@kmrada Sorry it's taken me so long to post here. After returning from WDW, we had a lot of stuff to take care of before I had time to post. I did a write up on the Food & Wine thread but I'll do a recap here too for anyone still waiting to use their PP. Let me start at the beginning of our stay. We actually booked the Parisian Breakfast on Sept 26, so we were in Epcot before our PP started on Sept 28. We had some time to kill after the breakfast ended & our FPs at Animal Kingdom, so we checked out the Festival Center. There was two huge lines at the Festival Shop area. I asked at the information booth what was going on there & they explained it was people picking up their Tasting Sampler credentials. Whew! Then I asked where I would pick up my PP swag bag & she said same place! oh NO!!! If I could only pick up the swag bag on Monday, we would be competing with all the Tasting Sampler pick ups. So I went to see how the line was moving & I asked a CM who was dressed more like a manager & he told me I could stand in line now to pick up my PP swag bags. YAY! I was still unsure if that was going to happen, but I was able to see some wine bags behind one of the registers so I was hopeful. I stood in at the registers on the right hand sign near the artwork & sure enough, they were able to give me my swag bags. I showed my ID & she was able to find my PP reservation. The CM wasn't sure how to deliver everything so she called for back up from CM Dakota who was wonderful! He knew exactly what was going on! We were able to choose the wine we preferred (2 reds & 2 whites), then she checked each bag for all the items (wine, wineglass, magic band, credential with lanyard) then offered me two options: Have the swag bag sent to the front OR get escorted to the main gate with our swag bags. We would not be able to roam the park with alcohol & a breakable glass. Since we were going to AK anyway, we opted to be escorted out. They had to staple our swag bags into plastic bags & find an escort to walk us out, but it wasn't a big deal. We were just happy we didn't have to worry about it on Monday & we could hit the ground running.
My group of 4 adults really loved the PP areas including the service provided by the CMs. Just that alone was worth the price of the PP. The areas were shaded with seating for at least 2 groups of 4 people each. Some were tables & chairs & some were picnic table/bench styles. There were usually 3 CMs per area with one doing the cashiering & the others are runners to get the food we ordered. We were always given wet-naps and pre-packaged plastic utensils. Once we ordered, the food showed up very quickly at the perfect temperature.
We used the PP on the 1st week so I expected them to be working out some of the kinks. Some CMs were seasoned vets while some were very new learning the ropes. The entitlements found on the credentials badge could be used and any of the PP areas but rung up as a separate transaction. Once we understood that, it was easy to use them. We're not alcohol drinkers, so we mainly used them for the higher priced food items like the Filet from Canada or the Lobster Roll from Hops & Barley. Let me say that the best PP area was the Hops & Barley location. Lots of seating plus it was completely covered, so rain or shine, we were always comfortable there! The CMs there were also wonderful to chat with, so we spent a lot of time there during our PP dates! Thanks to Hammer, Gale & Nancy for being wonderful to us whenever we stopped by! We could also hear the Eat to the Beat performances while sitting there too.
Our culinary demo was the Bacon one which ended up being goat cheese ravioli in brown butter & bacon sauce. It was ok. The chef was very nice & he explained everything well. We got a copy of the recipe and also got to sample the Festival Chardonnay. Maybe I would've liked a more bacon-centric dish? I would say the demo was about half full.
We had our ISDP on the Tuesday of our PP week. It was a rainy day & we were told many different things by all the CMs working at the PP areas. Most of them said the desserts would be in China. I had no idea how the party was supposed to be run, so I know when I was at the Festival Center, I was told to find the CMs at the bridge connecting Future World to World Showcase. The fireworks viewing is there along the fence facing the lake, but because of the rain forecast, the actual desserts were in the China Pavilion. It was a spread of various desserts, some from the food booths (Lamington & Baklava) but most were underwhelming. The worst was the churros! a soggy limp thing that was not good at all. ew! The only dessert that I liked was the two hot cobblers that were served. That night it was Apple and Berry. They had a CM serving vanilla ice cream to make sundaes, but I had her put it on my cobbler instead. YUM! It was definitely something I would never ever pay for OOP. It was not worth a lot. Maybe if we drank alcohol? It seemed that they champagne out to make mimosas, but since I don't drink, I didn't pay much attention to any of the alcohol being served.
Overall the PP was great to everyone in our group! They were glad we used it & would use it again if the PP areas are the same format. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as we did!
thanks for the well wishes!!! i'm hoping all turns out well & I'll have a great trip to report about!
