Anyone going to Food & Wine this year?

[LilLisaLou]

I can't make the girls' trip in April because I'm already committed that weekend.

Anyone planning on going to any of the events this year?

I thought that we'd at least get a hint of who the participating wineries and chefs were BEFORE tickets go on sale on Friday.

Right now it's looking like our only weekend is going to be the last weekend, May 2-4. With TASTE going on Saturday night, I really hope that there's going to be a winemaker's dinner on Friday night. Last year wasn't it something like $200? Yikes! I don't even like wine but DH loves it. Wish they'd offer a designated driver discount or a discount on the hotel rooms. There were a lot of sloshy people leaving. I think I was one of two sober people in the whole room.



Anyone else have plans to go?

-Lisa

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DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL SET TO SHOWCASE FLAVORS OF THE GOLDEN STATE

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 25, 2008— Disney's California Food and Wine Festival presents the magic of cooking and the artistry of fine wine at the Disneyland Resort this spring, part of the Resort's celebration of the “Year of a Million Dreams.”

Now in its third year, Disney's California Food and Wine Festival will be held April 11 through May 5, 2008, with daily complimentary demonstrations and premiere ticketed events. The four-week festival will include the popular "Taste of California" Marketplace at Disney's California Adventure park, along with exclusive cooking courses at the Napa Rose restaurant and expert wine instruction from a master sommelier.

Nearly 100 Disneyland Resort chefs will present cooking demonstrations and guests can learn more about their favorite beverages at the wine, beer and spirit tasting programs held throughout the festival. Culinary demonstrations and seminars are included with admission to Disney's California Adventure park. Guests can also experience a dash of magic at these Disney's California Food and Wine Festival events:

• Master Sommelier Michael Jordan, of the award-winning Napa Rose restaurant, will share his passion for wine in the “Taste Wine Like an Expert” class that introduces guests to the joys of wine tasting. For a fee and with advanced registration, each class will offer a basic training in the different types, varietals and blends, taste, structure, and characteristics found in wine servings.
• “Festival Wine Receptions” will offer guests an opportunity to enjoy a beautiful sunset and evening under the stars on the patio of the Golden Vine Winery inside Disney’s California Adventure. While sampling from a variety of selected wines and enjoying hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, guests will also be treated to a sparkling way to end the evening – a special viewing of Disney’s Electrical Parade.
• Disneyland Resort chefs will partner with premiere California Winemakers to prepare outstanding culinary delights at the exclusive “Winemaker Dinners.” Each chef will prepare a Festival meal and pair it with award-winning vintages.
• Executive Chef Andrew Sutton will lead the hands-on “Napa Rose Cooking School.” Each class will create a themed meal paired with wines, and at the conclusion of the course, each guest will receive a Napa Rose Cooking School chef coat to commemorate the experience. Tickets for the cooking school and other signature events are limited and go on sale beginning Feb. 15.
• At the “Taste of California Marketplace,” guests will enjoy festival foods created especially for the event. Delicious tapas-sized tastings, along with expertly paired wines and beers, will be available in the Pacific Wharf area.
• The new “Sparkling Bar,” located in the upper terrace of Golden Vine Winery, will feature champagne and sparkling wines by the glass, paired with wine country tapas.
• The Festival’s grand finale, “Taste – Food, Wine, Life,” will be held Saturday, May 3, offering guests a delicious celebration of the culinary talents of numerous chefs. “Taste” will also feature specially selected beer, wine, and spirits, along with entertainment throughout the evening.

Disney’s California Food and Wine Festival is part of Disneyland Resort’s “Year of a Million Dreams” celebration. The Resort features two theme parks – Disneyland (the original Disney theme park) and Disney’s California Adventure park – plus the Downtown Disney District comprised of unique dining, entertainment and shopping experiences. The Resort’s three guest-welcoming hotels are the luxurious 745-room Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, the magical 988-room Disneyland Hotel and the “day-at-the-beach” fun of the 489-room Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. For information on new attractions, the Year of a Million Dreams celebration and vacations at Disneyland Resort, visit www.disneyland.com, call 866-60-DISNEY or contact local travel agents.

# # #

Media Contact:
Disneyland Resort Public Relations
(714) 781-4500
www.disneylandnews.com
www.disneyland.com/podcast

 

[ScooterL]

I'm going to the Food and Wine Festival - probably will do a winemaker dinner and chef demos and touring the first weekend, and then we'll go up on Saturday May 3 for Taste. Disney STILL doesn't have anything on their web site yet, which is interesting since registration for the events is supposed to start this Friday!

AllEars has a fair bit of info on the Festival here: http://allears.net/dlr/tp/dca/dcafw.htm

They report the winemakers are going to be Chappellet Winery, Twomey Cellars, Nickel & Nickel Winery, and Pride Mountain Vineyards, and yes the dinners will be on Friday nights. I think the winemaker dinner was $125 last year, though I'd expect it to increase this year - seems like prices go up EVERY year with these special events!

I hope Taste will be as much fun as it was last year.

 

[LilLisaLou]

Is Taste worth the $$? I don't drink wine at all. At least when I go to the winemaker's dinner, I get a Diet Coke with lime Classes up my drink LOL

 

[ScooterL]

Taste is far more about the food than it is about the wine! There were ~15 different food stations last year, not counting the two that served fruit/cheese/bread early in the evening, and desserts (six different kinds!) at the end. You could get water and soft drinks and coffee, too. You can go back to the food stations as often as you want, so you can certainly get a lot more to eat (as well as a much wider variety) than you do at the Winemaker dinners. They haven't announced the price for Taste yet - it was $100 last year, though I expect it to go up this year. I enjoyed it as much as the Winemaker dinner we attended, but they are different types of events.

 

[betterlatethannever]

Does anybody know what time on Friday they start to take reservations?

I called the Public Relations number and the person didn't know. But she told be I had to register on Disneylandnews.com in order to get the tickets. Is that right?

Any idea if "Taste" will be open only to passholders again this year?

Thanks

Ed

 

[ScooterL]

Having to register on disneylandnews.com doesn't sound right at all - that's DL's media web site! I think it'll be like last year - just go to the DL web site and select the events you want, and provide name and payment info. I hope registration will be open by 9:00 or so.

I DO know that Taste will be open to the general public this year - so anyone can purchase tickets, not just AP holders.

 

[LilLisaLou]

DH is just into wine but my uncle is kind of a wine snob but not an icky one. Which do you think would be better for him? Winemaker's dinner or Taste? I've only ever been to the winemakers dinners.

 

[ScooterL]

Hmm...I guess it depends on what your uncle is interested in. At a Winemaker dinner, the Winemaker talks about the winery, and when each course is served, talks about the wine being served with that course. You only get to try about 4-5 wines, though. But the food that is served is specially selected to pair with the wine, and that is really interesting.

At Taste, there are a bunch of different wineries represented (I think there were 10 last year) and each is serving several different kinds of wines, so there's a lot more variety. You don't get the "pairing" aspect, though - while I'm sure your uncle would find wines that paired especially well with some of the foods being served, no one is going to tell him what those might be...though sounds like he's knowledgeable, so he might be able to do that for himself. And so that might be more fun for him than a Winemaker dinner.

Hope that helps.

 

[betterlatethannever]

Having to register on disneylandnews.com doesn't sound right at all - that's DL's media web site! I think it'll be like last year - just go to the DL web site and select the events you want, and provide name and payment info. I hope registration will be open by 9:00 or so.

I DO know that Taste will be open to the general public this year - so anyone can purchase tickets, not just AP holders.

Thank you for the info. I think the CM was confused because of the wording on the food and wine page on the Disneyland.com site:

"Disney's California Food and Wine Festival will be held from April 11, 2008 to May 5, 2008. Check back on Friday, February 15, 2008 to register for this year's Signature Events."

Ed

 

[fairycat]

I love wine and am so mad I missed this last year but my weekends are all packed those weekends again this year I am hoping to hit a non-weekend day to check some of it out.

BTW if you like wine go to the tasting area at DCA. The CM's there are knowledgeable, nice and so much fun! We never miss it!

 

[LilLisaLou]

It's Friday already and they haven't changed the page yet. Grrrrrr....

Don't they realize that I have a whole extended family to coordinate? I hate that they didn't give us the information ahead of time so we could plan.

 

[ScooterL]

Yeah, that's unusual for the events not to go up before they go on sale - the past two years we've had at least two weeks where the schedule was up and we could decide what we wanted before they went on sale. They moved the Festival up a couple of weeks this year, though, so maybe that impacted their schedule. I'm hoping it will be live at 9:00 or 10:00 today.

 

[lulubelle]

I just wanted to say that we thought Taste was well worth the $$. We do drink wine, and had quite a bit that night but we were staying at PP so didn't have to drive. If you don't drink it might not be worth it. We thought the Winemaker Dinner (at Granville's) was not worth it. I feel we could have had a much nicer meal (and wine) at Napa Rose for $250. Also, the wine tasting with appetizers for $45 was the best bargain. It's basically all you can eat and drink (so it was a meal for us) on a very nice private patio by the Trattoria restaurant and at the end you watch the Electrical Parade while drinking your wine. And all the food was really good. We really enjoyed that evening.

I am hoping to attend a few events while there for the girls only weekend. Hopefully they will post them today.

 

[DangerMouse]

Looks like the reservations page is now up!

 

[ScooterL]

Yep - I just registered for a Winemaker dinner and Taste!

 

[BriarRosie]

I just registered for the Winemaker Dinner for 4/18 and the Festival Wine Reception on 4/19.



The prices at these events are less expensive than similar events I've done at the WDW festival. But since I haven't done DLR's festival, I don't know how they will compare. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[LilLisaLou]

Yea We just booked for 5/2 for the Winemaker's Dinner

 

[betterlatethannever]

Even though we went two years ago and was able to get into a winemakers dinner (not sure it was called this back then) at a late date, I anticipated it being more popular this year.

So, using my WDW experience , I took off from work on Friday to make sure I could get what I wanted. Well, I just checked and there are still 447 "tickets" available for TASTE, and 77 available for the winemaker's dinner.


So it looks like I didn't need to take off from work .

It would be my luck that next year I don't take off from work and everything sells out within an hour.

Ed

 

[ScooterL]

How can you tell how many tickets are still available?

 

[betterlatethannever]

How can you tell how many tickets are still available?

When you get to the screen where you put in how many tickets you want, put in an abnormally high number: for TASTE -800, winemakers dinners - 100, the chef school - 20.

On the next screen, it will state that you exceeded the number, and will tell you how many are left.

To get how many are remaining, you can only do one event at a time.

Make sure you put in a high enough number. For TASTE, I first put in 400. The next screen was how did I want to pay for it??!!! (somebody else's credit card)

Ed