How To Survive a Hurricane with Pizza and Kurt Russell- An Oct DR *Complete

[VACamm]

I'm following along! I love all of your food pics, and it looks like ya'll are on a roll with the F&W festival!!

I ride the Amtrak a lot for business, but it looks like a cool deal with the bunk bed car! I definitely need to look into this for family travel!

Great TR so far!

 

[fallonkendra]

I'm here to follow along, I love your reports! I followed along on Instagram as well

 

[nicoleakr]

Following love your reviews

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hurrah! I've been looking forward to your report!! Glad you enjoyed the train - at least on the way down anyway. Aren't 1 bedrooms the best? The only down side is they totally spoil you for anything else. Your location is perfection!! Your F&W adventure is off to a strong start. Sorry the heat was getting to you - I was there the same time and it was rough some afternoons.

 

[Mich123]

Hello Jeri! So happy to see your reviews! Was the Irish pudding like a dense chocolate cake? It looks really yummy!

 

[amytech]

Joining in-great start to your trip report! I always enjoy your reports and loved hearing about taking the train. It's something I've toyed with but it's not the right time in life right now for that

 

[ariane37]

I started reading the other day and forgot to comment! Nice first day although bummer you weren't feeling your best the whole time. The Remy hunt sounds so cute! I will say the whole train thing makes me .My parents made us take the train from Penn station to Disney when I was 16 and it was hellish. Hellish lol!!! But a lot of that probably had to do with my being 16 and
Looking forward to reading more!

 

[TeeterTots]

I'm so glad I found this! Love your reports! Oh your Minnie socks were cute and your nails (as always). What a great first day! I'm jotting down notes as we check in 10/31! So excited to read more!!!

 

[momof3princes]

I followed your travels on Instagram and am excited you started your report here! You are off to a great start...you had some great F&W choices already

 

[TeresaNJ]

Hello again, fellow Jersey girl! I was so happy to see you started your DR! Oh my gosh, everything looks so good, especially that hard cherry float, and warm chocolate pudding. They're definitely now on my list! This time tomorrow morning we'll be in the air & on our way! Hmmm, maybe I'll attempt a dining report. We'll see.

 

[disneymomof1]

Following along--love your reports !! I follow you on instagram as well and really enjoyed all your posts and pics.

 

[vettegirl]

Hey lady! So glad to read your trip beginnings. I really enjoyed following on IG and FB. Your room looks so nice and huge at SSR. You guys really packed in for sure upon arrival!! Can't to read more.

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

Ooooh.....I'm the first to join in! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks for being the first to join in!

I've been keeping an eye out for your newest trip report. Can't wait to hear all about. I'm already intrigued by the title.

Yay! Thanks for joining in!

I remember following along on instagram (along with offering my couch if you wanted to come south) Hurricane Matthew was a pain! I'm glad it missed Orlando but it ended up hitting St Augustine (where my mother lives) bad and then the Carolinas. Crazy weekend!

I definitely appreciated the offer! Like you said, while it's great that Orlando was unaffected it is so sad to see how affected other areas were. Just on our drive home we could see so much damage along 95. I hope your mom is doing okay!

Joining in.

Thanks for joining in!

Hi Jeri! I think day one and success is a bit of an understatement I can't believe how much F&W you got in and really can't believe there are 6 more days to come. Hope surviving the Hurricane wasn't too bad. And really curious how Kurt Russell fits into the mix!!!!!! Maybe you found a computer wearing tennis shows?

We were definitely ALL about F&W this trip. I think we did pretty well with trying everything we wanted to. More on Kurt Russell later!

I'm here! Can't wait to read more!

Yay! Thanks for joining in!

I was just thinking, I hope Jeri has started her DR! I followed along on insta and kept thinking that I couldn't wait for the report. YAY!

Everything from F&W looks so amazing...especially that steak from Canada and the cake from Ireland. This is the first year since 2010 that we aren't making it down for F&W and I'm super sad.

Looking forward to more reviews!!!

Glad you are joining in on here as well! The steak and the cake are my two favs I think. So sad that you can't make it this year. I wish I could go for this every year.

Joining in, I loved the Find Remy as well, you sure did hit quite a few booths, no wonder you were beat! I have never traveled on a train so interesting to see, we arrived on 10/9 after Hurricane Matthew, so sorry you had a rough time getting home. I followed you on instagram as well. It was so busy when we were there we only did a few booths. Looking forward to your reviews.

Remy was so fun! I love those little extras. Train travel is pretty cool. Not time effective or cost effective, but it was enjoyable on the ride down. Glad you made it in okay after the hurricane. It was craziness leading up to it, so at least you got to skip the madness.

Enjoying your report! That Chocolate Irish Cream cake looks delish!!!

We took Amtrak for the first time this summer. It was only a 3 hour trip, but we enjoyed!

Amtrak isn't bad for shorter trips. I don't mind taking it to Boston to visit my aunt. 22 hours though is another animal. It's something different though!

I am so jealous! I love David Cook!

Me too! I was obsessed when he was on American Idol.

Great start to your reviews, cannot wait to read more.

Thanks! More coming up once Photobucket cooperates with me.

Joining in - we were there during the hurricane two and lost two precious ADRs!

Oh no! That really stinks! Fortunately we had no ADRs booked. We just lost F&W time.

I'm in. I always enjoy your reviews.

Yay! Thanks so much for joining in with me again!

I'm here!! So excited to finally read all of the juicy details of your trip! Your Hawaii pork slider had me drooling.

Woohoo! Glad you're here! The pork slider is delish! I could eat 2 or 3 right now actually.

I was hoping you would get started soon! It was crazy following the hurricane drama on your Insta. I'm so curious to see what that was really like!

Ugh, yeah I had to take a little time before writing this DR because I felt too down on the trip when I first returned after all the mess we went through. But now I can look back on it and laugh a little. Just a little.

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

I'm following along! I love all of your food pics, and it looks like ya'll are on a roll with the F&W festival!!

I ride the Amtrak a lot for business, but it looks like a cool deal with the bunk bed car! I definitely need to look into this for family travel!

Great TR so far!

Thanks for joining in! We were not messing around at F&W this trip! we wanted everything.

The roomette was definitely a nice way to travel. If you are already comfortable with Amtrak travel I would definitely look into it.

I'm here to follow along, I love your reports! I followed along on Instagram as well

Thanks for following along here and on Instagram!

Following love your reviews

Thanks so much for joining in with me again!

Hurrah! I've been looking forward to your report!! Glad you enjoyed the train - at least on the way down anyway. Aren't 1 bedrooms the best? The only down side is they totally spoil you for anything else. Your location is perfection!! Your F&W adventure is off to a strong start. Sorry the heat was getting to you - I was there the same time and it was rough some afternoons.

Thanks for joining in with me again! It worked out well on the way down. We are going back in January and giving it another go.

I loved our location at SSR. It really was perfect.

That heat. It just gets to me. I definitely wish we had waited until later in October to go down and really avoid that heat.

Hello Jeri! So happy to see your reviews! Was the Irish pudding like a dense chocolate cake? It looks really yummy!

Thanks for joining in! It is dense like a cake. But somehow so much better. It is one of my favorite things at the festival!

Joining in-great start to your trip report! I always enjoy your reports and loved hearing about taking the train. It's something I've toyed with but it's not the right time in life right now for that

Thanks so much for joining in! The train is definitely interesting, but I would recommend really wanting to do it and having the timing be right for you.

I started reading the other day and forgot to comment! Nice first day although bummer you weren't feeling your best the whole time. The Remy hunt sounds so cute! I will say the whole train thing makes me .My parents made us take the train from Penn station to Disney when I was 16 and it was hellish. Hellish lol!!! But a lot of that probably had to do with my being 16 and
Looking forward to reading more!

Yay! Thanks for joining in! Oh yeah from Penn Station to Disney is so far. And if you rode coach it is truly hellish. If you were 16 that does make it worse. I hated everything when I was 16

I'm so glad I found this! Love your reports! Oh your Minnie socks were cute and your nails (as always). What a great first day! I'm jotting down notes as we check in 10/31! So excited to read more!!!

Thank you so much! I loved those Minnie nails. Debating on which ones to get for the next trip now. Hope you are having a great time on your trip! Let me know what you try!

I followed your travels on Instagram and am excited you started your report here! You are off to a great start...you had some great F&W choices already

Thanks for following along on here and on Instagram! I felt good about our first F&W day. Got some great stuff in right at the start.

Hello again, fellow Jersey girl! I was so happy to see you started your DR! Oh my gosh, everything looks so good, especially that hard cherry float, and warm chocolate pudding. They're definitely now on my list! This time tomorrow morning we'll be in the air & on our way! Hmmm, maybe I'll attempt a dining report. We'll see.

Hi there! Thanks for joining in with me again! Hope you are having a great time on your trip!

Following along--love your reports !! I follow you on instagram as well and really enjoyed all your posts and pics.

Yay! Thanks for following along on here and Instagram!

Hey lady! So glad to read your trip beginnings. I really enjoyed following on IG and FB. Your room looks so nice and huge at SSR. You guys really packed in for sure upon arrival!! Can't to read more.

Hey Lori! I loved our room at SSR. I could honestly live in that room for the rest of my life with no complaints. I was not playing around that first day! I wanted to try everything!

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

But day 1 is not done just yet folks!

We were exhausted leaving Epcot and fortunately a bus for SSR pulled up just as we got to the line. Perfect timing!

Once we were back at SSR we decided to head to The Springs for something to munch on back at the room. We really wanted to try Blaze Pizza, but with the new Springs area opened I had no idea yet where exactly it was and we were too tired to walk too far and search, so we did something Rob swore we wouldn't do this trip (but I knew we would) and went to WPE.

For once there was absolutely no line, which was amazing, and we placed our order right away. As we sat down to wait for our to-go order I realized they messed up my order and was able to catch them in time to get them to correct it which was fortunate. Food in hand we made the very short walk back to our room.

I was really in the mood for pizza, so I went with what has probably become my favorite pizza on their menu, the Chicken Meatball pizza. Hold the red onion.





Heaven! Those chicken meatballs are amazing.

Rob got his favorite, the Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Sandwich.





Lying in bed, in my pjs, eating this pizza, while watching Big Bang Theory was nothing short of spectacular.

Then I made good use of the whirlpool tub to soothe my aching body and then by 11:30 it was lights out on day 1.

We walked over 10 miles the first day. Phew! We couldn't make use of TiW today, but we were able to take advantage of our AP discount, which is up to 20% for the next year at most locations, which is amazing! We saved $1.80 on our Remy map and $3.30 at WPE. Score!

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

On the start of Day 2 I wasn't in a huge rush to get to the parks early, so I woke up around 8:30 and then promptly fell back to sleep and woke up just before 9:00.

Our luck with the bus continued as an Epcot bus pulled up just as we were walking up to the Congress Park stop. We had a nice interaction with a family on the bus and after a looooooong wait at bag check we were in the park at 10:15. F&W time!!! I was so excited to wear my specially chosen shirt and ears this day!



We had plans to meet up with my SIL today, but nothing set in stone for a time, but as luck would have it we all ended up at Sunshine Seasons for a breakfast stop! Coincidence!

Rob loves to get their cheesecake here for breakfast. It's his tradition. He loves it.



I had my favorite, cheese danish! I love Disney cheese danish!



After breakfast we rode Living with the Land. They had a focus on ingredients used throughout the F&W Fest with special signage on many of the items throughout the ride.



After the ride we walked towards F&W booths to start our day. We all stopped at Wine & Dine Studio.









I loved these areas to enjoy your food at this booth.

Rob started out with a white wine. No clue which one it was. Note taking fail.



He and I both got the Seared Scallop with truffled celery root puree, brussel sprouts and wild mushrooms.



We enjoyed this immensely! I loved the brussel sprouts and mushrooms the scallop was paired with. So tasty!

My SIL and her fiance got the Artist Palette of Wine and Cheese.



They enjoyed this and felt like it had good value for all that it came with.

Next we went back to France.





I got the La Passion Martini Slush.





And the Croissant aux Escargots.





I loved the drink. It was the right amount of tart and sweet. I did however drink this way too fast at first because I was so stinking hot and it was so cold that it felt like my throat was burning, so I had a few moments of extreme unpleasantness which fortunately passed. I love the escargot when they have it. I did not like when they switched to the weird rectangle thing with the bacon in it, but this was excellent! It's very buttery and greasy, but so flavorful. Swoon.

After that we went back to Rose and Crown because my SIL and her fiance wanted drinks from there. She had an English Rose, her fiance had a double whiskey, Rob had a black and tan and I had some H20 because I was freakin' hot!!! No shots of whiskey for me, no thank you.

Now it was time for our wine and food seminars!

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

We made our way to the front of the park to get to the Festival Center. Such beautiful views in this park.







We went to the desk as you walk in to pick up the tickets for our seminars. I was able to get exactly what I wanted the day they became available a few months ago and got us a discount with my TiW card. The signs at the desk made me glad that I was able to get tickets as everything for that day was sold out.





We had some time to kill before the beverage demo, so we got wine at the Intermissions Cafe, watched Seasons of the Vine in the little theater and looked around the Ghirardelli Chocolate Experience to get our free piece of chocolate and check out the chocolate displays.

BB-8, my fav!


Ratatouille


Bug's Life



We also looked around the shop. I always bring my mom home a new color of cat bottle, which she displays in her kitchen.



On a side note, if you shop at the wine store here, now you must buy the wine and have it sent to the entrance or International Gateway. It can't be delivered to your room and you can't take it with you. This proved to be incredibly inconvenient a few times this trip.

I also checked out the F&W merchandise and treated myself to the Passholder pin. I love Figment!



Finally it was time to get a seat for the beverage seminar which was with Florida Orange Groves Winery. I order wine from here once a year and we have their wines whenever there is a festival here, so I was interested to see which wines they would have us try and to learn more about them.

They had each seat already set up with the 3 pours. We would be trying Hurricane Class 5 (irony), Key Limon and Mango Mamma. I was kinda bummed because there are the three I have already tried, but oh well.



Our speaker was really great and really kept the 45 minute presentation interesting.



Rob kept himself amused by taking notes.



Yup, that's my hubby.

Overall this was a fun experience, but I don't think I would do one of the beverage seminars again. It wasn't quite worth the money IMO.

Directly after this seminar we were doing a culinary demonstration with Top Chef winner Kevin Sbraga.





This was really fun and Kevin Sbraga was really engaging and willing to answer questions. He even shouted out my hubby during the demo because he was wearing his Eagles jersey and Kevin is from Philly.

He spoke about his cooking and influences and discussed his time on Top Chef. I loved him on that season and I really want to try his restaurant near me.





He was cooking with pheasant for this demo and he made a really hearty pasta dish that would be PERFECT in the fall. It was also paired with a nice rose. We were given a recipe for the dish he prepared today as well.





This was so good! Such a rich sauce, with the tender pheasant and the locatelli cheese really made this dish next level delicious.

We all really enjoyed the culinary demo! This was definitely worth the $13 per person we paid.

Kevin was signing the recipes after the demo, but sadly everyone else wanted to head out, so no autograph for me.

Now it's back to F&W!

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

After the beverage and culinary demos we were back out at the Festival. First stop Mexico.



Remy with tomatoes.



I had a Taco de Camaron. Battered shrimp served on a flour tortilla with purple cabbage and chipotle mayo.



I LOVE THIS TACO! I could make a meal out of 4 of these and be happy.

I also had the Mezcal Pineapple Margarita on the rocks.



This was just okay. Nothing special unfortunately.

Rob stopped at Australia for the griled sweet and spicy bush berry shrimp with pineapple, pepper, onion and snap peas and a Coopers Brewery Extra Strong Vintage Ale.





He really enjoyed the shrimp here this year.

Next we both stopped at China.





And here's Remy with some peppers.



Rob got the Beijing roasted duck in a steamed bun with hoisin sauce which he really liked.



He also got the Happy Peach with peach liqueur and Myers Dark Rum which he enjoyed as well.



I got the chicken pot stickers.



Next was Brewer's Collection.





Remy with the salt and pepper.



Rob got the flight.



I got the Schofferhofer Zitrone Weizen-Mix.



Not as good as the grapefruit, but still very good. Very light and citrusy.

Then we stopped at Hops & Barley where we both got the brisket.



This was good. I liked the brisket, but I could do without the cheese. Not a phrase you'll hear from me too often, but there you go.

Then we doubled back to head out of WS and I stopped in Italy.

Found Remy in a gondola with an eggplant.



I saw a treat online and I was glad I remembered to stop for I needed to try the Cannoli Cupcake.





This beauty can be found at the gelato stand in Italy. It was as good as it looks, if not better. The shell of the cannoli was fresh and crisp, which is a sticking point for me with cannolis, and the cake was so dense, but not very sweet which was perfect paired with the cannoli filling and the candied fruit. Cupcake nirvana!

On our way out of the park we used our FP for Soarin'. I really wanted to stay for Wilson Philips, but it had been a long day and we were hot and exhausted and ready to get back to our room. We caught a bus right away and fell fast asleep the second we walked in our room and had a much needed hour long nap.

Now, what's in store for dinner?

 

[DisOrBust]

On a side note, if you shop at the wine store here, now you must buy the wine and have it sent to the entrance or International Gateway. It can't be delivered to your room and you can't take it with you. This proved to be incredibly inconvenient a few times this trip.

Is this with all alcohol purchases? I kinda hope so after I saw them selling bottles/mason jars of wiskey in world showcase. I always thought that could be a HUGE problem with kids(college age) binge drinking thru the park.

 

[kastoney]

You are my personal food and wine hero. Seriously, you live the food and wine life I would love to live but unfortunately my daughter is having very little of it ; )

All of your food today looks great! Especially that scallop and the taco. Yum!

Looks like the culinary demo was a ton of fun. How cool to meet a top chef! We're total fans and are thankful to have a few permanently in DC now. That pheasant looks and sounds awesome. Gonna see if I can get my personal chef to make me some ; )