We weren't SUPPOSED to plan a Disney trip this year!! Oct 23-30 *TR to come soon!*

[kdka421]

So, we possibly have an exciting twist in our plans!

I was doing some reading yesterday about the different special events that go on during the Food & Wine festival, because really, I didn't know much about them. I mostly just passed them off and assumed we wouldn't do any of the extra events since we were already doing the Halloween Party.

HOWEVER...I started reading information and reviews of the Party For the Senses, and it sounds so awesome! And of course, I knew immediately that my husband would be fascinated by it as well. Not just because he is a huge foodie, or because it features Cirque du Soleil (which we discussed seeing and also dismissed due to price), but (and I know this sounds silly, but I'm serious) also because the event takes place in the old Millenium Village. He's never seen it (I saw it in it's original state back during a family trip in 2000), and has this weird fascination with it!

But in all seriousness, the tasting sounds great, plus the entertainment (neither of us have ever seen Cirque before), this would be a really cool experience, and we both know it. The only thing really holding me back is the price tag (yikes!), but it really is a unique experience.

The only other hitch is that it would require us to move our second Epcot day from Sunday to Saturday (when we were trying to avoid Epcot on the weekends). It'd make for a busier day at the park, I assume, but we could shift the plans pretty easily. I already made an extra ADR in case we do end up switching plans around (we had dinner at Via Napoli planned for Sunday, so now I've also revered a late lunch there on Saturday since this event would be our dinner for the evening).

Anyone ever done this event in years past? I've read some glowing reviews, and also some who think it's way overpriced (well, what isn't at Disney?!), but I really do think it's something we'd enjoy. We can't book tickets for about a month, so we don't need to decide right away, so we'll sit on it and I'll let you know what we decide!

 

[smile4stamps]

PFTS is the #1 thing I have to get tickets for! I'm not sure which tier to aim for! I don't know that they will have $100 worth of extras for Wine View Lounge over the regular reserved seating.

 

[kdka421]

PFTS is the #1 thing I have to get tickets for! I'm not sure which tier to aim for! I don't know that they will have $100 worth of extras for Wine View Lounge over the regular reserved seating.

I'm pretty sure we'll just do regular admission, since I already feel guilty about spending the money

I don't remember if you said in your PTR, I know you've been to F&W before, but have you done this specific event before?

I got scared for a while because I saw this old review from a few years ago where they were talking about how each week had a different theme - and some of the themes were ones I knew I wouldn't really enjoy. However, I've since found out that they only did the themes that one year, and they weren't a success, so they stopped doing them. Phew, what a relief!

When I saw that there was also the Victoria & Albert's signature dinner falling during the timeframe of our trip, I got scared that DH would see that and insist on trying that as well -- but thankfully the pricetag for that one is way too obscene (like $400 pp, geez) so we both know that's not realistic.
He was a little sad to find out, however, that the Italy event called the "White Truffle Lunch" wouldn't fall during our trip He loves truffles!

 

[PixieMama]

Hi, Kate! Came over from the FB group... going back to read now!

 

[smile4stamps]

We won't be there when the V&A's dinner is.. I think we leave a few days before that! However we have Chef's Table on the 26th so I imagine it will be about the same cost!

I actually have not been to F&W before! This is my first fall trip to WDW!!

 

[kdka421]

Hi, Kate! Came over from the FB group... going back to read now!

Hello! Thanks for joining in I've started to browse through your PTR as well, but it's taking me some time!

We won't be there when the V&A's dinner is.. I think we leave a few days before that! However we have Chef's Table on the 26th so I imagine it will be about the same cost!

I actually have not been to F&W before! This is my first fall trip to WDW!!

Oops! I'm not sure why I got confused! But yay, another F&W first-timer! I can't wait to hear about your experience with the Chef's Table. We absolutely loved our V&A experience, and we were just in the main dining room. We did get to meet Chef Scott though, and I can only imagine it'd be super cool to chat with him the whole evening.

Bummer, I just double checked your dates to see if you're planning on doing the PFTS the same day as us...but nope, you'll be there one week earlier than us. (Hehe, do you see how I phrased that as if we're already committed to going?! It's inevitable I guess )

 

[chunkymonkey]

So, we possibly have an exciting twist in our plans!

I was doing some reading yesterday about the different special events that go on during the Food & Wine festival, because really, I didn't know much about them. I mostly just passed them off and assumed we wouldn't do any of the extra events since we were already doing the Halloween Party.

HOWEVER...I started reading information and reviews of the Party For the Senses, and it sounds so awesome! And of course, I knew immediately that my husband would be fascinated by it as well. Not just because he is a huge foodie, or because it features Cirque du Soleil (which we discussed seeing and also dismissed due to price), but (and I know this sounds silly, but I'm serious) also because the event takes place in the old Millenium Village. He's never seen it (I saw it in it's original state back during a family trip in 2000), and has this weird fascination with it!

But in all seriousness, the tasting sounds great, plus the entertainment (neither of us have ever seen Cirque before), this would be a really cool experience, and we both know it. The only thing really holding me back is the price tag (yikes!), but it really is a unique experience.

The only other hitch is that it would require us to move our second Epcot day from Sunday to Saturday (when we were trying to avoid Epcot on the weekends). It'd make for a busier day at the park, I assume, but we could shift the plans pretty easily. I already made an extra ADR in case we do end up switching plans around (we had dinner at Via Napoli planned for Sunday, so now I've also revered a late lunch there on Saturday since this event would be our dinner for the evening).

Anyone ever done this event in years past? I've read some glowing reviews, and also some who think it's way overpriced (well, what isn't at Disney?!), but I really do think it's something we'd enjoy. We can't book tickets for about a month, so we don't need to decide right away, so we'll sit on it and I'll let you know what we decide!

Yum, that event sounds amazing. I have never been (well, have never been during F+W period.) but it sounds like something I would like to do one day. Either way, I have heard that F+W on the weekends are pretty crazy, but, I think you'll still have fun!

 

[silverhaze269]

Also popping over from the FB group to say hi!

Sounds like your plans are coming along really well! I was looking at PFTS too, but I think it's just going to be too expensive for us, which sucks a little, but maybe we'll get some our way and we'll be able to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[kdka421]

Yum, that event sounds amazing. I have never been (well, have never been during F+W period.) but it sounds like something I would like to do one day. Either way, I have heard that F+W on the weekends are pretty crazy, but, I think you'll still have fun!

Yeah, I'm not sure how our game plan will work out yet - however, I think that since our first Epcot day will be on Wednesday, we'll probably plan to do most of the food booths/etc on that day. Then, on Saturday, even if it's crowded hopefully we either can avoid the World Showcase for the most part, or just deal with the crowds because we already will have hit most of what we wanted to see/try. And finally, our last partial day is still a TBD day, so if we really didn't see everything we wanted, we always have the option to spend that last day back at the festival.

Also popping over from the FB group to say hi!

Sounds like your plans are coming along really well! I was looking at PFTS too, but I think it's just going to be too expensive for us, which sucks a little, but maybe we'll get some our way and we'll be able to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by!
Sending you some pixie dust that maybe you'll get to go to PFTS as well! I had definitely discounted it at first, but we both agreed that we'd rather seize the opportunity and just go for it

Are you planning on doing any other of the F&W festival events?

 

[kdka421]

3 months until we arrive at WDW!

Day 4:

Our day 4 plans put us at Animal Kingdom! This is yet another early extra magic hours morning (ugh - we're not early birds. This might be a tough morning, especially after MNSSHP the night before. Can we make ourselves get up early enough?!)

Obviously the biggest draw at AK is Everest, so we'll make sure to get a couple of rides of that in. Obviously the safari as well, maybe the Nemo and Lion King shows, etc.

For lunch, we typically go to our favorite, Flame Tree BBQ. However, we were trying to see if there was another counter service restaurant we could try, something new, rather than doing what we always do. The only one that sort of caught our eye was the Yak and Yeki cafe, but I've read some pretty bad reviews of it. Anyone else have a CS location they like in AK? If we need to, we won't complain too bad about sticking with Flame Tree but we were just hoping to try something new...

Animal Kingdom isn't our favorite park by any means, so it's never too frustrating to us that it typically closes around 5pm. Traditionally, we take the evening to go have a nice dinner somewhere (last trip, on our AK day was when we had our dinner at Victoria & Albert's!) This trip we're doing the same thing (not to V&A though), but when we're done at the park, we'll head over to the Yacht Club for dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. This will be our first time there, and I've heard wonderful things about it, we're extremely excited.

That's it for Day 4...If you have any opinions on Yak & Yeti cafe, other CS restaurants, or Yachtsman...I'd love to hear them.



In other news, I bought some trading pins yesterday for our trip! We both really enjoy pin trading, I think it's a great way to interact with the cast members. Here's a picture of the pins we've collected over our past 2 trips, sorry it's a little grainy:

 

[smile4stamps]

I like how you have your pins displayed... Mine just sit in a bag!

I've not done any CS at AK so I'm not any help. I was thinking of Flame Tree for our second AK day though. The first day is all TS. Tusker House and Yak n Yeti.

 

[jenneth79]

Finally getting around to checking out all the PTRs from FB..... I'm in and going to go catch up now

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hey! I followed over from my PTR ...plans look great so far. It looks like we might be missing each other all week. We aren't emh people especially since we are offsite. Looking forward to reading more plans!

 

[PixieMama]

Love the idea of your pin boards! My DDs did pin trading on our 2010 trip, then I got into it myself last summer on my "girls only" trip. It's fun!

 

[kdka421]

I like how you have your pins displayed... Mine just sit in a bag!

I've not done any CS at AK so I'm not any help. I was thinking of Flame Tree for our second AK day though. The first day is all TS. Tusker House and Yak n Yeti.

Thank you!!
Hmm, we still have plenty of time to think about switching around restaurants...if we wanted to try one of the AK TS restaurants, we could maybe steal a TS from another day....decisions, decisions....I've never eaten at any of the AK TS before (other than Rainforest).

Finally getting around to checking out all the PTRs from FB..... I'm in and going to go catch up now

Hi! Thanks so much for joining in!

Hey! I followed over from my PTR ...plans look great so far. It looks like we might be missing each other all week. We aren't emh people especially since we are offsite. Looking forward to reading more plans!

Thank you! We're still switching plans around, so who knows, hehe... But yeah, good point about EMH - we know that common sense says to avoid those parks, but sometimes we really appreciate the extra time in the parks, since we are staying onsite.

Love the idea of your pin boards! My DDs did pin trading on our 2010 trip, then I got into it myself last summer on my "girls only" trip. It's fun!

Thanks so much We really have enjoyed pin trading during our last 2 trips. Totally not just for kids

Right now I have the pins just divided up based on the ones we got on each trip, but maybe after this trip, I've been toying with the idea of rearranging them into categories; for example putting all the Mickeys together, all the WDW park-specific ones together, etc... Thoughts? Or do you think it's better having one case for each trip?

 

[kdka421]

Woohoo!

Thanks so much to Jennifer (zeferjen) for posting on the October dis facebook group that there is a 1-day only sale at Target.com, where you can get $100 target gift cards for only $90. You then can turn around and use these gift cards in Target store locations to purchase $100 Disney gift cards, which can be used in the parks, to pay down your vacation balance, etc.

You can purchase here if you want: http://www.target.com/c/target-giftcards/-/N-5xsxt (You'll need to buy $100 at a time to keep getting the discount)
WARNING: Do not purchase the email option ---- this is an e-gift card, which can NOT be used in stores, only online. I'm purchasing the mobile gift cards.

I'm so excited! For now, I purchased $500 worth, saving me $50...depending on how stock looks at the store, I may purchase a few more gift cards as well later tonight, since we still have our whole trip to pay off.

I love saving money!!

 

[PixieMama]

Right now I have the pins just divided up based on the ones we got on each trip, but maybe after this trip, I've been toying with the idea of rearranging them into categories; for example putting all the Mickeys together, all the WDW park-specific ones together, etc... Thoughts? Or do you think it's better having one case for each trip?

Hmmm... I like how you have them by trip. That way you can remember when you got them.

 

[kdka421]

89 days left!

In non-Disney news, we're taking a fun day trip up to Burlington, Vermont this weekend. If you read my last trip report, you might remember that during our last trip, my Mom's first book was released. Well, she's already published her second book, and we're headed up to her hometown to meet up with family (including my grandma, aunt and uncle, etc) and have a little celebration. Should be a nice day


And now, back to the Disney plans!


Day 5 10/27:
Here is where our plans have started to be switched around from our original plans. Originally, this was scheduled to be our Hollywood Studios day (doing one day at each park the first 4 days of the trip is a pretty standard plan for us). However - since we both instantly fell in love with the Party for the Senses event, we had to swap parks for day 5 and 6, so now day 5 has become our second EPCOT day!

Like I've already said, we had hoped to avoid EPCOT on the weekends, since we've heard that it's much more crowded on the weekends during F&W due to local visitors. However, since we don't get park hoppers, this is the only way to attend PFTS, since it's only held on Saturday night. So, we're going to brave the F&W crowds!

I think we'll try to accomplish most of our F&W stuff on our first day, Wednesday, when presumably the crowds will be better. If there's anything we miss, we can leave that for Saturday, but hopefully plan for a more leisurely day in the park. So I'm not exactly sure what our morning plans will be (maybe we'll sleep in a little?!). But I've gotten a late lunch reservation for 2pm at Via Napoli, which we're super excited to try for the first time. Originally we were going to do this for dinner, but since we're doing the Party, that will become our evening meal.

So that leaves us with the Party for the Senses, to finish the evening. I know a lot of people say they dress up a little for the event (although some people remain casual)...we both like dressing up, so maybe we'll take a quick break back to the hotel beforehand to change into something a little nicer. I'm sure we won't be wearing uncomfortable dress clothes/shoes around EPCOT all day. (Remember, we're trying to avoid the EPCOT first aid station this time around!) We absolutely can't wait for this event!

Anyone else checking out any of the F&W events??

 

[smile4stamps]

I'm planning to check out WAY too MANY F&W events!!

3D Dessert Party
Sweet Sundays
PFTS
Possibly Italian F&W pairing
Possibly Cheese Seminar
Possible smaller seminars

We will have hoppers though. I can't imagine doing F&W without them. Too many days will involve going to Epoct for a little while and since we don't want to spend our entire trip in Epcot Park Hoppers are a must.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Excellent plan..I know it's hard to follow the "best" advice when it means missing something like a special event. You just have to go with your plans and brave the crowds. But like you said, you will have already accomplished much on Wed! Have fun in Burlington. My Brother was just there over the weekend, he had a great time!
And wow, congrats to your Mom on her second book!

Oh, and as for F&W...we will just be eating and drinking around the world on our Epcot day. And probably bribing the girls to let us do this...! I think it's going to be a very expensive day.