reduction - $4.25

Lamb Meatball with Spicy Tomato Chutney - $5.00

As for how they were .... The mussels were ok. They were tasty but nothing special and you only got three. Definitely missing something to give it a zing. The venison sausage was very good - nice balance with this dish with the mushrooms giving it a tang and the black currant sauce some sweetness but also some zip that was missing from the mussels. The sausage itself was good but needed the other stuff with it to punch it up. The real winner, in my book, was the Lamb Meatball. It was very tender and flavorful and the spicy tomato chutney was great! The bread bowl did a good job of soaking up the sauce too. Only complain is that it wasn't huge and for $5 was a little on the pricey side.


At this point, both kids were asleep in the stroller so we moved on, found another table in the shade and got some more food/drink. This time from the Morocco stand (Bob indicated he was looking for something spicy).

Harissa Chicken Roll - $4.95

Baklava - $2.95

Sangria – $5.00

Bob enjoyed the Harissa Chicken Roll - said it had nice flavor to it. Not super spice but enough to notice. I thought the Baklava was ok but Judi really didn't like it. As for the Sangria, it was nice. Nothing special but hit the spot on a hot day.

At this point it was time for Judi and I to head to our Wine Demo - so Bob and Kathy agreed (thank you!) to stay with the sleeping kids andto get on the line for meeting Jasmine when it opened (last princess to complete the mission!)

On the way over, thinking that we hadn't had that much food and were about to drink more wine, Judi and I wanted to stop one more place and decided to hit up the Scottish booth. We couldn't decide what to get so we got everything:

(starting at the top, going clockwise)
Seared Scottish Salmon with Cauliflower Puree, Watercress and Malt Vinaigrette - $4.50
Scottish Banoffee Tart with Bananas, Scottish Whisky Toffee, Walkers Shortbread Crumbles and Sweet Cream - $3.25
Vegetarian Haggis with Neeps and Tatties -Griddled Vegetable Cake with Rutabaga and Mashed Potatoes - $3.25
Innis & Gunn® Original - $6.75

The verdict ... We are super happy they added the Scottish booth and hope it is here to stay. The salmon was probably the weakest of the dishes. The fish itself was cooked fine, but nothing special - but the cauliflower puree was amazing! I wish we could have just gotten that. We actually really liked the vegetarian haggis - who knew right? The haggis itself probably could have used a sauce, but it was still good. The rutabega and mashe dpotatoes were soooo good though! Again, wish we could have ordered just that. And at only $3.25 we thought this dish was a good value. The Innis & Gunn® Original was quite a tasty beer. Very creamy and tasty - happy with that choice

As for the Scottish Banoffee Tart ....

This was A. Maze. Ing!!! Every part of it worked and was tasty ... did get a little melty in the heat but really one of our favorites of the festival, probably the favorite dessert we tried.

Up next, the actual Wine Demo!

 

[spiritsim]

It all looks good to me.....lol

 

[missangelalexis]

You guys tried a lot of different things! Funny that we didn't make it to any of those booths haha

 

[wiigirl]

Yums

 

[JulieODC]

YUMMY update!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha, when there's only 2 rides that people REALLY desire, it doesn't take much for those lines to grow, that's for sure. It doesn't really bother me though since I can just roam World Showcase and be happy. I find I'm spending less and less time each trip in Future World.

The more I think about it, the more the whole Food and Wine thing would be totally lost on me. I guess I'm just not that adventurous when it comes to things like that (oh yeah, I'm also cheap).

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It all looks good to me.....lol

We did overall enjoy everything - obviously some things more than others - but were happy to try new things

You guys tried a lot of different things! Funny that we didn't make it to any of those booths haha

I always get a kick out of reading F&WF reviews and seeing people eat like 90% different stuff than we have - guess that is the benefit of the event

Yums

YUMMY update!!

back at both of you

Haha, when there's only 2 rides that people REALLY desire, it doesn't take much for those lines to grow, that's for sure. It doesn't really bother me though since I can just roam World Showcase and be happy. I find I'm spending less and less time each trip in Future World.

The more I think about it, the more the whole Food and Wine thing would be totally lost on me. I guess I'm just not that adventurous when it comes to things like that (oh yeah, I'm also cheap).

There are definitely things we have to hit in Future World (Living with the Land, etc.) but World Showcase is the, um, showcase of the park for us.

In some ways F&WF would be great for you - would you rather spend $20 or $4 trying something new?

And while it definitely adds up, everything we had was in place of both lunch and dinner that day. So in add we spent ~$250 for the 6 of us, and considering that included beer, wine, and other drinks, that's not bad for 2 meals at Disney for 6 people

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 7 - Part 7: EPCOT - Lasseter Family Winery Deminar. a.k.a that Pixar guy also gets to make great wine​

In past trips we had always done a couple of food and/or wine deminars - seeing the likes of Robert Irvine and Andrew Zimmern. However, for this trip there wasn't anyone scheduled that truly captured our attention. I had read good things about past Lasseter wine deminar and since that one worked out for our schedule we decided to book that one.

So Judi and I entered the Festival Center thinking/fearing we might be a bit on the late side after having made a stop-over in Scotland, but were fine as they hadn't let the line into the seating area yet. We were towards the end of the line but still had about 10 minutes to wait and spent that time chatting with people around us which was fun.

Finally we were let in and found 2 seats with a pretty good view. This is the place setting in front of us along with a close-up of the wine tastings that were already poured for everyone:

They also provided us with a nice booklet containing information about the wines and space for taking notes ... which I completely forgot to do *sigh*

Here is our view of the set-up, followed by a close-up of John Lasseter and his wife Nancy:

Nancy did the majority of the talking as she is a bit more into the actual wine production. She was very engaging and you can tell she (and John) have a real passion for this - it isn't just a money grab or anything. Must say, made me a bit jealous that in addition to making great Pixar movies John gets to make wine as well.

Interspersed with the talking and wine tasting they showed a number of video clips from the winery. This really set the stage for what type of wine producer they want to be - one that grows grapes in conjunction with the lant and you really get the sense they are doing this the "right" way ... all while enjoying the process as well.

Ok, so they did eventually get to the wine tasting part ... and I will comment briefly on the wines we tasted and what we thought.

For sampling we had their:
Enjoué Rosé Blend: This was quite a good dry Rosé. Fairly mild/even in flavor - not the strong strawberry or other berry notes you get from some Rosés.
Paysage: this is a Bordeaux-style blend (I don't remember the exact grapes in int) but this was probably my favorite - very smooth and easy drinking but also interesting - not "just" a typical Cab or similar
Amoureux Malbec Red Blend: This was the "biggest" of the wines we had and was another good one. Many people found this to be their favorite. It was good, but just not as well balanced to me as the Paysage.

Overall, very good and interesting wines - they were new for us and glad to have tried them.

The Lasseters showing us how to taste their wines:

Thoughout the session they would have trivia questions and if you got them right you won a prize. Most were about wine growing but they did throw in a Pixar one at the end. Judi actually got one of the wine ones right and was awarded with a special pin and a purse holder (for putitng on the table to hold your purse below said table).

She actually has wanted one of these for a while so it was great that this was the prize she won. You can see how happy she is:

Overall, the deminar was very entertaining and informative. They actually ran over time - everyone was fine with this as it was so entertainment - though this meant that once they were done both John and Nancy made quick exits - so no phot ops. We are very glad we did this and it was a nice break for the day and almost seemed like a date for Judi and I.

Though, they couldn't let it end without a plug for their wine club:

On our way back to meet up with the rest of the family, I finally managed to locate the Canadian Beer booth that had the Unibroue beer (it's not at the F&WF booth but another booth that isn't as obvious). And thus I was able to try one of the beers that was on my "must do" list: Unibroue Trois Pistoles

This was a tremendous beer - a nice dark beer that doesn't drink too heavy, but rather has a nice balance of malt, citrus, dark fruit, and spices. Also with some cararmel and chocolate notes. It's fairly easy drinking too, especially for being 9% alcohol.

Coming next: We cross the last Princess off our list and, well, more Food & Wine

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh man I would just be so excited to see John Lasseter. Haha, it seems he decided to wear his quiet shirt that day.

That purse holder is pretty cool not to mention the awesome pin. Good job Judi.

So glad you enjoyed the Canadian Beer too. Nothing like a high alcoholic beer after drinking wine.

 

[Leshaface]

I can totally vouch for that Scottish Tart So good!

I didn't know that John Lasseter made wine as well. How cool to make cartoons and wine all day for the rest of your life.

 

[emmysmommy]

It's good to know that John Lasseter is a man of many talents. I may have to enjoy a glass of his wine while watching his Pixar productions - now that's really being a fan.

I'm a full bodied red gal so typically Cabs and Zins are my preference although I'm experimental and indulge in Merlots and Pina Noirs too.

Thanks for sharing that nice wine deminar review. And even better for Judi winning the pin and purse holder.

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[annie170]

I'd be pretty excited about winning that purse holder, also!

Your report is making me want to book a deminar next time I'm there for the Food & Wine Festival.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Oh man I would just be so excited to see John Lasseter. Haha, it seems he decided to wear his quiet shirt that day.

That purse holder is pretty cool not to mention the awesome pin. Good job Judi.

So glad you enjoyed the Canadian Beer too. Nothing like a high alcoholic beer after drinking wine.

haha - yeah, definitely was a highlight to see John - and a fairly calm shirt for him

yea, Judi was very excited and I was very proud to have a wife who answered an alcohol trivia question correctly

Canada is great - yeah, they have ice skates in their class photos and they got the 80's in the 90's - but in general their beer is really good

I can totally vouch for that Scottish Tart So good!

I didn't know that John Lasseter made wine as well. How cool to make cartoons and wine all day for the rest of your life.

that Scottish tart was so good and glad to see the recipe on the internet.

I knew he had the winery but I didn't realize how into it he and his wife were, so it was definitely a fun event