Festival!! A Food and Wine at DLR trip report (Complete! - 5/31)

[BriarRosie]

Welcome to my new food report:

Festival! A Food and Wine at DLR trip report.

If you've read my Larded and Loaded Tour trip report about the WDW food and wine festival, you would know that I've been a veteran of that festival, posting lots of food porn.

While the Epcot International F&W Festival has been running for 12 years, this was only the third year for the Disneyland resort's version, and it was the first time it was running a full month instead of only on weekends. It didn't take long for a couple of my friends and I to realize that we should try this west coast festival, so we planned to make it for mid-May...until we saw the dates had been pushed back from what they were in previous years.

So here it is. Let's break it down a bit further.

What: Festival!! Disney's California Food and Wine
When: April 17-21, 2008
Who: Lori (me), Catherine, and a third friend who wishes to remain anonymous. I will respect her right to privacy.
Where: Catherine and I split DVC points to stay at the Disneyland Hotel
Why: For the food and wine, baby!

I will cover what we did on each day, both food stuffs and park touring. Most of my photos are food, not people. This should satisfy the foodies here.

I will link each segment of my report into a handy index here as I did in my previous trip report. Let the festivities begin!

Quick Reference Index:

Part 1: It Begins...
Part 2: Bring on the lunch!
Part 3: Food demo, enjoying DCA, Yamabuki dinner
Part 4: I woke up for this??
Part 5: Winemaker Dinner and Disneyland closing
Part 6: Look Ma! No hangover!
Part 7: Wine Reception. Bleh.
Part 8: The Good. The Bad. The Scary.
Part 9: Vineyard Room and E Ride Nights Deja Vu
Part 10: Goodbye, Disneyland! See you in 8 months!
Wrap Up: DL vs. WDW food festivals

I hope you all enjoy it!

 

[suzimar57]

i'm in!

make it a review with fun stuff mixed in - saw photos of the food there and would love to hear a first-hand report, also of how it compares to F&W in florida - bring it on!

 

[thunderbird1]

And throw it all in there--food, wine, fun, etc. We live out here on the left coast, and might actually be able to swing a quick weekend just for this event sometime, so I'd love to hear all about it. Can't wait!

 

[phisigprincess]

How fast can you write it? We leave in 3 days and I'd love to read it.

 

[danalee]

Oh me too , me too!

 

[kabuki]

I thought before I begin my "real" food report of the Food and Wine Festival out at Disney's California Adventure, I wanted to know if people here really wanted to see what I ate.

And I wanted to know if anyone objected to it being a complete trip report, as well. Some funny things happened during the food demos, while waiting for our winemaker dinner, and just general fun at Disneyland.

I'm just fond of making a "You've got your chocolate in my peanut butter/You've got your peanut butter in my chocolate" report where it's sort of a food review and sort of a trip report. If people don't want any park stuff mixed in, I'll keep it out.

But it's ultimately good to know that Disney is concerned about personal hygiene at Disneyland, too. It seems Brawny/Sparkle paper towels sponsored the "How to Wash Your Hands" placards by the sinks at the Disneyland Resort. Just thought I'd share.

HEY! You know I am .. can't wait to hear it all!
and yes! The Brawny/Sparkle Sponsor is a bit crazy BUT I am just happy
they have moved away from the hot air blowers they used to have the would just shoot the water from your hands on to your pants!

 

[tigger536]

Absolutely! And throw anything you want in there too! I love your WDW reviews and am eager to here about your experiences at DL!

 

[TigerKat]

Throw it all at me!!!!!!!

 

[50 years Too!]

Me too!
Hoping to be a proud DVC owner at GCV's and do the DL F&W next year.

Deb

 

[BriarRosie]

Thursday, April 17, 2008: Let the Feasting Begin!

Of course, I had a flight on JetBlue out of O'Hare at 8am, so I arranged a cab to pick me up at 5:45am to get to the airport. There was some construction going on, and I didn't know how it was going to affect me. I had 4 nights' worth of stuff in a carry-on bag, so that made things a bit more convenient.

My cab was about 20 minutes early, and then again, so was I. I was making a great start on the day! This was my first time flying JetBlue, as I was a United gal through and through. But I was pleased to see that "lots of legroom" wasn't just an advertising pitch. It really was better than United's normal Economy.

The silliest thing was that a girl with serious entitlement issues was in the row behind me. She pestered the flight attendant to sit somewhere else because she was in a full row, and there had to be seats where she could have her window seat plus an empty middle seat.

I nearly bust a gut when the girl pointed to a seat she wanted and the flight attendant blurted out in response, "People paid extra to sit there." A few minutes later the same attendant told the girl that there were bulkhead seats available, but then asked, "Are you the one travelling with the dog?" Yes. "Aww, sorry. We can't allow you to sit there because you have the dog."

I swear, I thought the flight attendant was taunting her. But I'll never know.

Our flight landed 30 minutes early, and this was my first time flying into Long Beach Airport. Now you have to realize that it was a huge culture shock to me landing here. I half expected Tim Daly and the rest of the cast of "Wings" to be welcoming me! I am so used to O'Hare's cavernous size that this airport was like the Mini-Me of airports.

Still, my cab was early, the flight was early...could this be a sign of good things to come? I had pre-paid SuperShuttle for my ground transportation, which turned out to be convenient. Because this airport is so tiny, you have to pre-arrange these things in advance. My driver was already there, and I turned out to be his only passenger to the Disneyland Hotel. Sweet!

Unfortunately, my trip karma came to a screeching halt when I tried to check in. Catherine had my name on the reservation, but for some reason, the front desk cast member did not see me listed on it at all. Which meant I couldn't check in until Catherine arrived. Right? Well, not quite. I ended up calling DVC Member Services, and after a couple of minor miracles, I was somehow linked to the reservation this time around, and I was able to check in.

The room was ready...let's see what it looked like!

This was a nice sized hotel room, about the same as many deluxe rooms at WDW, but there were nice features. As you walked in, you saw the bathroom to the right:

Next to the bathroom was a separate vanity area, with a magnifying mirror and hairdryer:

This made it so much easier getting ready in the mornings. I had plenty of space for my stuff! Catherine wasn't arriving until later that afternoon, so I dropped off my stuff and took photos of the room and view.

We were in the main tower, the "Magic" tower, right next to the elevator. Here's the view of the Neverland Pool and the other towers from our room:

Looking off to the left, you'll see the little Sorcerer Mickey hat and Downtown Disney in the background.

Let's just say that it was very convenient to leave the room, walk three steps to the elevator, make a U-Turn out the back door of the lobby and hang a left straight to the parks.

Speaking of the parks, it was after 11am Disneyland time, which meant 1pm Chicago time, and I was hungry. I wanted to head to DCA to start my festival....er...festivities.

When I entered Disney's California Adventure, this welcoming sign greeted me:

As you walked towards the Sun Plaza, the Festival Welcome Center was clearly visible.

The cast members there were there with festival guides that detailed the food offerings, the culinary and boozy demos, and a computer to book those last-minute food and wine dining events. My friends and I booked two of the three events that weekend. There's actually a story behind this.

When the food and wine dining events were announced, only two events were showing for our weekend. So we booked them. I made a dining reservation 60 days out for the Vineyard Room for dinner on Sunday April 20, and soon after, DLR Dining called me to cancel it due to a private function.

This new event was $85 for a pairing dinner, which is a great value, since it included tax and gratuity, but my friends and I hadn't booked it. I wasn't going to book it without discussing it with them first. I picked up my Festival Guide and headed to the Farmer's Market for my first food offering of the festival...

Next: Lunch, and the Festival Offerings Pictorial.

 

[Katy Belle]

Subscribing! Can't wait to read all about it!
Katy

 

[suzimar57]

great beginning to your review!

 

[TigerKat]

Great start!!

 

[John's Mom]

I'm in!

 

[BriarRosie]

Thanks everyone! I'll start writing about the food tonight. I have a lot of pics of the festival foods, but I hadn't tried everything. I will tell you that they have a display board that shows what all the foods should look like, and I took photos of it. Would the "beauty shots" of the food hold up to what we actually receive at the counter?

Stay tuned to find out.

 

[DISNEYDUET]

DL Food and Wine! Very exciting. Can't wait to here all about it and how it compares to WDW.

 

[MA pigletfan]

Count me in!!! We are going to DL in October for the first time, even though the FWF won't be going on I would love to see what they offer..plus any other treats you may have along the way!!

 

[kabuki]

YEA LORI! Thanks for doing this! Love the start.. can't wait for more!

 

[BriarRosie]

I had just entered Disney's California Adventure, picked up a Festival Guide at the Welcome Center, and I was on my way to lunch at the Farmer's Market. I saw a picture of the California Wrap there, reviewed on AllEars, and I had to get one for myself.

You can't miss the Farmer's Market area, as there's a big honkin' sign FARMER'S EXPO boldly displayed there. All the counter service places had a Food and Wine event inspired item, and that's why I was making a beeline there for that wrap.

I can't describe the sandwich as eloquently as Disney:

Quite exquisitely written, no? Sure I want my sauces to be laced with something, except when I say it, it sounds like the word arsenic would closely follow. But I'm sure you want to know what it looks like.

Since this came wrapped whole, I had to take liberties to show you the wrap by taking off the paper and cutting it in half. And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you. That ain't fries. That ain't apple slices. Pita chips were offered, and I couldn't say no to that.

I immediately tasted the marinade on the chicken, and they weren't skimpy on the greens, either. I was glad that they were very light on the sauce. The fruit did seem to be adding juice to the tortilla as I was eating it. But it never got too soggy. Overall, I think it was a very good choice!

I wanted some dessert, so I decided to mosey over to the festival's tasting area at the Lucky Fortune Cookery venue. When I got there, to the far left were these ladies selling wines by the bottle:

Over to the right, you can see a display board next to the cast member ringing up the items you want, bringing the receipt to the pick up window about 20 feet behind them. There were 9 items here, ranging between $4-6, similar to what you can get at the WDW festival. With some major exceptions.

Here, the selections were limited to the Lucky Fortune Cookie area, with one sporadic item at other counter service locations, like the California Wrap. At Epcot, there's a luxury of World Showcase hosting various International kiosks with usually 3 food offerings and either beer or wine, as well. Obviously, this festival is smaller in scope.

There are more flowery descriptions of the food on the sign above the pickup window:

Oh yeah, did you want to see the pictures I took of the photo board? The descriptions are there, along with the "beauty shots" of the food:

Ah yes, the Chocolate Marquise. Now that you have seen the beauty shot, here's an artistic photo I took near the ladies slinging the booze:

If that's not enough, EXTREME CLOSE UP!

The berry sauce was a great compliment to the chocolate. The bottom part was a mousse-like consistency, and the band of dark near the top was difficult to cut into with a fork. It broke up in large chunks, and it tasted like a really good version of a Nestle Crunch bar. And that big honkin' decorative piece of chocolate wasn't too shabby, either. Ghirardelli rocks.

Next: Killing time before the first culinary demo, and more food porn!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent