Food and Wine Preview Tables In Wonderland Event (2016-06-26)

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** as normal, spelling and grammar is not my thing so I need to go back and edit these..

Today was the Table In Wonderland Food and Wine Preview Event (brunch style). This was the first time they did it for Food and Wine and the second time they did it (Flower and Garden in Feb was the first ever event of this kind).

I have a bunch of pictures and info so I'm going to divide this up into at least 3 posts..

First lets go over the event itself...

This even takes place in the world showplace at world showcase in epcot. It's a building just behind the fence inbetween Canada and UK. Most probably just pass it by as it's directly next to the stage in canada but you may have seen some random unannounced characters outside of the building before.

The building is nice, has a large capacity. What was interesting is coming up to it, it was more decorated with shrubbery and flowers than the flower and garden preview was.



^^ this is a side view of the entrance.

Stepping inside they have a little waiting area so they can let people in before noon but not start until noon. Your greated with a mixed drink (more on that in post 2 or 3) and an informational booklet outlining much of what is coming for food and wine this year. They did add some water for those that didn't want alcohol which was a nice touch as it was Africa hot today. They didn't have a display of the merchandise coming yet but food and wine doesn't start for 80 days and they said later they just didn't get samples of everything in time to show it off.

Once 12 hit, they opened the curtains letting everyone head into the main room. It was setup with a stage on one side, tables in most of the space and food / drink stations around the outside. There is a couple extra put more into the middle. You could quickly tell they had a better turnout for this one. I personally understand why, the last event was in the middle of what felt like money grabs and only the daring, press and blogger/webcasters dared to pay to see what it was about. This was also on a sunday making it more available to local table in wonderland card holders (thanks, I didn't want to take off just to get some food).



This one they had the tables setup with a napkin, starting set of silverware (fork and kife) and a glass of water for every seat they had. One spot they fell short is while they had plenty of people keeping your tasting plates and glasses clear, they didn't have anyone refilling your water for you. That would have been a nice touch.

They did offer water, lemonade and iced tea which was a welcomed change as I'm not a beer or wine person. Missing was the coffee and tea station which I personally missed. I thought it would have went really well with some of the deserts and I really wanted a cup of coffee as I went light at home thinking that was the non-alcoholic drink today like it was last time.. Some improvement but not everything you need just yet. I'm sure if Pete Werner was there we'd hear a great story on what it took to get a diet coke this event.



Another nice addition vs the previous event was a couple tables that had a full display of the food, wine and beer so you could see what was available to try and a great spot to get some pictures (this will be in the next post). I could instantly see what appeared to a lobster roll that looked like it was a full claw of lobster couldn't wait to find out what that one tasted like and now understood what that 1 long line was for.

The event overall felt like it went faster. It was more crowded and the food was around the outside so it did take a little longer to get to the food and get it back to where you sat. I didn't notice the important cast members walking around. They seemed to have a better turnout and the press got them on the side to interview as this was happening. This to me really took away from how special the flower and garden event felt. This was come into a room, eat and leave. The other event was meeting the chefs, having time to talk to important cast members that make these events happen and really engage instead of feeling like a herd of cattle paying money to graze on their lawn.

The discussion was nice however this time it was a sole speaker going over a lot of things coming. There is some interesting things coming that I plan to take attend. I'll go more into those in the third post I do that outlines what's coming. Basically there is some special events happening and one of them happens to be every chef from disney springs will be in the room for another brunch or dinner to taste and meet everything in disney springs in 1 hit (including morimoto). The others that caught my eye were similar in nature with a different whose there that one list. Again more on this with details in a future post (work is about to start).

The flower and garden preview I felt was a strong A grade, this felt more like a B-. It wasn't bad and there was some improvements but there was some of the exclusiveness that was missing so I was happy, well feed but not perfect and I'm hoping the next preview event is better..

Everyone who is everywhere in this community was there. From disunplugged I ran into Kevin, John, Oliver, Craig, Teresa, Ryno and they had important people in their lives with them. Pretty much anyone that has a site, news column, reporter that covers disney, webcast/podcast was there. They weren't easy to spot though, this was easily triple the people of the previous event.

Kevin was handing out some disunplugged pins until he ran out..



I got the last one

Next post I'm going to focus on the food.. Be back when I get a break at lunch to post that...

 

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It turns out I have too many pictures for just 1 food post so i'm going to break this up even further.. (10 picture forum limit if I want to upload to the forum).

This post is the best and worst food and the food.

There was a very glaring difference in this event versus the previous flower and garden preview event. First not all stations was chefs that cared about the food. Some were literally just people plating it up. They would say hi and engage you but not much more than that. Other stations, they really cared about the food, made sure it was being kept warm in a good way (keeping it stirred up, not drying out). The food radically changed from when the event started to when it finished unless it was those stations.. This is a shame in my mind as the flower and garden event did it right. They had great food everywhere, nothing was dried out, it was kept warm with care. This event was mass buffet food with someone plating it for you (again with some exceptions and those exceptions were the best plate of food the event had to offer).

Best Plates of the day:




The Scallop dish was by far the best tasting plate offered. It had that fresh tasting, perfectly cooked scallop. The brussell sprouts could have been better but I learned from the chef they weren't able to pan cook enough in time so they had to Blanche them first. It was still good and everythign tasted great.

The Duck Confit was a close second. It was a good contract to the scallop for that surf and turf and well prepared. Both this and the scallop I had more than once.

Desert wise the chew's Peanut Buffer and white chocolate mouse was a very small portion but a great size for how rich it was. It was a fancier version of a salted caramel desert and really hit the spot.

Edited to add: When I was younger, one of the things that came up that I was allergic too was chocolate. Since then the medical world has wised up and it's actually a light but allergy but for me, it's chocolate that really brings it out. I won't end up in the hospital or anything but it will cause me to have trouble sleeping and start to bring out my eczema. Well I used to go to Dairy Queen with the family time to time but I wasn't allowed to have chocolate. I used to get their peanut butter parfait but I would get it with caramel instead of hot fudge. This was a mini version of that childhood favorite and it took a nanosecond to recognize the flavor and turn back into a 10 year old. I really need to find a dairy queen now..

I'm sorry for posting this picture and wish I got one of it fresh as it didn't hold up to the display table by the time I got to take a picture:

If you look at the first post, there is a picture of it being prepared in front of me, so you'll get a better idea of what this dish looks like scrolling up.



When prepared it was a mouse that was flashed in liquid nitro much like the nuttella desert they do at the star wars desert party. This tasted much better and that's a pretty good desert This wins the deserts for me if your looking for something colder than the chews offering. Both had their own merits though, they were just a different style desert.

Pleasant Surprises:




The Chicken and Dumpling I was pleasantly surprised with. This is one we tried a couple times and my daughter grabbed it first and I grabbed it near the end. The dumpling didn't really hold up and was a little dry when I got it but it was great both times. I'm not a huge chicken and dumpling person though so take this with a grain of salt, it was still good, I wouldnt' buy it again but it was good.

The puff pasty was really surprising, it was a great balance, very light and fruity. This I wouldn't mind buying again

Most inconsistent:



When I first saw this I got really excited.. Lots of lobster, looked closer to a real lobster roll. I tried this a few times as did my daughter. When they drenched the bread in their flavored butter, it was the best dish of the day. When you got some lobster tossed on bread, it was the worst dish and boring.. Talking to others, this is what they felt as well, most didn't get why it was just unseasoned lobster on a piece of bread but others raved...

Again this was a shame, this was a tables in wonderland event. These are all people that buy enough food at disney to buy a discount card. This event should have been perfect from dish to dish as the flower and garden event was but it just wasn't.

STAY AWAY!!!



I'm not really sure how they prepared the ouzo that they soaked this with but this dish does not hold up to being prepared in advance. Great idea but it tasted so horrible that I actually stopped trying other food for awhile trying to get the taste out of my mouth first.. nobody I know finished it, even the disunplugged crew that shared it with each other didn't make it disappear. This was basically the beverly of food and wine food.. some might love it but the rest of us don't get it.

EDITED TO ADD: I'm looking forward to seeing if the disunplugged had different favorite dishes as they started near where they were sitting (and I was close) but I started trying food on the opposite side of the room. Things did taste different later when I went back to try things a second time so I suspect they will like the food from the other side of the room better than I did.

Overall I do need to say, not 1 of these dishes is making me want to go to food and wine. This is not food I want to eat standing outside in september weather. If your a foodie, you want to change to coming to flower and garden where everything is fresh, there is a variety of styles, there is more care to the dishes and your not outside trying to eat winter heavy food in 100 degree high humidity sun..

The next post will be able the remaining food and alcohol drinks also available in this event....

 

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The rest of the food....

Here is the booklet information on all the food at the event:




My pictures of everything not already mentioned from their display table..



Everything started to kind of taste the same. It was all heavy dishes that I'm surprised is the focus of an outdoor food festival that runs sept - november. With the exception of the 1 thing in the last post, nothing was horrible, but nothing was come back and eat me again.... I can't see eating this stuff in high humidity outdoor setting. To compare, flower and garden was starting to get hotter with some humidity near the end of it's run and the dishes tasted different and it wasn't fun trying to eat them in the sun either even though on nice days it was great food and wonderful.

This was also much less food choices than the flower and garden preview. This seems to be more about the drinking and wine/beer varieties then it is about the food. Every dish had a pairing or somethign that would go well with it nearby but there was a 1:1 ratio of food choice to drink choice. Flower and garden preview was more like 3:1.

It wasn't a waste of my time and it was lower cost than the flower and garden preview but I did not leave looking forward to food and wine, this was just a nice high priced sunday afternoon lunch buffet. I hope the food they didn't have to try that will be at the event makes it more worthwhile because right now, i'm not heading to food and wine until I hear about others say about the selections in the september heat..

edited to add: I'm wondering if they did this event too early. It might be that veggies they plan to cook with during food and wine aren't in season now so they can't really do a preview event of those dishes.. This was in no means a full selection of what is coming to food and wine, it was a sampling of new things coming. That might be the only thing I'm looking forward too. the "try everything else" circle of epcot.

Edited to add: It just hit me that I didnt' see anyone cooking allergy alternatives. I did some some plates being delivered from the back which I assume was for allergy reasons. It was great at flower and garden to not only get the dish as designed but try the allergy alternatives. Normally F&G and F&W don't offer allergy / vegan alternatives but these preview events do.. Some of them tasted better to me but alas, I couldn't try them at this event...

Next post is going to be about the drink choices.....

 

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The Drink Selections!

The list from their booklet:



My images:



I know this is food and wine, but I don't really beer and wine gives me an instant migraine. I was hoping for some mixed drink options, especially ones that were slushes or frozen like they had for flower and garden. Those really hit the spot when your outside in florida in september... They did have one at the reception while waiting to come in though. that was nice..

I didnt' try anything above, this is more to show off what they had for everyone reading..

They also made a big deal about their private label wine... i'm really not sure why as anyone can get a private label but it is disney so maybe it's really an exclusive they helped work up. Someone will have to let me know how this is vs other selections.. (doesn't the lasetters own a vineyard?)



Next up will be what to expect with food and wine, some special dinner options and some new things... This is going to take longer to post and I have to scan in the booklet so I don't need to retype it all up

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for sharing Bryan - that is disappointing to hear they didn't have the same level of interaction with the big wigs or the chefs. The later I think really helped make the Flower and Garden one unique and worthwhile and, like you said, ensured everything was prepared with more care

Also fully agree with what you are saying in that everything looks pretty heavy - lots of braised meats over a starch ... not something I want to eat a lot of with the sun beating down on me

Definitely seems like this is becoming more about the wine and beer and less about the food while the Flower and Garden is becoming less about the flower and, um, garden and more about the food

 

[Accident]

Also fully agree with what you are saying in that everything looks pretty heavy - lots of braised meats over a starch ... not something I want to eat a lot of with the sun beating down on me

I'm hoping this was a in season during the preview situation and we all know there is much more food out during food and wine so hopefully this is just the good for an indoor setting selection of different dishes and not what the rest is going to be.. I light a good mix of light and heavy if i'm sampling food outside. also I hope they space it aroudn the world like this where i'm getting heavy followed by light.. I doubt it'll be that but we'll see.

 

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I added some images from the booklet about the food and drinks to the above posts.

 

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This was the insert for the information booklet they handed out..



Some interesting things going on at the resorts.. they kind of peaked my attention

My mom is a big fan of the chew so she is already "threatening" to visit when they are in town....

 

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As I'm scanning this all in.. all I have to say is DISNEY!! electronic copies and normal sized paper that you can mass scan

 

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Special Dining events..

There is a correction they verbally made and for the celebrity breakfast, chef irvine is only doing the sunday date. He apparently has a new prime time show and cannot make the friday date. they didn't mention if there was a replacement chef or who it would be for that friday..

I do have to say, the breakfast thing has my interest peaked.. There's a few chef's I would love to try their food and breakfast is probably the thing at disney that really needs a lift up.... The question is will these really be worth $129+tax each worthy.

 

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Parties..

The burger party sounded interesting last year.. did anyone do this? I love me a good burger..

EDITED TO ADD: I'm really excited about the party for the senses.. These are in the epcot showplace (where this event happened) and it's themed on chefs around disney. For example the disney springs night is every chef from every eatery at disney springs showing off their food.. I'll definitely be at that one and i'm considering the others.

 

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Around WDW..

 

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Eat to the Beat...

There was something verbally mentioned and there will be a dining package similar to fantasmic or jungle book with preferred seating but you eat the dining establishment. I was a little confused by that because isn't that how it normally works? they made it sound like it was something new...

Also they hinted that the background music at the preview event was a soundtrack of performers, including some they can't announce yet...

In addition to what is listed here, there was definitely blues traveler, tiffany and some boy band (I thought it was backstreet boys but I'm not sure that is accurate and can't see them coming.. and wow would epcot close for capacity if they did).

 

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The rest...

note: The festival starts earlier this year, Sept 14th. Can we say disney is having a light year and hoping this overcomes the raping of us last year, especially with the "oh btw, you better come back fast if you want to see osbourne lights 1 last time"... The bubble has burst but we get more food for longer in epcot!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for posting all of this ... I love all the special seminars and events that are part of F&WF - although I hate they tend to mostly be on the weekends when the park is crazy crowded

I thought the Trader Sam's experiences sounds pretty neat, although wasn't clear what was included as far as food and drinks

I agree the breakfasts sounds pretty good, but again, not clear how much actual food/drink you get so hard to tell if worth $129

I like the idea of the special themed Party for the Senses - and I wonder if it is that first one that relates to what you were talking about with regards to a Disney Springs event - on October 8th

Lastly, one of my favorite things I ever did at Disney was the Mexican Tequila Lunch - food was amazing and so informative and a good amount of tequila was poured. If interested, here is my write-up of the event:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/oo...-were-going-back.3182545/page-5#post-49978760

 

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actually I just noticed that the front cover (last image in post #14) has the start time as 9am and not 11am. Canada used to have a breakfast while supplied last, at least they did in 2014. does this mean we might see some more breakfast type stuff in more places? Does this mean world showcase is fully opened 9am when food and wine is rolling?

what was last years hours when part of food and wine was in future world?

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Wow - SO much info, and so many awesome pics. Thanx so much for going to all this trouble for us, Bryan! If I ever get back to WDW, I will DEF time it to be during F&W if at all possible, since I've always thoroughly enjoyed myself. I can see what you're saying about a lot of the stuff seems too "heavy" for the heat/humidity though, for sure. I know I've always timed my visit as LATE into the Festival as possible, to avoid that as much as possible. I wish they'd extend into further info November (cooler, less humid) than backwards into September!

 

[Goofy2015]

Random question, do you happen to remember any of the lyrics to the boy band song being played?

I am guessing if it wasn't Backstreet Boys; It could be New Kids on the Block, 98 Degrees, or O-Town

 

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Random question, do you happen to remember any of the lyrics to the boy band song being played?

I am guessing if it wasn't Backstreet Boys; It could be New Kids on the Block, 98 Degrees, or O-Town

if I knew that I wouldn't be guessing..

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

My bet is Boyz to Men. They have made earlier Eat to the Beat concerts