I spend too much on Food&Wine -DxDP/F&W/CL Fun - Last Day!

[Dis_Yoda]

Can't wait to read your reviews. This will be my first time at the F&WF and also will be staying 4 nights at BWI CL following my AKL CL stay. I am also doing the deluxe dining plan and am curious how you will spend your snack credits. Have a great trip

Oh that sounds like its going to be a wonderful trip!! This is actually my first CL level trip since I was little girl. I want to do AKL CL and Poly CL in future trips though. I will definately keep track of how we are using our snack credits for the goodies.

I'm in. We'll be there for F&W too 9/24 to 10/01. I can't wait.

Awesome! Where are you staying?

Great lineup, can't wait to read your reviews!

Thanks for joining in.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Things We Plan On Trying
Now I didn't include the alcohol we want to try as that will depend one the recommended pairing/how much we've already consumed at that point but here's the food we're looking at trying. We might not get to all of it, but we sure are going to try.

Athens, Greece Location: Canada Pavilion
• Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki

Bangkok, Thailand - Location: Africa Outpost
• Chicken and Coconut Soup, with Mushrooms, Lemongrass & Ginger
•Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp

Barcelona, Spain Location: Mexico Pavilion
• Red Snapper Escabeche
• Crema Catalana

Bologna, Italy Location: Italy Pavilion
• Cannelloni

Buenos Aires, Argentina Location: Mexico Pavilion
• Beef Empanada with Tomato Salsa
• Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Pureé

Cape Town, South Africa Location: Africa Outpost
• Mealie Soup with Crabmeat and Chili Oil
• Seared Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Purée, Mango Barbecue Sauce

Cork, Ireland Location: United Kingdom Pavilion
• Kerrygold Cheese Selection: Aged-Irish Cheddar, Dubliner and Ivernia Cheese with Apple Chutney and Brown Bread
• Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey's Ganache

Kraków, Poland Location: Norway Pavilion
• Beverage Selection: Chopin Raspberry Chiller

Marrakesh, Morocco Location: Morocco Pavilion
• Kefta (Ground seasoned beef in a pita pocket)

Melbourne, Australia Location: Africa Outpost
• Grilled Lamb Chop, Red Wine Sauce, Murray River Sea Salt

Mexico City, Mexico Location: Mexico Pavilion
• Taco de Cochinita Pibil (Corn Tortilla filled with Shredded Pork and Purple Onions)
• Mousse de Piña y Coco
• Chilaquiles (Baked Tortillas Layered with Chicken and Cheese)

Montreal, Canada Location: Canada Pavilion
• Maple Sugar Candy

Munich, Germany Location: Germany Pavilion
• Späetzle Gratin with Ham and Cheese
• Nuernberger Sausage on a Pretzel Roll

New Delhi, India Location: China Pavilion
• Gulab Jamun (Fried Dough in Rose Syrup with Pistachio)

New Orleans, Louisiana Location: American Adventure
• Praline Bread Pudding, Bourbon Caramel Sauce

Paris, France Location: France Pavilion
• Cabernet Short Ribs with Mashed Potatoes
• Chocolate Milk Creme Brûlée

Rio de Janiero, Brazil Location: Showcase Plaza
• Shrimp Stew with Coconut and Lime
• Grilled Pork Skewer with Farofa

San Juan, Puerto Rico Location: Showcase Plaza
• Arroz con Pollo (Chicken with Rice)
• Guava Cookie (Panatela Masa Real )

Santiago, Chile Location: Showcase Plaza
• Rock Shrimp Ceviche
• Corn and Cheese Arepa
• Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Cookie)

Shanghai, China Location: China Pavilion
• Chicken Ürümqi
• Shrimp or Beef Rice Pancake

Tokyo, Japan Location: Japan Pavilion
• Sukiyaki Beef Roll

Wellington, New Zealand Location: United Kingdom Pavilion
• Lamb Slider with Tomato Chutney

The Brewer's Collection Location: Between the Morocco and France Pavilions
• Warm Pretzel Bread Stick with Cheese Dip

Desserts & Champagne Location: Showcase Plaza
• Austrian Gugelhupf (Austrian Bundt Cake)
• Frozen Grand Marnier Parfait, Orange Coulis

Hops & Barley Location: Between the Morocco and France Pavilions
• Boston-style Crab Cake with Cabbage Slaw and Remoulade
• New England Lobster Roll

The Mouse Catch Location: Showcase Plaza
• Dorothea Dutch Cheese
• Piave — Italian Cheese
• Mahon — Spanish Cheese

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I have a long list of things I want to try at the Food and Wine Festival too. I've decided there are 14 things I have to try, and that's not including any repeats from previous years. Solo and only two days at Epcot is going to make it very difficult to try them all.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

a surprise for me was cook's of dublin for a fun CS semi-quick option. They have a lovely outdoor bar there and the fresh fried stuff blends pretty darn good with it. It takes a few minutes to get your food because it is made to order and fresh but that gives nice time to relax with a drink outside.

In fact 2 years ago we had left the Adventure's clue (R.I.P.) and we went to Cooks. I got the shrimp and when I bit into something it was DELIGHTFUL! They accidentally slipped in a big batter fried scallop. I think it was the best bite of food I've ever had at Disney and I can't wait to get over there and order the scallops as a meal.
A caveat to this is that I was "Kongalooshed" (man oh days that drink was yummy) at the time so my taste buds might have been the slightest bit askeew.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I have a long list of things I want to try at the Food and Wine Festival too. I've decided there are 14 things I have to try, and that's not including any repeats from previous years. Solo and only two days at Epcot is going to make it very difficult to try them all.

14 things is a good list to have if solo and only two days! I'm lucky we are staying at the BWI as chances are in the afternoons and evenings that aren't 'EPCOT' days we'll stroll over there and pick up an item or two while we wander. A lot of those items are definitely going to be shared so we dont fill up as quickly.

a surprise for me was cook's of dublin for a fun CS semi-quick option. They have a lovely outdoor bar there and the fresh fried stuff blends pretty darn good with it. It takes a few minutes to get your food because it is made to order and fresh but that gives nice time to relax with a drink outside.

In fact 2 years ago we had left the Adventure's clue (R.I.P.) and we went to Cooks. I got the shrimp and when I bit into something it was DELIGHTFUL! They accidentally slipped in a big batter fried scallop. I think it was the best bite of food I've ever had at Disney and I can't wait to get over there and order the scallops as a meal.
A caveat to this is that I was "Kongalooshed" (man oh days that drink was yummy) at the time so my taste buds might have been the slightest bit askeew.

Aww you are making me miss the Kongaloosh. It was so yummy and well you got drunk quickly as you couldn't taste the alcohol and kept ordering more and more (well at least in my case)

Nice recommendations about cooks. We'll see what hapens. We have a lot of undecidedness going on so maybe we'll check it out.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

maybe we should call it KongaLUSHED!...heheeh

sure made fried food super yummy! I think they should be required to have the recipe at Cooke's bar!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Will do! Now hopefully my husband won't have issues with me & a camera at V&A as he already told me thats the one place it is not allowed per him (Well, he let me take pictures when we did the chef's table but 'that's different') Silly men.

Followed your post on my review. I still can't believe we'll be at V&A the same night However, I most definitely WILL be taking pictures. I even have a mini pen light to help out so I won't have to use a flash.

Your plan looks great

Oh and thank you for the heads up on the Jiko event. I've now switched my ADR to the 30th. I know it wont take over the whole restaurant but I fear the chefs might be more focused on the event. Enjoy! I'm looking forward to reading your reviews.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

maybe we should call it KongaLUSHED!...heheeh

sure made fried food super yummy! I think they should be required to have the recipe at Cooke's bar!

They should have it there! Hmmmm. I have the recipe somewhere - I need to blend some up one of these days.

Followed your post on my review. I still can't believe we'll be at V&A the same night However, I most definitely WILL be taking pictures. I even have a mini pen light to help out so I won't have to use a flash.

Your plan looks great

Oh and thank you for the heads up on the Jiko event. I've now switched my ADR to the 30th. I know it wont take over the whole restaurant but I fear the chefs might be more focused on the event. Enjoy! I'm looking forward to reading your reviews.

But you taking pictures means I may be able to get away with picture taking too! Mwahaha (so going to use that to my advantage)
~


4 days!
We switched up some of our original plan. No more Raglan Road - Flying Fish instead now. Made some ADRs for various non-character breakfast places that we may or may not keep - but we'll cancel them once we know either way.

Also with the update about the hot dogs - I don't want us to go to lunch at Beaches and Cream anymore as I dont eat hamburgers and I was planning on the hot dog. My husband's only request for our first day was a burger if at all possible. Looking at the menus at ESPN or Big River - both have burgers so we'll probably end up at one of those two places.

 

[onelilspark]

I think your list is longer than ours!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I think your list is longer than ours!

I have a feeling we won't get through all of that list Good thing my husband and I will be sharing most of these.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Day 1 - Part 1 - Electric Umbrella/Boardwalk Club Level/F&W Treats

My husband decided to get us on the road at 4am! 5.5 hours later, we pull into the BW. Shockingly , our room was not ready but we checked in and went on our way towards EPCOT. As this was about 2.5 hours before I thought we were going to arrive - we decided to skip a Beaches and Cream or ESPNZone lunch attempt

We ended up at

Electric Umbrella for lunch

Bad idea. Especially since we didn't split the meal and well - yeah.

We both got the Chicken Nuggets w/ Fries, Chocolate Chip Cookies and a Sprite

They were just blah. Im not sure if it was just b/c we were really hungry and overheated and dehydrated at that time and nothing was going to taste good or if it was the food. I'm sure we'll try the nuggets again sometime this week at a different CS (we'll split it though) Half our food ended up in the trash.

Apparently the DDP Credit gets you 2 cookies each for the dessert. We didnt eat them yet and they are currently sitting on our minibar in the room.

Cost:

40 Meal Credits Remaining

Food and Wine Offerings
On our way back ot the hotel, we took a slight detour and did some slight sampling along the way.


First up -
Rock Shrimp Ceviche - $4.75

Forgot the picture
I liked it except for the stale Disney popcorn they put on top. I looked puzzled when I got this little glass (like the sample wine glasses) filled with shrimp and that wonderful ceviche mixture only to have popcorn placed on top of it by the server. Not needed.

27 snack credits remain

Chicken Uromqi - $3.75 and Greentea Plum Wine - $7 - China

This chicken is good. I'll admit I was disappointed when I read that the Chicken Cha-Sha went away this year to be replaced with this. This is better than that dish used to be.

The Plum Wine Cooler was exactly what we needed. It was hot and with it that hot - we just wanted something cold that wouldn't be gone in a sip or two. My husband the self-proclaimed wine hater and green tea hater even liked it.

OOP

Seared Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Purée, Mango Barbecue Sauce $4.75 - South Africa
Again - forgot the picture

It was a decent sized sample for the price and the type of cut it was from on the cow. Overcooked but I'm sure it was done well-done for the majority of the masses that come through the park.

26 snack credits remain

Sultan's from Morocco - $6.95

By this time - we had already drank all of the Plum Wine Cooler and needed something new and cold. This fit that bill perfectly! Not enough alcohol but for 7 dollars, I know better than to expect more from Disney

Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee - $3.75 - France

It was alright. Not as thick as I like a Creme Brulee to be but I'll deal.

25 snack credits remain

We headed back to the resort - picked up our refillable mugs from the bakery (btw refillable mugs at the Boardwalk are rather a weird set-up as the mugs never get used but you show them to get a paper cup filled with the drink of your choice) We probably won't even use them this week and only picked them up because they were included with the dining plan as we can pick up drinks for our room from the lounge.

At the resort, we got a welcome gift from the Innkeeper's Club. A box of gourmet chocolates

We haven't eaten them yet but we will sometime this week.


To Come Later This Evening - Evening Club Offerings plus the Yachtsman!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I miss Disney and Boardwalk is our home. I am sooo enjoying reading your review. Its almost as good as being there!

(Almost!!! I am pregnant and weepy today... Its just what I needed!)

 

[CanadianPaco]

I am soooo loving your report so far !!! THX!!!

 

[Krissalee]

I can't wait for your reviews of tomorrow's meals and events!

I am envious as DH and I usually went to F&W every year, but now that I am in grad school part time and continue to work full time, our vacation dynamic has changed.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I miss Disney and Boardwalk is our home. I am sooo enjoying reading your review. Its almost as good as being there!

(Almost!!! I am pregnant and weepy today... Its just what I needed!)

Thanks for joining in! This is my husband's first time at the Boardwalk and my first in a long time (I went 10 years ago and hated it but decided to give it another try) So far - everything here is great at the hotel. I love the newly renovated rooms!

I am soooo loving your report so far !!! THX!!!

Thanks for reading along!

I can't wait for your reviews of tomorrow's meals and events!

I am envious as DH and I usually went to F&W every year, but now that I am in grad school part time and continue to work full time, our vacation dynamic has changed.

Oh tomorrow is going to be so much food. My husband and I laughed about that today as we both know we are going to be grossly full by the end of the day.

Yeah - I understand about that vacation dynamic. I would love for us to travel around the holidays but with my husband's job - certain times are not allowed. Grad school is awesome though! Well worth missing the F&W for. (I need to go back but I haven't figured out what I want my masters in)

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Lounge Offerings & The Yachtsman Steakhouse

Evening Lounge Offerings
We stopped by the lounge around 5pm to see what they have to offer. It was hummus, cheese, veggies, egg rolls and chicken potstickers. My husband picked up a bud light. I poured a glass of the white wine.

We took a small sampling of the offerings. The egg roll was cold :/ thus I didn’t eat more than one bite. Cheese is well cheese – you can’t make that be bad. The chicken potsticker tasted how shredded chicken in a dough pocket would taste – not much to it. However, with the offerings in the lounge, I really do not see how anyone can make a meal off of it for a dinner. Its really obvious its only meant for a small tasting. It was enough to get us by until dinner!

Special Guest Star (Hopefully he’ll show up more along with his mate!)

Yachtsman Steakhouse

We ended up showing up about 2 hours earlier than our ADR was. They still took us in however I think the hostess and the front house manager were overly stressed today and it was grossly obvious.

We were seated. Our waiter stopped by telling us he’ll be right back with water and bread. 10 minutes later he finally is here with water and our bread and he’ll be back to take our order in a second.

Bread at the Yachtsman is always good.

Finally he returns for our orders. He apologizes as it was obvious he felt bad as he apparently was dealing with issues at another table. Luckily we’re easy going and don’t mind a leisurely meal. After that he was always on top of things anyway.

I went with a Pomegranate Splash for my drink as I know I will be getting more than enough wine tomorrow.

We were rather boring for our appetizers and entrée for this meal and we both got the same thing.

We started with a Caesar Salad

A decent Caesar salad. I always laugh when caesars come out that way. I know its for looks and probably easier preparation in the kitchen. I just miss the old days of the Yachtsman where the Caesars were prepared tableside and we had no effort involved with cutting it up.

For our main course – we went with the Filet w/ Red Wine Sauce

Melted in your mouth. I got the potatos gratin w/ White Cheddar rather than the mashed potatoes.

For desserts we were different!
I went for the Banana Napolitian

I liked the banana phyllo stack and the bananas in the middle. The other mousse cake was eh. At least at this point I was really full and didn’t want to eat much more.

My husband got the Trio of Chocolate

The peanut chocolate reminded my husband of a reese’s peanut butter cup and that’s a good thing! The espresso wasn’t touched after two bites so I’m going to take it that my husband wasn’t a fan. The salted caramel got an ‘ok’ from him.

Overall Yachtsman continues to make us happy. We’ll return either next Feb or when we’re back next year for F&W.

Our food bill came up to $126.61 not including tip.

36 meal credits left

 

[Sandy321]

mmmm Yachtsman makes me happy!!

do they still serve the roasted garlic with the bread???

they make the potato au gratin seem so easy to make!! yum! when I asked for the recipe - they just said to cut the potatoes "thin" Well, I do - I use the mandolin! Trust me, there is more to that augratin then thinly slice taters!!

 

[LoraJ]

Yum!!!

Can't wait to dine at Yachtsman. I plan on having the filet as well.

Thanks for the reviews so far.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

mmmm Yachtsman makes me happy!!

do they still serve the roasted garlic with the bread???

they make the potato au gratin seem so easy to make!! yum! when I asked for the recipe - they just said to cut the potatoes "thin" Well, I do - I use the mandolin! Trust me, there is more to that augratin then thinly slice taters!!

They do still serve the roasted garlic with the bread! We just didn't use ours.

They really do. Their au gratin is one of my favorites especially with the white chedder!

Yum!!!

Can't wait to dine at Yachtsman. I plan on having the filet as well.

Thanks for the reviews so far.

Yeah - we always end up with the filet at the Yachtsman. I know they have other cuts but why stray from what we know always makes us happy from the cow.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Day 2 – Part 1 Ohana’s

Ohana

We were meeting with friends this morning for Ohana’s despite having Sweet Sundays about 2 hours later. Thus we knew we weren’t going to eat a lot of the food. Luckily having the points to spend from the dining plan – didn’t make it sting.

Overall the food was decent. We enjoyed the pineapple bread. The fruit was fresh. The fruit juice was very enjoyable. Our bacon was crisp and the biscuits were fresh. They do seem to ration the mickey waffles by only serving you one at a time. Not an issue for us this visit but on future ones, it could be an issue.

We were seated at 8:30am – by 9am we had been fully fed and had been visited by all the characters. Some didn’t visit long as the only seemed to want to take a picture with the 2 year old that was with us and didn’t seem to come around to the rest of the table. Stitch did though and that’s the only one I really wanted a picture with anyway.

Despite being an ‘evil’ character meal, my husband and I both enjoyed it. The food was decent. No crazy buffets to deal with. Character visited us quickly and we were shortly on our way to what should have been a really good F&W Event.

Cost: 37.98 before tax

34 Meal Credits Remain

Apparently I had less downtime today than I thought I would this afternoon so I’ll stop with this and pick it back up tonight after V&A if I’m not too happy from the wine pairings…

To come – Sweet Sundays/Food & Wine Offerings and V&A