***Epcot Food And Wine Festival Info 2008***

I was teasing Jay that maybe we'll have to order caviar service at Victoria & Albert's to make up for the disappointment ... with a nice bottle of champagne.

:scared1: :scared1: :scared1:

After he came around from his fainting spell I told him was I was just kidding. :lmao:

Good Idea! Kobe Beef, Champagne, and Abalone for everyone!:banana:
My Jason just fainted!:upsidedow
 
Yes! We have for WDW and Disneyland Food and Wine weekends At least we got $10 for Disneylands feedback! Well At least Jason did .. I guess I don't count!?! :laughing: Too bad I eat way more then him!

Where were you at WDW when you were asked to take the F&W survey? Just curious.

I've realized that if I'm going to send Disney Dining / Special Events a letter expressing my concerns that might actually be longer than my food reviews I can probably kiss goodbye any hopes I may have of being hired by them. :rotfl2:
 
Where were you at WDW when you were asked to take the F&W survey? Just curious.

I've realized that if I'm going to send Disney Dining / Special Events a letter expressing my concerns that might actually be longer than my food reviews I can probably kiss goodbye any hopes I may have of being hired by them. :rotfl2:

At the front of Epcot under the big golf ball. They had people set up. I guess I looked sober and non-threatening? Silly people! But this is the place I answered questions!!!!
 

I know.. BOYS CAN BE SO CHEAP! :rotfl2:

I think that I can convince my Jason to go for it. He was actually pretty annoyed by the phone call canceling the event today.

He was so sweet ... "I've seen you juggling events and trying to budget things and plan the trip so that it's chock full of good stuff and then I saw how excited you were to get this brunch even though we had no idea if it would even be worth the price tag and now they've gone and ruined it. Those ruiners!!!"

:rotfl2: :lovestruc That's my hubby. He really does appreciate my anal planning compulsion ... :lmao:
 
I think that I can convince my Jason to go for it. He was actually pretty annoyed by the phone call canceling the event today.

He was so sweet ... "I've seen you juggling events and trying to budget things and plan the trip so that it's chock full of good stuff and then I saw how excited you were to get this brunch even though we had no idea if it would even be worth the price tag and now they've gone and ruined it. Those ruiners!!!"

:rotfl2: :lovestruc That's my hubby. He really does appreciate my anal planning compulsion ... :lmao:

Yea! JAY! Jason does too but I like to say he's cheap! :lovestruc I am so sorry your event got cancelled! I hope that everything else goes well for you both. We have actually talked a person into going(who is not a fan of the mouse) with us on the PFTS alone!

By the way I love the "those ruiners" statement! If you only knew us you would see but it's very close to home!:rolleyes:

Brenda I hope we do see you at some point .. I mean besides the cheese knock down! :lmao:
 
Yea! JAY! Jason does too but I like to say he's cheap! :lovestruc I am so sorry your event got cancelled! I hope that everything else goes well for you both. We have actually talked a person into going(who is not a fan of the mouse) with us on the PFTS alone!

By the way I love the "those ruiners" statement! If you only knew us you would see but it's very close to home!:rolleyes:

Brenda I hope we do see you at some point .. I mean besides the cheese knock down! :lmao:

Once we get a little closer we'll just have to exchange a few PMs and try to set something up. :goodvibes

Pardon me for going off topic for a moment, but Jay and I need some great information and suggestions about CA travel and dining. We think that for his 40th (2010) that we'll be heading to Disneyland and then circling back to Vegas on our way home.

We are both still drooling over the chocolate bacon you mentioned on the blog! :rotfl:
 
Once we get a little closer we'll just have to exchange a few PMs and try to set something up. :goodvibes

Pardon me for going off topic for a moment, but Jay and I need some great information and suggestions about CA travel and dining. We think that for his 40th (2010) that we'll be heading to Disneyland and then circling back to Vegas on our way home.

We are both still drooling over the chocolate bacon you mentioned on the blog! :rotfl:

Brenda PM me and we will get you any info you need based on what place you want to go! I have got from San Diego to Disneyland to Sonoma to Vegas covered! By the way...candied bacon we had but I have a link to chocolate bacon if you need!:woohoo: I would love to help you any way we can! :goodvibes
 
I think that I can convince my Jason to go for it. He was actually pretty annoyed by the phone call canceling the event today.

He was so sweet ... "I've seen you juggling events and trying to budget things and plan the trip so that it's chock full of good stuff and then I saw how excited you were to get this brunch even though we had no idea if it would even be worth the price tag and now they've gone and ruined it. Those ruiners!!!"

:rotfl2: :lovestruc That's my hubby. He really does appreciate my anal planning compulsion ... :lmao:

Any more of him around? Oh, wait.... I think we have asked that question before. Besides, I just remembered I am celebrating my 35th anniversary
at the F&W Festival next month! :rotfl2:

I hope you can schedule something spectacular to take the place of the Champagne Brunch, Brenda.

As for the surveys... I am betting since kabuki was offered hers by Spaceship Earth that would be the reason we never were asked to participate. We stay at BWI or BC almost every year in October so we can walk right into the International Gateway. I know you and Jason were at BC last year too.
 
We've never been asked to take a survey either. We always stay at an Epcot resort. Brilliant marketing there, eh? Don't survey anyone coming in at International Gateway. Frankly, though, I've taken those surveys at entrances to other parks and they aren't really that specific.

Nor have we ever been asked to take a survey at an Exquisite Evening, Signature Dinner or Regional Feast. I know someone, not me, who attended five of the six Exquisite Evenings last year and she wasn't asked to fill out a survey. Hmmm.

I think saying "that's what the public wants" is simply "blame the victim". The best defense is a good offense and all that.

We're not falling for it though, are we?

As for Jamie vs. Paula, I was at a dinner a few years back where a highly-placed F&W executive, afer a few glasses of wine, went on and on about how they invited a certain Food Network Star (not Paula but very well known though overexposed now) to the Festival, her agent got back to them and she wanted an absolutely outrageous amount of money to attend, and the Disney folks just laughed at her agent and said, "You've got to be kidding. We'd never pay that for anyone!" I guess Disney will have to buy the Food Network. Then, those uppity celebs will do what they're told!

As for Jamie, he's probably much cheaper than Paula, which is why he's there and she's not. They probably don't even have to pay him since he's pushing cookbooks.

As I think about it, it's quite amazing the things we've been told by Epcot execs after they've downed a few. That's one thing I'll miss about no Exquisite Evenings. Maybe that's why they canceled them?!
 
Dh thinks the "unforeseen challenge" of the perfume brunch was no takers other than those intrepid DIS reporters, Brenda and hubby! Bless their hearts -- in the name of science and the public (or at least DIS) good, they'll undertake any challenge and come back to tell us about it.

Oh well. I'd have loved, loved, loved, to read the Oybolshoi Report.
 
I'd have loved, loved, loved, to read the Oybolshoi Report.

Ditto here! Disney just doesn't know the publicity coup they are missing.

I would love to know exactly why they canned the Champagne Brunch. Why can’t they be honest about the reason?

Lack of participants because of the basic idea? The champagne supplier backed out or couldn’t supply the promised bubbly? Poor schedule placement on a Tuesday morning? I thought that was a little strange. It might have had a chance as a weekend Brunch. On the Brochure it is grouped with Signature Dining and the time is listed as 6:30 pm. We know that is incorrect.

It really is too bad they can’t be upfront about the reason. The only thing double-talk does is create negative vibes about the Disney F&WF committee. Maybe Disney needs fresh players in the organization of the Festival not deletion of events to keep the F&WF enticing and fresh.
 
Having met them BOTH in person. Bring on Jamie. The truth is he is a much better "presenter" then his Mom. She's a great "celebrity", but he's much more polished especially on his own. (And he's the one who runs that empire day to day LOL!)

But I think the REAL reason the Food Network stars aren't there is that Food Network has a HUGE presence at the South Florida Food & Wine festival so that's where they put their money, efforts and stars... Orlando's probably "competetion"

I agree with you. I have only seen them on TV and have only seen Jamie with his mother.

I was also wondering about what you said about their presence at the South Florida F&W Festival. I do wonder if it is having an effect on Disney's events. Also, I noticed that there is a New York F&W Festival at the beginning of October. I wonder if this is the reason that so many are not at Disney's event until later in October and in November?

This might coincide with what Nala said about Todd English.
 
Well all I can say is we would have loved to have written a review of that event for everyone ... the opportunities for tongue-in-cheek fun and wide-eyed gawkerie would have been endless. :rotfl2:

Seriously, I did wonder if they canceled due to lack of interest, but only giving it four days seemed kind of strange, so I'm more inclined to believe it has something to do with the supplier or the guest speaker. We also thought the timing and placement of the event was odd - I agree that a Sunday would have been the smartest time to schedule it, but with those regional lunches being offered on Sunday afternoon the timing would probably have been too tight.

As to the whole survey thing, I realized that we've taken some at the front entrance to various parks, but they were always the same and pretty non-specific, as Elizabeth stated; and they certainly never touched on F&W. And as Elin pointed out, no one has even been surveying guests at the International Gateway when we've been there, and we sometimes move in and out of that entrance to Epcot six to eight times a day.

I'm not surprised that those of you here who have attended some of the more upscale events at F&W are reporting that no one has ever solicited your feedback, that's as I suspected. At the conclusion of the Scotch & Food pairing last fall the manager at Rose & Crown actually told us to write letters to Disney Dining (or their planning equivalent) so that the restaurant could offer the event the following year. I thought then that it was strange that no one from the front "office" had shown up to see how the event was received, unless there were mystery shoppers in the guest mix. Regardless, that event was, for the price and the location, absolutely outstanding. As far as I could tell it was a huge success with all the attendess, so if the planning staff really does listen to customer feedback ... ;) ;) ;) ... they completely ignored our flowery missive praising the event to the sky and requesting that it be included in the schedule for 2008.

I totally forgot about the South Florida event and I think that those of you who've mentioned the event in New York this October are definitely on to something. Quite frankly, if our plans weren't already set in stone and we weren't sitting on non-refundable airfare we would seriously consider trying the New York event. We've never been to New York and this would have been a great chance to really try something new. Ah well, live and learn, right? :goodvibes

Totally off topice for a moment ... but I just wanted to send some good thoughts to all our friends on the Gulf Coast and in Florida. There's some scary storms churning out there and we're thinking of you and hoping for all the best for you and your families. :grouphug:
 
I totally forgot about the South Florida event and I think that those of you who've mentioned the event in New York this October are definitely on to something. Quite frankly, if our plans weren't already set in stone and we weren't sitting on non-refundable airfare we would seriously consider trying the New York event. We've never been to New York and this would have been a great chance to really try something new. Ah well, live and learn, right? :goodvibes

We met some people at one of the special events last year and they told us how wonderful the NY event was. Frankly, I will skip sobe food and wine, and we are very close to the area. I would love to attend the food and wine classic held in Aspen. They events there look wonderful.
 
We met some people at one of the special events last year and they told us how wonderful the NY event was. Frankly, I will skip sobe food and wine, and we are very close to the area. I would love to attend the food and wine classic held in Aspen. They events there look wonderful.

Another F&W event that is outstanding is the Santa Fe Chilie and Wine Festival. I would go to it again in a heart beat!
 
Sorry your Champagne Brunch got canned, B. :hug: I guess now I don't have to pout that we can't join you. I'm sure you'll find somewhere good to spend that 'extra' $300. ;)

Another F&W Fest to keep an eye on is the new Chicago Gourmet. This is it's inaugural year and it sounds very interesting...

Chicago Gourmet 2008

It just happens to be the same weekend as Epcot's F&W Fest. I'm sure many of the Chicago chef's attending the Bocuse d'Or competition had to decide where to be that weekend. I know Charlie Trotter will be in Disney instead of staying in Chicago...
 
I see everyone talking about great food festivals around the country and thank you all for some great ideas!
Jason and I went to the Wine Spectator Grand Tour this year in Las Vegas and will do it again next year! It was amazing. It was in May and we got to try wines we could have imagined!
 
Got a call from Disney today to inform us that due to "unforseen challenges" the Champagne Brunch that we booked for 10/14 has been canceled.


Very sorry to hear about the cancellation Brenda. That pour of Chateau d'Yquem would have been something special.

Hopefully you can talk Jay into that caviar @ V&A's :thumbsup2

On the topic of the Deens, I truly just don't see the fascination. I find Paula so over-the-top obnoxious, and the food that she prepares incredibly unhealthy and uninteresting. I just think back to that episode of Iron Chef America that she was on when she made that nauseating-sounding Velveeta Fudge :scared1: :scared1: :scared1:

Yikes!
 








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