**2011** Epcot Food & Wine Festival HAS ENDED. 2012 Festival 9/28 - 11/11

[KPSmithSr]

Looks like we may have a good "disboard" contingent for the French Lunch that day.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

According to the announcement he will be there to give a speech on the 28th...it doesn't say he is staying for the whole convention, and he probably isn't. I'm betting the plan is that he is going to give his speech and then he will go off for the next thing he has to do. The big production will be getting him in and out. You may see other politicians...but probably none that will need the security procedures accorded the Vice President.

I used to live in Nashville. Every so often the VP at the time showed up...

So here's my projection

1. VP lands at some airport. They screw up traffic between airport and hotel.

2. VP is taken in the service entrance to the hotel

3. VP does speech, VP goes to some area and shakes hands with folks who paid a lot of money

4. VP is taken out of hotel via service entrance

5. VP goes back to airport (once again totally screwing up traffic)

Time at Disney... probably under two hours.

Impact on most guest... neglible. As long as you don't go near the convention center or make any "joke" to the men in suits with earpieces (they have NO sense of humor!)

VP will not be getting out at Valet parking and walking to the convention hall etc... I bet the monorail and Diseny bus system just runs like normal (excepting the few minutes as they drive in at 100 MPH and back out at 100 MPH!)

Now the convention could make the hotel etc.. more crowded but that's a different issue


(Actually you would potentially be MORE impacted if you were arriving or leaving on 10/28. They close the airport where he lands... Once he lands they basically block car access as he gets out and again as he returns... it's a PIA!)

 

[cloudnut220]

Looks like we may have a good "disboard" contingent for the French Lunch that day.

We'll have to all say hi!

 

[Tltorrez]

I finally called Disney today to find out why my F&W reservations weren't showing up. Turns out the CM that booked me gave me the wrong first 6 digits. But my ressies were all still in the system and they are now showing up online.

On a totally different note I thought i'd share my solution for bringing wine home. We've been tossing around ideas for weeks. I know sometimes shippers will take cases of wine if you mark it glassware. But we were really nervous about getting to the end of our trip, getting a scrupulous shipper, and being totally stuck. We only plan to buy things we can't get locally, but i'm sure that will be a huge list. On our last trip we bought as many bottles of sake as we thought we could safely transport in our existing suitcases.

So today I had a brainstorm. Turns out Delta will ship cases of wine. (Airline policies do vary though so check your airline.) We'll only have one checked bag, so that leaves room for 3 more at $25 each (and second bag is only $35). They'll even take it without the styrofoam insert that some airlines require; though they may make you sign a limited-liability waiver. A couple Google searches turned up a lot of people that apparently do this on a regular basis.

We thought about just packing some wine boxes in our suitcase and buying bubble wrap down there. But then found that U-Haul has the styrofoam inserts (with box) for $14 and will ship them for free (5-10 days). My mom lives down there so we'll just ship them ahead to her, but we could ship to the resort if we needed to. Anyway, problem solved. Now we just have to decide how many we want.

And also, I still need to book a room but i'm not thinking about that right now.

 

[Dancind]

Good information, Ttorrez. Do you think the wine will make it that way without getting overheated? Depending on the temps at Orlando airport, it could wind up sitting on the tarmac for a while before being loaded on to the plane. And I have no idea how hot it gets inside the cargo area. Just so you know, "cooked" wine will not taste the same as the wine you try at WDW.

We have this problem every year when we go to Napa. We have resorted to driving, and buying a really big cooler. We have to drive through AZ to get home, you see, and even when we go in April/May it is HOT there.

 

[franandaj]

Vice President Joe Biden will be attending the Florida Democratic Convention being held at Disney’s Contemporary Resort October 28-31, 2011.


Great. We have Chef Mickey @ 7:00 AM on October 30.

Looks like we may have a good "disboard" contingent for the French Lunch that day.

Thanks for pointing this out! I won't worry since we're staying at BCV. Our plan is wake up, eat, nap, desserts!

We'll have to all say hi!

I'll have my LGMH!

 

[Tltorrez]

It's certainly a possibility. But i'm thinking Orlando in October won't be nearly as bad as Arizona. Also we have an early flight home so we're not talking afternoon sun on the tarmac. I think we'll be ok.

 

[Tamar]

So today I had a brainstorm. Turns out Delta will ship cases of wine. (Airline policies do vary though so check your airline.) We'll only have one checked bag, so that leaves room for 3 more at $25 each (and second bag is only $35). They'll even take it without the styrofoam insert that some airlines require; though they may make you sign a limited-liability waiver. A couple Google searches turned up a lot of people that apparently do this on a regular basis.

We thought about just packing some wine boxes in our suitcase and buying bubble wrap down there. But then found that U-Haul has the styrofoam inserts (with box) for $14 and will ship them for free (5-10 days). My mom lives down there so we'll just ship them ahead to her, but we could ship to the resort if we needed to. Anyway, problem solved. Now we just have to decide how many we want.

When I find wines I want to enjoy at home, I go out to the winery website and have them shipped direct to my home. Did the same when I was in Sonoma a few months ago. I would not want to deal with packing and checking it. The wineries really do it right when packaging, and if it is damaged en route, they replace it.

 

[Tltorrez]

When I find wines I want to enjoy at home, I go out to the winery website and have them shipped direct to my home. Did the same when I was in Sonoma a few months ago. I would not want to deal with packing and checking it. The wineries really do it right when packaging, and if it is damaged en route, they replace it.

This works if you are fortunate enough to live in a state that allows shipping of wine. Also if you're buying domestic wines.

MD just started allowing shipping this year and only from direct wineries. So we still can't buy from places like wine.com. When we went to Napa several years ago, very few wineries could ship to us because they had to have a third-party in state as an intermediary. We ended up shipping several cases back with UPS to my husband's firm's DC office. Expensive, but at the time it was the only way we could get those wines. We still have trouble getting good selections of imported sake and Italian wines.

 

[cloudnut220]

I'll have my LGMH!

???

Tltorrez, I feel your pain on the MD wine shipping thing.

 

[tiggrbaby]

???

Tltorrez, I feel your pain on the MD wine shipping thing.

LGMH = lime green Mickey head

It's a paint sample from Home Depot. Lime Green signifies Disboards.

 

[Rose&Crown]

Is any one else completely disappointed in the wines:

Australia- mainstream grocery store wines, at least they are decent
Argentina- another grocery store pick
Mexico- at least these you probably haven't had
S Africa- nothing special here
USA- Sterling - really with all our wine available??
Germany- looks ok
Italy- really wines from the shop, not even the better ones
New Zealand- looks interesting just finished the book First Big Crush
Portugal- may be the saving grace of the festival
France- shouldn't bother setting up, really biug missed opportunity here
Canada- seems to be mailing it in also

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Is any one else completely disappointed in the wines:

Australia- mainstream grocery store wines, at least they are decent
Argentina- another grocery store pick
Mexico- at least these you probably haven't had
S Africa- nothing special here
USA- Sterling - really with all our wine available??
Germany- looks ok
Italy- really wines from the shop, not even the better ones
New Zealand- looks interesting just finished the book First Big Crush
Portugal- may be the saving grace of the festival
France- shouldn't bother setting up, really biug missed opportunity here
Canada- seems to be mailing it in also

Disney wants a LOT of money for you to "play" at thier festival. I think they have priced a lot of the smaller wine producers out of this festival. Kind of sad.

(Honestly for the past few years I can't imagine finding much there I would care to ship home to myself)

 

[tortoni]

Hello all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question. We are Disney vets, but this is our first F&W Festival and we are going over Columbus weekend. Would love some tips on how to approach this and if we should consider any of the seminars. We are staying at the Beach Club Villas, so it should be an easy walk over. Plan to do Epcot F&W and maybe an afternoon at HS, in addition to pool time. Have only made one ADR assuming that we would want to eat around the World Showcase. Tips?

 

[Tamar]

Hello all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question. We are Disney vets, but this is our first F&W Festival and we are going over Columbus weekend. Would love some tips on how to approach this and if we should consider any of the seminars. We are staying at the Beach Club Villas, so it should be an easy walk over. Plan to do Epcot F&W and maybe an afternoon at HS, in addition to pool time. Have only made one ADR assuming that we would want to eat around the World Showcase. Tips?

There are 92 pages of tips!

 

[Krissalee]

I just received a F&W Festival program in the mail today. Is it because I booked special events last week?

I don't remember getting the program sent to me in the mail in the years before...Even when I booked special events.

I do have TiW (which is still valid through November) and I never received any mail from them - only emails.

Hmmmm...maybe I just have a bad memory!!!

 

[FloraFauna]

In the culinary demonstrations, do you get a sample of the food prepared and some wine? I called Disney today and the lady was unsure. I didn't book it, I told them I would call them back. I figured I'd post it here--someone here would definitely know

 

[TDC Nala]

In the culinary demonstrations, do you get a sample of the food prepared and some wine? I called Disney today and the lady was unsure. I didn't book it, I told them I would call them back. I figured I'd post it here--someone here would definitely know

At the culinary demonstration, yes, you get a sample of food and a thimbleful of wine.

I am not sure I would expect WDW-DINE to know anything specific about the festival or its offerings. They are pretty much good for one thing - making reservations.

 

[FloraFauna]

thank you very much for the answer. I think I am going to go ahead and book it. It should be interesting

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

In the culinary demonstrations, do you get a sample of the food prepared and some wine? I called Disney today and the lady was unsure. I didn't book it, I told them I would call them back. I figured I'd post it here--someone here would definitely know

Yesterland had an article in 2010 with a description of how the Culinary Demos work and examples of the taste samples:

http://www.yesterland.com/culinary2010.html

It the article, the plates look bigger than they really are. The plates and samples are small.They're not meals or even appetizers, but it's nice to have a chance to taste what the chef is making.