Food Filled Adventures....Updated 9/14/09! Palo Brunch and Captain's Gala

[SSRJen]

We have gone to Disneyworld many times and on a Disney Cruise once. While I have always taken pictures, I have never actually done a review on these boards. Instead, I lurked and chose restaurants based on all the other amazing reviews. I figure it is my turn to give back with lots of food pics.

This time around it will be Me (30) and DH (34) traveling alone. We are doing WDW for 4 nights, a 7 Night Cruise and another 2 nights back at WDW. Here is our current dining line up. We are not on the dining plan.

Tony’s – Dinner - Repeat visit

Sci-Fi – Lunch - We do this one every trip. It is well worth a air conditioned break for a few more dollars than the burgers at the CS restaurants.

Raglan Road – Dinner – First time visit!

Planet Hollywood – Dinner - Repeat visit, but it has been a while.

House of Blues – Dinner – Repeat visit...we love this place.

Boma Breakfast – Must do, every trip!

Fountain Lunch – First time! We are trying this one out instead of Beaches N' Cream.

Kona Café - Dinner - First time visit!

Hard Rock Café - Dinner – Repeat visit. We enjoy Hard Rock Cafe's no matter where we are!

50s Prime Time Diner - Lunch – Repeat visit.

While we do have plans on going to all of these establishments, last time we cruised, we ended up barely eating at WDW afterward. We were done with the large meals. We will see what happens this time around! We tried to pick places we could have smaller meals if we wanted.

I also plan on including my DCL food pictures as well. Hopefully, you won't mind them merged in the same thread.

While the trip is still 43 days away, I will be making at least one visit to Disney California Adventure's food and wine festival. I hope to post some pictures of that event within this same thread!

 

[scanne]

Wow, your trip sounds fabulous!

4 nights at WDW - 7 night cruise - 2 nights WDW??? No kids?! I am officially envious!

I am looking forward to your reviews. Have fun anticipating. That's 1/2 the fun for me!

 

[skellingtonfreak]

I can't wait to see your pics and reviews from the CA food and wine festival...we are wanting to go to that, but have no idea of how it is.

All of the rest of your list look good...I am in for this set of food porn.

I hope you have a great time!

 

[Donald is #1]

It sounds like you have a great trip coming up!

 

[TigerKat]

I am so jealous!

 

[SSRJen]

Wow, your trip sounds fabulous!

4 nights at WDW - 7 night cruise - 2 nights WDW??? No kids?! I am officially envious!

I am looking forward to your reviews. Have fun anticipating. That's 1/2 the fun for me!

I love the anticipation as well. I also love doing all the planning!

I can't wait to see your pics and reviews from the CA food and wine festival...we are wanting to go to that, but have no idea of how it is.

All of the rest of your list look good...I am in for this set of food porn.

I hope you have a great time!

I really enjoy the CA food and wine festival. I actually like it more than the one in WDW. I feel that there are more free things to do and the samples are bigger...etc. I also think it has a more relaxing feel to it. I am not a fan of the booths in WDW, so glad they are not in CA. Instead, you can sample different meals at select restaurants.

It sounds like you have a great trip coming up!

Thanks! I can't wait!

 

[SSRJen]

I made my first visit (this year) to DCA's Food and Wine Festival. I have gone every year so far and have loved watching the festival grow. I enjoy the "feel" of the festival in California much more than at Epcot. I personally dislike the food booths. Here is a quick review of what I did and pictures (I remembered) to take!

We did not arrive to the park until 11:30ish. So, we decided the first event we would try would be a culinary demonstration at 12:30. Since the event was in the Sunshine Plaza (front of park), we decided to go ahead and get in line. We wanted to read through the Festival Guide and get acquainted with this year's layout.

The 12:30 event was presented by Naples Ristorante. This restaurant is found in Downtown Disney and is run by the Patina Group. This is the same group which currently operates Tutto Italia in Epcot. I LOVE the food at this restaurant, but much like Tutto Italia, it is quite expensive.

Here is a picture of the presentation:

The Chef taught us how to make Gnocchi. Instead of serving it the traditional style with marinara or a cream sauce, he sauteed the Gnocchi in garlic, onion, peas, seasoning, and a bit of oil. As easy as he tried to make it sound, there is NO WAY I will be able to make this at home. There were too many steps and too many ingredients. Sadly, by the time the food came, I was so ready to eat, I forgot to snap a picture!!! It was delicious and the serving size pretty good. I had about six Gnocchi on my plate with the delicious sauce.

Our next stop was to the Beer & Spirits Seminar. I don't remember much about the company presenting, but I did learn a lot about beer I hadn't at past seminars. I realized I should always pour beer into a glass straight down the middle. Having the foam at the top is a good thing. You are also not supposed to wash beer glasses with any kind of soap!

We were able to sample two beers at this demonstration. Both were great, but the one of the left was my favorite. Each brewing company decides how many samples to serve as I have had anywhere from 2-4 at presentations in the past.

By the time this presentation was over, we were hungry for lunch. It was already close to 2:30 by this point and we wanted a large meal. So, we went to Naples Ristorante of course! The free demo certainly worked on us. I love the pizza here and got a personal pepperoni pizza. My friend opted for the Fettucini Carbonara - Fettucini pasa, bacon-cream sauce, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, Italian herbs, solw poached egg. Both were VERY good. I FORGOT TO TAKE PHOTOS AGAIN! It is a good thing I am practicing now, so it becomes habit once I get to WDW!

After lunch, we were stuffed and decided to skip the Celebrate Germany culinary presentation. Instead we headed over to the Beer and Wine Flights. After looking at both. we decided to go with the beer flight.

First, you pay for your flight $10.88 including tax and are given a passport.

As you select a beer, your passport is stamped. You are allowed 5 4 oz. beers and therefore 5 stamps.

This is what each serving looked like:

The station set up:

We drank two servings of our 5 and decided to take a break. It was great that you could come and go as you pleased throughout the day!!

We had a fastpass for Soarin' Over California and used that before the 5:30 wine tasting. We made it back to the Wine Tasting just in time to be the last two people seated!

At the tasting, we were given four samples presented by the Flora Springs Winery. My favorite by far was the Chardonnay. It was delicious. I enjoyed the presentation much more than others. He was short and too the point regarding the wines. His stories were amusing and kept me entertained.

Here are the four wines: I didn't write down the names!

We finished our Beer flight and then decided to head to Downtown Disney for some shopping and head home.

That is all for now! I will be going back to the resort soon and will try hard to remember to take the food pictures!!!

 

[SSRJen]

Getting excited! We leave in only 9 days!!!!

 

[SSRJen]

I have decided to try and do this report live! We will be taking breaks daily from the heat, which will be a perfect time to update my daily dishes!

We leave one week from today!!

 

[SSRJen]

We are leaving in two days!!!! I can't believe how close we are to WDW and the Cruise!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Love live reviews! Have a great trip!

 

[MickeyNicki]

I love live reviews, bring it on!

 

[JJ&JHsmom]

Sounds fun, count me in too!!!

 

[gardengirl628]

count me in! looking forward to your live reviews!

 

[SSRJen]

I love live reviews, bring it on!

Your wonderful live reviews are what convinced me to go ahead and try to do ours live as well!

 

[dd50]

Can't wait. Have a great trip.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Your wonderful live reviews are what convinced me to go ahead and try to do ours live as well!

Aw thank you! Taking midday breaks so DH can nap helps...I get computer time since I am not a napping kinda chick

 

[SSRJen]

Aw thank you! Taking midday breaks so DH can nap helps...I get computer time since I am not a napping kinda chick

We have started doing the same thing now that we are DVC owners and can stretch out, relax and not worry about hitting everything in the parks because we know we will be coming back real soon!

 

[Ms. Heimlich]

looking forward to your (LIVE) reviews..

Thanks for taking the time!!

 

[TigerKat]

Getting excited!!!